Wesley, Part 4

I called the eye doctor's office yesterday and found out that our eye doctor is on maternity leave but I got an appointment for Wesley today with one of the associates in her office.

He looked about 18 years old, but appearances can be deceiving. I found him to be very caring, reassuring and thorough. He diagnosed a condition called entropion (follow the link and scroll to the bottom of the page) which is pretty much the same as what I read about the other day on the internet. He is trying to refer us to an ophthalmologist but that could be a problem for a couple of reasons. The first is that some ophthalmologists won't take patients that young. The ones who would will have a waiting list so long that he will probably have outgrown the condition before we get in.

It's not really a lot to worry about. Worst case scenario is a couple of sutures to reposition the eyelid. Best (and most likely) case scenario is that it will correct itself.

While at the optometrist's office I got a photograph taken of my eye that our regular doctor had recommended because of my family's eye health history. Because I was there alone with the kids an optometry student offered to hold Wesley while I was getting it done. Darcy was just standing around so they asked her if she wanted to take the pictures. She got a Jeopardy-like clicker and when the lady said, "click", Darcy took the pictures. She apparently did a great job and she thought that was the coolest thing ever!

With all this going on, Wesley has managed to give me his cold and I feel like complete garbage. Not cool! I still can't take a lot of medication because of the breastfeeding so I'm trying to manage as best I can on Tylenol. Hopefully we'll all be feeling better soon and this whole thing will be behind us!

Wesley, Part 3

Wesley and I went to the hospital this morning to get his tests done. When the doctor gave me the requisition form last week he told me to go to the hospital right then to see about getting it done or if I needed an appointment. Wesley was hungry and tired so I decided to go home and call first to see what needed to be done. I called and the lady asked me to read through the form to see what testing needed to be done. I got to "genetic testing" and she said that it could only be done from Monday - Wednesday. Because that was on Friday I knew I wasn't going then so we got off the phone without finishing the list on the form.

When we got to the hospital this morning the tech read the list and asked if he was here for his sweat chloride test today. I said that he was but of course she said that you need an appointment for that and they only do those on Wednesdays. This is exactly why I called! So we went ahead with the blood work anyway and now we have to go back again on Wednesday for the other test. The blood work was for the Down Syndrome test. The sweat chloride test is to see if there's an underlying reason (other than genetics) why he's still a little small for his age. This is the same test we had to do with Darcy which found nothing.

The blood work was really hard to watch. I brought some of his favourite toys but he wasn't interested in those. He wanted to see why these women were poking around at his arm. He screamed when the needle went in. Of course they couldn't find a vein with that needle so they had to try again in his hand. That one was successful. They had to fill 4 vials of blood which seemed to take forever. He cried a lot but was really still which helped them get things done as easily as possible.

While we were in the waiting room we met another lady who was also waiting for testing. She was, of course, charmed by our handsome little guy and struck up a conversation with me. We were leaving at the same time and she said, "I guess we know there's nothing wrong with Wesley's lungs!" Poor little guy. And he's not even big enough to get a sticker for his trouble.

At least he's getting over the croup that brought me to the doctor with him in the first place. He was really miserable all weekend long but today I can really see that he's feeling much more like himself again. He's laughing and giggling and chatting away again. That makes me feel much better too, except for the fact that I'm catching the cold myself!

So thanks again for all your concern. I'll continue to post updates as I get them. I forgot to ask how long it will be for the results to come in. I'll check on that on Wednesday.

More About Wesley

Poor little Wesley really isn't feeling well. He's got croup, and eye infection and several teeth coming in all at the same time. He finished his prescription for croup this morning so hopefully that will be cleared up soon. His eye is looking better but we need to keep up with those drops until Thursday.

As a result of the request for the Down Syndrome test I've been doing a lot of research about a few things. I've spoken to a woman I know whose son has DS. She confirmed for me just how unlikely it is that Wesley has it (which you already know anyway). The rational part of my brain can understand that, but the Mommy part of my brain won't be able to rest easily until we have the tests back.

With the difficult pregnancy I had with him I had countless tests done and probably around 20 ultra sounds. There was never anything that indicated the possibility for Down Syndrome. We also had a team from the NICU present in the delivery room and Wesley was thoroughly checked before he was given to us. I find it hard to believe that those experts would have missed something like that. He wasn't even sent to the NICU at the time and his response scores were at the top of the charts. The woman I spoke to said her son was tested immediately after birth because the signs were already there. I just can't believe it would have been missed on so many levels.

