Princess Sasha Update

The past month has brought several doctor's appointments for our Princess Sasha and we are very happy to report that our little Cinderella is doing marvelously well.

First came her panel clinic up at Primary Children's Medical Center. This is the twice-yearly appointment where she sees her craniofacial doc, ENT, speech pathologist, and pediatric dentist all in one massive waiting-room-filled day.

The results were all stellar - Dr. Siddiqi confirmed that her cleft is still closed and looking great (that is, looking decidedly un-clefty) and he sees no revisions in her future (hooray!). Dr. Muntz confirmed that her ear tubes are still in place and looking a-ok. The speech pathologist was blown away by Sasha's progress (in her words, "what speech delay?" - there is no sweeter prognosis to a mama's ears than that!).

The dentist is very pleased with Sasha's jaw growth, although he still sees braces in our future :) But judging by Sam's jack-o-lantern smile, Sasha's not the only Morningstar kid who will enjoy the railroad tracks. He also confirmed that Sasha's jaw is growing in from its original 7 mm deficit, which is awesome. We've been a-hoping and a-praying that Sash's body would kick in and correct itself and it looks like it's doing just that. Hooray!

We've been concerned for a while (ok, since Sasha got home) about Sasha's sleeping. She occasionally gets night terrors and snores like a middle aged fat guy, neither of which seem particularly healthy. We've mentioned it a few times to the ENT and finally decided to do a few tests to make sure that Sasha is getting the rest and oxygen that she needs at night. Did you know that you can do pulse-ox studies at home now?!? Wonder of wonders.

So a few weeks ago Steve picked up the O2 monitor and we taped it on our sleeping girl's finger and we just got the results. Dr. Muntz confirmed that Sash is having a few periods at night where her pulse-ox dips and it's probably disturbing her sleep a bit, but it's a borderline condition and he feels like any intervention is probably more disruptive than just letting her grow out of the condition normally.

It's great to know that our "this doesn't seem quite right" parent-sensors are in-tune. It's also great to know that her situation doesn't beg machinery or surgery right now. We'll continue to watch (listen to) our little princess and make sure that things aren't getting any worse, but as Sasha's chin grows out it should make more room in her nose and throat and hopefully the apnea corrects itself.

And lastly came Sasha's three-year-old checkup with her pediatrician. Sash is continuing to make progress on the charts and Dr. Kendall was pleased with her progress. Sasha weighs almost 30 pounds, putting her in the 30th percentile for weight. She came in at 35 inches tall, which is the 5th percentile, but Dr. Kendall wasn't worried about the height because toddlers are notoriously difficult to measure and she felt like Sasha's proportions look healthy.

So, our princess is looking good inside and out, and we're happy and grateful parents!

And, yes, even the most graceful princess ends up on her bum after too much fanciful twirling.