Lucky Number 7

Our little Clairebear is 7 months old. This one feels like a real milestone, something we have been trying to get to since we found out at 24 weeks pregnant that she was a holey little girl. 

We are about half way through her official recovery so somewhere in the next month the doctors will take her off of restriction and we can go back to holding her and picking her up and doing her physical therapy without worrying about putting too much pressure on her chest cavity. It will be a relief in so many ways - what a sign of incredible healing! - but mostly it will mean she has to do more of the work to hold her own weight which will help her build strong muscles and will give my old tired muscles a break. 

Speaking of milestones, when I write these updates I always find myself listing some of the developmental ones she has met or is working hard to accomplish. I think that is ok, we are very aware of what she can and cannot do because we are constantly talking to doctors and therapists about what areas need our help. And some of these milestones are already hard fought achievements. But I don't want her entire existence to be distilled down to those markers we can measure easily and use to compare her to other kids. She is so much more than if she can turn over. It is something I find in adult life, too. I have often not been someone whose sense of self is well-represented by my job. When people ask me what I do I would rather talk about my baking and growing and loving than my evenings as a tech in the pharmacy.  

Claire is working on clapping - if I put my hands up she puts hers on the outside of mine and we can clap together along with music. This is a good indicator of her ability to hold her hands in midline and her coordination to hold on to mine. But it is also about how much she likes music and silliness and how much she smiles and how hard it is to keep her hands on mine when she wants to bring them to her mouth to exclaim about how excited she is to be doing this together. It says a lot about this little sprite who is constantly becoming more and more her own person.

We returned to therapy and are trying to help her regain her strength and endurance post-surgery. She is doing so well but losing a month of therapy at this age is definitely a loss on some level. She can't hold a sitting position, even with our support, for too long right now. Her body is healing so much muscle and bone and working hard to get her sewn back together, it seems unfair to ask her to hold her head up. But we do and she does it and we read books and when she gets tired I get to cradle her a little and I am so glad.