Our Hope

By sharing our story and our experiences with this birth injury we will hopefully educate people. Knowledge is power. Our hope is that you will read this blog, share it with your friends, and they will share with their friends. Then in some small way we have prevented other families from having to go through what we have.

Monday, January 31, 2011

Preparations

It is only four more weeks until we leave for Philadelphia for Jadon's shoulder/tendon surgery.  I have not really purchased a lot of shirts yet.  Just can't seem to decide what size is going to fit best.  A friend of mine has given me a box of 4T shirts to use during that time.  I originally thought that I was going to have to alter the shirts to get them to fit over the cast but I read that one mom was able to just stretch shirts that were about 3-4 sizes bigger than what the child normally wore over the casts.  I am hoping that works!  It would be nice to be able to use those clothes later when Jadon is actually that size. 

Another thing we are realizing we are going to need to before we leave is a new car seat.  I don't think the one we currently use is going to work because the sides curve in toward Jadon.  With his arm in a cast out this his side we are going to need a seat that allows that.  We are going to go check out car seats next weekend hopefully!

Grandma Cindy will be traveling with us on the next trip.  She has commented that she would like to go and the more that Matt and I thought about the more we liked the idea of having some more hands to help us out.  Especially after surgery. 

Before we even go for surgery we have another BIG event.  Jadon is turning two this month!  I don't know where the time is going.  He is growing up so fast!  We are looking forward to this birthday party and hoping he can really have fun at this one.  Last year he had one of his pain episodes right before the party started and was either miserable or asleep for the rest of the party.  A few months later we would finally figure out what was causing the 4-6 hour pain episodes.....double inguinal hernia's!!  Poor baby!! 

Jadon has been doing really great in therapy.  His correct Benik splint finally arrived and it really helps him with his hand function.  His therapist also created a new splint for his elbow.  We would like to see more elbow extension and this splint keeps it in that position and gives him some more function while he is wearing it.  The therapist is very happy with the results she is seeing so far. 


Here are a few pictures from one of Jadon's last therapy sessions where he got to use Righty to play the Lucky Ducks game!


Thursday, January 6, 2011

Newborn Birth Injuries: The Untold Story

Hi Everyone! I just got an email from Anise at Cameron's Smile about a great new video that the UBPN just released about Brachial Plexus Injury Awareness. PBS is airing this awesome video to help spread the word! I am so excited about this! One of the most frustrating things for me has been what to me feels like secretiveness about this injury. I feel this is because it IS caused by the hands that are supposed to above all do no harm. This tends to make people feel uncomfortable and awkward. I am hoping that maybe, just maybe this video and the help from PBS can open up a dialog. The medical community needs to make a change in protocol when it comes to delivering babies! Please, please pass this video on to all you know!!