Say what?

Meagan has slowly started to have one very obvious change since her September Cranial surgery ... she is babbling like crazy!  I saw the first inklings of it weeks after the surgery, and since then, I've seen waves of growth in the same skill area each month that passes.  I waited and watched to see if this was something lasting that was truly happening or only a momentary hiccup.  I'm fairly confident now in saying I think this 'new thing' is definitely here to stay :)

  It is like another switch has 'flipped' in her head since her surgery.  She used to coo or "yell"  loudly, but for the first time, she is babbling with all different sounds and letter beginnings.  It started with "dadadada" "nananana" and similar sounds.  Recently, it has morphed into d's, n's, m's, b's and a funny little sound she makes almost the same as when you 'shush' a child.  Sometimes it sounds like Meagan says "Shhhh." It's the funniest thing! She is starting to vary her tone within these sounds... almost sounds like she's trying to have a conversation with you, and she also is giving a loud "ACK" in almost a yelling tone when I make her do something she doesn't want to do (work on therapy, put her down when she doesn't want to be etc...)  I don't have any concrete proof this is definitely due to her surgery, but, the way it has all unfolded over the last 3 months certainly makes me think that there is a pretty good chance it is related.

In other news, I woke up this morning and went to get up.  I was in horrible pain! I couldn't even believe it.  I have a very high pain tolerance  and this was bringing me to my knees.  I thought I'd get up and try to walk it off, but I knew deep down that wasn't happening.  I've been having very bad back pain that I've let "sit."  I've used the ice/heat, pain meds, etc..etc.. to try and ward it off, but today it reached a whole new level.  Luckily Brian was able to come home quickly and I took myself into the doctor.  He did an exam and a CT scan and found I have a herniated disc in my L5 vertebrae.  It makes sense because this is right near the tailbone area, and this is exactly where I have felt the pain over the last week, and then my intense pain that started today.  It also makes sense with the tingling down my legs and the horrible sensation I get every time I try to roll, lean, get up from sitting, or the pain that radiates when I'm laying down. It is especially bad when I'm holding one of the kids or lifting Meagan.  So step two is off to the Ortho-spine specialist to get an MRI for a better picture and see where we go from there.  Medications, therapy, steroid shots, or a combination of any of those is a possibility so I'm anxiously waiting for my follow up appointment.  In the meantime, I was lucky to have a good friend take my older girls for the day, and a wonderful husband who has held down the fort all night.  Cooking dinner, handling the kids, feeding Meagan..and the list goes on.  The jobs are never done around here but he has done a great job minimizing my lifting and moving for the evening so I can rest.

The 'bright side' of me being slow to get up today,though, was catching Meagan in another babbling session. While she has a lot to "say," the times when she does go on and on is completely random, so it's been hard for me to catch it on video.  This morning when I heard her start to make noise next to me,  I took out the camera and started taping.  Of course the little diva stopped and was quiet upon seeing the camera... but then I was able to coax her to start up again.  If there's one thing the Ortho can't offer me, it's the kind of bliss and almost medicinal joy I can get from hearing my baby girl making sounds! It certainly made my day much happier and I'm so excited to see how her babbling grows over the next several months!