Occupational Therapy

So, the Occupational Therapist came over today. She taught me a bunch of exercises to do to Harlie. Basically, we need to keep her muscles strong around her mouth. Since she doesn’t use her mouth for eating, the muscles around her mouth can tighten and make it harder for her to suck or eat from a spoon, etc. later. Since her jaw is so small, the skin tends to pull down, so hopefully, they will help with that, too. Some of the exercises are in her mouth, which, hopefully will help prevent oral aversion.

The funny thing is that she showed me on Harlie, then on me, then I had to repeat the exercises on her! It was hysterical. I met her once in December. And here we were sitting next to each other sticking our fingers in each other’s mouths!!! And it sounds silly, but one exercise was particularly difficult for me to learn. We had to stop several times because we were laughing so hard. Harlie was looking at us like we were crazy.

When I think of all the things I’ve had to learn and do in the past 3 months it amazes me. Who knew that I would be sitting in my living room with my fingers in a stranger’s mouth?! I told her I didn’t know which was more violating – her fingers in my mouth or mine in hers!! Either way, it was WEIRD!

Tomorrow we have our weekly appointment with the pediatrician. Hopefully, she’s gained some good weight. Well, I need to run. Just wanted to share my funny story. It is nice to have some funny things to share on occasion.

Hope all is well,
Christy