8 Months

Vivienne turned eight months last week - time is really flying! I can't believe we've been home for over six months now.

Viv continues to make great strides. She's able to sit alone for a short period of time and is able to "army crawl" a bit. Her vocabulary is expanding with new consonants and babbles, and she's finally starting to enjoy solid foods. She's even starting to show affection with drooly open-mouth kisses - the best kind!

The three of us traveled to CHOP at the beginning of the month for Viv's first official check-up within the Pulmonary Hypoplasia Program. According to their website, "CHOP’s Pulmonary Hypoplasia Program (PHP) provides multidisciplinary, long-term care to children with conditions that limit lung growth resulting in pulmonary hypoplasia. The PHP team works together to improve your child’s pulmonary health, evaluate neurodevelopmental growth, monitor and treat any surgical issues that arise as your child grows, meet nutritional needs, monitor for late onset hearing loss, help locate resources and support services near your home, and more."

We had two days of appointments scheduled. The first day Viv saw cardiology for an EKG, blood draw, and echocardiogram. After those tests we met with the cardiologist for a brief evaluation and get his preliminary findings. In a nutshell, Viv has a significant risk for pulmonary hypertension, but she's not currently showing any signs and has improved since her last evaluation. Our day ended in the audiology department for a series of hearing tests. Viv was very cooperative despite being exhausted and passed every test with flying colors. 

We started the second day with a visit to the pulmonologist, who after a brief evaluation stated he was very pleased with Viv's lungs. He basically said she would never be an Olympic athlete, but he expected her to live a pretty normal life with regard to lung function. After pulmonary, we went upstairs for an extensive neonatal follow-up where Viv was evaluated for developmental delays. There were no surprises since we've been working with a physical therapist for months. She continues to have minor gross motor delays but was on target or ahead for fine motor skills and cognitive development. We finished the day with a general surgery appointment where Dr. Hedrick noted that Viv was at the "top of her class." 

We'll head back to CHOP in May for another round of appointments. After that she will return to be evaluated at two years, five years, six years, and then every two years after that.

Viv is really doing well, and everyone at CHOP was amazed with her progress. A stranger meeting her now would never know what she went through - but we certainly do, and every trip to CHOP reminds us of how lucky we are and how amazing our daughter truly is.

Picture time!