Our Babies Firsts

Physio update

2010-09-16T23:56:00.000-07:00

I think we have finally figured out this "odd movement" I speak of with Gabriella. Both Gabriella's pediatrician and physiotherapist both agree that there is NO weakness in muscle tone and that the movement we see if actually caused from her being overly excited and a loss of concentration. What this means is that when she is tired from a long day and is running or playing with friends this "odd movement" presents itself because it must take a lot of concentration for her to maintain smooth consistent movements especially while tired. We have been told to make sure we keep an eye on that as it could be an issue in kindergarten (lack of concentration)...although I have to say to me Gabriella has an amazing ability to concentrate on things for a long period of time so I am hoping this lack of concentration and coordination with her large motor skills while tired does not overlap in the area of schooling and concentration??

Well there we have it. Nothing else new to update. Gabriella's eyes are doing very well, she is wearing bifocals now and they are working wonders. No need for surgery and it is possible that she is developing the ability to see some 3D (binocular) :)

And back to the physio we go...

2010-06-29T20:36:00.000-07:00

Even since birth Gabriella has done this "strange movement" when she is stressed, tired, in a new social situation or excited. It has mostly been a movement only myself and her Father have been able to see. It is also a movement I have always been unable to catch on videotape or have her demonstrate to her physiotherapist although it was described and talked about (when she was seeing a physiotherapist). The "movement" -which I am sure I have described in previous posts, is almost like a jerk like movement while in mid motion (usually running) with her right arm and I am thinking hip. It is like she is running towards point "a" and her right side says umm no lets stop for a second so it pulls her to the right and it catches her off guard and she almost falls.

It seems like this movement had disappeared for quite sometime. In the beginning it manifested itself as her right arm flinging backwards all the time and as an infant she was unable to keep her arms in front and together, with lots of physio this "disappeared." Although we all know it doesn't really disappear; your body just learns how to compensate for the issues.

Recently though it has come back and Mike and I have both noticed. This was confirmed even more so yesterday when a teacher at Gabriella's preschool asked me "Have you ever noticed an issue with Gabriella's balance?" For some reason, my answer was a distant kind of eery yes..it haunts me really.. I don't know why and I can't even explain it. I felt a mixture of emotions 1) YES finally someone has seen her do this! 2) How could I have let this "movement" hang around for so long and so quickly forget she had done it (just because she stopped for a little bit) 3) Guilt

This wonderfully observant teacher was a fill in teacher; I have never met her and I knew she didn't know Gabriella's medical history. Gabi's attends a university preschool which I love and her teachers are amazing and don't get me wrong I am very grateful this person brought this to my attention but I am really perplexed as to my response. It was like an emotional floodgate was opened (although I managed to keep back the tears). I know, it sounds all so mellow dramatic and as I type this I can't help thinking to myself ..wow give me a break, she's doing so well and your worried about an odd movement. It could have been a lot worse. For the last year I was living in a world where I think I actually tricked my mind into believing that Gabriella was not affected at all.. I have no idea why I allowed myself to think this way...she was affected (I am full aware of the fact that was doesn't mean "is gone"). We worked so hard with physio for two years straight ..but all non typical issues melted away and I believed they would never return, our physio found no reason for us to continue seeing her and so I believed all was resolved.

So enough pity party for me; it's time to get back to physio.
My biggest question is how could a "symptom" disappear and then reappear. The damage from the stroke has been done, this is not degenerative. Therefore, I now believe this is caused from a mild form CP-although Gabi has never been diagnosed.
Do these symptoms become more apparent during growth spurts?

If anyone has any experience with "odd postures and movements" that only appear at times of stress I would love to hear from you. I really am interested in knowing what frequency of physiotherapy your child requires or if it's just a strict
regiment of keeping fit in sports so the "weaker" muscles don't dominate??

Thank you in advance to all out there willing to share your experiences :)

Near Perfect Vision

2010-05-06T08:50:00.000-07:00

In terms of Othamology appointments, the last appointment was darn near as happy of an appt. as you could get.

We determined that Gabriella was indeed (as suspected) not actually looking through the "bifocal" portion of her lenses and when she did her vision was worse. So the test (prescription adhesive strips) were removed.

The interesting part about bifocals is that they did, in fact, straighten her eye out but worsen her vision.

Well anyways, the GOOD part of the visit was this. Gabriella's vision and turn are measuring equal which indicates to our Opthamologist that she is coordinating her vision much more than we suspected. The turn has also dramatically reduced (while wearing her glasses) to 10. Remember 15 and above is recommended surgery measurements. If she takes her glasses off however the turn is quite significant.

Her vision is also 20/25 which is pretty near perfect and is way better than mine :)

We are still monitoring her turn every two months and the requirement to patch for 2 hours a day has been reduced to 1 hour. I know that surgery is inevitable but the longer we can prolong it (as long as vision is not being affected) the better. That way when she does have to have surgery the result can be more precise and she can communicate better as to the issues she is experiencing with her eyes.

For now, i am so happy that she is comfortable with her glasses, her vision is excellent and her turn is maintaining under surgery required measures.

:)

Bifocal checkup

2010-05-03T10:19:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is Gabriella's bifocal checkup.

What I have noticed since Gabriella has been wearing her new temporary bifocals:

1) In the beginning..lots of falls, bumps and walking into door handles. After two weeks no more bumps and bruises..it must be tough to train yourself what part of the lens to look through at the appropriate times..especially as a toddler.

2) Mentions she can see better far away then close up so I am not 100% sure she is using her bifocal part of the lens or if she has just decided to look at things through the upper part of her glasses. The "temporary" bifocal is a prescription sticker and looks incredibly hard to see through (it's very ribbed). The actual real lens I am sure would be easier to see through.

3) To be honest, I don't see the turn in her left eye lessening. I am not too optimistic about this meeting tomorrow. I am thinking this will be the appt. where we have to decide on surgery or not..wait.. anyone getting the feeling of dejaview..hahah, I think I have said that at least 5 times and each time the Doctors have "one last" trick up their sleeves (which I feel is good). Better to exhaust all means before going the surgery route I think.

Anyways, as per usual.. fingers crossed.

Cheers,
CB

Bifocals

2010-04-01T14:56:00.001-07:00

Gabriella is now wearing bifocals and as usual her eyes are being monitored and we're still on the cusp of surgery.

It seems when she views things up close her turn goes in quite a lot however when she is looking further away her turn is lesser. Hence the bifocals.

Because we are increasing her prescriptions our vision therapist has said it's best we hold off on the therapy as he feels the action of increasing the prescription is the surgical route.

This confuses me..It's not surgery vs. therapy...it is simply whatever helps my daughters vision and I truly believe both will. I refuse to let Gabriella wander around not seeing as clearly as she could based on therapies that could or could not work. My question is: why can't we just develop a therapy that works and assists with the increased prescriptions?

I value vision therapy and still think it is imperative to helping Gabriella learn how to cope with how she will see the world (ie. perhaps this could cause issues with reading when she is older etc.). The therapist believes that surgery will make the therapy less possible however he also says therpay for children of Gabriella's age is very hard (she is almost three) so I don't really know what else we can do and I don't want to be stagnant and let her eyes worsen (possibly gain ablyopia-loss of vision) because we want to "see" if the therapies that a three year old can hardly do will work.. eye sight is not something I am willing to risk with a trial and error based philosophy. So frustrating!! But good news is that Gabriella has adjusted well to the bifocals although at the beginning it did result in a number of falls/cuts/bruises.

GO CANADA!!!

2010-02-12T10:27:00.001-08:00

Quick eye update

2010-02-01T11:32:00.000-08:00

Eye appointment went well despite the fact that I ended up getting the Antropine drops in my eyes and had pupils the size of saucers for a day and a half.... yeah not a pretty site and how the heck did I even get the drops in my eyes to begin with?? When I first read the Antropine eye drop directions it clearly marks "parents make sure to keep drops out of your own eyes." My first response to that statement was to be honest "what type of idiot could get the drops in there eyes ..don't they wash their hands" anyway uh huh cough cough.. looks like I'm that type of idiot. anyways back to the point. Gabi's new prescription is almost 2 units larger than her old prescription. We have now received her new lenses and in two days I can see her eyes straightening,she is much happier and is not rubbing her eyes as frequently. Looks like this will be a success. We are going back in 6 weeks to measure the turn again :) I have a feeling we may avoid surgery once again.

More Eye info

2010-01-25T16:42:00.000-08:00

Well last week we went to Gabriella's eye appt. and her eye is measuring double what it was before. Used to measure 10 now 20. When the turn is at 15 it's surgery time. However, her surgeon wants to try one more prescription bump in her glasses to see if it will assist her turn back to 10 but if not this is our last adjustment before surgery. Ironically though during her appt. she shocked the Opthamologists by seeing 3D. Apparently if your eye measures that much of a turn she is not supposed to see 3D and they have never been able to get her to see 3D before (however, I knew she could see some 3D as we have looked at those little 3D pop up things before and she has seen them). She can see 3D on the little boards that pop out pictures but when you put 3D glasses on her she cannot see 3D. Regardless, it's encouraging to know she can see some 3D.

So now the concern is ablyopia (loss of vision in one eye). We are worried she will supress vision in the eye that is more turned (left). However, I just don't think that will happen, she is really good at alternating her eyes and I can tell she is learning to control them a little bit. But I can also tell she is working REALLY hard to control them and her eyes get so exhausted. By the evening she is always rubbing her eyes and saying they hurt. This didnt' happen when her eyes were measuring 10. Anyways, we are off to another eye appt. tomorrow where we will measure the turn again and retest her prescription. We have to put drops in her eyes tonight (same as last night) to dialiate them and tomorrow morning..it is NOT an easy task. Wish us luck!!

Eye update

2009-11-25T22:41:00.000-08:00

We've finally found a vision specialist for Gabriella. We have not yet met him but he has come highly referred to us from a strabismus specialist on the north shore. I am really looking forward to meeting with him to get a second opinion. Gabriella's eyes are still measuring right in the middle (borderline of needing surgery and not needing surgery). Her opthamologist (who we really respect and like but is surgically biased due to her training) has told us Gabriella will most likely never see with binocular vision even with the surgery but the surgery would be to preserve vision and save her from getting abylopia (loss of vision in one eye). However, her eyes "switch" consistantly and her vision is actually great so I am confused with this prognosis and can't seem to get a clear answer. We do know though that our Opthamologist does not believe in vision therapy at all. I believe that Gabriella will need surgery but I do not believe that surgery alone will correct her eyes .. I feel that vision therapy would benefit Gabriella and assist with the surgery to get optimal results. Anyways, we shall see. Our appt. is Dec 8th and I am really looking forward to it although the office is almost and hour away.. road trip!!!

What a great story

2009-11-20T10:04:00.000-08:00

With Christmas fast approaching I've been racking my brain trying to figure out the perfect Christmas presents for my little nieces, nephew and Gabi. I find it harder to shop for two year olds than infants, maybe I am just very selective with the toys I give Gabi..I'm just not into the barbies and girly girl stuff and find a lot of toys portray some pretty negative images to little girls..but hey, thats a completely different post in itself. Anyways, after googling Toys R Us and exhausting all other online toy stores for ideas I ran across this story which put my thoughts in perspective. So true, it's not about the presents..but the presence of our family, friends and loved ones. Actually I have a cute story to add. Gabriella's great Nonna told Gabi the story of how when she was young you would only get apples or oranges for Christmas if you were good and coal if you were naughty. When I asked Gabriella what she would like Santa to bring her for Christmas she told me Two apples...

"Christmas"

Posted by christmas - September 15th, 2008

"My daughter’s second Christmas was the first she had without corrective shoes and casts for her clubbed feet. My daughter woke up, woke us up, and then asked if it was finally “Christmas time for presents”. “Yes, it is,” I told her.

She rushed up to the tree and saw the stack of presents. She’d already thought the tree was magic, and now there were “painted boxes” under the tree. My daughter jumped on the presents, ready to rip them apart.

After opening the first package, her first desire was to jump up and down with abandon on the bubble wrap to pop it – something she hadn’t been able to do in prior years. She was so busy jumping on the bubble wrap that I had to try to interest her in the toys in the boxes she had ripped open.

When I handed her a fancily wrapped present, she took apart the decorations and tinsel on the gift box. Then the tinsel stuck to her hands. She then ran around the house, shaking the tinsel like cheer leader pom-poms.

Then she came back and skated on her feet on shreds of wrapping paper. It wasn’t until lunch time that she went back to play with the toys that were previously ignored. The lessons I learned from that morning were:

1. Don’t worry about wrapping it or making the present look perfect. Little ones are simply thrilled to be given something anything. And older children will only care what is on the inside of the present. They only care about what is on the inside, a lesson parents seek to teach them later.

2. Don’t underestimate the joy simple things can bring to life. It doesn’t have to be complicated to be great.

3. The best gifts can’t be bought. Mobility, health, family, love, joy, and hope – all are far beyond price and cannot be bought with money.

Well, maybe there’s a price on health, based on the doctor’s bills."

Potty Trained

2009-11-09T15:17:00.000-08:00

Annnd we're potty trained!! One day a few weeks back Gabi decided she did not want to wear diapers..no more she said and so I showed her a stash of underwear I had bought months in advance and let her have her pick. Ever since then she hasn't put a diaper on, even at night. She has made a few accidents overnight the first two nights but so far we have been almost two weeks free of accidents day and night (umm except when we go to Grandma and Grandpa's ...sometimes she forgets there). I'm hoping she doesn't regress, I hear kids can do that sometimes.

