Kayla's Legs

While we were in Ethiopia, we met with our daughter's pediatrician to discuss any questions we might have about her health. The meeting was filled with good news and some not so good news. Kayla's heart issue is not longer an issue (praise God!). She is making progress in many areas, though she is still fairly far behind. Her legs, however, are the major issue--one that we were not aware of. She doesn't use them at all--at 11.5 months old. She would not bear weight on them for us or for the pediatrician at all. He said that they were concerned about this and that they had run tests to see if her muscles were developing properly or not. They are, she just prefers not to use them. This is likely due to lack of stimulation, but at this age, it's not okay. We asked what they would do about it and they mentioned physical therapy, but neither Chris nor I really got the impression that there would be much follow through there.

That night, I laid in bed and just prayed for a miracle. I prayed that she would walk the next day (why not?), but that if that wasn't God's will, that we would see some improvement in her legs the next day. Well, when we got to the care center (legally her parents), she did not come running to me :)! However, when I laid her on the floor and played with her legs, she loved it--we even got some giggles. When I would stop, she would forcefully shove her feet back in my face--this means that she was using those little legs! We got her to bear about 50% of her weight on her legs and she didn't mind at all. Just playing with her for 20 minutes produced these results, so we had hope. Then, the nurse came to see if we had any questions and Chris asked about the physical therapy and she told us that they had already set up an appointment for Kayla for that afternoon! Talk about an answer to prayer. Whew! Coming home knowing that she will not just be getting worse, but actually receiving help for her major problem made leaving much easier.

This is one amazing little girl and while she has some major hurdles to overcome, we truly believe that God has placed her with the right family to help with this and we have very high hopes for her future. We got her referral out of turn and I know it was because we were open to her health concerns. Those issues are resolved and now we have new issues, but nothing that makes us question her place in this world as our daughter. I can't wait to get her home!