ABM Therapy

Mid October Mom, Alistair, Francis and I headed East to Edmonton for some trial ABM therapy. Its something that I've been looking into for some time. Actually, I've always had it in the back of my mind that I would like to try some alternative therapies with Alistair but wanted to make sure it was something that fit with my way of thinking as well as making sure it wasn't going to break the bank....Also I feel there is a lot out there to take advantage of the bleeding heart parent and wanted to make sure we also didn't go down that path. 

Anyhow, believe it or not I first heard about ABM therapy on Facebook. I'm part of several different forums on facebook where parents with higher needs kidlets communicate about there various concerns, findings, and learning curves etc... So ABM has been a hot topic lately and listening to parents testimonials on the therapy and my own research I felt it was something to pursue for Alistair.

Grandma Hedges came along which was fabulous for so many reasons but of course Francis thought it was wonderful that she could get all the hugs she required/requested

.It didn't take much to keep her entertained......well until she realized if she squawked she'd get lovin!

Alistair of course just loves the fact that Grandma gets down to his level and enjoys just being with him.

So this is Carla our ABM practitioner from Sherwood Park! For 5 days at 930am & 330pm Alistair got therapy. So what is ABM therapy you ask? It really is a non aggressive therapy for sure! Which I like. Basically they are working on making "new connections" in the brain rather than fixing the brain. So its based on the whole belief of neuroplasticity i.e. that the brain is plastic and can learn new things. They do this by working on the pelvis, ribs, spine and sternum. When I say working its really subtle. From my perspective it looks like they are massaging these areas to bring attention to them. But they are obviously doing more than massage.

There is a definite process to it all but at the same time they work with where the kid is at. So for my son I was worried he'd be all overstimmed and stressed. I was just amazed at how well he did. He had a few moments but then Carla would back off and give him some time to take it in. However, as the lessons went on I found Alistair more Carla and actually really enjoying himself with lots of animation in his face. It was neat to see. He loved Carla! So as I said they work with where the kid is at so if he wanted to be on his tummy then she worked there. She definitely had a plan but if Alistair didn't want to go with it then a different route was taken. Alistair was extremely exhausted after each session which floored me even though I was told he would be. We'd drive back to my brother George's downtown Edmonton and sometimes we couldn't get there quick enough before he'd crash. I've never seen him sleep so soundly.

There were a few key things we were to do with him one of the big ones was NOT to praise him when he did something new. Sounds odd right. Well it isn't when you hear her reasoning. When you praise the kid you take his focus off of what he's doing and during that period of time he should be solely thinking about what he has just done....why, how, what, when, where....this allows the kid to make the connections in his brain. Another big one is that the kid needs to be happy or positive as when they are irritable or angry there is no point in working with them as nothing will be learnt. Hence the fact Carla really worked with where he wanted to be. Carla made no promises, which I liked right from the start. "Each kid is different in what they take from the lessons" However, right after the first lesson Mom and I saw a lot more eye contact and for the first time ever I saw him watching t.v. He was actually looking at the screen and scanning over it. Now if any of you have been around Alistair you know he can get this vacant looking into space look. Well this and a lack of eye contact was quite common lately. Since the ABM I notice a ton more eye contact and general awareness. Mom and I went in skeptical yet open to the whole idea so when we started seeing changes we'd look at each other and go "really?!??!"

Carla did say the most common thing they see initially is an increase in awareness and that was a for definite for us. So from our set of lessons we've seen more awareness, more eye contact and he has figured out his sitting bones and was sitting up just three days after therapy. It isn't perfect and he doesn't last forever BUT he's doing it! Before this therapy it was really common for me to have him sitting up and then he'd push his butt forward to get himself in a horizontal position. Now he actually sits and leans forward on a table to play. Again he'll push back but its different and not as much. Anyhow I'm hooked. I just wish I could have Carla a little closer.

I am looking into bringing her here to Prince George in January which she is willing to do, but I need to find three more families willing to commit. So if you're someone that is interested let me know! Her rates are reasonable. The other thing I appreciated about Carla...well so much..but she too has a young daughter who has higher needs so she understands what parents like ourselves are going through as she too has taken the journey. I think it makes a difference.

 

Well I'm going to post this...I have a bunch more to post but because so much has gone on I'm going to break it up over several blogs :D Talk to you SOON!

Turkey Time



 Well turkey time came and went and we sure have alot to be thankful for. One of them being that Jason's sister and family have moved to town. It was actually their second night in their new home so I think they were a tad thankful for a meal outside of their new home in which they are working to organize.