This was our potty training technique:

1) We introduced the potty and also the Story "Once upon a Potty" by Alona Frankel to Gabi at about 1 and 1/2 (she is 28 months now) and she would use it every now and then, although it was really just there so she could get familiar with it and she remained obsessed with the book until this day really.

2) We completely let her take the lead on the subject. Every month I would let her pick "underwear" or "diapers." She usually chose diapers and so diapers it was. Sometimes she chose underwear and despite Gabi's optimistic approach you could tell her bladder was not yet ready for the trade up but underwear it was (not for long though :))

3) The last time she chose underwear instead of diapers you could tell she was determined :) and that was it. A few motivational stickers in the washroom as we seem to be smooth sailing.

I'm suprised that it wasn't as frustrating or as scary as I thought it was going to be. I really felt out of my territory and a tad overwhelmed when I read any of the articles on the so called easy toilet training techniques.. the steps all seemed to formal and unatural.. In the end I gave up reading the books and trusted Gabi's body and mind. I dont' think you can really teach this bodily function to your child, it just a stage like the others (crawling, walking etc.) so you can do your best to assist and teach but you definitely can't make it happen !! :) So I have learned one more thing as a Mom..patience is the key to most things.

Kids say the Darndest things...

2009-10-30T13:09:00.000-07:00

Remember that show.. kids say the darndest things...well I feel like I am living that show this week. So I thought I would share with you all the latest conversations I have been having with Gabriella who is talking up a storm and really is living up to her name "Gabi."

Gabi: Mommy..Flush me down the toilet please..
Me: Why in the world would you want to be flushed down the toilet? (trying not to laugh my head off)
Gabi: Big slide to the ocean Mommy? Beach!! (like DUH mommy I should have known).
Me: Ohh I see, but it really isn't a slide to the ocean so please don't try to go down there EVER!! haha but you are right the water does go to the ocean.
Gabi: But fishies in the ocean Mommy..flush Mommy down the toilet?
Me: um no thank you.. haha we can go to the beach when the weather is warmer..we can go there in the car
Gabi: Okay YAYYYY

It goes on an on but you get the point..

Last nights conversation:
Gabi: Mommmmmyy storryyyy
Me: Okay what story would you like
Gabi: Zamboni..
Me: Zamboni's ..what do zamboni's do
Gabi: make the ice sparkley
Gabi: And Don Cherries dog Blue mommy.
Me: okie dokie.. umm Daddy will need to help us out here
Gabi: YAyy Daddy

Okay someone has brainwashed this child to like hockey a little too much hahaha

On another note, we had a receint physio appt. and are in need of some toddler shoes with arch support. Because Gabriella has virtually no arch in her foot we need to ensure she has arch support so we do not need orthotics in the future however, I am having a heck of a time finding toddler shoes with any arch supports.
These are the brands I have been told are good:
New Balance
Beeko
Naturino

But finding a 9 in any of these brands have been almost impossible for me -which is weird don't you think.. it seems none of the kiddie shoe stores around her carry anything bigger than an 8??
Odd.

Anyways, anyone who has experience with supportive toddler shoes, I would love your opinions on good brands (that also support a wide foot).

Thank you all and Happy Halloween!!

Time Management!

2009-10-16T11:00:00.001-07:00

Okay so long time no blog.. but I've thought of a great topic. TIME MANAGEMENT.
Something I used to actually beam with pride about.. you know being the one who was great at organizing and remembering special dates and being puntual.. well with the exception of still being punctual I think I can say goodbye to the other "pesonal skills" I may have once had. At least that is what I feel like. So here is my list of questions for all you Mom's out there. Perhaps you can help me get back on track?

1) When do you find the time for yourself? -my time is 9pm-12pm and I squeeze in "my time" with working from home time and husband time.. so really.. my time? NADA

2) Luxery-spa? make-up. (seriously I'm so tired of whipping makeup on in 3 seconds flat) needless to say I'm not the "polished Mom" you see walking into your kiddie class with her blackberry in one hand, starbucks in the other and the pristine little angel child who doesnt' look like he/she has ever touched dirt in their lifetime.. how dull

3) Excercise.. well this is my big stress reliever but I never seem to find time to do it. When am I supposed to go to the gym? in between bedtime, working from home time, husband time and me time.. I'd be up for 24 hours straight so sadly "exercise time" falls to the wayside.. but Gabi and I do walk Everywhere we possibly can.

Alright..please please help me.. give me some good tips ladies..I'm in desperate need.

Random thoughts

2009-08-08T20:46:00.000-07:00

It's been forever since I've posted. I guess I'm going through the "I'm not sure why I have this blog anymore" phase. It was intended to be a resource for other parents of stroke survivors, a support system for me and a place for me to connect with people who were going through the same thing I was at the beginning of Gabriella's diagnosis so that I could gain as much knowlege about this as I could. I've met wonderful friends who have guided me, given me excellent resources and knowlege and in general have helped me through many a rollercoaster ride whether they were aware of it or not and I will be forever grateful for that.

At this point in time I am at a loss for words and as Gabriella is getting older I find that I have nothing to write on this blog that could be of any use to the "audience" I intended it for.

I am having a tough time giving this blog up though as, mentioned above- I have met wonderful people who have emotionally been there for me through this whole thing and I am also somewhat supersticious that if Iclose this door, I may need this blog more than ever. Gabi is only just 2 years old and it is possible that we could still be facing challenges in the future.

So in writing this I have come to the conclusion that I will not end this blog for now but perhaps will continue to update sporatically as before. I'll try and make them more informative and less "in my mind banter hahaa"

Cheers,
Christine

Heart & Minds -BC Heart and Stroke Foundation Newsletter

2009-06-15T22:43:00.000-07:00

June is Stoke Awareness month and the Heart & Stroke Foundation approached us to do a follow up article on Gabriella and her progress. We we're very pleased to be able to share Gabriella's story in the newsletter and be apart of this years Big Bike Event. The more money raised for the cause, the closer we are to answers and solutions for our little ones who have experienced tough beginnings.

To read article click here: Gabi's Article

June 9th was also Gabriella's Second Birthday!! I can't believe she is two already. Time really does fly by :) I've attached some birthday pictures below.

Heart & Stroke Foundation Bike Bike Event

2009-05-26T21:08:00.001-07:00

Last Tuesday Team Gabriella rode on the Big Bike for the Heart & Stroke Foundation. Our team raised a total of $4071.20 for the cause :) Here are some pictures from the day. Luckily the sun came out as it was pouring rain the night before. Thank you to all of our Family and Friends for coming out and showing your support, we truly are lucky to have such a great bunch of people in our lives. XOXOX

And more good news mixed in with a little strange news for the week!

2009-05-06T20:16:00.000-07:00

So a little while ago I wrote a rambling post about how Gabriella was recommended for Strabismus surgery and how worried I was and I also included a long pros'/cons' list that was going on in my mind. A few days later I deleted it. Why? Because now I've escalated to a new worry level haha that is; I was worrying that my post sounded like I was worrying too much-hmmm haha go figure.

Anyways I am glad I erased it because the other day we had Gabriella's follow up appt. with her opthamologist and I came in armed with my master list of a bazzillion and a half questions and was ready to say YES to the big "So are you going to have the surgery then or not" question (of course after hearing the "correct" answers to all my questions..but ALAS ..Gabriella has suprised us once again and her eyes have slightly improved -enough so that our Doctor does not feel surgery is the correct thing to do at this point. After 6 months of her eyes doing nothing..all of a sudden bam ..they start going in the right direction. This eye site business is very complicated and tricky. There are so many factors that contribute to what goes on with your sight and most of this has to do with the outcome of Gabriella's stroke. So it's mostly brain talk not eye talk.. I could go on and on and try a lame attempt at explaining the medical reasons as to why Gabi is no longer requiring surgery but to be honest, it is so confusing and it's very hard for me to explain (not emotionally hard, just hard in general as I am not a neurologist or opthamologist and cannot seem to explain this properly). So I will leave it as NO Surgery for now !!! YAYYYYY!

Before I go though I want to share this funny/odd/kind of flaky story with you all. It has to do with a lady that I have met three times in my life. I don't know this lady but have randomly bumped into her at times in my life where I feel completely overwhelmed, it is the strangest thing. I first bumped into her shortly after Gabriella was born and she came up to me and said "don't worry dear everything will be okay." At the time I thought..mmm interesting do I look that stressed out? This lady must be crazy and to be honest, she looks not quite right...a little crazy or maybe a lot crazy.. Anyways, I said thank you and carried on with my day.

The second time I saw her she approached me again and said "Your daughters eyes will be fine, everything will be fine. Just believe me, I know." Annnnndd I said a polite thank you and in my mind thought man this lady IS crazy but so very reassuring and kind. At this point I also thought okay well Gabriella is with me and is wearing her glasses, so nothing really to strange about her comments other than the fact that she seemed sooo sure and convincing about what she was saying.

Then a few days after I had our last appt. with Gabriella's opthamologist and she told us Gabi needed surgery I again ran into this lady. She stopped us and said " Her eyes will be fine, the glasses will do the job. The glasses are all she needs." And this time I thought.. holy beep.. is this lady a phsycic how does she know these things, I hope she's right and how does she miraculousy appear with reassuring kind words at the exact times when I need to hear them from someone.

Anyways, I still don't know this ladies name and I still don't know why she appears out of the blue at just the right times. I am home three days out of the week and know allot of the regulars that are out and about during the week but this lady is not a regular in the neighborhood.

Regardless of how insignificant these comments could be, I am choosing to read into them because I like to "believe in magic" haha it keeps me young and I really don't feel like these comments are insignificant. This lady regardless of if she is crazy or not is a good person and makes me feel very good about things, I am choosing to believe that she does know that things will all be good and that Gabi's eyes will be fine forever just with glasses. Thank you lady I don't know, you are very kind.

Videos of Gabi

2009-03-25T23:16:00.000-07:00

Here are some video's of Gabriella taken with Mike's Blackberry

^Gabi at her cousin's birthday party

-

^Gabi doing a dance while Mommy sings - it's too bad we didn't catch this from the front (I thought we had a better video of dancing but I was wrong) and pardon the terrible singing hahah.

2009-03-19T21:53:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't posted in quite some time, I wrote a long ramling blog just the other day and while I was typing I happended to notice that the 2009 Canucks for Kids Fund Telethon was on TV (Canucks Place Children's Hospice)..needless to say I was in tears only seconds into watching it and I immediately deleted my post.

Instantaniously I realized that it is so easy to take life for granted (a pretty obvious statement...but sometimes the obvious is forgotten about). For the most part I really do not think I take things for granted. It is a lesson that Gabriella taught me simply by being born; but it is very easy to get wrapped up in the everyday stresses and worries of life (a common theme in my blog..me being a worrier..) and I think that although it is natural and in fact, healthy; for me it is something I should work on trying to control (the worrying..try to go with the flow a bit more and realx). ** I've said this a million time but I have no idea how to do this.. that is my conclusion**

The post I was writing was about Gabriella's last eye appointment (her eyes are a bit better than originally thought..the older she gets the more accurate the results from the eye exams are becoming) and how we are trying to get her vision therapy for her monocular vision....pretty small potatoes when you hear the stories from the Childrens Hospice but nonetheless our small potatoes.

Other than that teensy medical update Gabi and I are getting used to me working an extra day spread through three days from home.. a pretty sweet deal if you ask me. I work two and half hours from home tues, wed and thurs (any hours of the day..Gabi's naptime, bedtime etc.) and this allows me to do more interesting projects while at work on Monday and Friday.. currently working on developing a Wine Club....delicious! I love staying home with Gabriella but I have to admit....I feel inadequate when it comes to dometic chores..I'm not a great cook and I prefer to play with my daughter rather than clean. My theory is I can live with a messy house sometimes as long as it's clean I'm good...I didn't stop working to clean.. I stopped working to look after my daughter and sometimes I think this needs to be reminded to certain people in the house.. wink wink.

Anyways..I'm going to try and post a video of Gabriella dancing..but I am technically challenged and it is on my husbands blackberry .. why I don't know.. we do have a videocamera haha.. so how to get it from phone to computer? I'll figure it out and when I do..(this could be months from now haha) a video posting we will come.

Good night.

Parental Preference

2009-02-27T13:28:00.000-08:00

This week Daddy is Gabriella's favorite person. I know I should be reveling in my new spare time, or actually enjoying some tea or phone time while Mike now takes on giving Gabriella her evening baths but I just can't and I DON"T want free time. Bluntly.. I want to hear Mommy Moommmmmy Mommmmy again in the evenings. Despite wishing in the past for a few minutes to put my feet up around 7pm before bedtime.. I actually wish I hadn't wished that.. be careful what you wish for haha.

What is with this new found preference?.. usually Gabriella enjoys hanging out with both of us equally (and maybe requested Mommy a tad little more being we breastfed and I am mostly stay at home).

This preferance just started a week ago and it is only at nighttime that she calls for her Daddy over and over and over again.. as the routine used to be:
1) I takes her for her bath
2) Daddy get's the milk warmed and meets us in her room to say goodnight
3) I read her one story, we brush our teeth and then she's goes to sleep.

However, this last week Gabi keeps on calling Daddddyy after she finishes her cup of milk and wants just one more cup of milk.. and until Daddy get's it.. there's no sleeping going on. Maybe these new additonal "Daddy" request are actaully stall tactics for bedtime.. hmmmm could she be that manipulative at the tender age of 20 months??? She is also showing interest in self-weaning and sleeping without being nursed to sleep.. (this is a good thing) maybe just maybe this is a good window of opportunity to get Daddy to put her to sleep so we can officially be weaned???

