Virus in the Pod

 I know we post a lot about milestones around here, but not all things are sunshine and rainbows all the time. 

A tummy virus has hit the pod, well I should correct myself by saying the entire infant and toddler unit. 

Due to this virus and the fast, widespread nature of it, they put the entire pod on contact precautions. Contact precautions means that everyone in the rooms are gowned, gloved and (of course) masked. No babies are allowed out of their rooms and no visitors besides mom and dad. 

This also means that all services were canceled for the week. Now, Gracie gets a TON of services here. She is growing, changing, alert and meeting milestones. Those services include occupational therapy (OT), physical therapy (PT), infant school, speech, feeding therapy and newly pet therapy. 

If you know me at all, you know that I believe in these therapies and the tremendous impact good therapists make. I also believe that when you miss sessions, you easily slide backwards and lose some of the gains made. 

So this week, while we were in lockdown mode on the floor, mommy played service provider.

Disclaimer: my caption is me being playful

Blythedale did NOT hire me for the week. 

We did OT and worked on head control and spending time on her tummy. It has been difficult for Gracie to roll onto her tummy since her vent tubing has always gotten in the way. Now, sans vent, it is easier for her and she is figuring out just how to get there. 

She is also holding her head up by herself when she is on her tummy. She is holding her saturation while there and seems to really enjoy it. Every time I give her a break, she tries to roll right back over. 

We did some PT stretches. Gracie's hamstrings and ankles are very tight and some of her PT goals are to increase her flexibility. 

We worked on non-nutritive breast feeding and the coordination of suck, breathe, swallow using her pacifier. 

In mommy infant school, we worked in our sitting position, using our toys and reading stories. We used our toys to create cause and effect. She is starting to use her hands independently to make music with her piano. 

She still loves looking at herself. 

And at me, wherever I am in the room 

I couldn't get to recreate the pet therapy, but we did facetime with Duke! Duke was clearly thrilled 🤣

In all seriousness, I could never take the place of our incredible team. They are beyond experts in their fields and I have seen so much progress with Gracie in the last few weeks. I know I could never do half of what they do, but I did want to make sure she was still working while they weren't allowed to be here. 

In real life I am a special education kindergarten teacher with my masters in early childhood ed specializing in students with disabilities. I know first hand how important continuing services are. 

We are so thankful we get so many services throughout the week. I just know she has met so many milestones because of the care she has received both medically and in therapies.  

After being on precautions all week, they will reevaluate on Monday and hopefully we can get back to our regularly scheduled programming!