Its such a nice time to have family move closure when the kidlets are still all little and can really enjoy the benefits of having an Aunt, Uncle and of course cousins to grow up and know well. I forsee a great deal of good wholesome family times. Love it! 

My brother George also made it out from Edmonton so it made for a nice cozy table full.

 Francis of course enjoyed all the cuddles that were being handed out.

 But enough was enough for this little lady and she decided it was time to crash.

 Dad gave her a prop after she fell asleep!

Another thing we are so thankful for is PRESCHOOL! You know I was fairly sure it wasn't going to work but I knew that I was going to do my darndest to try and make a go of it.  I just figured since his sleep schedule was in the morning, he sat up in his chair for only an hour max at a time, and my concept of what preschool was going to be like made me all think it wasn't going to work. WOW was I ever wrong. After day two I think it was, I was basically twiddling my thumbs...actually more like sitting on my hands to stay out of the road and well stop being the hands on mama. Heather, Alistair's fabulous support worker I might add, came over to me and gave me a gentle nudge saying it was ok if I wanted to leave. Well it didn't take me long to get out the door. I couldn't believe it. Still can't really. I guess I saw them dealing with a screaming child for 2 1/2 hours which wouldn't be good for anyone let alone his fellow preschoolers. I also remember the very first day seeing another little higher needs girl getting carried. I was for some reason shocked that the support workers would actually carry our kidlets about or do much lifting. So ya this mama has been in her own bubble and thankfully was proven way wrong. Actually, I think they all can teach me a thing or two ie the support workers and teachers as they obviously have had a fair amount of exposure to little peps like Alistair. Anyways its so good for this mamas brain. I get a good two hours three times a week where Francis and I can zip about and get stuff done which in turn makes this brain of mine much happier. I just don't have the weight of "stuff to do". But its not only about me LOL. As soon as I get Alistair into the CDC he starts to smile and calm. He gets in the room with the other kids and seems to be taking in his environment. He's generally happy when I pick him up and well he just has presented himself different even within our own home. I can't really put my finger on it but I think its contentment. He's finally getting stimulation that is different, fresh and new from his mundane routine that any family can get into. Not that I'm putting down our home environment but its just so nice for Alistair to get this new stimulation.....AND it warms both Jason and my heart to know he's getting lots of socialization. Just the fact that other kidlets will come and play with the toys he has in hand or solely the fact that they are around him obviously impacts him in a fabulous way.

 

I'm just so thankful to all of Alistairs "team" as without them it would be a heck of a lot more challenging for US.

Growing like a Weed!

Well I now totally get it when people say "'isn't it amazing how fast they grow!" Holy smokes this little munchkin is growing like crazy and changing so incredibly fast. Jason and I just can't get over all the changes that are occurring on basically a daily basis. I'm already digging out the 12 month clothes for her, which I have heard is quite common but still for us its shocking. Alistair has been in the same t-shirts for a couple years where this little lady is blowing out the toes of 9 month Costco sleepers.

Apart from clothes hardly being worn once before they are thrown into a box for the next little lady to enter this world Francis is also doing a ton of other fun stuff. Today when I propped her up in a sitting position she just continued to sit there. She's blowing all sorts of raspberry sounds now and the chuckles are endless which of course we love to no end. I've added a few fun videos of these heart warming times we just love...enjoy!

CLICK HERE to watch her blowing raspberries!
CLICK HERE to watch her have a good ol' chuckle!

 

First Haircut

Believe it or not my little Fire Cracker already needed a hair cut. I just trimmed the back up a bit and left the rest as is but she is definitely getting quite the head of hair and she'll be 18 weeks this Friday. Actually under those nice dark locks is blonde hair coming through. I guess the danish blood is determined to show its true colors!

Francis is definitely a big fan of the bath. Lately she has gotten into the spashing game and I get soaked by the end of the bath session. I can't help but laugh though as its just priceless how much fun she gets out of flailing her hands about in the water.

I made this apple pie the other day with some apples off my friends tree. I got this different apple pie receipe of the internet where you make a caramel type sauce on the stove top and then drizzle it over the apples prior to baking. YUMMY. If you want to try something a tad different check out this link click HERE I did add a tsp of cinnimon, nutmeg and vanilla

to the mixture as I like to spice things up! 

 It was so cute to watch both kids thoroughly enjoy story time with Dad the other night. Alistair talked through the whole story and Francis just held on to her Daddy and checked out the colorful pictures.