Anyways, I know that parental prefernces in children are actually a great sign of cognitive and emotional development and don't get me wrong I love the fact that Gabriella is bonding with Daddy and excerising her ability to control her environment (not that bonding with Dad has even been and issue.. those two are like two little peas in a pod) buuuut I can't help but feeling a wee bit slighted.. :( or heartbroken perhaps haha. I know that is very silly and I would never let her see that I feel that way because I know it's ridiculous and if I let on that my feelings were indeed hurt I know that would be unwarranted guilt on our little girl -talk about emotionally scarring..

Well tonight Daddy's going out with his friends to watch the hockey game..hopefully she will enjoy hanging out with me tonight and I won't have to hear Daddddyyy dadddddyyy daddddyyy. Fingers crossed people, this could be a long night as our Milk man is out.

Happy Valentines Day

2009-02-14T20:18:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentines Day All

Above is a wordle of our blog (a combination of common words used in our blog). Ellen from To the Max just posted about Wordle's and I thought it was pretty neat (okay haven't used that word since grade 7 haha). Anyways, I have just put Gabriella to bed and I have to say I am loving this new found night time freedom. Two weeks ago Gabriella got her very first "big girl bed." Not a toddler bed, but and actual twin sized bed and she LOVES it. Ever since Gabriella was about two or three months old we have been co-sleeping and had absolutely no issues with it at all until about a few months ago. Gabriella is a mover, roller and kicker and we only have a queen size bed. My husband is 6 ft. 5' and I'm 5 ft. 10' and Gabriella is in the 90th percentille for height so yeah not much room...hence the decision for Big girl bed...that plus the fact that my Mom decided to gift us the magical sleep country bowling ball bed.. (I call it that because of the commercial with the people jumping on the bed with the bowling ball pins set up and nothing falls over). Anyways, not to sound too informercialish but IT'S true.. I can roll away from Gabriella and she won't even move! This bed is a miracle.. plus a million times more comfortable than ours. I have to say though I am really missing co-sleeping with her and also wish our bed was as darn comfy as hers.. mmmm perhaps we move Gabi to our bed and sleep on her twin hahahah

I forgot to explain why I now have freedom.. you see when Gabi slept in our bed because she is a roller she tended to roll very very close to the edges so we set up guard rails on one side of the bed. Because we were determined not to make our bed a virtual crib we refused to put up the second guard rail which then made me sooo nervous that I literally would spend all of my evenings reading in the bedroom from 8pm (Gabi's bedtimes) onwards to ensure she did not roll away. Yeah this will make you crazy people hahah but also very informed as I don't think I have read that many books in such a time period in my life hehe. Well that actually is pretty embarassing to admit.. but hey .. it was worth it Gabi didn't fall off the bed and she is now safe and sound and happy in her very own comfy (oh so comfy) bed.

Anyways..my husbands just out taking the dog for a walk and I thought I'd post..but he's back so we're off to watch a movie (VOD)... haha wow aren't we romantic..

Happy Valentines Day!!

Heart & Stroke Foundation -The Big Bike Event

2009-02-09T09:03:00.000-08:00

I am posting our recent Team Recruiting email on our blog for people who may be in the area and checking out our blog. We are really excited about this years Big Bike Event, it is a total blast and is all in support of the Heart & Stroke Foundation. So far we have raised over $1000 (in just three days) -a HUGE thank you for everyones support so far!!!

Thanks for taking the time to time to check in to our blog :)

This May 19th at the North Shore Automall (12pm); Team Gabriella will be riding on the super fun 30 person Big Bike in honor of our little girl Gabriella -our hero and stroke survivor.

For those who do not know our story; you can read it here at:http://www.heartandstroke.bc.ca/site/c.kpIPKXOyFmG/b.4174821/k.DCCA/Christine_Bracaglia.htm
Gabriella will be turning two in June of 2009 and has made an amazing recovery. She is developing as a typical 1 1/2 year old should and has taught us much about love, strength, life and perseverance in only a short 1 1/2 years. We need 27 Bike Riders to join our team for this May!! This is an annual event that Mike and I will be doing for as long as we can keep doing it.

To ride on "The Big Bike" there is a $50 minimum donation (can be raised by people sponsoring you or donated) to the Heart & Stroke Foundation. This can be made during the online sign up process.We hope you can join our team and/or donate to our cause.

To Join Team Gabriella click here: https://secure.heartandstroke.ca/faf/search/searchTeamPart.asp?ievent=299976&lis=1&kntae299976=F34E5F2ADA194BA99B54994101BC068B&supId=224175026&team=3309588
To donate to the cause: Click the above link and select "General donation" tab.Thank you for supporting Heart and Stroke Foundation of B.C. & Yukon - Tribute, General, Events. Your contribution is greatly appreciated.

Back from vacation

2009-01-29T22:59:00.000-08:00

Wow back to reality..we are back from our vacation and I am wishing it were as warm here as it was in Mexico! We had an excellent time and are all well rested now to get back to routine :). All my worries about Gabriella and traveling were for nothing. I think she may have enjoyed the
trip the most out of everyone. She cried a total of two times for a brief minute or two on the plane ride home..and trust me so did I...our 6 hour plane ride turned into a total travel time of 19 hours..that's right we could have flown to London, England and back two times.. NEVER NEVER fly with SUNWING...to recap our flight home in brief:
-checked out of hotel at 12pm
-Boarded aircraft a 6:30pm (was supposed to be 5pm)
-Sat on the plane for 2 1/2 hours with no air conditioning as they forgot to refuel, then were told they put too much fuel into the plane and we were too heavy to fly. Drove around tarmack to burn fuel.
-Finally took off
-15 minutes to landing were told we had run out of fuel.. WT? had to make emergency landing in Victoria, BC
-2am We were told we could not leave the airplane and they didn't know what was going to happen
-Were told we were going to refuel and fly back to Vancouver
-Plane refueled, we taxied then pilot came on saying his hours were up they had to head back and hopefully customs were still there otherwise we'd have to stay in the plane all night..arghh
-3am THANK god they caught the customs agents as they were heading home and we were let out of the plane..
-6:30am -Back on airplane for vancouver
-7:30am..still sitting in damn airplane while they filled out "paperwork"
-9:30am home sweet home..
Moral of the story..we will NEVER EVER fly SUNWING again

Anyways, despite this horrible return the trip was EXCELLENT..Wish I were still there.
Here are some pictures:

The picture above shows Gabriella on stage during the kids show. )I can't seem to put commentary beside the pictures today..?!?) She did not want to get off the stage. They just happened to be playing one of her favorite songs that night Il Coccodrillo come fa

Neurologist appt.

2009-01-14T23:05:00.000-08:00

Well I think I am going to have to eat crow.. I take back my "Mr. Muskrat" comment because today our neurologist has gone into my good books!! He's is officially off my "black list" and my chip on my shoulder has now grown back. And why you may ask..because he has "fired" us a patients!!! That's right..we are no longer being followed by a neurologist!! He felt Gabriella no longer requires his services as she is doing so well. But he is always there for us if we should need him in the future.

I am experiencing mixed feelings here..mostly joy and excitement but I have this eennsy teeny weeny tiny little part of me that fears "letting go of the worry." I am afraid that if I let myself relax things will fall apart..I guess because the initial learning of Gabriella's stroke was so traumatic for me that I am in disbelief that after hearing her prognosis and diagnosis of having a moderately sized stroke she can be (so far) not experiencing any lasting effects from it (excluding the issues with her eyes). See I have to write "so far" because I worry if I let myself believe all is REALLY fine ..I will jinx her outcome. When did I become so supersticious?!?!?

These are my late night unedited worries popping up on my blog here..please don't misinterpret them. I am so thankful for how everything has turned out and I enjoy being with my little girl more than anything in the world. I will always be an "observant" mother; I know this..but maybe now I can learn to relax a tad more. I believe with Gabriella's hard work, determination and ability to just enjoy life she has been able to make such a great recovery as of date. When I am with her-all worries are put aside and it is just us enjoying our days together and I now can shave off a 1/8th percent more of worry :)

Anyways, there it is! Our EXCELLENT news for the day :) Now to go enjoy our Holidays :) ahhhh (6 more days until Mexico)

I thought I would post some pictures of Gabriella from the hospital..I can't believe how tiny she once was. Goodnight all..until later.

Monocular Vision

2009-01-08T21:26:00.000-08:00

Monocular Vision is most likely how Gabriella will always see.

Today at our appt. our Opthamologist, Medical Student, Assistant Opthamoligist and lingering other medical student accompanied us during our visit- PS: You always know some new information is going to be given to you when the "residents" attend your appt.

The new information (which is not at all suprising and was expected) is that Gabriella most likely will never gain binocular vision.

Gabriella has fairly good vision (only very slightly near sighted) but can only use one eye at a time to see. Her eyes have so far not learned to see together. We have tried patching and glasses and ARE still continuing with this treatment but in addition to her Strabisum (turn of her left eye) she has Nystagmus (unintentional jittery movement of her left eye). The Nystagmus is what is making it hard for Gabriella to learn to see with both eyes.

What this means for Gabriella and how it will affect her life as quoted by our Opthamolist: She will be limited in her employment choices such as: " she will not be able to be a commercial air pilot or perhaps police officer. She will be able to drive and as she has lived with this her whole life thus far she really will not be affected a whole lot. She will be able to read and it should not affect her depth perception significantly." People with monocular vision learn how to "see and read ques from other non 3D visual simuli and piece the picture together. They may not be able to see 3D objects as we do but as long as we maintain Gabi's vision everything should be fine.

An operation is most likely to happen in the future but not until she is older and we can do more visual tests with her. Even with surgery because of the Nystagmus, her turn will always come back ..making surgery not a one time event for her to correct her eyes. This is something Gabriella will have to monitor her whole life. I found this excellent explanation on what it is like to see with monocular vision (pasted below). Now to google, research and read read read about eye therapies..if anyone has any therapies they know of for nystagmus and strengthening vision please let me know. They say "the eyes are extensions from the brain"..therefore I believe therapy is necessary to correct this rather/or in addition to surgery. This link has a lot of useful information relative to Binocular impairment:
http://www.children-special-needs.org/questions.html

I'm interjecting here a day later!......because I just found a great article on STEREO SUE a lady who learned to see with binocular vision at the age of 48. Here is her story!(http://www.visiontherapystories.org/depth_perception.html) ..I'm not discounting binocular vision yet until we try proper vision therapy!!

–written by anthony d’agostino
If people truly had zero depth perception, how could they function? Everything could be like that game you play when you were a kid where you hold the moon in between your two fingers. Or that “Kids in the Hall” skit, where the guy looks through his fingers and says “I’m crushing your head!” and then he squeezes the people on the street people between his finger and thumb. But people can tell when things are distant or near..one eye or two

But there is more to depth perception that stereo-vision. Objects that are further away get lighter in color and can be hazier than objects that are closer to you. There are also differences in size and proportion.

People who see with one eye could learn to rely on these cues to a greater degree than those who use two eyes.

My exotropia was alternating and intermittent from the time I was 7 until my late teens when it became nearly permanent. I would always choose one eye or the other..and I kept the ability to pull them in for photographs or first meeting people.

When I did the binocular vision tests in the Ophthalmologist�s office, looking with one eye…the objects on the card did not pop-out at all. When I consciously pulled my eyes in prior to surgery…the letters and (in my case it happened to be) insects jumped off the card like a 3-d movie. It was at a hospital mainly for children..so everything was Elmo! and Finding Nemo..and cute animals and bugs!

For me…the difference between stereo-vision and monocular vision is: The front of a curved brown-stone building in Boston, is more curved. The texture of grass appears more “grass like,” and detailed. The shadows and highlights that help to illustrate the edges of textures is more evident. From my perspective, I am able to perceive more of the “aliveness” and “tension” contained in the object I am viewing when I am using both eyes. The variation in tones is more evident to me and the curvature of things.

I sometimes thought of my strabismus-vision as a string that was de-tuned. Sorry for the synaesthesic analogy, but when the string sounded..it was flat. After surgery…my larger field of vision seems to just “float” in front of me, more like a taut string, ready to resonate.

Maybe there are two headlights illuminating the distant object now instead of just one.

Frazzle Dazzle

2009-01-05T21:37:00.000-08:00

Well the Holiday season has finally come to an end. I can't say that I'm too sad about that..I know grinch grinch. And trust me that last sentence is extremely ODD for me to say as I LOVE LOVE LOVE Christmas. But this year our entire family had the stomach flu..Gabriella still is working it out of her system. This must have been the most contagious, disgusting and exhausting flu we have had for yeaaaaarrrs. In addition my Husbands Grandmother who lives in Italy just past away. Sadly Gabriella nor I ever had the chance to meet her. I really wish we had met; she lived on an olive farm from what I heard and had a donkey once upon a time who loved eating plums. I've heard many stories about her, may she rest in peace. XOXO Nonna.

Despite the holidays being over we have a busy schedule ahead of us. We have Gabi's eye apt. (again) this week to see how Gabriella's new prescription is working for her eye turn. My opinion..it hasn't changed much.. I don't see the turn getting any better..but I don't see it getting worse so that is good :)

Then next week we have her neurology appt. This is the anticipated appt. every six months!! I'm still "iffy" about out neurologist..maybe because he's the one who broke the news to us I hold a little chip on my shoulder for him. But more likely because the guy has the social skills of a muskrat..but people tell me "he's the best" so despite his poor demeanor we'll stick it out because his medical knowledge seems to be right on.

And then we have to take Gabi to get a Hepatitis A shot because we're off to the Mexican Riviera for a week with my husbands Family!! 16 of us ..we're really looking forward to it.

