[Edit: Please leave comments with a word of encouragement for Mom, and let us know you're praying. Ya'll's comments really do encourage her so much!]
I just have time for a quick update. Katelyn Grace is now over 10 months old, and has grown into quite the chunky baby (I'll post pictures below). We are still desperately praying for answers and guidance.
Katelyn Grace's seizures have gotten worse. She now has "startles" between 10 and 50 times a day. Startles are a very strong jerk caused by her brain spiking. Directly afterwards, she either cries strongly and pitifully, or looks very confused. She is not the happy baby we had just a month ago.
She no longer gets up on her hands and knees and rocks back and forth, and we have only seen her smile very rarely in the past two weeks.
In spite of all Mom has done trying to get rid of the fluid in her ears, Katelyn Grace will probably have to get tubes put in.
She cannot hold onto and focus on toys like she could when she was only a few months old. She does like looking at baby books if we hold them in front of her face, though!
Something bothers her practically all the time. She cries, fusses, writhes, and rubs at her face almost constantly.
She is eating smooth homemade baby food well, thankfully, and seems to enjoy her apples, apricots, prunes, peas, carrots, and pears very much! She is also happy when we take her for long walks in the stroller. She loves being outside, and just thinks Paton (our dog) and Ravel and Suzuki (our two cats) are the most wonderful things in the world (besides her mommy).
At night, she generally wakes up two or three times, often from seizures, and is up for an hour or so each time. During the day, she'll maybe take an hour's nap on a good day. She gets so worked up from the seizures, we believe, that she can't rest.
Poor Mom is suffering from lack of sleep and a feeling of helplessness as she watches Katelyn Grace go through these seizures day after day. She has put thousands of hours into research on Katelyn Grace's medical issues (with tremendous help from Leslie), and has thankfully made some headway. It looks as if we will probably have to make another trip out to San Diego to see a doctor we're working with in the next week or so, maybe over Christmas. Not exactly how any of us had planned to spend our last Christmas all together, but if it helps Katelyn Grace we'll be more than thankful.
Please, please, please pray for Katelyn Grace! Pray for the doctor, Dr. Thiel, as he works with Mom and Dad to help Katelyn Grace. Pray for Mom and Dad as they have to make so many important decisions.
Thanks so much!
~Lauren
"Talking" to Daddy from San Diego in October
Near Arroyo Grande in California, on our way back from a doctor's visit
Playing "hand" - her favorite game - with Daddy
Learning her alphabet with Mommy : )
"Please pray for me!"
