Happy Halloween!

Just because it's cold and flu season and Hope couldn't go out trick or treating, that wasn't going to stop her from having fun on her first halloween!

To no one's surprise, I'm sure, Hope dressed up as a cute lady bug for Halloween. She had fun getting all dressed up and posing for the pictures. She decided the costume was so comfy that she fell asleep in the middle of all the fun!

After the mini photo shoot Hope changed into her second Halloween outfit - a cute outfit from her Aunt Em.

Hope Update - The rest of the week

We've been much better this week about taking pictures of Hope.... we haven't been better about getting them posted with updates. So here's a couple of days worth...

With all of Hope's equipment it's hard for her to venture very far. She did, however, manage to make it to the living room sofa to hang out with mom and dad for a couple of hours this week.

Since red is Hope's favorite color, she thought it was pretty neat to sit on a giant soft red thing instead of being in her room. She even got to sit on her own like a big girl!



A few weeks ago Hope took a stroll through the apple orchards. The apples weren't quite ready to pick yet. This week, daddy went out and picked some apples for him and mommy and he found one just perfect for Hope. Hope doesn't have any teeth yet so all she could do was play with the apple but maybe next year she can eat her very own apple.

Hope still gets weekly visits from OT & PT. Her physical therapist brought Hope a "peanut ball". This is an exercise ball that is shaped kind of like a peanut. For the most part, Hope doesn't like playing or "working" on her tummy. If she's on her tummy she thinks that's a good time to sleep. The peanut ball lets Hope work on some upper body strengthening and get some "tummy time" in without having to be all the way on her tummy. Hope likes this much better.... although it's kind of hard to tell from the look on her face.

Hope hasn't had any big appointments in the past few weeks. This Friday (November 6th), though she meets with the doctor that will do her cochlear implants. This is just a consultation but we are all eager to hear what the doctor has to say (and we are praying hard, as usual, for encouraging news).

Hope's Baptism

This past Sunday was Hope's baptism. As you can see from the photos she was adorable in her dress. Hope didn't mind all of the excitement at all, in fact she slept through the ENTIRE thing. Even still, she was very happy to get a chance to meet so many of the people that have been praying for her through the last 10 months!

Hope's Latest News

This picture shows just how big Hope is getting!!

Hope went in last week to have her hearing aids adjusted. The audiologist turned them up and tested Hope out in the sound booth. It was an unofficial test but it appeared that Hope did not show much response to adjustment. It seems as though she might be able to hear somethings in the low, bass range but the volume levels had to be so high (equal to that of a chainsaw or rock concert) that it would cause further damage for her to be hearing at this volume. She will continue to wear them, continuing on her 6 month trial in order to pursue the cochlear implants.

The physical therapist has been to the house to work with Hope. This last time she brought a "peanut" ball. This is basically an exercise ball that is shaped like a peanut. She propped Hope up against it on her tummy in order to work on head control. Normally Hope doesn't really like tummy time (unless she's sleeping on her tummy) but she seemed to like the peanut ball and she did really well pushing up with her arms and lifting her head.

Happy Birthday Hope!

It's hard to believe, but Hope is 10 months old now!! Happy Birthday Hope!!!

Hope got to spend her 10 month birthday with a trip to the pulmonologist. Everything went well and since Hope was in such a good mood, she decided to venture over to the hospital and visit with some of the nurses that took care of her when she was in the NICU.

Today Hope was visited by the vision consultant for Early On. She had some very encouraging news - it seems that Hope IS able to see, at least to some degree. Hope seems to really like looking at shiny, red things and prefers to look at things that are off to her right side. The vision consultant will continue to work with Hope (as will we) in hopes of getting her to be able to see equally in both directions.

Update

Hope had quite a day yesterday...

It started out bright and early with an appointment with the neurologist. Since Hope has not had any seizures they've decided to let her "outgrow" her phenobarbital.

After that appointment, Hope had some blood drawn (she has an appointment with the pulmonologist next week and they wanted some bloodwork done prior to the appointment). After the blood draw, Hope headed home and was getting tucked back in for an afternoon nap when the phone rang.... it was the pulmonologist. She had gotten the results of the blood work and it seemed as though Hope's white blood count was elevated and she wanted to have Hope checked out. So we packed her back up into the car and headed to Grand Rapids. Hope got to hang out the in the emergency room at De Vos for 4 hour while the doctors ran more blood tests, urine tests and x-rays. They weren't able to find the source of the elevated white blood cells. They took a urine culture and blood cultures which may grow something in the next few days but nothing was outwardly apparent last night. Finally they let Hope go home for the night.

She is not acting sick so we are hopeful that it was just a "fluke" and that she isn't brewing an infection.