One Week In

First of all, thank you so much for the bracelet donations and the food from the meal train. I can’t say it enough how thankful we are for the support from our family and friends. 

Ava had a fantastic first week at Children’s Specialized! We’ve been so busy with therapies it’s been hard to post an update. She is receiving Physical, Occupational, Feeding & Respiratory therapies multiple times a day. Since last week she has shown tremendous improvement in all areas! I listed them out below for ease of update...

Feeding:
She is nursing twice a day in lieu of receiving milk through the nasal feeding tube. We are still working on getting her to take the bottle but Dan will be here this weekend with the special bottle touch so we hope that will help! In the meantime we will increase the frequency of nursing so she can get off that feeding tube!

Respiratory:
Ava sprinted all week working her way up to 8-9 hours off the vent during the day! She did wonderfully and was not too fatigued at the end of the days. Next week we can hopefully have her off for a full 12 hr day so she’s only using the support at night. She is not getting any extra oxygen from the vent only pressure support for breathing.

Physical / Occupational:
Ava is moving even more than a week ago, she is lifting her arms up above her using shoulder muscles, she is reaching for toys on back and side and also beginning to explore with her feet. She was able to go in the pool for the first time and had so much fun! She is also getting one on one sessions with a therapy dog, Burton who encourages her to reach and touch as well as track him with head / eyes around room.

There have been so many positives this past week and we are so excited to see what new tricks Ava has for us in the upcoming days. She’s a strong little girl and getting stronger everyday!

Love from New Brunswick!!

Laura & Dan