In the process of preparing for our trip I've learned that I have a new found fear of flying!?!?!
I used to have no problem flying -have been on planes many many times for work and fun but now that Gabriella is here I find myself worrying about the most ridiculous scenarios. Like what if we hit turbulence and I can't hold on to her tight enough??? Okay it could happen but realistically it's probably as likely as getting struck by lightening. But thats the thing.. ever since we learned Gabriella had a stroke I find that instead of having a "that would never happen to me" attitude I think that the "never coulds" will and most likely will to me.. well not me but us, or Gabi. Man I need help hey haha.

I've started to wonder lately if it's possible that I have post traumatic stress disorder? or Perhaps this over worry attitude is part of being a Mom now? OOORR perhaps I have finally lost my mind haha.

Perhaps I just need a darn vacation already.......15 days and counting...

Transitions and Life Changes..

2008-12-29T23:39:00.000-08:00

With the New Year creeping up I can't help but be forced to think of my "new years resolutions" hmm the list is endless..that says something doesn't it!! I'm definitely in a "Transitional and Life Change" state of mind but I am feeling somewhat like a child learning how to paint on a blank canvas ..a tad lost..
To be brutally honest I've felt this way (and by "this way" I mean it in a TOTALLY positive way) since Gabriella has been born. I just feel the rough beginning really made me see things in a different light (I've posted about this in the past). Relationships with friends have changed, some have been lost as I no longer relate, small worries seem piddly to me now and my biggest pet peeve is people who don't appreciate things in life. I feel like hmm how to explain..a sheep in wolves clothing..but without the horrible context behind it...perhaps like I need to add a new dimension to my life...Important Disclaimer : BESIDES the obvious.. raising Gabriella and my Family..Perhaps this "hole" I need to fill lies within a new hobby? new exercise regime? or perhaps all this is is me needing to balance a little more "me" time into the equation who knows..
Anyone share this feeling?

MERRY CHRISTMAS

2008-12-22T13:31:00.000-08:00

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Years!!!

Night Terrors

2008-12-10T19:11:00.000-08:00

Today Gabriella and I went to her Pediatrician for her 18 month immunizations and while we were there I thought I would inquire about Night Terrors as in the past Gabi has had two occasions of night terrors and my curiosity was sparked by Erin and Sarah's recent posts.

Our Pediatrician gave us some great advice I thought I would share with anyone who has a child who experiences these so called Night Terrors. She said that Night Terrors are a part of the parasonoma (okay I am saying this completely wrong I apologize) which is part of the same brain function that makes people sleep walk and talk. As these run on my side and my husbands I am no longer contemplating whether or not the past two instinces of Gabi's screaming sessions in the middle of the night where in fact. night terrors. I am now convinved they were. Lucky for us it has only been these two times as our Pedi was telling me that some children experience these nightly.

And long story short her advice to break the Night Terror cycle is as follows:

1) Start taking note when your child start screaming (with night terrors apparently the time in which your child will wake up is pretty consistent)

2) After you have figured out the approximate "waking up" time make sure to wake your child up 15 minutes before this time. You need to break the sleep cycle in order to get rid of the night terrors.

3) Apparently you only need to do this for about one week and your childs sleep cycle should be "re-set" and the night terrors should disappear.

She also mentioned that despite how scary and concerning it is to hear your child scream in such ways they apparently have no recollection of the event the next day. Making the experience a scary one for you but our children are none the wiser.. phew.

Hope this helps anyone who may be experiencing these night terrors. If you try the recommended advice from our pediatrician please let me know if it works for you.

:)

T'is the Season................

2008-12-08T21:06:00.000-08:00

If it's possible I may have OD'd on Christmas Cheer this past week haha. It all started Wednesday when we mailed our Christmas cards, Thursday we set up our Christmas Tree and put the lights out in the front of the house (earliest decoration set up ever ..if you know me you know i'm usually the one putting our tree up one week before the 25th not one week into december haha). Friday we decorated my husbands parents tree, Saturday we went to the miniature Christmas Train, Light display and petting farm at Stanley Park and finally Sunday we went to Northlands golf course for a Santa's Breakfast.. YUM!
Gabriella enjoyed every moment of it. Christmas is so much more enjoyable with a little one..I feel like a kid again!! :) Here are some pictures from our adventurous week.

Happy Holidays Everyone :)

Here comes Santa Clause, Here comes Santa Clause..right up the Fariway!

Gabriella not to sure about this Santa Clause business

Grandma and Gabi

Life sized Gingerbread house...mmmm

Physio

2008-11-29T20:17:00.000-08:00

Just an update on the physio appt. the other day.
The "odd awkward" movement we had thought was "awkward" is apparently just that..just normal toddler awkwardness. I swear I'm not looking for the negative just seriously over analytical when observing Gabriella's physical development.
I've decided that from now on I should keep my observations discussed behind closed doors (away from little ears) as I don't want Gabriella to think I am constantly critiquing her every move. Because of what happened I guess I am although I always praise her efforts and am extremely conscious of my reactions to her achievements..ie: I like to challenge her but never if I know she cannot succeed. Anyways the physiotherapist was blown away by Gabriella's physical and cognitive abilities. She said her movements are completely where they should be for her age (18 months). She is running, walking upstairs with help from Mom and/or wall, standing on one leg to balance, kicking balls, throwing (everything..oh boy) and plays in squating position. Her hips (which I was concerned about) were checked and all is equal..The only concern the physio had was Gabriella's attention to where she was going. Gabi does have a tendency when excited to run and not watch where she is stepping. But having said that I have seen her swiftly maneuver around many toy obsticles and not fall..so?!?! On the flip side I have also seen her run off a few drops in gymnastics indicating to me she did not even see them. Perhaps this is an issue with her vision..I am thinking it is. Or perhaps it is just an 18 month old having too much fun!?!
So our new things to work on are:
Keep encouraging kicking
Throwing things at targets
and find physical activities that help with balance. (keep up with gymnastics and gymboree).

Anyways there is my update. Also thank you Sarah and Erin for your posts on Christmas presents it really helped me with our list for Gabi this year. I really really wanted to get one of the Skuut bikes or a mini pv glider or the little radio flyer trikes but really when could she ride those during the winter? Better Birthday presents for the summer. I was also contemplating a toys kitchen I know she would love but really you could go absolutely crazy with buying things and hey I only work 2 days a week.. haha ..So long story short I was stumped on what to get her as my mind was really stuck on a ride-ons or trikes but I ended up going with the Goodnight Moon board game, Hide N' Squeak Eggs, multitude of crayons/pens (for fine motor development), and just for fun the Little people Farm :) Gabi loves animals!!! I'm still looking for
some good threading games for 18 month olds but to get at a later date. If anyone knows of some good ones with BIG pieces please let me know where I can find them.

Now to finish off the rest of our shopping.. off to battle the mall crowds..uuugghhh

Eye doctor results

2008-11-24T21:20:00.000-08:00

So the opthamologist wasn't as "wowed" by Gabi's eye progress as I was..in fact, they really didn't offer much new information at all. They just analyze Gabi's eye and ho humm to themselves and when I asked What do you think? It's alot better isn't it?!?! they say " do you think it's better" and I said YES, quite alloooottt better,,,,to which they answer "that's good." Hmm okay thanks people haha. Sometimes they're like that but yet I still trust what they are doing and I know there answers are like that because 1) they don't see Gabi all the time so they are only comparing numbers and 2) They are perfectionist..it's not good news until it's 100% corrected or nearly 100% so I don't let there lack of enthusiasm bother me anymore. At least these are what I hope to be the reasons for there lack of friendly banter and much anticipated information.
Anyways, this time they found Gabriella's prescription to have slightly changed and so we have to get yet another pair of lenses made. The change is so slight that her vision is in fact, not getting worse and if it wasn't for her turn we wouldn't even think of getting new lenses but because her eye does still turn in the Dr's actually want her prescription to get stronger so they can give her stronger lenses to correct the turn. It's a finicky process fine tuning the prescription according to Gabriellas eye turn progress...note to self: never strive to be a pediatric opthamoligist..can you imagine the supply of tylenol a ped. opthomologist much have..oh boy..it's by far the loudest clinics we go to..
anyways there we have it..no exciting news here. We see our physio tomorrow which I am very happy about. I am pretty convinced Gabi does have a slight stiffness or awkwardness in her hip or midsection ..it's barely noticeable but over the weekend she had a cold and man was the weakness ever apparent. But after her nap her coordination seemed to regain itself...I am interested to see what they have to say tomorrow about this and also to get some new ideas for physio to help her with this.

Off to the Opthamologist

2008-11-17T15:48:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow we're back for our two month check up with Gabriella's Opthamologist and I think it's going to be a pleasant meeting. Despite the long waits it will be a positive meeting because Gabriella's eyes are becoming so much straighter at least to the naked eye the left eye seems alot straighter. We will see tomorrow!!

We had a little incident with her glasses the other day actually..we were out shopping for christmas presents and we were literally in the store for no longer than 10 minutes when I looked down to see Gabi Glass'less.. so I asked her Gabi where are your glasses? And she turns her palms up in the air and shrugs with the intention of saying "I don't know?" so I ask again Gabriella where did you put your glasses? and she points the ground and gives me this solid chuckle.. what a stinker.. she soooo did it on purpose haha. At this point I was trying so hard not to laugh despite being somewhat miffed at having to dig through clothing wracks for a mini pair of glasses haha. Anyways that evening we did not find her glasses and so I called and ordered a new pair..The next day however the store called and voila! They located her glasses and we were back in action.

We are also meeting with her physiotherapist again next week which I am quite glad about. Gabriella, although, is walking extremely well sometimes has the "odd" awekward movements in her walk that I am xrossing my fingers are just the atypical awkward toddler walking but better to be safe than sorry right.

Anyways, we are also going to be working with a local school this December to raise funds for the Children's Hospital or Heart and Stroke Foundation-the details are yet to be worked out. But Gabriella, Mike and I have been invited to speak at the school about In-Utero Strokes from what I know so far..I will fill everyone in in the near future with the details.

I love this picture.. pictures really bring out the wander in Gabriella's left eye and in this picture you can hardly tell.

Pumpkins

2008-10-20T13:10:00.001-07:00

Well it's been a while again. I truly am horrible at blogging lately.Gabriella is doing great although has now accrued an irrational fear of Hay?!?! Go figure. We were at the Pumpin Patch to choose our glorious pumpkins haha for halloween and although there were scary "goblins," "skeletons" and life size corn on the cobs creatures bouncing around (All of which I thought would be a tad frightening for a little munchkin) her fear was the hay field. It didn't last long but there was no coercing Gabi to play with the rest of the kids in the hay. Oh well..to each their own!
We are still in gymnastics and Gabriella LOVES IT now!! She practices her "stork stands" (standing on one foot with arms in the air), her stretches and balancing all the time and ON furniture in the house! EEEkks! At first you worry they can't accomoplish these physical tasks and once they do you think EGAD why did I want you to learn how to do that so badly again hahah.
Gabriella's eye is doing AMAZINGLY well. With her glasses they are, from what I can see, perfectly straight. Without the glasses, her left eye is still turning in but I really think this Novemeber our Optomoligist is going to be very pleasantly surprised with her progress.
Nothing else is too new in our world. Gabi is as active as ever, her personality is really emerging, she is saying new words everyday (Appp uuulllss "apples" ) is the latest and were loving every minute of it!

Funny Fiddler on the Tractor Pull to the Pumpkin Field

Right before the Hay Meltdown

Autumn and Mrs. Worry Wart

2008-09-23T22:15:00.000-07:00

My favorite season has arrived :) Autumn, not too hot, not too cold! Breezy, warm fun days where sweaters are a must but no need for jackets, sunscreen and hats..ahhh the best!

Despite this lovely coming of fall however, I've been struggling with the "what to tell people" dilemma...once again; I thought I was past this?!? Certain situations tend to pop up and blind side me. When this happens out of the blue, it really knocks me out of my happy mind set for a few days and honestly I teeter on the brink of complete emotional chaos,

I don't often have to "tell people" anything because Gabriella is doing so well and with the exception of having to wear glasses acts and looks like any other 15 month old child. It's situations such as joining a new class where my internal bantering begins (do I tell them do I not tell them?!?!). Gabriella just started gymnastics which of course is very physical and I thought would be excellent to help her with coordination and in particular help with her eyesight (purposeful movement with her body on beams etc.I am thinking that would take allot of coordination mentally and physically and especially help strengthen her eye??) And MOST importantly would be something fun for Gabriella.

Anyways, the first few classes were crazy, Gabi was soooo excited and happy to be there that she was all over the place running around and being completely clumsy ..expected for a 15 month old I know I know.. but my "crazy nitpicking badgering mind" started me thinking oh no, is this because of the stroke, is it because she had a slight weakness on her left side that noone can detect anymore, is it because he eyesight is worse than we thought, is she overstimulated? etc. etc... so here I am frantically running absurd possibilities in my mind and I come to the conclusion that we're going to cancel gymnastics.

That afternoon I call the director of the program to ask to cancel the program and tranfer to an art class where physical play is not included and I get the third degree and a major guilt trip for asking to cancel..ughh. Okay, well fair enough I didn't realize there was a policy saying after two classes you couldn't transfer but it could have been communicated to me in a slightly more positive and less rude manner. And this is where I blurt out that Gabriella had a stroke and the reasons for me wanting to cancel and my worries.. and following this conversation the internal guilt and anger sets in. Why did I have to tell them? It's none of their business anyways? Why couldn't I have kept it to myself and said fine thank you and moved on? Why I am feeling guilty for expressing this anyways when I am not ashamed and more often than not am completely okay with expressing this to people? I know this is a realty of my life, Gabriella had a stroke, I need to be strong enough to communicate this to teachers, parents, coaches etc. for the rest of her life; but for some reason I am really not able to do this right now. I know it seems ridiculous doesn't it..at least it seems so to me. I'm having a tough time explaining this in this post actually so I hope I don't sound like a nut job and perhaps if you are reading this as a parent of an in-utero stroke survivor you will understand. I guess long story short..I thought I was off this emotional rollercoaster already..I guess not.

