Carter's Journey: New Tricks!

New Tricks

Carter decided to show me a new trick a few days ago. He can now stand up by himself as long as his back is propped up against something!!! We are so proud of him! So, of course, here are a few of the five million pictures I took.

After battling with insurance issues for months Carter is finally receiving physical therapy on a regular basis and hopefully he will receive speech therapy. Our physical therapist comes out to our house twice a week and works with him. She came out last week and left Carter and I with homework! His homework (or my homework) is to work on turning Carter’s feet in while he walks and to stretch his hips out as much as possible. Carter is not a fan of either one. Part of Carter’s condition is pelvic abnormalities. He is missing his symphysis pubis. This is the cartilage that holds your pelvic bones together. It’s easier explained by saying Carter’s pelvis, instead of being round, is open like a book. He will have a metal plate placed when he has his bladder closure surgery that will round out his pelvis and fix his pelvic abnormalities. So before his surgery we need to have all of his muscles as limber as possible so it will be easier for them to not only close his bladder, but repair his pelvis. Our physical therapist wants Carter to walk as much as possible. He can either walk behind his walker or while holding onto my hands. So we have walked, walked, and walked some more this week! We are unsure if he will be able to walk on his own before his “big” surgery due to his pelvic abnormalities, but we are going to work on it as much as possible. Carter will be more likely able to walk after surgery if he is already walking before it.

So, on top of walking we are still battling the feeding issues. We have good days and not so good days. Carter is still vomiting everyday. Some days it is only in the morning and others it is throughout the day. We have turned his feedings up more and I haven’t noticed an increase in vomiting. So I guess this is a good sign. His goal is 35ml/hour and he is currently at 21ml/hr. He has a long way to go but he will get there! We are experimenting with a new medication now and still have many options to experiment with. He will soon tolerate his feedings! He is now 18lbs.!! His personality continues to develop and it has really taken off since starting the enteral and IV nutrition. He loves to blow kisses, clap, and sing. He is still extremely happy. He very rarely cries, actually the only time he cries is when we go to the Doctors’ office or he is experiencing some sort of pain. He is such a good baby. Our goal for the upcoming weeks is to get Carter to his goal feedings and get him off of the TPN and lipids. Thank you so much for all of your prayers and continued prayers. As always…To him be the Glory!