Nate is doing great!

I’m thrilled to be writing this update.

Last Wednesday, Nathan started saying words! I didn’t want to post until I heard him say it again, but I’ve heard him use words every day for the last 3 days. You can imagine how excited we are!

First he said “agua” and looked at the cup of water. He was definitely asking us for water. Then on Thursday, he started saying “papa” and looking at Owen. Yesterday, we took him to PT and she said se heard him say “eyes” and “nose” when she was working with him. Afterwards we went to hippotherapy and he said “horse” and “go”. Yesterday, I showed him an elmo and asked him to repeat it and he said “elmo”.

Of course it’s not perfectly or completely clear – no baby starts speakig completely clearly. But he is definitely saying the words and doing it purposefully.

Of course we are beyond ourselves!

Also, since he hadn’t seen his regular therapists for about a month between the stem cells, intensive therapy, and osteopathy, we got some reports from them on Thurs and Fri. THey are so impressed with what they’re seeing. I can’t remember everything they said, but I heard things like “his hands are reaching and grabbing things with much more control and accuracy,” “he is using his left hand more”, “he can support his body much better in side sitting”, “his head control is much much better”. These are just a few of the things they said, there are more!

One thing I’ve noticed that I’ve been really happy about is that he is wanting to move more. Yesterday I went to pick him up from his crib in the morning and I found him horizontal, not vertical. I couldn’t believe it! For the last 20 months, wherever I put Nathan, I find him in the exact same position. He is starting to move! Also, when I have him on the incline plan, he is manipulating his hands better and is getting closer to being able to army crawl.

I think the stem cells have been a HUGE part of all this progress. I think the stem cells made his brain a hundred times more effective. Then, intensive therapy was very helpful in helping him become stronger and to understand that he can control his body – they worked hard on breaking negative patterns, like arching and extensor patterns, and teaching him to control his movements. He got a lot stronger during intensive therapy, particularly in his legs – he can support his body weight a lot more than he could 1 month ago. We are so happy with the intensive therapy that we are going back to another session in just 2 weeks.

Finally, osteopathy is helping him a lot too. This one is hard to describe how or why, as I still dont’ really understand what they do. But I know it’s helping him, I just don’t know exactly how or why.

It’s been a busy time for us. Nathan’s doing wonderful through it all, but it’s been a bit harder for me, as there’s s much running around involved. I’m not getting much time to work which of course is important so we can afford all these treatments. Even through all the exhaustion, I feel happy and grateful that we’ve been able to offer these treatments to Nathan.

I’ll post some pics and videos soon (my computer died so I’m using another one while mine is fixed).

Thanks so much for everyone that keeps checking on us and praying for us!