I have been reluctant to blog about this, but, in maybe a selfish way, I need all the help and support of all of our family and friends. For reasons I really can't explain, this is the day I have chosen to share...
We noticed that Babyhawk was not using her right hand at about 5 months old. When we approached her pediatrician regarding it, he said - let's get an MRI just to rule out a stroke. A stroke?!? I had no idea babies could have strokes. After her MRI we received the news that she had indeed suffered a stroke at sometime in utero or shortly after birth. Because of this stroke, the left side of her brain has been damaged, which was the cause of her right side weakness. On Valentine's day we received the official diagnosis of Right Side Hemiparetic Cerebral Palsy. She has a very mild form of CP and most people can't tell by looking at her that anything is wrong. In fact, we have to remind folks all the time what side it is that is affected. She has no cognitive or speech delays - they tell us she is ahead of her age group in those areas... She is as smart as a tack - her right side just doesn't always cooperate with what she wants to do.
Babyhawk has been in physical and occupational therapy since the first of March. It is play therapy that she usually enjoys! Her teachers at daycare have also been a God-send, doing her stretches with her and challenging her to use her right side. We also do stretches and exercises at home every night to keep her limber and using that right side. She has made amazing strides in just a couple of months and is opening and using that right hand more and more everyday!
Right now we are working on crawling and walking --- watch out world!
.... and that explains the title of this post - May is stroke awareness month and we all need to remember that babies do have strokes. If you want more information about childhood stroke you can visit the following link. - http://www.childstrokeawareness.org/ If you are a charitable person, think about giving to the Pediatric Stroke Research Fund by going to: http://www.chasa.org/
We appreciate all of your love and support and will continue to share all of Babyhawk's successes with you here on the blog!
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