Oli's Triumphant Year.

10:00 AM racheal 8 Comments

So my daughter turned one. I understand now the original purpose for birthdays. She survived a year! Yay! She made it! And we did too! Whew! What a ride it's been. I know this is way more information than most people want to know, but for the 3 of you that are interested, here are the deets.






Our little Olive is a go-getter. She has just been healing herself, overcoming obstacles, and rocking the kasbah baby.

First with her heart.

Last year on my birthday, a month after she had been born, we were told she had a significant hole in her heart that would require open heart surgery. Happy Birthday. It was awesome. There are two versions of her particular defect, she had the one that would not heal on its own. Joke's on the doctors, 'cause Oli healed that trash. A valve in her heart created a sort of windsock that grew down into her defect, making it not worth an operation. What an amazing girl. We are so grateful for that miracle. I know a few parents that had the heartbreak of their children undergoing open heart surgery, and I am so relieved that we did not have to experience that pain. We'll take the win.

Second bit of awesomeness from Oli: feeding!

Oli came home from the NICU with an NG tube in her nose. Yuck. Poor kid. Turns out it just comes naturally to our family to accidentally pull it out. Which means I became really good at putting it in. After a month of struggling with the NG tube and just HOPING she would start bottle-feeding regularly, we put in a G-tube. Sadly, it is not as gangster as it sounds. She still kinda sucked at bottle-feeding. We tried all summer, and she really started throwing up most of her food. One fussy day we tried breastfeeding while we were desperately putting a bottle together, and she took it! She wouldn't even latch onto a bottle, but she gave me a good solid latch! A month later she was exclusively breastfeeding. Booyah. And now she's eating solids and is getting her G-tube out April 9th. She's awesome.

 Third, She's a genius baby!

She's had a few tests recently. In short, she is keeping up with all of her normally-chromosomed amigos. She is testing normally in cognitive development! Yay for average! She doesn't have any specific words yet, which knocks us back a month or two in speech, and due to her low muscle tone (typical of those with Down Syndrome) she's behind in her gross and fine motor skills, though not by much.

We love having Oli around. And garsh, I adore her in every way.



And Charlie pooped in the potty tonight for the first time ever. That's right. The jackstad childrens are rocking it. 


**photo cred for the gorgeous first and last photos goes to the talented Mallory at mallorylynnphoto.com**

8 comments:

  1. Lisa HenryMarch 11, 2014 at 10:30 AM

    The Jackstad parents are rocking it too!

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  2. DioneMarch 11, 2014 at 10:59 AM

    Dear Rachel, I love keeping up with your lovely little crew. THey are amazing and awesome just like you said. My heart is very happy for you <3

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    1. rachealMarch 11, 2014 at 8:16 PM

      Thanks Dione! I love reading about your sweet family and Tienne's ADORABLE girl! You guys are great :)

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  3. TiffanyMarch 11, 2014 at 7:04 PM

    I grew up with your husband and I'm so happy for all her progress. She's adorable! When my son was born we had one complication after another-almost death, seizures and on and on. Perspective and recognizing the tender mercies got us through as it will you! You two seems like amazing parents! I'm excited and hopeful to see her amazing journey.

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    1. rachealMarch 11, 2014 at 8:21 PM

      Thanks! It's so good to hear success stories! I feel like we've gotten to the other side and are now just enjoying the ride. I'm so excited to see where life takes her!

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  4. rachealMarch 11, 2014 at 8:20 PM

    Oh I know who you are Katie! I'm like your silent fan. Whenever Pinterest is up on my husband's account i just stalk all of your pins. I think we'd be friends.

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  5. Jaime RunyanMarch 17, 2014 at 8:19 AM

    Just stopped in to catch up on your blog. Want you to know I love you guys and think you're awesome. Miss having you close by- but it's fun to get random updates through the grape vine, or your blog :)

    ReplyDelete

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