Buuut to end on a positive note, after all of this..today we gave gymnastics another shot and Gabriella again had so much fun and was not clumsy in the least (comparatively for a 15 month of haha). So to conclude, my initial oversensitive worries were just that.

Charlotte Diamond anyone!!!

2008-09-08T13:51:00.000-07:00

This weekend was busy busy!!! Saturday we went to get anoooottthhherr new lens for Gabriella's glasses. This walking falling business is not only causing bumps, scrapes and bruises on my little darlings forhead but it's also causing major damage to Gabi's glasses. Thank goodness for warrantee's hey!

While waiting for Gabriella's lenses to be ready (takes an hour and we live 40 minutes away as well-so it's pretty much an all day event) we went to Queen Elizabeth Park-we're really becoming regulars at this beautiful garden since it's so close to Children's Hospital and her Eye Doctors. So whenever we're in the neighborhood we pop by. Such a gorgeous garden.

Then Sunday we headed downtown to the Avalon Dairy Farm haha for the Charlotte Diamond concert WOOT WOOT haha. Aww it was adorable, so many little kids dancing around, horses, cows, clows (eeks, scarrry), and games. It was a blast! Now that Gabriella is walking so well it's so much fun to watch her enjoy the independance and what better a place than a park concert.

The Search for the MuddyBuddy

2008-08-28T22:19:00.000-07:00

I never would have thought when I woke up this morning that my day would unfold the way it did. It all began at 7am when I awoke to the sound of yet another Rainy day -we do live in Vancouver..it's expected haha. We had the usual morning routine; coffee (for me and LOTS), play, read book, breakfast and walk dog. It's the "walk dog" part that sparked my tremendous idea to look for a Muddy Buddy (full piece rain suit) for Gabriella. As I was fighting with her to stay in her stroller and trying to avert her attention while trying to put the rain cover on the stroller (it's clear ..no idea why it's so frightening..?!?!?) I thought YOU desperately need a muddy buddy my friend. So after our walk (I never did win the battle of getting the rain guard on) we dried off, got in the car and headed on our day long adventure for "The Search of The Muddy Buddy."

It's 10:30am and were heading over the bridge to a store I know has rain gear for kids, Gabi was in great spirits then., but it all went downhill from that moment on. We arrived and as I was looking over the gumboots and jackets Gabi spots a life size bald freaky doll and instantly falls in love.. crap! So I try to again avert her attention to more less freaky items in the store but it does not work..argh instant temper tantrum.. so we leave the store and head across the street (i'm carrying her at this point-no stroller) to London Drugs to get some photo paper and all is well. Gabi is again her joyful self Phew! i'm thinking at this point argh relief okay errands done-forget the muddy buddy let's go home and get some lunch. So we pay for our paper, bring the cart back and I open my umbrella and POP .. it folds inside out and all the fabric flings off of it!! WT??
So back into the store to buy a new umbrella ..okay okay so I needed a new one anyways but seriously..how annoying. After buying the new umbrella my arm is ready to fall off as I am still carrying my not so light little girl and a few loads of paper and we run into a random stranger who wants to have a seven hour conversation about glasses in the pouring rain. I endure our endless conversation and have now missed 3 lights to cross the street.. my arm is at this point literally falling off. We finally cross the street get to the car where a pizza delivery car is parked right BEHIND ME? Could this day get anymore annoying?

The pizza guy finally moves and were on our way home..YAYY lunch and leftover cake (I'm now officially 30 WOHOO..waahhh).

So back over the bridge we go and BAM Gabi's out like a light..usually this is great I bring her in when we get home and no problem. But last night we had Family over for a birthday celebration and Gabi stayed up a few hours past her bedtime so I did not want to wake her. So what to do..KEEP DRIVING.. Well I figure Gabi's sleeping I may as well drive to another store that sells Muddy Buddies and try this all over again. This store is near a little restaurant that serves great healthy lunches so my new plan is to have lunch then go shopping for this infamous Muddy Buddy!!! :)

We arrive and get PRIME parking right outside of the restaurant. YAY Gabi awakens and is in a great mood!! I gather up all of our stuff: Gabi-check, purse-check, umbrella-check, Gabi's heavier jacket-check ANNNNDD
wait for it! This is the highlight of our Search!!

KEYS-no check! Argh I LOCKED THEM IN THE TRUCK! OMG.. At least I had Gabi and she wasn't in the truck but man..
Looong story short: We called a Tow Truck, they Jimmied the truck and go my keys, we had a yummy lunch, ended up going to an art gallery and FINALLY

BOUGHT THE MUDDY BUDDY..

I think the below picture pretty much sums up my Day!!

PS: Gabi was actually upset here due to "wanting the camera" despite our seriously ridiculous day, we actually did have a good day and Gabi wasn't in that bad of a mood..very patient actually (with the exception of her doll temper tantrum).

The Muddy Buddy (now to find Gum Boots..but that's another day!)

Walking :)

2008-08-21T21:03:00.000-07:00

I apologize for the abscence in blogging; it's been way to long.

Gabriella, although has been super duper cruiser for months now has as of three days ago begun walking unassisted !!! (although the pictures posted are just before that happened)

She is so proud of herself, as our her Daddy and I :)

As for physio-our physiotherapist through the IDP (infant development program) is still following us but says we no longer have specific physio type excercises to manually do as Gabi is doing them herself through day to day activities. YAY -I'm having a hard time processing this though because I feel if I let myself "relax" in this area we may have a regression..although the physiotherapist did reassure me that is unlikely.

I still can't help ensuring Gabi has the right opportunities to do lots of activity though..I guess I would be doing that regardless..I just have to "let-go" of the stress thoughts.. like for example..if you were at the park with a child who didn't need physio would you really think climbing up the slide would be "good leg strengthening" excercise hahah...doubt it!

Anyways our second physiotherapist -who we hired externally, has a keen eye and works very well with Gabi, is monitoring her foot turn but has also said we do not need to see her until Gabi is walking confidently. Another YAY!!!! :)

As for Gabriella's eye -it's doing pretty good, with her new stronger prescription lenses her eye is going straighter and straighter.. although we are not in the clear yet. We are still monitoring it every 2 to 3 months as it is still in the grey area of possibly needing surgery..fingers crossed XXX

Other than that..nothing too new in our lives. I'm back to work Mondays and Fridays and am enjoying that. Although Tues, Wed, and Thurs are WAY more fun!!! Gabi is going to Gymnastics starting sept. 9th (ps: what kind of gymnastics does a 1 year do? hmm haha we will find out!!) and we're still in gymboree..Man Gabi LOVES Jimbo..I have to admit though..clowns scare the crap out me.. but she loves him haha.

Oh side note: Gabi hasn't done this weird involutary kick-out with her right leg that she was doing the other week..so odd..it was very similar to her Arm flings she used to do..I'm keeping an eye on her leg though and if it happens again I will be calling our physio's.

Okay well I'm off to bed now..I'll leave with a parting email "forward" that I thought was great!..
Bye for now

Life : Explained
A boat docked in a tiny Mexican village. An American tourist
complimented the Mexican fisherman on the quality of his fish and
asked how long it took him to catch them.

Not very long," answered the Mexican.

"But then, why didn't you stay out longer and catch more?" asked the
American.

The Mexican explained that his small catch was sufficient to meet his
needs and those of his family.

The American asked, "But what do you do with the rest of your time?"

"I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, and take a siesta

with my wife. In the evenings, I go into the village to see my
friends, have a few drinks, play the guitar, and sing a few songs. I
have a full life."

The American interrupted, "I have an MBA from Harvard and I can help
you!
You should start by fishing longer every day. You can then sell the
extra fish you catch. With the extra revenue, you can buy a bigger
boat."

And after that?" asked the Mexican.

"With the extra money the larger boat will bring, you can buy a second

one and a third one and so on until you have an entire fleet of
trawlers.
Instead of selling your fish to a middle man, you can then negotiate
directly with the processing plants and maybe even open your own
plant.
You can then leave this little village and move to Mexico City, Los
Angeles, or even New York City! From there you can direct your huge
new enterprise."

"How long would that take?" asked the Mexican.

"Twenty, perhaps twenty-five years," replied the American.

"And after that?"

"Afterwards? Well my friend, that's when it gets really interesting,"
answered the American, laughing. "When your business gets really big,
you
can start buying and selling stocks and make millions!"

"Millions? Really? And after that?" asked the Mexican.

"After that you'll be able to retire, live in a tiny village near the
coast, sleep late, play with your children, catch a few fish, take a
siesta with your wife and spend your evenings drinking and enjoying
your
friends."

And the moral of this story is: ......... Know where you're going in
life... you may already be there.

Broken

2008-07-20T21:57:00.000-07:00

That's how I am feeling..broken..my arm has radial nerve palsy and I have a dislocated tail bone..THAT'S right ..in laymans term I can't feel my left arm and my butt is broken ha-ha! Needless to say, I'm not in the highest of spirits. However, my return to work has been quite nice. Perhaps, it would be "nicer" if I could be sitting on a doughnut pillow hahaha okay I WOULD never do that! But seriously, I am enjoying being back at work. Awww the joys of being a parent, not only does it take a lot of work day-to-day but it puts your body through hell and not just during labor..evidently throughout the entire year post delivery..well anyways, enough about me this blog is about Gabriella is it not haha.

Gabi is doing wonderfully. She took her first unassisted step on JULY 14th- her one year corrected birthday and at my favorite beach no less. Although she is not walking quite yet, she is still cruising up a storm and walking with push toys and/or with the help of Mommy or Daddy (ps: I'm not in a rush to have her walking though..crawling is good).

She seems to be doing new things every single day that delight and surprise me and her little personality is really starting to become evident. She is such a happy go lucky girl and is soooo curious about everything and anything. Her weakness in her left leg is not so apparent anymore, although I sometimes notice her foot will roll in (pronate I guess they would say) when she is wearing flimsy shoes. I will have to speak to her physio regarding this on Tuesday. I believe structured shoes hinder the walking process?!?! But if flimsy shoes have her pronate and sturdy shoes hinder..should I leave her barefoot? I try to in the hot weather..unless we're pushing the stroller (her new pastime..makes walks pretty long might I add). In addition, she has recently started waking up in the middle of the night screaming (night terrors??). She is a regular 12 hour sleeper usually. I am wondering if this new behavior is because of my return to work and schedule changes. Because of her history I tend to always over think things like this "new behavior" and of course think things like 1) is this a nocturnal seizure? (although it really does not look like it) 2) Is this a behavioral issue? 3) Is Gabriella in pain due to her stroke?
I have spoken with my family Dr. and she seems to think it is most definitely none of my hyper-worry possibilities above but rather Night Terrors..a phase in development. It's been two nights so far without them since the initial few days with them. SOooo I'm going to keep my fingers crossed and hope it's just Gabi adjusting to the new changes. If anyone has any similar experiences, I'd love to hear from you.

Well until another day.. I must go typing with one hand is really a pain in the Keister haha literally..
Ciao for now.

Work already..

2008-07-04T21:54:00.000-07:00

So off to work on Monday..I hope it's like learning how to ride a bike again he-he. Kidding, I remember, but WOW it's seems like such a long time ago. Fortunately, I am only returning for two days a week but it will be two less days without my little Gabi :( I am going to miss her sooo much..I know waah waah tune in the mini violins and suck it up..it's just two days..but those two days are going to seem soooo long..anywho I think I will be having more separation anxiety than Gabriella will as she loves staying with Nonna and Nonna (Gabi did get accepted to CEFA but we have postponed enrollment until next Sept.-family is best I think).

It's only just now, at this very moment as I am typing in fact, that I realize I am pretty much a completely different person than I was just one year ago. I hope my work can handle that haha which preludes my ...........................

"DEEP THOUGHTS" -by Christine Bracaglia

I can most definitely say I am much happier of a person, much older haha and somewhat much heavier hahahah (although I am working on that).

I also see things much differently now. Every day is a great day, or as Albert Einstein says
"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as if everything is." I choose the latter.

I take my time to smell the flowers now. As a wise old man told me just the other day "if you rush you will not make money in your future" -random but hey I love it when strangers offer their words of wisdom out of the blue..it's refreshing. Okay, so maybe the guy could have been a little nutty? Maybe not..but that's the thing so many funny, odd, inspiring, interesting..whatever verb you would like to apply; events happen in just one day ..if you should choose to enjoy them that is.

I try not to take things so seriously anymore either and I think in general I am very happy with the balance in my life..family, work, friends etc.

I am pretty sure this new Christine has emerged from our experience with Gabriella but it could also have been from a year of self reflection-or perhaps the new friends we have met over this year -our tai chi friends at the park (I don't understand their language but we communicate nevertheless), our blog friends, baby-group friends, family; or most likely a combination of all the above . There is so much good out there and I am sad to say in previous years I rushed by and never really LOOKED at the busy world around me much. I guess you could say I'm walking through life more conscious of my surroundings and am loving it. Okay well enough "deep thoughts" for the day. I'm starting to sound a little nutty myself haha.

Hope all our US Friends are having a great 4th of July !!!

