Let It Snow, Let It Snow

We finally have an appointment up in Eugene at the Child Developmental and Rehabilitation Center for Hubercito to have a Barium feeding camera study Jan 6th. From what I understand from another mother whos child has had one done, the put a lil Barium (which is dye so you can see with an xray type machine) into some food or formula and watch as he eats. This way they can see how he swallows and make sure nothing goes into his lungs. I am so excited to have this done as we have been talking about it since he was 3 months old. We switched pediatritions about 4 months ago and our new one agreed right away that there was no point in waiting as his former pediatrition had said. Im trying not to get my hopes up too much though because throughout the day you can hear he has saliva in the back of his throat as if he isnt swallowing hard enough.
In other news I cannot believe that Christmas is next week! We had originally planned on going to spend it in Fresno with Hubers family but at the last minute because of the icy and snowy roads and just the stress of having to drive so far with Hubercito still crying a lot in his car seat we decided to try for that a lil later in this upcoming year. So we will be spending it here with some of the family. We had one good day of snow which was exciting to see. We set Hubercito in the bed so he could look out the window (one of his few favorite enjoyments) and see the snow falling. We got his all bundled up and went in search of snow later that day but by then most of his had melted so he didnt get his first chance to actually be out in it. Snowboarding in Mt Ashland soon though! Then he'll get his fill of the snow!
Merry Xmas and Happy New Year to everyone!

Oigong What?!

So Hubercito started Occupational Therapy a couple days ago. For those of you who don't know what makes that different from his physical therapy, Occupational is focused more on grasping, writing, picking up toys, etc etc while physical is more stretching the muscles.
Apparently from my understanding, this county has 1 occupatinal therapist who will work with Huber. Nice lady. She studied a massage therapy called Oigong. Has anyone ever heard of this? It's an eastern medicine way to help a child. Believing that Cerebral Palsy babies have a blockage in their necks that is keeping the brain from communicating with his arms, legs etc. So anyways we will begin this after the holiday vacations they all take. There are like 12 movements they go through, each helping a certain area or problem. It sounds kind of cool actually but I am a bit skeptical. I would rather have him actually working on sitting, crawling, picking up toys, walking etc rather then stretching and massaging only. I dunno maybe Im just impatient.
Other then that we have just been hanging around, slowly getting ready for the holidays. We will be leaving the 23rd for Fresno area and returning the 26th so we are all looking forward to that! Not sure how well baby boy will do on the 12 hr long car ride but we will find out! Probably turn out to be more stressful on us then enjoyable!

To Move or Not To Move?

I have been dying to get out of this tiny town. I always wanted and pictured myself living in California somewhere someday. Perferably Southern California. We live in a small town along the coast on the Cali/Oregon border. So if wouldn't be a huge out of place change. Problem is my husband would prefer to stay in Oregon, rather to move more up north.
Our main concern now, that family we have here is starting to make plans of moving away, is how much more special care and financial help we could receive for our son. They have clinics I've read about that work specifically with kids with Cerebral Palsy. Clinics we'd have to drive hours and hours to get to where we are right now. How much more he could be learning right now and how much faster he could be learning it. He recieves physical therapy weekly right now and will soon begin some others but the area doesnt have a lot of options or anything past this to pursue.
So Im on a mission to find out the most I can about CP clinics, help, insurance coverage etc etc that Cali offers over Oregon. That way he can't help but say yes to moving where I prefer!

Other then that not much new to report. Hubercito has his nurse practitioner and occupational therapist (for the 1st time) coming tomorrow but I can't remember what is set up for today...too many appts to remember!! The last couple nights his right side cheek and ear have turned bright red and was hot to the touch while the rest of his face was normal. I looked it up online and narrowed it down to an earache or teething so Im anxious for his nurse to look at him tomorrow. It only happens for about an hour at night though, then just clears itself up....weird.

If You Knew What I Knew

I hate the work 'handicapped'. I hate the phrase 'Special needs' and I hate the term 'Cerebral Palsy'. But I have had to use them and accept them over the last 10 months.
When you look at my son, he is perfect. He's got big brown eyes, long eyelashes, dimples when he smiles, all 10 fingers, all 10 toes. You'd never be able to look at him and see or know that he has Cerebral Palsy.
Cerebral Palsy is basically a catchall term for a variety of disorders that affect a child's ability to move and maintain posture and balance due to a brain injury. So for him, due to the lack of oxygen he had at birth. When I first heard it used for my son I immediatly thought he'll never crawl, walk etc etc. But after researching it A LOT, alot of people with Cerebral Palsy go on to live happy, healthy lives. I talked with many new friends who have kids with CP or people living with CP. I then became more optimistic towards my sons future. Don't tell me he'll never walk, run, jump, play.
I constantly think about if I am doing enough for him. If we moved would he have better therapies and a better chance at walking sooner? Do we have enough money to make it to his next Dr appointment? Etc Etc...For the time being I have to believe that I am but always look and try to find the next best thing for him.
My son is 10 months old. He cannot sit up by himself yet, doesnt crawl or roll over. He has good head control but prefers it all the way back which makes it look like he doesnt. He doesnt reach or play with toys. He hasn't laughed yet. He cannot take any feedings by mouth yet. These are things I know my son will eventually do but don't know when.
He does have good eyesight, hearing, head control, grasp, hes finally smiling at us. He loves looking at toys with lights and music, he loves laying on the bed looking out our patio door. He sucks on his pacifier, he shows interest in wanting to eat by mouth. These are the things I am grateful for. Things that most people take for granted that their child can do. The simple things. EVERY lil new thing that my son does I get excited about.
Its frusterating and it hurts to watch other babys around my sons age crawling, laughing, playing, starting to learn to walk, talk etc etc. It's a feeling I dont think anyone can understand unless you were in their shoes. I see my son get frusterated when he can't do certain things.
We start more physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, vision therapy etc etc for him in the upcoming months. But as of now all I can say is he is doing a hell of a lot better then the Dr, who told us he would do nothing, said. And that's good enough for me.