good reports!

We took Mabel to meet with an orthopedic specialist today concerning some cracking and popping in her right hip. She has had this same pop since she was born. Although it is excessive, we always thought she would just 'grow out of it,' much like everything else with her...

but as she goes through therapy week after week we are all still so surprised by the amount and intensity of popping. She had X-Rays back in January that looked normal but since then she has also started to turn her feet inward quite a bit and we wanted to make note of that as well.

Today's appointment went well! It was actually one of the most encouraging appointments with a good report. Her hips, spine, legs, ankles and feet look good. They are all aligned the way they are supposed to be and the Dr. believes that the popping we hear is probably just muscles and ligaments. Some people just pop.

Her ankles are possibly turning in due to her low tone. She is posturing her feet a certain way because they just happen to lay that way and she just isn't quite strong enough to correct them. He did mention that she is holding her head very well and although she has low tone, "he has seen much lower..."

We know she's getting stronger so it was nice to hear it from someone else.

He did mention that it can be concerning if babies like Mabel don't start to develop at some point because just like with any muscle, joint, or bone--when it isn't being used, it can basically start to grow at a slower rate than other parts of their body. So we are praying against that and hoping that she will start to do things very soon. Although it feels hopeless, our God is in the miracle business. We are praying for just that.

So after a long day, we finally got a pretty great report. I couldn't be more thankful because the discouraging and scary unknowns of the past few months were starting to build up and overflow out of this spirit of mine. Thank you for your prayers and love. I appreciate all of the emails, messages and texts. Although I haven't been able to reply to all, I read them and am grateful. So thank you.

♥

This time last year I was 28 weeks pregnant with Mabel. Such a sweet time to remember. I am blessed beyond measure with this sweet and gentle girl. No matter how hard this all feels, she is worth every second of it. She is worth it all.