She Swallowed!!!!

Yes, you read that right. She swallowed yesterday during speech therapy!!! Three times!!! I am SO thrilled. I just can't tell you how incredibly comforting this is to me. I was really worried that we would go months with no swallowing. Now, this does NOT mean that she can eat by mouth yet. We are still a long way from that. But, at least now we know that she can do it which means that in all likelihood she will swallow for a swallow study. So, the next thing I have to do is work in that swallow study. If she swallows during the study and they do not see any signs of aspiration, then she will be officially cleared for feeding trials.

What she swallowed yesterday was water thickened with a thickening solution designed for feeding issues. We used a special squirt bottle that places the water at the back of her throat, so all she has to do is swallow. If you just put water (or food) in her mouth then she cannot get the food to the back of her throat because her tongue doesn't know how to move food around. And getting that to happen is definitely going to take some time. So, I know we're still far from oral eating, but this is a HUGE relief and a HUGE step in the right direction! So, I am more happy than I can put into words.

One other thing that I am just thrilled about is that Murphy went to school today! Woo Hoo!!! Yesterday we took a walk to the playground at the elementary school down the street and then he played outside with the neighbor, and he did just fine. So I thought he seemed ready to go to school today. Hopefully he'll be just fine all day. They are learning about dinosaurs today (which he loves) so he should be very happy.

Well, that's all the time I have for now. I just wanted to share the wonderful news that Harlie swallowed!

Take care,
Christy