Today is a better day....

Well, today has been a much better day than yesterday. She hasn't "acted out" during meal times nearly as much. And of course she is 10 times better with a therapist than when she is having her meal or snack with just me! Her food volumes are pretty good, now we are really trying to up her volume of liquids.



This morning I was able to talk to the therapist about our experiences this weekend when it was just her and I all weekend long......



So I would say Abby's most favorite "trying to get out of this" tactic while she is eating with me in our room is her continually getting up and out of her chair. And so we are supposed to ask her in a numerous amount of ways to get her to sit back down. And when the verbal promptings don't work, we move to "Abby if you don't sit down by the time I count to three, then I am going to have to help you to sit down." This works a good amount of the time because she doesn't want me to help her with ANYTHING!!!! But sometimes, she doesn't get back in her chair by three and I have to physically pick her up and put her back in it. Sometimes 20-30 times a meal! PATIENCE!!!!! :o) But this weekend she took it much further and when I would pick her up to sit her back down she would arch her back and hold tight or she would go completely limp and when she did either one of those it was IMPOSSIBLE to get her in a sitting position on the chair.

And then there was the crying...big tears with a quiet long stare at me.....heartbreaking!!!!!!!



HELP!!!! What do I do???????



So her therapist told me that when it comes to the arching or going limp to just wait it out. Hold her for a minute or two, in whatever position she is fighting in, without saying anything. She said to make sure and not physically force it because that will make her fight more. And usually they will give in when they get no resistance or reaction out of you. And the crying....she said to just "take a break" for a few minutes. Redirect. Ask her if she would like to draw a picture or grab a book for us to read and then we will finish eating.



So at snack time today, just me and her, she did ok. She got out of her chair A LOT but no crying and no going limp. So I haven't had a chance to implement this new direction, but I'm sure she'll give me a chance to at some point. :o) Hopefully tonight will go well....



She did pretty good, volume wise for me and the therapists today. She is starting to get out of her chair more with the therapist too. Which is good so I can see how she reacts to them and their tactics......



On a more fun note...we had a little drama today! We had taken a little bicycle ride downstairs and we were on our way back up to our room. When the elevator door opened on the 5th floor for us to get out, I walked out first and by the time I turned around Abby hadn't made it out in time before the elevator closed!!!!! So in quite a panic, I ran to the nurses desk and there was Peggy, the life time specialist on Abby's feeding team. I told her what happened and she told me to stay on the 5th floor in case she made it back and she hopped on another elevator in search of her, all the while alerting security. I wasn't worried about Abby freaking out AT ALL!!! She loves strangers and new people...I was worried about them calling a code in the hospital and everyone going on lock down. Well, Abby had taken a ride up to the 6th floor and rode right out of the elevator on her little bicycle over to some nurses. They called security to let them know that they had found "this cute little girl on her bike". So THANKFULLY it happened so fast that a code wasn't announced. And by the time Peggy, I and a security guard got up there to get her, she was in the middle of 5 nurses, showing them her "bicycle tricks", absolutely loving all the attention!!!! She REALLY is making a name for herself here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



That's all for now...thank you once again for the prayers....clearly they are working!!!!



Much love,



Kelly


P.S. I promise there will be pictures tommorrow!