Update on Olivia

Well we met with the neurologist today to talk about Olivia. It went as well as could be expected which was a relief. Olivia did in fact have a stroke while I was pregnant with her. There is a fancy medical term for what she is diagnosed with but I forgot it as soon as I was told what it was. I know I'm a great mom right?! The good news about this is she has a very mild case and has pretty good usage of her right side all things considered. We'll get her set up with a physical therapy evaluation to see how intensive her therapy will be but her doctor said it might even be a case where we could do exercises with her at home and just check in monthly to evaluate her progress and get new exercises when we need too. We'll have to wait though to see what she'll need. As far as why she had a stroke we really don't know why it happens we just know it does. Olivia is expected to walk and to be able to run as long as her therapy goes well. Her right ankle is pretty stiff so if she doesn't improve then she could loose the use of it. She also might have to have some sort of leg brace to assist her in walking. Olivia has just started pulling herself up onto things and Jacob and I have already noticed a huge improvement with how she uses her right hand. We're assuming that this will also be the case with her foot once we start doing exercises with it. Another piece of good news is that our doctor said that in every case he's had like this the child has never had another stroke. Also once Olivia is older she'll need an MRI to see how much brain damage she has, because her case is so mild her doctor is assuming that she has a fairly small brain tissue scar. What really made me happy was that he was so impressed with her progress and all the things she was already able to do. There are still a few things we have to keep our eye on like her limb development to make sure one of her legs isn't shorter then the other because that could lead to other problems down the road. Overall we really did get the best news for the situation. I loved that the neurologist said that she has no idea there is anything wrong with her and that's how Jacob and I plan on treating her. Olivia has already shown us how well she can adapt and do the same things any other kid her age can do. We feel so blessed to have Olivia in our family. She is just such a joy, she is one of the happiest babies I've ever seen, and we just love her more then words can express.