Update on Ivy Jane

Ivy Jane's pediatric chiropractor is FANTASTIC! Another answer to prayer...THANK YOU, LORD! There was no x-ray done (she's too young to be exposed to the radiation) so he performed a thermal scan, instead. The thermal scan detects imbalances in temperature patterns on each side of the spine. If the temperature is not symmetrical, then the patient could be having muscle spasms or some type of nerve interference. What we know from that scan is that her C1 & C2 vertebrae are "jacked". Ok, so that's not the elaborate medical term he used, but basically they are WAY out of alignment-so much so that the C2 is probably pinching a nerve. You can really see it from this picture I took last Friday, after her first adjustment.

You can also see that she is holding her right hip up to balance herself! SO, Thursday she had her first adjustment, followed by one of the worst (or best...depending on how you look at it) poops she's ever had. Weird-and very cool all at the same time! Here she is Friday morning eating cheerios. She has THE BEST appetite...the child eats everything and anything I put in front of her!

Fast forward a few days...she's now had two adjustments and we had her first official physical therapy appointment with Sue today. We are working on rolling over, moving around, stretching, etc. Her muscles are still tight, so I'm still stretching her neck like the initial therapist showed me to do, but I'm also "playing" with Ivy a lot to allow HER to do the stretching. The chiropractor is working on the alignment and then we are moving her around/stretching afterwards to produce the best results. It really makes sense, and we are already seeing results. Sue was impressed today that Ivy Jane was actually holding her head midline and moving around more than her initial assessment. Yea! AND, tonight she rolled over on her own and started scooting backwards after we did some "therapy"! Woohoo! Sue told me that she KNOWS Ivy can do it, and that she's not the least bit worried. She said she just thinks she was not physically capable of moving around because it hurt her too much. Already, just after two adjustments, she seems looser and is twisting her trunk more. She's going to see her every two weeks & her chiropractor is going to see her every week for 10 more weeks. So, by June 1st we should be on our last appointment and they both feel that Ivy Jane will be healed by that time!

Here she is after today's therapy session...you can tell she's tight in her right side still, but it seems to be better already!

Tired baby...therapy is hard work!

And I had to throw in a random picture of Georgia Claire this morning in her princess gown eating her breakfast...her favorite right now is organic granola & a banana!

So, I definitely feel like we are on the right track and we have a great team working with sweet Ivy Jane. The good news is that we caught this early and that the physical therapist could tell there was more going on than just torticollis. Initially I was upset that my pediatrician waited several months & I was scared that she would have long-term effects. I now know that children are moldable and pliable and Ivy Jane is making huge strides...I'm choosing to be positive because I know that I'm doing all that I can as her mother and the professionals working with her are THE BEST! Thank you, God!