Molly & Emma started physical therapy when they were 10 months old. It was offered to them through Baby Net because their premature birth weight qualified them. It was suggested that we enter into physical therapy just to help them not fall too far behind developmentally since they were early. So that we did. Emma only stayed in PT a few months tho because soon after she started she began crawling and then walking. She was right on track developmentally for her age, and showed no other signs of complications or delay so she was dismissed! Here is a little flash back of my teeny tiny girl during her 1st therapy session!
And here she is today playing with Mr. Ray during Molly's last therapy session!
She has grown just a little, since her first session almost 2 yrs ago... you think? :-)
Today was a pretty big deal for us! Molly has reached all of the in home goals set for her, so after two years, she is also finally being dismissed from PT!
It is a bitter sweet achievement! I say bitter sweet because her therapist has been an incredible source of knowledge & encouragement for our family over the past two years. And we will surely miss having him around.
BUT how very excited and proud I am that my baby girl no longer needs him around!!!
Very few people understand what a big deal this is. And that's ok. It is a big deal none the less. :-)
I have heard in the past by many, that they never understood her need for physical therapy anyway because they never saw anything "wrong".
And that my friends, has been our goal the entire time!!! We don't want her short comings to be made obvious..that is exactly why we have been doing everything possible to help her overcome them. And physical therapy has done huge things for her.
The minor delays we as her parents noticed in her as an infant, we immediately worked with her to correct and today...you would never even know they were once there.
Other things, she still struggles with, and will probably always struggle with to an extent, but our goal is to find ways to minimize the issues and to work with her consistently on them so that these "little things" remain little things.
If we slack...and do not do our part...then the little things will become big and we want to avoid that.
A year ago, the tightness in her leg was so bad that her Orthopedic Specialist told me that she would most likely need surgery in 3 or 4 years to stretch out her muscles. If they remain tight then the muscles will eventually get so tight that they will stop growing. So that is why he said surgery would be necessary.
Following that appointment she ended up doing a casting to help stretch out her muscles. She has been wearing her brace on & off since that casting and we do lots of exercise and PT to find ways to keep that leg stretched. As a result, when she recently went for a follow up Ortho appt, he said that tho she still had some tightness he did not think it was that bad! And no further casting is scheduled at this point. And Im thinking...if she doesn't even need another casting then surely she wont need surgery if we continue to do our part!!! Right??!!
Below is a little re-cap of what were some of Molly's most memorable achievements
(you can click pic to enlarge)
My mom and brothers joined us tonight as we celebrated the very last physical therapy session...
at Monkey Joes! The girls love this place and they love Mr. Ray!!!
Thank you Mr. Ray, for everything you have done to get my girls right on track physically to where they need to be! We appreciate your guidance, your recommendations, all the time you took to write down "homework" for us, and most of all...your patience and flexibility!!
We are so thankful to you!!
