2 Months (a week late)

Last week Mr. Eli turned two months old.  My due date with him was Aug. 23rd so technically he should really be about a month or so, but since he was 6 weeks early we have already gotten a full two months to love on him. 

Eli is a wonderful baby.  Last week he started sleeping though the night.  Praise the LORD!!  He is generally sleeping from 9-10 pm until 4:30 or 5ish.  Now if I can just get myself in bed at a decent time, I might finally catch up on some sleep.  I have always stayed up too late, but I am finding that nighttime is the only time I can catch up on things I need to do and the only time I can relax.  Okay...back to Eli.

Eli is growing like a little weed.  My goodness he has some serious cheeks!  It is so strange to me that I am feeding on the same schedule I did with the girls and the same substance (breast milk) and he is growing so much faster!  His weight is in the 75%.  My girls always lingered in the 25% and below (Eliza much below).  I am not sure why he is growing faster...maybe it is a boy thing!  One thing is for sure...he loves him some milk!
At his appointment last week he weighed 9lbs 12 oz. 

Last week we were super busy with appointments.  We went back to see Neuro. and so far Eli's head appears to be growing normally.  It is in the 75%, but so is his weight and so far it is not jumping in percentiles.  His fontanel is still soft and so far he doesn't appear to need a brain shunt.  This of course was one of the main reasons we opted to go through with the fetal surgery, due to the fact that the research showed the surgery decreased the need for one.  We are praying his little head will continue to grow as it should.  He will most likely have an MRI in November, but right now they will continue to just monitor head circumferences. 

We saw ortho last week as well.  This appointment always makes me nervous (well, they really all do).  A month ago when we saw the orthopedist he was very honest and was the first to really inform us that Eli was not functioning as well as he should for the level that his lesion was on his spine.  It was really hard news for me to hear seeing that went through so much in our pregnancy with the hope that he would do even better than expected.   Over the month, I found myself accepting this news, yet as the month went along Kev and I both felt as though Eli had more feeling in his legs than the doctor thought.  Basically, the doctor felt as though he had no feeling below his knees.  We really felt that he had feeling down into his calves at least.   Well, at our appointment this past week the doctor confirmed that he clearly has some feeling in his lower legs.  We were so thankful that it wasn't just us being hopeful. but that the doctor also noticed it too. 

Our ortho is an older man and has been working with kids with spina bifida for a long time.  He said a few times that he didn't understand it, but that Eli clearly had more feeling than he had a month ago.  I made sure to let him know that Eli has had a lot of people praying for his little legs.

Eli also got his first set of casts for his clubbed feet.  All of our doctors have told us that they feel that his feet were clubbed due to his position in the womb (it can also with spina bifida too).  We have been doing lots of stretches, but the doctor decided to go ahead with cast.  I was prepared and ready for this....and I was actually excited to get the process started!  In the past if you would have told me that my 2 month old would be wearing heavy, bulky cast, I would have been devastated, but with the Lord's help I was ready.  The cast immediately made his legs look longer, bigger and in the correct position.  It made my heart happy!

Eli has been a trooper all week.  His has shown us how strong his little legs are when he lifts, lowers and moves his little casted legs.  I know they are heavy for him and yet his is quite determined to move them.  We are so proud of him.   He will get his cast off tomorrow and I am anxious to see what kind of improvements were made in a week.  We won't see the ortho for 3 more weeks and he will most likely go through a series of casting then.  He will also have x-rays on his hips then too.

We also have been seeing an early interventionist once a month and a physical therapist every week.  I am so thankful because we love them both.  The E.I. comes to our home and pretty much plays with Eli.  She is so sweet and loving with him.  She gives us homework and ideas of things we can do to encourage growth and development.  It is so different because with our girls we just let them develop naturally.  I am trying to not become paranoid with all the milestones and etc. and just enjoy him as he is.  So far, he seems to be doing great!

Our physical therapist is awesome.  I have been told by several people that she is the BEST and many have asked how we got picked up by her.  (If you read this...thank you Amy!)  I am so thankful that we did and I can already tell that she will be a special person in Eli's life.  She praised him over and over and told him how great he was! 

And one final thing...little Eli has started giving us the absolute cutest smiles ever.  They seriously melt my heart and almost make me cry! So thankful for my little guy!