Adios for now

BIG BIKE RACE H&S

2008-06-29T16:34:00.001-07:00

June 21st my Mom and I rode in the Big Bike Ride to raise funds for the Canadian Heart and Stroke Foundation. We were originally on the "Cowichan Lumber" team but they changed the name to "Gabi's Team" in honor of our little girl :) This will be an annuall event for us and next year we will organize our own team!!! In addition, the local paper did a write-up; link attached North Shore News Article

Anyways, off to enjoy the beautiful weather. Happy Early Canada Day all :)

New Story based on Gabriella's story on in-utero strokes as told by UBC Professors

2008-06-17T15:08:00.000-07:00

This afternoon I received an email from the Heart and Stroke foundation. The person in which originally published Gabriella's story on the website had decided to go one step further and discuss in-utero strokes with two professors from UBC who specialize on the subject. Her story is below.

New Story from Heart and Stroke website based on initial story about Gabriella

Happy First Birthday Gabriella

2008-06-09T22:04:00.000-07:00

One already..wow how did that happen. Time sure does fly when your having fun!

Today was a great day, despite the torrential downpour Gabi and I made it to the park and back just before the first rain drop hit the pavement. The rest of the day we just relaxed and watched the rain come down.

We had no appointments, no errands absolutely nothing to do..it was SWEET and a good day to recouperate (um is that a word..it's late excuse the typos) after a fun birthday party with the Family on Saturday -Sunday was clean up day.

Next week we're back to the usual running around, an appt. with the opthamologist again (last weeks appt. we didn't get much accomplished as we waited 2 hr's and Gabi was not going to let them test her eyes). This time I have to put the drops in her eyes before going to the appt. Yikes, I don't know how that will go :( Anyways, she needs a new prescription for her glasses but still no need for surgery as of yet :).

Anyways, here are a few pictures from Gabriella's First Birthday :) She had such a great time!

With Nonna and Nonno (Grandma and Grandpa)

Gabriella's first purse -includes baby cell phone, compac and keys -soo girly.

To even things out-her new TRUCK :)

A Proud Grandma with her two Grand daughters (Gabi and Eliana xoxoxo)
Great Nonno- Where Gabi get's her love for Music from :)

Heart And Stroke Foundation Article

2008-06-01T11:56:00.000-07:00

Well June is here and it is Stroke awareness month for the Heart and Stroke Foundation. As mentioned in my previous post, a story on Gabriella was in the works. It is now posted on the website at http://www.heartandstroke.bc.ca/site/c.kpIPKXOyFmG/b.4174821/

I'm happy to be able to share her story in hopes to help bring more research and awareness to the topic in general however, I think this is the last time I will share her story with the "public." I'm a little torn with sharing this information to tell you the truth.. 90% of me says well if we can help just one bit so that another child can benefit from our story than that is excellent but 10% of me is thinking this is so private why am I sharing this. I feel over protective of Gabi and I also was not prepared for actual comments on the subject after friends had read the story..I know odd I want to share but I don't want to talk about it. For anyone who hasn't gone through this they may be thinking at this point..hmm? You're nuts..but I think anyone who has gone through something similar may understand. Maybe with Gabi's first birthday coming up the emotions are becoming a little too raw for me.

But alas, I still am very very honored and proud to be apart of helping raise awareness for the cause with Gabriella's story.

Catch up photo blog

2008-05-26T14:58:00.000-07:00

Okay, I really need to get back on top of this bogging. To catch family & friends up on the last month here are a few photo's of 1) Osoyoos 2) Birthday party for our friend Kelsey (who was in the nicu w/ us) and 3) photo-shoot with Uncle Chris:

Photoshoot at Auntie Em's and Uncle Chris'

Birthday Party for Kelsey

Pool Picture hehe , we bought a tiny little pool for the deck. Although you can't really tell in this pic, Gabi loves it!

Osoyoos: Mike and Gabi posing Zoolander style..is that "blue steel"??

Bad Blogger

2008-05-19T15:55:00.000-07:00

Oops I've been a bad blogger. It's been super hectic since coming back from Osoyoos. I still haven't downloaded the pictures off of the video camera yet but we had an excellent time-pictures to come. The weather was fantastic and Gabi decided crawling and pulling to stand and cruising was her new way of transportation..yayyy but also aghhhh wow this is a whole new level of parenting-hence the lack of posting. She has also decided that strollers are not for her?? But yet full walking is also not quite yet for her..the cling-on factor has also increased with this new bought of independence :) I'm not really complaining; I actually LOVE it..but just to reiterate Man I'm tired ha-ha.

So on another note; June is stroke awareness Month and the Heart and Stroke Foundation would like to share Gabriella's story in hopes to spread awareness and funds for research. They are hoping to put her story in the local papers as well as feature the story on the website. It is the intent of the H&S Foundation to do so, however, it is not 100% (depending on space in the paper etc. etc.) I have been in contact with their marketing dept. and am just waiting for feedback on our story. Much of the story is taken from our blog but I have added a few touches.

When or if it is published I will post it for all to view :)

Well, not much new in our world other than the above. I think I will post a few random thoughts though...a format taken from Sarah's blog..it's just a GREAT idea haha:

1) I've decided to let the dust bunnies run the house. It's incredibly hard for me to try not to organize things..I obsess over storage boxes and solutions ha-ha but I am going to LET GO of this obsession -if I can hehe. Besides I have better things to do..like play with Gabi..ok it's not filthy or anything it's just hmm let's say it's clean yet sometimes NOT as tidy as I'd like..

2) Gabriella is turning the big ONE June 9th and I'm slightly in disbelief but incredibly happy, yet also feel like crying..where did the year go ..how in the world did ONE entire year go by so fast?!?!?!?

3) I'm turning 30 in 3 months and I'm pretty sure I'm going to ignore my birthday.. argh 30..ughh

4) I need a make-OVER BADDDD ..seriously can someone recommend me for "What Not to Wear"..I've really got to get back into looking presentable..considering I'm going back to work in just over one month..

5) This could fall under Pet Peeve category..WHYYY when your leaving a store --say Starbucks hypothetically .. and your backing out through the door with your HUGE A$$ stroller in one hand and a coffee in the other.. does everyone going in and out think your holding the door for them.. DOES IT LOOK like I'm holding the door..seriously.

6) In the weird & completly random category: I love the way the mudd flats smell and I absolutely Will NOT share yogurt off of the same spoon..ewww gross... I know weird

Until next time

Gabriella and her little friends..we thought it would be a good idea to put all of them in a circle as it would make a good picture.. Gabi wasn't too keen on that idea.

A Mini Vacation before back to work

2008-04-30T21:19:00.000-07:00

This weekend we are off to our family place in Osoyoo's. The forecast is looking good, highs of 25 degree's and lows of 1 to 4 (yikes, now that's a dramatic variance isn't it). So do we pack shorts or fleece pants ha-ha.. either way it's going to be nice to get out of the city for a little while. And, as my Mom keeps telling me, "we will be there just in time for the Cherry Blossom's to bloom"; as there was a cold spell so they are a little late this spring and also they are my favorite tree :). So long story short, it's perfect timing to be heading over there.

Maybe we'll go out on the lake for a bit, do some hiking..perhaps to the winery.. haha noooo not yet..still nursing darn it. Anywho the drive up..(okay okay down my geography SUCKS by the way).. should be interesting. We haven't done any traveling with Gabriella as of yet but we have her brand new car seat nice and kushy for the 5 hour ride and I have my wine-gums and juice boxes ha-ha I'm such a "square" so we're all set to go.

Okay well, I'll be posting pictures upon our return. Have a great week and HAPPY EARLY MOTHERS DAY everyone.

"I wish I could take back some of what I said after the first MRI" -By Gabriella's Neurologist

2008-04-23T14:08:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting here still dumbfounded by todays meeting with Gabriella's neurologist. It was a beyond GREAT meeting. I mean waaay beyond great..amazing..I feel like we have won the Life Lottery!

I don't know where to begin..hmm okay well first and foremost Gabi's EEG was perfectly normal. We may be the first parents in history to have called 911 because our daughter was being cranky however :) but the eeg was all good. Dr.M reassured me that if there was any underlying seizure disorder it would most definitly show up on the eeg. As for her most recent odd movements; I showed him the video and he said that in no way was that a seizure..just spastic cranky baby movements..wow..I feel a tad bit idiotic haha..ooppsy better to be safe than sorry though I guess; He also said by this age (10 months- in a stroke survivor); if a seizure disorder has not yet surfaced more than likely one never will!!!

In addition, and this is where I almost broke down into a crumbling teary mess (of joy that is) & to be honest I held those tears for the drive home. Dr. M said to quote "I wish I could take back some of what I said after Gabriella's first MRI." If I could bronze words, this quote would be shinning bright in every room of my house! This is HUGE considering this Dr. has refused to give me any information in the past. He continued to say that todays MRI's are so advanced that sometimes they show things that may not be of any significance to the individual and/or there potential outcome. He also said that if he were to bring in all the neurologists to visually assess Gabi to determine which side of her brain was affected by the stroke (considered a moderate sized stroke) he guesses the outcome would be 50/50, as he can barely tell himself. He did not suggest any specific recovery treatments & said whatever we are doing is working so keep it up! That is so encouraging. I am so glad we have approached Gabi's recovery in a proactive, semi-aggressive manner. I know there will be much more work ahead but for the time being I am feeling oh so motivated and proud of our little girl.

No words can really describe what I am feeling right now actually. ..but I can assure you there all extremely positive :)

In a short 10 months we went from being told (after the initial MRI) that our child will most likely never:

Walk
Sit
See
Hear
Possibly think/problem solve or reason

To a child who:

Sits
Commando crawl
Crawl on all fours sometimes (in the last two days) but still commando crawls
Pulls to stand
Says Dada and Dog with meaning (yep that's right Dad and Dog top Mom :( haha)
Signs More, Dog (of course), Milk, Change diaper, all done
Waves hi & bye
Immitates
Plays peek-a-boo
Claps
Dances to music
Gives kisses
Plays pass with a ball
Self feeds (with cup and pincer fingers)
and pretty much engages any passer by in conversation with a simple smile

I'm just writing this out because I am amazed at the huge degree in what was the "clinical suggested outcome" for Gabriella and the reality (as of today)! Children truly are little miracles and are oh so strong willed. It is shocking at how little research has really been done on the subject of in-utero strokes and the rehabilitation regarding recovery. Children's Hospital in BC is only just now initiating a study on the subject. As the study requires only access to patients charts (NOOO additional appt's or tests) Gabriella and I signed up. We also arranged to see a hematology specialist from New York who is going to further investigate into the possibility of this being genetic. It seems Gabi just had the basic blood work done and as I have a history with epilepsy (grew our of by age 8) I will be able to get blood work done on myself to hopefully rule out genetics 100%.

Well that was our day..one wonderfully, amazingly, fantastic day!

At the Beach

2008-04-20T21:48:00.000-07:00

Growing up and living so close to the beach all of my life has made "the beach" a very important part of my life. The salty muddy mucky smell, the way your hair is left all tangly and sticky at the end of the day from the salt air, digging for clams, the fact that your clothes, hair etc. always have sand in them when you come home and even better yet; you just don't care..these are just how I hope my daughter will come to think of the beach when she is older.

The beach is one of the only places that I can go to and know that when I leave I will feel as relaxed as if I were at a spa all day. It is a place where (as a child) my Mom and I would spend endless hours exploring shallow pools to discover all sorts of little sea creatures. My love for the beach carried on through my teenage years and I joined BIEP (Burrard Inlet Environmental Program) through which I learned about and took part in quadrant studies..it's a shame I never took this passion and turned it into a career...but never mind that..today was Gabriella's first day at the beach and a very special day for me. A day where I could envision sharing all those amazingly fun times I had with my Mom with my own daughter. I know it sounds silly..it is just a beach.. but maybe it's not the beach that is so special to me; but the fact that it is a place where many of my childhood memories we're created and a place I can anticipate the joy my daughter will one day have at the very same beach :)

Well, I am happy to say that the moment Gabriella's little toes hit the sand she LOVED it!! She didn't even try to eat it ha-ha!

Here are some pictures from our day at the beach with Grandma, Gabriella and I:

EEG #2 and new neurologist

2008-04-18T11:53:00.000-07:00

Last Friday was quite frightening. Gabriella had what we thought was a seizure (actually 7 in a row) and so we called 911. Despite everything Gabi was actually finding all the activity somewhat entertaining. She has a miraculous way of seeing the positive in things..she has taught me that seeing through babies eyes is a fun way of viewing the world :). The paramedics thought she was having what they call a focal seizure as it was more "odd" movements with complete comprehension than a body seizure where you can lose consiousness. That night we rushed off to Children's Hospital and waited 7 hours to see 2 pediatric dr's and 2 neurologists. End result: an EEG appt. and an introduction to an amazingly nice neurologist (we're going to switch care from our current poor bed-side manner N). Luckily we had videotaped her episodes and all 4 specialists think they were not seizures but rather..odd movements resulting from her stroke. That's a relief!
Regardless, we had the EEG today and the technician said all looks good :) We still have to have Dr. M (cranky pants neurologist) interpret the results next Wed. though. Well..if these are just odd movements I am hoping we can move forward and with early intervention stop them. It only happens when she is extremely tired..ohh I guess I haven't explained what happens. Basically Gabriella has a head shake ..it looks as if she is shaking her head to say "no" but it seems involuntary. Maybe..it's just funny baby movements??? I guess we shall see..

No Surgery for Now :)

2008-04-08T22:46:00.000-07:00

We went to Children's Hospital today for a follow up meeting with Gabriella's Opthamologist and believe it or not they were on time today. We we're in and out with 45 minutes. Just enough time left over to raid the "Safety Station" store and buy some baby proofing stuff...gotta love that store. I also became "that Mother" who bought her daughter a toy at the store because her child wouldn't stop crying after seeing a desired toy. Eeeks-I said I would NEVER do that..argh ..okay well once is okay right haha.