Here is a link to a cute video of Francis splashing in the bath CLICK HERE

Processing

 Well on Sept 15th we drove back into Prince George from our road trip to Vancouver clocking over 1600km. I must say right of the bat that the kidlets did awesome. I think Francis actually squaked a little more just so that she could get fed. However, Alistair to my surprise did amazingly well. The ear plugs I insisted Becca bring didn't even have to be pulled out once. The unfortunate thing was that the day we headed south I started to feel a head cold coming on and by the time we spent one night in Vancouver Alistair and I both had it full on. Fortuately, Becca and Francis were able to keep it at bay. As usual I think oooo this trip will be a breeze from the medical aspect of things. I'll just pop in and out of appointments and then we can all just kick back and truly enjoy being in the big city! Well not quite! Thankfully I didn't go alone...which I of course had been considering until Becca, a good friend of mine, was happy to come for the ride. She use to work at Vancouver General so she had a few places she wanted to get back to and visit along with catching up with some of her buddies. She was fabulous to have along. Not only to be a great hugger of Francis but just to have a friend to chat to in the evenings and attempt to make sense of some of the content!

We only had two days of appointments but of course the half days that I had anticipated both turned into basically 10-12 hour days. By the time we were done all the appointments I had three more appointments that Alistair and I have to come back to Van for before the end of the year. Ya not expecting that. One was for orthopedics. I decided to go see an orthopedic doc down at Childrens as Alistair's feet are continue to turn in due to all his toe pointing. In the long term this can cause permanent foot structure issues and I just felt something more needed to be done. Anyhow, he got both his feet casted which he thankfully went into a deep morning snooze for or we would never have gotten that accomplished. However, because his splints need to be made specifically to his castings

we have to come back for them. We also saw the plastic surgeon for his hands and got new hard and soft hand splints to help pull his thumb back out as he's tucking it under inside his hand. So now he needs that all stretched out. Then on our Thurs appointments we had to go into day surgery as Alistair was to have his MRI that day. Before we got there though, to my surprise, they decided to fit us in for a CT of his ears that we had been told wasn't going to be available to him. But I had to laugh when they said he just has to keep still for 2-3 minutes. I said there was no way it was going to happen. However, the lady said we may as well try as we have time. So fortunately it was in the morning when he likes to snooze. So just like the foot castings, after Alistair got wrapped all up in warm blankets he promptly fell asleep and voila he had his CT done. Then over to where he got sedated so that he could have the MRI completed. Anyhow in day surgery Dr Skaarsgaard, Alistair's surgeon for his diaphragm at 3 days old, came over to check on him and look at an xray we also had done. It was great to hear all went well there and there was no rupture of the diaphragm. I also got to see his xray and his left lung is basically the same size as his right! Beauty! While he was there he checked out his undescended testicle and its no longer retractile....so you guessed it... surgery is being booked before the end of the year. Then last but not least we got in to see Dr Connolly the neurologist. It wasn't at all a suprise to hear that Alistair has "generous space" around his brain. But what did come to a

surprise is that at the base of his brain where the spinal cord meets the brain there seems to be a "beak" as she called it. So yep off for a cervical xray we went. Long story short the spinal specialist was called and it seems that Alistair has a displaced C1 and C2 vertebrae. These are the top two vertebrae of the spine that the skull tends to ride nicely on. So ya....your asking whats this mean? Can they do anything? Is he a candidate for surgery? Would we take this route if offered? Is he at risk? Well the only thing I can say is Dr Riley, the spinal specialist, told Dr Connolly that it was stable. We were given no restrictions for him but needless to say it makes me nauseous just the thought of it. But what can you do but wait. So now we're referred to see Dr Riley. Now my impression is that we'd get in before the end of the year but who knows right!?!?! We didn't actually see him it was just words be transfered from one specialist to another. I'm just thankful that Dr Connolly caught it and got right onto pursuing some answers for us. So...now what? Well we just wait now until Oct 1st when the secreatary returns to Dr Riley's office and then we'll know more. Thankfully Dr Skaarsgaard took us under her wing for no other reason then just reaching out and having a BIG heart...and she said on Oct 1st she'll walk over and try to find some definitive answers for me and then I can start attempting to schedule all of the appointments around about the same week.  This time Jason will come so it'll be a family road trip. But really I just want him to be there when we get to talk to Dr. Riley so he can ask questions incase we are offered surgery or interventions so that we can make an educated decision together. So how did I feel after all that? You know I went into overdrive.

