“Reborn”

I mentioned that we chose the name for Renny that means “reborn.”  Not only did she look good when she was first born, but she IS good.  In the Ultrasound page I talked about how a week before she was born the high-risk specialist looked at her ultrasound and told us Renny would be a “very, very sick baby,” and basically told us she would have many problems, implying brain and/or other organ damage due to her extreme hydrocephalus.  This ended up being far from the truth.

Though she has been delayed in some areas – one area is obviously her gross motor skills, which are affected by her disability – she is doing well overall.  It is difficult at the present time to know where she would be right now in the motor development, since she has been in a cast for almost 6 months.  But, we are hopeful that when the casting is done, she will develop some of these skills quickly.  Obviously our greatest hope will be that she can learn to walk – most likely with some sort of assistance such as a leg brace – but we will be able to start on that adventure soon…

She is also delayed in speech (her brothers also had some speech delays) – in fact, at 21 months she still only says one word, “mom”.  (a good choice)   Her receptive skills seem to be good - She understands us and she knows how to communicate in other ways, like with gestures, grunts, and whines   But, cognitively she falls in the average range, at least as measured by some “assessments.”    Her social and play skills are good, her fine motor skills are excellent.

And, Renny is so wonderfully lovable – Such a happy little girl.  She likes playing with her three brothers, and they like playing with her.  She always has a smile on her face.  She makes everyone feel special.  And she is special in so many ways.