Anyways onto the good news. Gabriella's left eye only very slightly turns in when she is wearing her glasses and so for now, she is not needing any surgery. We have another check-up in two months to see how things are going but I am pretty confident that they will only continue to get better.

Now only if she would get better. Gabriella has the "H" Influenza (the bacteria that can cause meningitis-so far she just had conjunctivitis). I have no idea how she could have contacted this as she has had all of her immunizations but it is scary. One day she is fine, the next a fever but the conjunctivitis is gone. Her Doctor insists on no antibiotics but I'm starting to get quite worried (that's an understatement, I'm actually kind of freaking out). Partially because our Doctor is actually a new Doctor-well old Doctors replacement but not my old Doctor. Maybe I need more information on the subject?? I have googled like mad, checked my Immunization books and exhausted all resources though and the information on the "H" Influenza still scares me. Some information sources say it's common in children (75% of all children will get it and it is the main cause of ear infections, conjunctivitis etc.) and others portray rather scary and grim outcomes.. But importantly, today she was doing well; no fever and in good spirits...we weren't actually going to see the eye doctor and called to cancel but they said to bring her on in regardless if she seemed well. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she has finally beaten this thing. I think we will just continue to live quarantined for the remainder of the week just to be sure.

STROKE AWARENESS CAMPAIGN -CHILDHOOD STROKE AWARNESS DAY IS MAY 3RD

2008-04-06T18:42:00.000-07:00

While reading through the hemi-kids website I encountered a link to a current Childhood Stroke Awareness Campaign site. I am so pleased to see that there are proactive campaigns going on out there to educate communities, raise awareness and funds for Childhood Stroke research. I just thought I'd post the link and share my findings with everyone.

http://www.childhoodstrokeawareness.org/

Take care,
Christine

Where did March go?

2008-03-27T10:26:00.000-07:00

Wow! Okay, it's been quite a while since my last post and I can't believe March is almost over..time fly's when your having fun I guess :) It's been quite a busy month I'd say:

My Sister had her little baby girl Eliana on the 21st, our nephew Cristiano is turning ONE today. Happy Birthday Buddy :) We love you, my parents are renovating their house to make it a "Gabi and Eliana" safe and fun house..aww, we're searching for daycares/preschools to put Gabi in. It takes years to get your child into a good daycare/preschool so that is why we're applying now. So far we have two in mind CEFA (Core Education and Fine Arts) and SFU CareCentre. Both have one to two year waiting lists. Perfect really as we're extremely lucky and fortunate to have Nonna and Nonno watch after Gabi once I return to work. We're really wanting CEFA as they focus on play activities that encourage brain development. So that involves interviewing, meeting care givers etc. It's a lengthy process. We've also hired an additional physiotherapist-so that's three now in total..yep call me neurotic but my heart would break if say at 5 the dr's said if only more physio had been done, we've signed up for Gymboree and also have been swimming with our regular baby buddies quite often (which also includes potlucks and lunch dates). We never have more than two events in a week though as I don't want to overwhelm Gabi.

Ohhh and I'm really excited about these OT books I ordered through the Therapy Shoppe- an online store Avery's Mom, Sarah gave to me..Thanks Sarah!!! :)

Anyhow, Gabi's doing awesome (although has a cold at the moment). She's really become quite the commando crawler but doesn't use her left leg symetrically yet. But we are so far meeting Gabi's short term goals.

She is now saying Dada when she's see's Mike and we're still working on Mamma and Baba being
used with meaning.

Anyways Happy March Everyone..talk to you soon.

In her Easter Dress

Sick but still smiling :)

First Word

2008-03-12T10:09:00.000-07:00

Remember how I was worried about Gabi and her lack of saying ba, ma, da, ga well those days are over. Looks like Gabi is going to live up to her name :) On her 9 month birthday (last Saturday) the first thing Gabriella did was roll over, look at her Dad in bed (yes..we're still co-sleeping haha) and said Daddy..not dada but daddy; she then continued to say it two more times. We were beyond excited considering she seemed to skip the whole ma, ba, ga phase and went straight into double consonents and seems to be saying words indiscrminantly.

The word surge didn't stop there. That day we went to an early Easter party where she saw a huge bunny and for the rest of the day said babababababbab over and over again with a few ga's and one debatable mama hahah! I'm wondering if her bababa babble was her trying to tell Grandma and Grandpa about the big bunny she saw as we had nicknamed her stuffed purple bunny ba-ba in hopes she would start saying ba? You never know ;)

In addition to "word surge day" we have recently started to hang out with a few new momma's and babies and Gabi, now being more mobile, has taken on to stealing the other babies toys..time to introduce sharing I think..well we have all along but I don't think children grasp this concept for quite some time. So I guess enforce sharing would be the right word :) Regardless of toy thief phase I sure am glad to see she has outgrown her stranger anxiety.

Visit with the Physiotherapist

2008-03-03T22:07:00.000-08:00

The other day we saw Gabriella's Physiotherapist and received excellent feedback.

A) Gabriella has learned to release with her left hand now and her hands are working both together midline and symetrically

B) She is "commando crawling" and as expected is using her stronger side (right) to do most of the pulling. Brenda (the Physiotherapist) says she has NO doubts at all that we can "even" this out in no time

C) Gabriella has gone from the 25th percentile to somewhere between the 25th and 50th percentile in regards to expected mobility for her age. A dramatic jump from last month. And according to Brenda quite extraordinary for someone with Gabi's history.

D) Brenda has assured me that as a team we will work with Gabriella to make sure her progress continues on the incline. I am just really happy with Brenda and it feels great knowing we have a team of people who care and will be there to help us. I mean we have a beyond excellent support system with Family but it's also wonderful to have the ability to work with the IDP Program. They're wonderful~

Follow up from a few posts ago: Gabi didn't chip her tooth, her tooth actually cut through then went back down and has now popped out fully. :) Yayy she has her first two teeth!

Sunny Day

2008-02-28T11:23:00.000-08:00

Gabriella is napping so I thought I would take the opportunity to overwrite my blah, grumpy post below!! This morning has been quite eventful so far. We've gone for a nice walk with the dog, had breakfast (yummy yogurt and apples with cinnamon & cereal of course) AND Gabi signed her first "more" sighn. Yayyyyy..I've been waiting for soooo long for that one. She must really like her apples he-he!

Than Krista-our IDP consultant came by and we had an excellent visit. Gabriella showed her how she can go on her hands and knees and rock back and forth and we think she'll be crawling very soon. Also, the first thing Gabi did when Krista came through the door was wave "hi"...another ah ha moment. My worry with her lack of vocalizing is slowly diminishing because she communicates allot through gestures and the odd ASL sign. Just when you have a bad day the next day is always twice as good as an average day..makes it all worth one bad day ha-ha.

PS: I apologize for all the "ha-ha's" & "he-he's" it's a bad email faux-pas I have adapted..I'm going to try and stop I swear ha-ha..darn ok maybe not...

Adios for now

So I'm not a Playgroup Girl

2008-02-27T13:35:00.001-08:00

This morning Gabriella and I went to an IDP (Infant Developmental Program) Playgroup. I thought it would be nice for Gabriella to meet some new children and enjoy some new games and also an Occupational Therapist was going to be there speaking about the benefits of Theraputic Horse Riding (side note: there's a three year wait to get in..wow..but it does sound extremely beneficial).

I also thought the group would be good to attend because lately I have noticed whenever Gabriella is in a new environment she withdraws considerably. I thought perhaps a playgroup could help her slowly ease into being more comfortable with new places and people. I'm wondering if this "withdrawal" is just a phase or perhaps a form of stranger anxiety??? Our IDP consultant says most likely it is a form of stranger anxiety. Regardless, it makes me sad because she is so lively, talkative and engaging at home or at both the Grandparents houses. I wish she would let everyone else see how much fun she is.

Anyways, playgroups are not for me..at least this specific playgroup. Besides the fact that "play" wasn't really the topic with parents as much as talk such as "how old is your baby..she's not doing this or that yet...etc.etc. Comparison is NOT for me! Okay I should clarify..comparing when it's someone you know or talking too specifically about stuff is all good or even talking in a positive way is good but it just seemed like these Mom's were all about "competitive comparing" if that makes sense ha-ha. And because Gabriella is still only saying ma, da, ka, ba, ga very very rarely and hardly on purpose and was quiet the entire time at playgroup pretty much (although I'm pretty sure she's working on ba-ba but sounds like Darth Vader when she says it haha) the IDP lady at the group mentioned this could have to do with Gabriella's hearing or possibly lack thereof.

So there I was now not enjoying playgroup and listening to mom's compare there babies and worrying about Gabi's hearing (which by the way I think is perfectly fine-to be sure though we do have a referral to get her ears tested but are still waiting to find out when it will be). In addition to all this I was appalled at how rude the mothers were. It was honestly very odd..the speaker was talking and NOONE was listening and not even half way through they were off getting there stuff ready or talking to other mothers. Gabi and I were just sitting there the only ones listening. I just find it so odd that a room full of mothers with children who have obvious developmental delays could be so disinterested or lack such manners that they couldn't even sit for 10 min. to listen. Maybe I'm just being cranky today?? I know my patience is short as I have to keep putting Gabi's glasses back on every two seconds and don't even ask about patching.. she rips off at least two in the short period of two hours.. and I think she's chipped her one tooth out of the two she has now with her damn glasses (it could be a cut on her gum I can't tell exactly)..please someone give me a tranquillizer and wake me up when this day is over.. for gods sakes...Anyways, my form of "play" is going to a park or a walk in the woods or basically enjoying my time with my daughter which is exactly what we did this weekend. No more playgroups for me..or at least that playgroup..except a speech pathologist will be at the next one so I will be going to that one just to talk with the ST.

Now I am going to end this blog as I'm not being at all positive today and I am going to try and make my own baby food..this should be interesting (I don't cook he-he).
http://www.annabelkarmel.com/

Until next time
Cheerio :)

Out for a walk with Dad aka Grandpa (oh my time to lose some weight..yikes not a great pic.). Picture below and to the left is a before baby picture..mannnyy pounds ago ha-hha

My Biker Baby

Okay okay so I'm revisitng my post as I have to add something positive. My blog is bumming me out, so here's some positive in coles notes version:

1) Gabi's eyes are looking much better
2) Gabi is clapping and playing hand games all on her own
3) She is also rolling big time and is pulling her self with her arms and legs are in semi-crawl position
4) Gabi is obsessed with Peek-a-boo and hides behind blankets all the time..even for strangers ha-ha
5) She's learned how to give kisses and did a wave the other day to grandma :)

Eye Update

2008-02-17T21:05:00.000-08:00

Gabriella's appointment at the Opthamologist went well/not so well. It didn't go well because I guess I was hoping that the outcome would not be what I expected, although this was not the case, we received news that was expected. It did go well because we received answers and solutions and all in one appointment and that is not expected ha-ha :)

Anyways Gabriella needs patching, glasses and most likely surgery. Our next appointment to determine if surgery will be necessary is April 8th. Not allot of time to "fix" Gabi's eye.

Since birth we knew Gabi's eyesight would most likely be affected by the stroke as it had injured the part of her brain responsible for vision and so we have always watched her eyes very carefully.

Up until Octobe 2007, Gabi's eyes were just fine. We started to get concerned when we noticed her left eye would go crossed when she was sleepy and so we whisked her off to a vision specialist immediately. He diagnosed her then with intermittent strabismus and told us if the "crossed" eyes became more constant to see the opthamologist again. I'm quite angry that they didn't recommend glasses at this stage..I should have pushed harder and maybe amblyopia would not have developed (this will be explained below).

By January her strabismus was more constant than intermittent and another appointment was made, which is the one we just had. The appointment went something like this:

We arrived at 1:15pm for our 1:30 appointment and saw the doctors assistant at 2:30pm then the actual doctor at GUESS...just guess....

4PM..that's right fooouuuurr pm.. are you kidding.. anyways the outcome is as follows:

Gabriella has Amblyopia caused by the Strabismus and Accommodative Esotropia (Type of farsightedness: when the child is young, he or she can focus the eyes to adjust for the farsightedness, but the focusing effort (accommodation) to see clearly causes the eyes to cross. Glasses reduce the focusing effort and can straighten the eyes.)

What is Amblyopia?
"Amblyopia is reduced vision in an eye that has not received adequate use during early childhood." In Gabi's case her left eye was not being used when it went crossed (strabismus) and so her brain "shut" off that eye as it was too hard to interpret the images.

Amblyopia has many causes.
Most often it results from either a misalignment of a child's eyes, such as crossed eyes (strabismus), or a difference in image quality between the two eyes (one eye focusing better than the other.)

In both cases, one eye becomes stronger (Gabi's right eye), suppressing the image of the other eye (Gabi's left eye). If this condition persists, the weaker eye may becomes useless.

Can anything be done to treat amblyopia and prevent vision loss?
With early diagnosis and treatment, the sight in the "lazy eye" can be restored.

When should treatment for amblyopia begin?
The earlier the treatment, the better the opportunity to reverse the vision loss.

How we are treating Gabriella's eyes:
Gabriella will be getting glasses (we hopefully can pick them up today) and also needs to have her right (good) eye patched for 2-3 hours per day until the age of two.

She also will most likely need to have surgery before she is 18 months of age.

The glasses & surgery (if needed) will not correct the vision (farsightedness) they will only assist in keeping Gabi's eye's straight in order to make it easier for her to "re-train" her brain how to see out of her left eye.

The Patching is to help strengthen Gabriella's eye.

