Taking it easy

As always Morgan was a trooper on our trip. Trying to get through the airport turned out to be a bit more of a challenge than I thought it was going to be. Donna had purchased a GoGo Baby Kart for the carseat so that we could just roll the carseat through the airport with Morgan in it. We used this instead of bringing both the carseat and a stroller. This worked amazing and was very easy to use. The challenge came with then carrying the duffle bag, backpack/diaper bag, and the pillow. We have to bring a pillow for Morgan to sit on as she can't just sit in the seat with the bend in her knees. So, trying to get all of that through security and to the gate was a challenge. And of course at security they have to pull us aside and swab Morgan's casts, you know just in case we are smuggling something in her casts somehow. Once we made it to the gate I arranged to get preboarding as there was no way I could carry Morgan in the casts, the pillow, and two bags down the skinny aisle of the plane. Once on the plane things went smoothly, Morgan did amazing! On the way to LA we read books and then she settled down for an afternoon nap. Then on the flight from LA to Denver she enjoyed watching Elmo and on the final leg from Denver to Philly she slept. We landed in Philly and I arranged to get Morgan a wheelchair and skycap to push her. This was the best thing I could have done. It made it SO much easier. She sat on the pillow in the wheelchair while the skycap pushed her and I threw the heavy duffle bag into the carseat and wheeled it through the aiport. We then caught the bus to the rental car. When the bus driver got off to help us board she immediately said hi to Morgan and said how she recognized her from the last two trips. This was the first of several people who recognized Morgan, she is so cute it is hard to forget her. Once we got our car it was no problem getting to the hotel since I we knew where we were going. Plus with google maps David was on the phone navigating me the whole way just in case. We arrived at the hotel at 1:15am and quickly climbed into bed. Unfortunately neither of us slept well. Morgan was moaning most of the night, so by 5:15am I was up and getting showered. We checked out of the hotel by 6:15 (I think that was the most expensive nap and shower I have ever taken) and headed to gas up the rental, pick up some breakfast, and go to the hospital.

Morgan recognized the hospital right away and by the time we entered the casting room she was already crying "no, no". She now knows what is coming and does not want anything to do with it. She is very done with casting. I tried my best to calm her and explain that this was her final one. We got the casts removed and then had about an hour to wait until we saw the doctor. During that time I was able to clean up her legs a bit being careful not to erase the smiley faces (Dr. Van Bosse drew a smiley face on each knee weeks ago so he knew precisely where to bend; Donna accidentally washed these off last week :) ). Then we spent the rest of the hour enjoying have her legs free (well at least I did). It was so nice to be able to hold her on my hip again, snuggle her really close, and just lift her without the extra weight. I tried to get her to weight bear, but it was too painful. She wanted nothing to do with that. We did spend a little time sitting on the edge of the bed and she let me kick her legs to try to stretch them out a bit. It is amazing to see the difference in her Passive Range of Motion (PROM), I am just hoping that one day she will be able to actively use all that she has gained.

After the hour wait Dr. Van Bosse and his intern came in to recast. Morgan was already so fussy about the whole thing that he did not want to upset her even more by measuring where she was at. He needs her as relaxed as possible to cast. We laid her down, turned on Elmo, and began casting. He put her left knee slightly past 90 degrees and felt that she was doing really well. Before he casted her right knee he asked me how she was doing during the week. I mentioned that she was really fussy and complained a lot when being repositioned. I also mentioned that positioning her in the high chair, carseat, etc... was becoming challenging with the 100 degree bend because she won't roll her hip out and sit more like a frog (her hips are tight too). He decided then to make it easier on all of us just to cast at 90 degrees. He said that since she had gone to 100 last week she shouldn't lose that. So they finished up the casts, Morgan chose light blue again, and we were done.

We then headed straight to the airport, again with David on the phone navigating me each step of the way. When returning the rental car they have this great new service called "Quick Trip" for families. When you pull in to return the car if you have a child in a carseat they just jump in the driver seat and take you right to the curb of the airport rather than making you take everything out, climb on the bus, and then go. It makes it so much easier, plus the driver was really nice and helped me get a skycap and wheelchair and unloaded everything for me. We ended up with this really sweet old man as the skycap. While I was arranging everything and taking care of the rental car stuff he stood there talking to Morgan and even put her jacket on her because it was a bit chilly. He then escorted up through security and to our gate. For the flight home we flew to Phoenix. We were then supposed to continue on to LAX, change planes, and return to Tucson 6 hours later. We decided after booking the tickets (it was way cheaper to book to Tucson) that we would just get off in PHX and have my sister pick us up. I am so glad we did. It was a long flight from Philly to PHX (5 hours) and we were exhausted. After landing in PHX they once again gave us a wheelchair to use, but this time since we couldn't arrange a skycap ahead of time (since we weren't supposed to be getting off) I had to push the chair myself. That was okay though because I did not have the carseat this time, just the two bags. I had checked the carseat through to Tucson (again I couldn't get it in PHX since we weren't scheduled to get off there).

Jen and the girls then picked us up curbside. After fighting some PHX traffic, stopping at In and Out Burger to get Morgan the milkshake I promised her, we were on our way home. She slept almost the whole way home. We then had a great evening and morning visiting with her cousins. Morgan went to bed when we got home while the rest of us stayed up and played Scategories. Caity is awfully good, or should I say creative, at this game. In the morning Morgan was very excited to see the girls. She kept asking Lindsey to read to her. She spent a lot of time playing boo boos with her baby doll and Lindsey in her playroom. We were all so glad that after a long trip we could spend time with the girls and Jen.

Thanks to the fact that they didn't push Morgan as hard this time with the casting she is in a much better mood today. She is still sore and complains when positioned certain ways, but her Saturday was much better than the previous three. I am hoping that means she will have a good week and we can all relax and enjoy our Thanksgiving. I think we are all in need to some time to relax and enjoy some yummy turkey. We are then ready for our final trip so we can get these casts off and get the braces.Morgan hanging out in the airport in her rolling carseat. She enjoys her new ride and likes to go "hands-up" when being pushed through the airport.

Morgan napping on the plane.