Alistair had snot vomits the whole time we were down so basically Francis, Alistair, and I slept on mats in the living room of this fabulous house called "Victory Hill Residence" provided from the Provinical Services for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. That was thankfully a huge help in coping over this week. We had this 6 bedroom two story house all to ourselves for the whole week! One night I had 3 showers with Alistair just to try and help clear his head which I likely wouldn't have done if there were other people staying there. Plus we wouldn't have crashed in the living room. I'm sure I got 3-4 hours total of sleep a night.

Yahoo caffeine or more like Vanilla Bean Lattes! Anyhow we did get to spend a good part of the day hanging out at Granville one day, I caught up with my buddy Kim and her little man Grady, Becca got to see a bunch of her friends, we did some shopping on fourth and then spent a night in Squamish at a nice hotel en route home. All I can say is thankfully I didn't add more appointments to this trip as I was feeling guilty for not piling in more appointments which I could've easily done but something told me to stick with the main priority appointments and thank goodness I did. It really wasn't until I got home that I crashed BIG TIME. Like my friend said in the UK "I think when we go to those places we go hard because we spend so long trying to be upbeat, that sometimes it catches you like a viper!" I think once I got into the comfort of my own home, with my supportive husband, and really just time to process all that happened down there it seemed to swallow me up. Thankfully today I finally seem to be somewhat sane again. Its all about processing and renormalizing and I think I've found my normal again! Whew heavy stuff, and you know what both kidlets just look at me and smile and just want tickles and hugs. So thankfully once again my little people are happy and not in pain...as some families are not as fortuante....its all relative! Nighty night!

First Day of Preschool

 Well I just can't believe this day arrived. My little man went to his first day of preschool today. I was sure it was going to be a total right off as his preschool is from 9-1130 and of course thats when Alistair decides to nap. Being that it was his first day it was a shorter day really just to get paper work sorted and get a bit more familiar with the area. The funny thing is I gave him some melatonin last night was we really feel we are going to have to provide him with some sort of sleep aide to help him get the rest he needed. Well he slept like a rock from 8pm to 4am and then he was so super hyper and excited that it was like it was Christmas morning. Anyhow fortunately he made it from 9-1030 before the melt down started. Thats heaps better than what I could have dreamed of for the first day. Plus he was Mr Smiley Pants.

 Anyhow, if we can get a handle on his sleep schedule and get him in the groove for preschool three times a week life will be truly dreamy. I'm just pleased that he'll get some new stimulation added to his life especially when he seems to be going through a nice little progression stint. Life is good!

Ahhhh a BRAIN BREAK!

This was the incredible view we had over the past long weekend. Over the summer Jason said he is going to dedicate four weekends to the family. He's just so darn busy that if he doesn't do this he just works straight through. Its been fabulous. We ended up finding a little place on Stuart Lake over by Ft St James called Stuart Lake Lodge. The nice thing for both of us is that we remove ourselves from the home environment which forces us to stop and just be. I actually read a book. Jason held the kidlets and enjoyed being Dad.

 We went for a stroll down to the water and later drove down with a load and just hung out. It was fabulous. No one else was there so it was  like our own private little beach. The one thing we really notice is since Jason is going constantly all the time and outside all day everyday he just can't wait to just sit and be with the kids. Where as I've been sitting and being with kids and feel quite sedentary that I just want to get out and move.

 Well truthfully at this stage in the game the kidlets don't allow us to move much anyhow. Alistair maxs out at about 20min in the carrier but sometimes he'll go for as long as an hour. Where as Francis she just falls asleep happily wherever we are.

 So luckily for me Jason was more than happy to hang out with the kidlets on shore while I went for a little kayak in the bay. It is true that Stuart Lake can change in minutes weather wise. One minute it was glorious and sunny and the next big black clouds hung overhead. Plus I was quite surprised how much of a swell developed from just across the lake. I hate to admit it but I got dunked! So I got a good cooling off before even starting. LOL Anyhow, I loved it. In the picture above you can see the cabins up on the hillside if you follow the nose of the kayak up. They had a nice little piece of property down on the lake to enjoy.

Plus the view was stunning. You could see caves up in the cliffs. Supposidly there are caves around the area with Native American cave paintings. That would have been fantastic to see.

Well I think the most active one in the whole family was Alistair. This little guy just suddenly can't get enough of being up on his hands and knees. He gets such a kick out of himself for doing so. Its just a pleasure to see. He has obviously progressed with this over the month. Initially he'd get up perhaps a handfull of times over the day. Now its a handfull of times in 5 minutes! We remain cautiously optimistic and truthfully just enjoy the fact he's getting such enjoyment out of it all.