Thank goodness we have detected this so early because without early diagnosis it is possible for children to lose use of the entire eye unless treated. However, they do say children have up until the age of nine to correct this but again as with everything, the earlier the better.

We have now patched Gabi for three days and she seems to like it. When she plays she is so much more confident when reaching and grabbing for her toys. She is also more vocal when she's wearing the patch. I'm thinking she must have been seeing double and when patched she can understand what she is seeing so much better as she only needs to process one image. I think we have caught this early enough.

I'll be posting pictures of little Miss Gabi with glasses when we get them :)
And we got her glasses today :P Here are some pictures:

Before glasses arrived (patching and glasses will be together from now on)

Now both eyes look like there going in..argh..I hope they're just adjusting

Okay so Mommy put her glasses on crooked, we're learning ha-ha

Happy Valentines Day :)

2008-02-14T00:41:00.001-08:00

Happy Valentines Day!!!

Tomorrow we have our appointment with our opthamologist for Gabriella's strabismus.

Here is an explanation of what Strabismus is, taken from Wikipedia ..I love wikipedia:

Strabismus (from Greek: στραβισμός strabismos, from στραβίζειν strabizein "to squint," from στραβός strabos "squinting, squint-eyed"^[1]) is a condition in which the eyes are not properly aligned with each other.^[2] It typically involves a lack of coordination between the extraocular muscles that prevents bringing the gaze of each eye to the same point in space and preventing proper binocular vision, which may adversely affect depth perception. Strabismus can be either a disorder of the brain coordinating the eyes or a disorder of one or more muscles, as in any process that causes a dysfunction of the usual direction and power of the muscle or muscles.

I am looking forward to seeing the actions we can take to improve her eyes in order to maintain her "binocular vision." I'll keep you posted on what those actions will be soon.

Anyways, I'm keeping this blog brief..today or I guess yesterday now (I am really having troubles sleeping lately boo) Gabriella and I went to Maplewood Farm.

Here are some pictures:

Gabi's eye get's worse when she is in unfamiliar atmospheres and I'm not to sure if she likes farm animals :) I could only elicit a smile from her when we saw the ducks. Sorry Mom (if your reading this)..the horses are the animals she seemed to dislike the most.

Two Peas in a Pod

2008-02-12T10:55:00.001-08:00

It's official, Gabriella is teething and bad. Yep, she's 8 months now and still not one tooth but I see the bottom ones are so close to cutting through. Ouch cutting through..sounds painful and from the wails every 1/2 hour for four hours straight last night I know poor little Gabi can't be enjoying this.

So my wonderful husband offered to let me sit out one session of trying to once again get Gabi to sleep last night. PS: She's usually a great sleeper 12 hr's with one break to eat around 1am..although I'm still having to nurse her to sleep (eeks bad habit) so this is not usual. Anyways I'm upstairs thinking to myself wow this is wonderful I hope Mike can get her to sleep and then I hear it! Nothing..peace and quiet..Ahhh Mikes a miracle worker, he's done it and obviously without feeding her to sleep :) I'm relishing the moment and expecting Mike to come upstairs so we can spend some time together but he never appears..hmm perhaps he too has fallen asleep? So I take 10 more minutes of "me" time and decide to check on them and then..............

BUSTED

okay okay so this picture really isn't from last night but this is essentially what was going down..play time in the middle of the night ha-ha. Daddy's got her all hopped up on play time.. anyways his tactic actually seemed to work (although I wouldn't recommend this for every night or any other night for that matter ha-ha).. she did fall asleep 5 minutes later.. my two peas in a pod~

Short Term Goals

2008-02-08T12:01:00.000-08:00

It was great meeting with Krista this morning..phew we're back on track. Our Pediatrician is our Pediatrician again, our new in-house physio is coming starting March 13th, a hearing appointment has been set up (not that we're worried about hearing at this point she was just recommended to have one done at 9 months) and we have some short-term developmental goals set for Gabi. See this is what makes me able to take deep breaths ands relax..phew again :)

So Krista would like Gabriella to be crawling and saying three words that have meaning within two months. Crazy hey..I would love that as well and I hope/know she can achieve those goals ... I'm going to stop right here and put in a Christine disclaimer just in case I'm giving off the wrong impression: Just to clarify, I may need to set goals for myself in regards to Gabriella, in order to know that I am doing all I can do to encourage, nurture and build on her developmental skills; BUT do not fear I am not going baby boot camp. I am proud of Gabriella's developments thus far and I realize she may or may not meet the above goals within the time-line ...regardless she is our little warrior princess and will face any challenges ahead of her full force and we are proud of her for just being herself but it is always nice to have written goals :). Disclaimer over.

Krista gave us some great exercises to encourage Gabi's mobility. Mostly they are transitional positions to try with her. Basically, Gabriella is great at sitting and is pretty content just doing that. So we will be encouraging her how to go from sitting to laying, laying to sitting & of course more fun tummy time. It's pretty much putting common sense into action, which we do, but I am still glad to have written these down as goals to achieve nonetheless.

Gabriella has not quite gained the ability to release with her left hand so we will be putting a dark colored place mat on her highchair and giving her many finger foods to play with (in addition to fun block games) to encourage her to learn how to release. I have also started putting stickers all over her ha-ha..how does this help you ask?? Well I figure you need to use your thumb and pointer finger and have pretty good dexterity to pick those buggers off and besides she seems to think its fun ha-ha. She also is still not allowed to go in walkers, jumpers etc. as to not encourage her "standing" reflex. With a higher muscle tone in her legs encouraging standing also encourages her not to "lose" this reflex. Until she can crawl and pull herself up..standing is forbidden territory.

All in all a good day so far!! :)

Yeayyy Monthly Assessment!

2008-02-06T11:04:00.000-08:00

This Friday we have Krista, our IDP Consultant coming by for our monthly assessment. I love meeting up with Krista, she's great. It gives me reassurance and makes me feel like we're on the right track. Although Gabi seems to be using her left side so much more than even just a few weeks ago I really need a trained eye to give me feedback and new strengthening exercises; in addition to the ones I have already been given and have self invented. I'm really looking forward to developing a schedule for Gabi with the assistance of the physiotherapists who we will be seeing once every two weeks (details to be worked out with Krista). Plus she's my link to all the specialists & resources .. she's a wealth of knowledge this girl ha-ha. So basically we have to ask her to stay on with us until Gabi is three years old (the length of the program), I hope she is willing and sticks around that long. I am sure she will as she is always taking new courses..I'm thinking this is her career choice not just a "job." So all I have to do is get a referral from our pediatrician for the in-house physio visits and voila-all set. Ha- easier said than done..I've been having a hell of a time with Doctors over the last week or so in trying to do this simple task. As Gabriella and I are both sick right now I figured we'd pop in to her pediatrician and kill two birds with one stone so I made a call to set up an apt. Little did I know the government "on paper" discharges us as patients (as they do to all program referred patients) to the pediatrician; so a little snag but no worries, a quick call to my trusty ol' doctor and a few clicks on the computer and bing..re-referred..or so I thought and was told. So I call the pediatrician again to make an appointment; thinking we have been updated and noooo my doctor has to call in the referral. Apparently an automated system for updating referrals is not good enough..they must double up their workload and make calls as well..god sometimes technology really can bungle stuff up hey..ha ha or maybe they're just making there lives harder than needs be??? Anyways, at this point I thought alright lets just make the drive to the family doctor and get Gabi checked out for this cold. Of course we get an apt. within the hour..man my doctor rocks. Anyways, we get there and the receptionist (whom by the way has been there since I was a tiny little girl..she's like a second Mom I swear) tells me that my Dr. is retiring, well at least from his practice. He's also the head of Lions Gate Hospital and has decided to close his practice and stick with the hospital..OMG NOOOOOOOOO now what. It's so hard to find good doctors these days. So I wrote a long kiss a$$ note in hopes that his partner (also a great doctor) will assume our care..let's keep our fingers crossed!!! So as all stands I don't know if I have a family Dr. and I don't exactly know yet if we're back on the list with the pediatrician; I think I will give her receptionist a few days to process the re-referral, an I also don't know if she has signed the consent for the physios. However, what I do know is there should be no reason as to why we wouldn't be re-referred and allowed consent to see the physios but I so dislike waiting...ahhh patience is a virtue I have yet to master ha-ha. Also Gabi is feeling much better, her cold is getting better very quickly although she has been sleeping allot. I'm sure it's needed. I've been keeping myself busy with calls to the doctors and playing with our new camcorder..I LOVE IT.. It's so much fun. Once I've figured it all out perhaps I'll post a little Gabi-video :)

Micro Manage melt down

2008-01-27T22:39:00.000-08:00

Okay, so for those of you who know me well will know I am a bit of a micro manager control freak. Today I am having one of those days were there are just too many "to-do's" on my mind to organize. In fact, just writing this down is an example of me trying to micro manage my thoughts. Honestly, sometimes I just need to relax..any tips on how ha-ha! Since the birth of my daughter I sometimes try to live day by day -a trick people in the trenches at childrens' hospital told me to do, which is teaching me how to be less umm hmm "christineish"
Anyways today is NOT a day-by-day Day; it is a future planning mode, five year plan, warrior mission day. I am beginning to see, and most importantly beginning to learn how to balance trying to take in all of Gabriella's therapy& treatment plans while also trying to be a fun, free and happy person and Mother. It's not an easy task I tell you, not at all. I think, in fact, control freak/easy going - may be somewhat of an oxymoron he-he. Anyways, what is causing this anxiety you ask..well it's simple really; my biggest fear is not being as proactive as I can to ensure Gabriella has all the best therapies, treatments etc. regardless of how small or large the issue may be (I hope this makes sense) and for me being able to have a schedule and to know in my heart that I am doing as much as I possibly can and have exhausted all resources possible to makes sure this is the case is really the only tiny bit of control I can have in this entire scenario. So to sum it up..I'm not going to question myself anymore I am just going to be me. An information seeking, micro managing, future planning person. Because I think I need to be for Gabriella's well being and maybe living day by day is just a way of avoiding the realities of the world; but then again maybe it's also something that I can rely on for days like this.. perhaps. Okay wow- that was a ramble and a definite Saturday Night Live "Deep Thoughts" moment.

On a much lighter note, Gabriella, Mike and I had a GREAT DAY in the snow. We went for a lovely walk to Starbucks for a much needed coffee and all time favorite pumpkin scone-yum and also visited with Nonno and Nonna. Yesterday at Grandma's; Gabriella was a rolling machine ha-ha . Maybe she was still excited from our lunch date at Kelsey's. PS: A definite child friendly restaurant. Also Gabi grabbed her toes 5 times when asked where her toes were..we're still trying to decide if that was a coincidence. She has also decided that she wants to become mobile and has started to creep (grab hold of the floor with her hand and somewhat shuffle her lower legs around). A very exciting weekend over all!! Two thumbs up :)

Here are some pictures from our snow adventures today. Future blogs will be more Gabi oriented and definitely more positive. Good Night.

Feeling very lucky...

2008-01-23T00:26:00.000-08:00

Well lets see where do I begin. Gabriella is doing amazing considering all she has been through since birth. She is 6 1/4 months corrected as she was 5 weeks early so almost 7 1/2 months old.

To recap briefly: a horrible first night after being born (36 hours of prolonged posterior labour, emergency c-section after the epideral wore off..oucchhh) which led to a month stay at Children's Hospital, Ultrasound, MRI, CT scan, EEG's, MRA's, multiple trips to specialists including neurologists, optomologists, ETN specialists, Developmental programs etc. the list goes on and so it will until who knows when. To conclude, my baby had a prenatal or in-utero stroke somewhere after the 28th week of gestation due to a malformation of a ventricle in her brain which caused a blood clot -hence stroke. Actually until just the other day we had believed that there was no explainable reason for this happening and we were told 35% of prenatal strokes are unexplained. Well I guess that's partially true but still it would have been nice if someone explained to us it was a anatomical issue 7 months ago. Genetics, blood diseases, infections..all ruled out! I mean I even stopped dying my hair two years before getting pregnant as I was anticipating having a child.

We're still searching for answers and will until the full mystery has been solved but our main priority, as it always has been, is looking after our little ray of sunshine..Gabriella..ahhh a feeling of relaxation and pure joy comes over me just by saying her name. She is the most fun little girl to be with. My days are consumed by her and even on a really bad day it's hard to stay in a bad mood when you look at her because she will always give you the most heart melting smile and then all worries just wash away. That's my little girl!! She is my rock in this situation. If I ever get overwhelmed with the whole situation..a relaxing day with absolutely NO appointments always brings me back.

Anyways, enough..here is a list of what Gabi is up to these days:

*She is learning to roll right now and after every roll she gives you the most proud smile. Her left arm gets stuck sometimes and makes it somewhat of a challenge to complete some rolls but we're working on that. Yesterday we went to the physiotherapist and it is confirmed. Her left side is weaker (hemiparesis). The great news though is that the PT said its very minimal and "re-routing" the skill to strengthen and use the weaker side is something that can be done until the age of 18. I always thought 3 years old was the max. but apparently not.

* We've discovered she has intermittent strambismus (crosses her left eye when stressed, tired etc.) and will be seeing a specialist shortly. First we will try strengthening excercises, then possibility of glasses and worst case scenario surgery..but the important thing is this is very correctable.

* She received her first certificate and even had a graduation party for completing baby sign language (caps and all haha) and can say dog in sign language!

* We're currently taking swimming classes which she absolutely adores and she is getting really good at kicking and splashing

* And of course screaming..screaming is her new fun way of communicating..there high pitch little squeals..I love them :)

Okay, well until another day..sorry this post is so long. I felt the need to blab as well as build a full picture of the scenario..future ones will be more fun and picture filled of course.