Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Look What Micah Can Do!

Look at my beautiful boy! Micah is standing, and supporting his entire weight, and he even takes a cautious step or two every now and then. This is so amazing to me!

Prior to his hip surgery in November my tiny six-year-old was bearing some weight on his legs, but then I had to hold him under his armpits and support a great deal of his body weight, and only for brief moments, and it most likely caused him discomfort (both of his hips out of their sockets, one hip partially missing, scoliosis, tight hamstrings, and really low muscle tone . . . I was amazed he was trying to stand at all, but the boy is determined.).

After the surgery, as I've shared before, Micah spent a month in a spica cast and basically lost every skill he had worked so hard to gain. He also shut down emotionally and seemed listless and depressed a lot of the time. This went on long after the spica came off. We prayed and hoped and encouraged and waited, and slowly but surely, our spunky Micah came back. He regained his head control, then his ability to sit up, then finally he started scooting around on his bottom again. He started playing with toys again and wanting to cuddle and making eye contact. I don't think I can even express the amount of rejoicing that the return of each of these skills brought about around here (and the level of worry and prayer and grief that they all disappeared). It took time, but he came back to us, giggly and mischievous and just as delightful as before that blasted spica cast knocked the wind out of his sails. But still he resisted trying to stand. He avoided his previous hobby of climbing up and down off of beds and couches all day long. We could tell those skinny little legs and hips were still hurting him. It takes time to recover from major surgery.

And then a couple of weeks ago, he started pulling at my hands, like he wanted to stand. He has never done this before, and he has never been strong enough to support himself like this before. Before it was always me trying to convince him to allow me to prop him into a standing position for a few moments at a time. And all of a sudden he decided he was going to do this. Stand up, just holding onto my hands for balance. I can feel his new strength. Before he felt floppy, a bit like a noodle most of the time, with a weak core. Suddenly now his core is strong and his legs are still ridiculously thin, but stronger than before. I am guessing that with his hips and legs now healed and strong, he has realized that it no longer hurts to bear weight. I'm not sure what made the sudden difference, or where his sudden surge in confidence came from, but I am so excited for him! He really wants to do this! Over and over again, all day, every day. The boy wants to get up and move!

Have I mentioned how crazy in love I am with this kid?

11 comments:

Auntie Dayle said...

Go Micah!!! SO happy for you. I can only imagine. God has great things for Micah, too. How wonderful. I guess I missed the part about surgery before. Or missed hearing about the after effects. So glad he is able to support his weight. God bless each one of you and give you joy and peace and lots of progress in their developments!! So wonderful. Love, Dayle

Anonymous said...

Go, Micah, go!!!! LOVE the look on his sweet little face! Rejoicing with you this morning!

Blessings,

Judee in Iowa

Jill said...

AWESOME!!! Way to go, Micah! You are truly a miracle!

Jolene said...

WOW! PRAISE the LORD above! That is incredible! Its nice being humbled sometimes by our children doing things we never thought they could do!

What size pants are those in the pic? Give a reference to know how tiny he still is...they look like 24 months/2T but I could be completely off!

rachellee said...

Jolene, these pants are 24 months. He is a tiny peanut still!

Anonymous said...

Amazing, Go Micah! How long do you think it will be before he starts to walk? :)

Dee Etheridge said...

Micah is amazing! Congrats on his new accomplishment!

Jolene said...

This just gives me goosebumps! How exciting! Congratulations to Micah and to you too, Mama!!!

Tess said...

This is amazing news! Looking forward to more posts soon about him walking freely!

Jane said...

Amazing!

Jaclyn M said...

Hi there. I am getting ready to go pick up my son in about 4 weeks. He i 6 years old and has hydro. I would love to connect with you to see if you have any advice for me :) Thanks a ton