Our Dandy-Walker Walk

Well, it has been a long time since I have posted anything. I really haven’t had any updates so I figured there was no need to update. Now, I guess I have a reason. I started noticing Mathew wasn’t talking or making sounds like most kiddos his age, when he was about 12 months. His pediatrician asked if he had any words, and the answer was no. Fast forward 3 months and he still doesn’t have any words. I contacted Early Intervention and they came to our house to do an evaluation. Their results were exactly what I expected. Mathew is at or above levels for his age in everything except communication. And actually, only the speech aspect of the communication category. His receptive communication is outstanding. He understands everything we tell him and he will follow commands perfectly. He just doesn’t talk. They said this may not have anything to do with Dandy-Walker, but he is still eligible because of it. The EI team said speech is the most common issue they make visits for. A speech therapist will come to our house 2x a month and see if we can’t help him start to talk. He is such a sweetie and he gets everything he wants because he knows how to ask, just not in the conventional way.  We will see what happens. Only time will tell, just as we suspected from the beginning. Will update next month on any progress. Thanks for your continued support and prayers. We all appreciate it very much.

I seem to forget about posting and time seems to fly by. Our little Mathew is still doing great. He started walking one month ago (11 months) and now he doesn’t even crawl. He walks everywhere and tries to keep up with big sis and big bro. He thinks he is as big as they are. We had his one year well child check and the ped was impressed with his development. Mathew is starting to sign now. His first sign was more. He points to things he wants and makes it known he doesn’t like to be told no. It is getting easier everyday to communicate with him.

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

I haven’t had much to post because Mathew’s life has been pretty much uneventful, medically speaking. He does however, keep me on my toes because he wants to get into everything! He is pulling himself up (with ease), and cruising along the couch or other objects that he holds onto. He can climb up a whole staircase without assistance. I of course am right behind him to make sure he doesn’t turn around and smile and come tumbling down. He thinks he is such big stuff. I am betting that he will be walking by the time he is 11 months. That’s only a month and a half away. We’ll see if I’m right. We thank God every day for our little miracle. We learn so much from him every day.

Mathew started crawling yesterday. He is 8 months old. The funny thing is he crawled before both of his siblings. Our daughter really never crawled and our son crawled when he was 9 months old. Our first doctor didn’t even give him the chance! It makes me so mad every time I think about it. I am so glad we didn’t listen to her. We are so thankful for the miracle that God has given us.

It has been a while since I updated last. Mathew is doing great. We had our 6 month well check up at his Peds doc and she thought he was doing excellent. He is still above the 97% in both height and weight, but his head is in the 90%. It has stayed on the same growth curve since he was born which is exactly what we want. His soft spot is getting smaller and smaller which means hydrocephalus is not setting in.

He is rolling all over the floor now and enjoys being down by himself. He started sitting up without support when he was 6 1/2 months old. He really likes to be in the seated position.  He is starting to reach for objects from the seated position and he really leans over and grabs things. He almost gets onto his hands and knees and then he falls to his belly. He is such a determined little guy. It is amazing to watch him learn and grow.

We also had an appointment with the Mathew’s neuro doc. He was really impressed with his growth and development and said he didn’t think we needed to make any more appointments with him. Ryan (my husband) and I were so pleased to hear this. The doc said he could do some scans but said those scans wouldn’t tell us anything we don’t already know.

So for now, we will just continue with Mathew’s well child visits and just continue to watch his development. We still pray every day that his development will continue on this path. I’m sure there will be road blocks in the future to overcome but for now we will take what we can get.

Thank you to everyone for all the prayers. God truly does work miracles and our precious little boy is proof.

Let the good times roll. Mathew rolled over from his back to his belly 2 days before Mother’s Day. If that isn’t the perfect gift, I don’t know what is. When I put him down  on his back now he flips right over. I can’t keep him on his back. The bad part is he can’t roll from his stomach to his back so he gets rather grumpy. I’m sure it won’t take long for him to figure it all out and he’ll be rolling all over the place. Such a blessing.

I can’t believe our baby boy is already 4 months old. We went to the doctor last week for a well child visit and everything was perfect. Mathew is in the 97% for height and weight and his head is in the 90th%. He is a big boy. He found his toes last night and talked to them for 5 minutes. Not sure if they were talking back to him or not but I couldn’t hear anything. He is also starting to try to roll over. He gets both feet in the air and rolls to the side. I don’t think it will be long before he figures it out. He is such a blessing to us all.

I have been reading about Dandy Walker on the internet, and stories from others that have children with DW. Some peoples doctors have been so negative. I am so thankful that we had such great Doctors. Thank you to the Doctors at UCH for being so positive through my whole pregnancy, specifically Dr. Scott, thank you to Dr. Oneil for giving us hope after our fetal MRI, and thank you to Dr. LeBlanc for being a great pediatrician. Doctors have so much influence and all I can say to those of you out there going through this is this: If you don’t like what your doctor us saying, or how they are saying it, find a new one!

As for Mathew, he is still developing well. He is starting to grab things and starting to look for me when I talk to him. He is so smiley and happy. We love him so much.

It is so amazing to watch our little boy grow. He has gotten so much better at raising his head when on his tummy over the past two weeks. I loved everything that our other 2 kiddos did also, but each and every milestone that Mathew meets is such a miracle. He is so happy and smiley. He cries when he is tired and hungry and that’s about it. I still wonder and worry about future problems he may face, but pray they will be few and far between. As for now, we will just enjoy our little man and thank God everyday for him!

We had our Early Intervention appt. last week. Everything went very well, just as expected. They asked me a lot of questions and in the end, they were not concerned with anything. He is doing great for his age. We decided we wouldn’t schedule another appointment unless we feel Mathew is falling behind. One of the EI specialists gave me some helpful hints for tummy time. They seem to be helping. He is getting stronger each day. He is such a blessing to us and we praise God everyday for him. Thank you all for your prayers. Keep them coming for continued great health!