Progress

We took Rachel to see the pediatrician yesterday for the third time already in her young life. Our hope was to see at least some weight gain. That did not happen. In fact, Rachel actually lost another several ounces this past week. Not so good.

What that means is that Rachel needs some sort of therapy to teach her how to eat better since she's apparently not getting the nutrition she needs. And here's why: because Rachel doesn't have a soft palate, she cannot suck as well as most babies can. And since she cannot suck well, she expends more energy trying to eat than she takes in via nursing. She fights hard to nurse, but eventually gives up because it's just too hard. With an inadequate amount of calories, Rachel is not gaining weight, but in fact losing it.

We were referred by the pediatrician to a place for occupational therapy. That place apparently is booked up for quite awhile. And since Rachel's weight gain is not something we can really wait around for, we are in need of getting her feeding help immediately. Initially, we were a little discouraged and wondered what we were going to do. That's when some neat things started happening yesterday.

Since this therapy place was booked, we were referred to another company, and Becca began making calls. It turns out that Becca has several old friends who work for this company. They really want to help us out, which is so neat. In fact, we're hoping to see one of them tonight, who will begin to teach us some things we can do with Rachel to help her along!

We also received some wonderful help from one of Becca's closest friends from college, who is an established therapist. She was gracious enough to meet with Becca and Rachel last night. She's given us a great start in working with Rachel and given us some good recommendations for tools and techniques as well. She's working hard for us to get us hooked up with the people who will know exactly what Rachel needs. Very cool. We're so grateful for her.

And then, we heard from the company Becca works for (a therapy company!). They also want to help out in any way they can to see Rachel and give us what we need to be trained to get her eating!

We're grateful to the Lord for providing for our daughter in this way right now. It was a really neat day yesterday seeing how He was using past connections, as well Becca's current field of work to give Rachel what she needs during this time.

We're excited to learn more about how to feed Rachel and hopeful that she'll quickly learn what she needs to learn and be strengthened enough to eat well and gain weight. We return to the pediatrician in two weeks to check her progress. If I don't post anything between now and then, you can certainly expect a post after that visit.

Thank you, friends, for your prayers and support. We love this girl!