Taking it all in her stride.....

Jb now has one operation under her little belt. In preparation for the Cranio Vault Reconstruction surgery Joanie has had two sets of springs per side of her skull inserted.

I'm not a medical or academic person. I'm not the best person to explain the procedure, but, in simple , basic terms, the point of that procedure was to open the fused sutures , assist head growth and create more space and room to move for the big operation in October.

We were advised the May procedure would be quite minor in comparison to the larger surgery , however, any surgery involving the head with infants is quite major so we took it very seriously.

Little Red Riding Hood was sweetness and light whilst dealing with all medical staff prior and post surgery. We didn't think we would see her smile for many months after this operation, however, it was only eight hours later in the ICU when Shaun was on shift when she gave him a reassuring smile , to let him know she was okay, swollen, and uncomfortable , but okay.

After one night in the ICU and three nights in the Plastics Ward we all headed back to our Perth Home and had daily visits from the hospitals in the home (similar to silver chain nurses) who checked the head wound and added dressings. Shaun had to leave to bring home the bacon and Jb and I stayed on at Perth awaiting the fitness to fly documentation. Unfortunately a few weeks later we had to go back in for a further six nights as Jb's scar had broken down and opened slightly and to combat any infections she had to have a drip of antibiotics . This was a very trying time for myself as my little darling mistook me for a dairy cow and/ or a milk truck and was feeding from me on the hour so I was unable to leave her bedside for longer than an hour. Another  challenge was instead of being in a quiet small ward like the first stay we were in a long wing with about five other beds and patients of varying ages including bubs up until 16 year olds who stayed up all hours watching their portable dvd players! This made it very hard for Jb and I to get any sleep not to mention my bed being a sad looking fold out arm chair. Jb turned into her alter ego "Red Gone Wild" one night and got her pay back to the dvd watching teens and woke them all up chatting and giggling very loudly at 4am. After six long days and nights at PMH Joanie was deemed fit to fly and we flew back to Broome Town a few days later.

Apart from a bit of a delay with her neck and head strength Jb has been reaching her development milestones and a normal, steady pace. I have been taking her to regular appointments with a Physio at the Broome Hospital who has really helped with her tummy time and general core strength. To date Joanie is a lot stronger with her tummy time, does lots of rolling and is only weeks away from crawling. Something she has been quite advanced with (well not slow) is her communication  (surprise surprise) she was chirping away at four months and from six months about the same time that she got her first tooth she started laughing and said her first mumma. She can now say Mumma, Dadda and I think I've heard her say Bubba but maybe I was being creative with her sounds.

Another skill she seems to have developed well is her eating , another thing she has in common with her folks. She continues to get excited when I introduce new taste sensations, her most extravagant meal to date was a small serve of thread fin salmon!

Here's hoping that the big operation doesn't put too much of a pause to her continued development

Poor Jb  all swollen after her first operation

The Smile is not gone thank goodness!

Eating dinner with Daddy!