Hannah was born 3 months prematurely weighing 1 pound and 7 ounces. She spent 96 days in neonatal intensive care where 21 of them were spent on a ventilator. She had numerous complications throughout her hospital stay, but fought through them all to come home. We brought her home when she was 3 months old weighting 4 pounds and 7 ounces. She was on a monitor 24 hours a day that would alert us if her breathing or heart rate became irregular. She had a shot every month to keep RSV at bay, and she was being seen by a gastroenterologist because her direct bilirubin count was too high.
At 7 mths she had her first seizure. After a night in Cooks Children's hospital, we saw a neuroloigst who ordered an eeg and it was determined that Hannah had epilepsy. We started anti-convulsant drugs and have been on a mission to find seizure control ever since.
Hannah had surg. on her eyes when she was 2 1/2. At this time she doesn't wear glasses. We have an appt. soon and she may have to have another corrective surg. or glasses. The pediatric opthamologist told us that the first surg. rarely lasts. Most of the time it takes two. I'll keep y'all posted on that development.
Up until Hannah was 3 yrs old she developed pretty normally. The first year and a half she was behind her peers, but seemed to take off when she turned a year and half. Then when she turned 2 1/2 to 3 yrs old she began having really bad seizures and we noticed a regression in her abilities, speech, motor, and cognition. She has continued to regress until recently when we opted to remove one of her seizure medications. She's regularly surprising us now, but has a LONG ways to go to be even close to her peers developmentally. We've implemented some autism resources and it is helping alot.
Hannah is in school now and loves it. She has all boys in her class, but doesn't seem to mind a bit. She's picked up some Spanish from her teachers and peers. I found that out in the funniest way. We were in the doctors office and a Spanish woman and her little girl were next to us. Hannah said some things I didn't understand and the woman asked me if I spoke Spanish. I told her no and she went on to tell me that my little girl did. She said that Hannah told her little girl, "hello, come here, and sit down". So, there's really no way to limit what she can and can't do or learn. She is a constant surprise.
I hope you enjoy getting to know Hannah. Our family thanks you for all the prayers and support. They are very appreciated.
God Bless!
Marcey and Hannah
Friday, January 18, 2008
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