Did you say.... Obdurator?

Well, today was the day Tikvah finally got her obdurator!! What's that you say? Basically like a retainer (everyone has heard of that, right?), but its purpose is to plug the hole she's still got by her gums. And the purpose of *that* is so that her language will improve. She avoids putting her tongue in that area, and so doesn't say "T" or "D" or "L" etc very well. She substitutes other sounds instead. So hopefully having that gap filled will help her speech.

We've been to Shriners several times for gagging Tiki... I mean for having a mold taken of her mouth, and also for fittings. Unfortunately, the first one didn't fit right so they had another mold taken and we headed back today for the fitting. The poor orthodontist had to adjust it a zillion times, and ended up taking the metal fittings off the sides, and we're going to use denture cream and natural suction to keep it in.

Tikvah was a champ!! She is really good about opening her mouth while he fits it, adjusts it, re-fits it, etc etc etc. It wasn't always comfortable, but she never let out a peep, until the end when the denture cream was on! Then she got a taste of it (must taste terrible) and started sobbing uncontrollably. But when she got a cup of water she recovered. We bought minty-fresh cream tonight, so hopefully that will make things easier for her. The obdurator makes her drool, but even tonight after wearing it half the day she is drooling less. She's quit talking a bit as it is hard for her to adjust to new tongue positions, and eating and swallowing are a bit difficult as well. Pray she adjusts quickly!

We're so proud of our little girl. I wouldn't want to be in her shoes on this one, but she's doing great!

We return in about a month for a speech evaluation to see how she's doing, and whether she'll need extra therapy or if she can improve on her own. Also, thankfully God has provided in that the mom of the kids I watch is a speech therapist! How cool is that? God is good to us in so many ways.