After 9 long months of physical therapy appointments twice a week, Bella has finally been discharged from PT! We are so happy that Bella no longer needs PT and I am thankful to have my Tuesday and Friday afternoons back.
We took Bella for a PT consultation in October 2010, when she was only 6-months-old. She was diagnosed by the pediatrician with torticollis and her neck needed to be stretched. Like I mentioned before, she was a large baby and I'm definitely not a large woman, so the torticollis likely developed in utero. It's a relatively common occurrence, but Bella's torticollis was pretty severe. After several months of stretching and exercises, her torticollis improved dramatically. We weren't finished with PT just yet...
Around the age of 9-months-old, Bella was still army crawling and appeared to have no desire to crawl on her hands and knees. I informed the physical therapist of my concern and she agreed that Bella was having some issues with crawling, possibly due to the torticollis. After a few months of working on some gross motor skills, Bella was crawling like a pro. Again, we weren't finished with PT just yet...
When Bella turned 1, she still had yet to take her first step and wasn't cruising yet. She would occasionally pull herself up in her crib, but wasn't consistent with pulling up. I expressed my concerns to the physical therapist and she decided to begin working with Bella on pulling up and walking. Bella hated the exercises but cooperated for the most part. I used to observe Bella during her PT sessions, but she began putting on a show for me and refused to cooperate. Once I left the room, she would work hard and cooperated so much better. And, at the age of 14-months, Bella took her first unassisted steps. But we weren't quite finished with PT...
Today at PT, Bella walked down the long hallway (about 50 feet) from the PT room to the front door. She babbled and giggled the entire way and greeted me with a huge smile. The physical therapist said she didn't see a reason for Bella to remain in PT and that she's made great strides (pun intended). And with that, Bella was officially discharged from PT.
Bella isn't consistently walking on her own yet, but she's improving each and every day. Today for example, she walked around the family room the entire day and walked to Ian when he arrived home from work. Within a few weeks and months, her walking should improve and we'll forget what it was like to have a non-walking child. It was comforting to have the encouragement and support of the physical therapist, pediatrician and neurologist throughout this experience. Now if I could only stop people from commenting and asking questions regarding Bella's walking... oh well!
Our little trooper worked hard at her last PT session and is worn out. She took a 3 hour nap this afternoon and went to bed this evening without any protest. She is fast asleep and I'm not too far behind her... nighty night y'all!
Love always,
Ian, Kim & Bella
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