Ruth is doing good, getting bigger! Her little personality is coming out more and more, and I even got a brief real smile - no it wasn't gas!!
Things have been pretty calm around here, not too many appointments or obligations, just getting back to normal around here. Her sisters are just facinated with her, everytime she cries they want to know "what she wants". She has definitely found her voice, she has no little danty cry. She is also fond of being held, not too crazy about the baby swing, but does seem to enjoy tummy time with a couple toys to look at.
Since my last medical update, Ruth has only had one appointment and one lab. A couple weeks ago she had her first appointment at Scottish Rite Hospital in Dallas, which will coordinate the majority of her spina bifida care. It was mostly a get to know you appointment. They checked her over, seemed really happy with her leg movement.
"She will walk. She will even run, I just can't tell you how fast."
The doctor also explained her MRI results to us, which I never really got anyone to go over them with us in detail at UCSF. She has considerable hydrocephalus. He showed us her scan, then a normal scan, and it is definitely considerable. The good thing about that, is it's not getting worse. Her head circumference has been growing normally, and she's not showing any of the symptoms. We will continue to monitor her closely for the next year for signs she may need a vp shunt, but we are hopeful that is one thing she can just skip!
She also has a tethered cord, which means the end of her spinal cord is attached to scar tissue around the area she had her surgery. It should be loose at the end, and end a bit higher up on her back. That is another thing we will have to watch for symptoms (deteration in areas such as bladder/bowel, or her club feet). If it becomes symptomatic, she will need a surgery to release the tether. Until then, we just watch.
She goes back next month for a gauntlet of appointments. Nuerosurgeon appt at Children's hospital, to establish care - at the moment she isn't needing his help. Urology, Ortho (for her club feet), and Spina Bifida appts at Scottish Rite. All spaced about 1 week apart. It is a bit of a drive, so I'm hoping that as she gets older we can have some of these appts on the same day...
She has her normal well baby check up at the pediatrician tomorrow. I am curious to see how much she weighs now - I can definitely tell she has gotten bigger. She is filling out the newborn clothes a little better now, and has outgrown most of the preemie outfits.
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