He does have an extra fold of skin under his eye, there's no question about that. The question is what does it mean? I did a google search for "extra fold of skin under baby's eye" and found out about a condition called epiblepharon which is essentially an extra fold of skin under the baby's eye which causes the eyelashes to rest on the surface of the eye, which they do. I've seen that this is what his eyelashes do and I remember Darcy's being the same way. Everything I've read said this will correct itself as the baby grows. Only very rarely does it require minor surgery to correct it. I think I will try to get him into the eye doctor this week to see if we can get a second opinion. It just seems much more likely that this is what we're dealing with.

I'm feeling better than I was on Friday, but like I said before I won't be completely at ease until the test results are back. Thanks for all your concern!

Doctor's Visit

Wesley had another rough night last night and around 11:30 he started barking like a seal. We managed to get him (and us) through the night and I called the doctor this morning. He has croup. Maybe that's contributing to some of the sleep problems??? Last night was the first night he was coughing, so who knows?

I asked about the sleep disturbances and he didn't have much help for me, nothing like the sleep clinic Sharon suggested in her comment on my last post. If it keeps up, Sharon, I'll be heading to Australia to visit you and the clinic!

Something totally shocking came out of the doctor's appointment and I'm pretty blown away by it. Our pediatrician drives me crazy. He's either rushing you in and out of your appointment so quickly that you can't get all your questions asked or he's being so overly thorough that he's scaring the crap out of you. Today was the latter. At 8 months old Wesley is being tested for Down Syndrome. He apparently has an extra fold under his eye that has caused the doctor some concern. With that being said, he told me there's a higher than 90% chance that everything is fine. He said Wesley is at the top of the charts for meeting all his developmental milestones and is otherwise in good health. He doesn't have any of the other conditions (heart, vision) that are part of Down Syndrome. I'm trying to remind myself of that but I'm pretty freaked out, I'll be honest.

We'll get the test done on Monday and then I have no idea how long it will take for the results. It's genetic testing and it has to be sent to London. Of course, I'll be posting more when I know more.

So Incredibly Tired

As cute as he looks in these pyjamas, Wesley's sleep continues to be an issue for us. His napping is getting better during the day but his nighttime sleeping is now a mess! We were running a bit late last night so it was past 9:00 when I got him to bed. He proceeded to wake up again at 9:30, 11:15, 2:00 and 4:00. At 2:00 I was awake for an hour with him. Now he also hasn't had a nap all day today. I was planning on catching a few zzzz's myself this afternoon when both kids were sleeping but it didn't happen.

We're really not sure what to do with this kid. He used to be able to go to bed and settle himself down to sleep. Not anymore. The longer he lays in bed the more worked up he gets to the point where it becomes very difficult for us to settle him down at all. This has been going on for about a month now so we're pretty tired. Throw Nick's shiftwork into the mix and you'll find one really sleepy family. He's also got a cold right now, along with two new teeth coming in so he seems to be fighting a losing battle.

It seems to be affecting Darcy too. She has been cranky and bossy the last couple of days and I'm convinced she's not getting enough sleep either. Nick has been on afternoons this week which means he works from 3:00 - 12:00. He rides his bike to work so he's got to leave around 2:00 so he can get there and get showered in enough time to start work. She's been finding it really hard to have him gone in the evenings. Last night we went to visit friends who are in town with their new baby. On the way home in the car she started saying, "I want Daddy, I want Daddy..." and she cried most of the way home (about a 20 min drive). We got him on the phone when we got home but even that didn't help a lot. Fortunately, Grandmaman and Papa called and that seemed to pick things up for her. Yet again this afternoon when she got up from her nap the first thing she asked me was, "Where's Daddy?"

It's all combining to make me really tired!

Another Week Gone By

Here it is Thursday again and I haven't updated my blog for a while. This week it's mostly because we haven't been getting much sleep and I've been feeling too sleep-deprived to put my thoughts together.

We had a great weekend in Cambridge last weekend. Darcy loved playing with her cousins and Wesley is starting to get ready to get in on the fun too. I was hoping he'd show off his new skills at hand clapping but he wouldn't do it once while we were there. He clapped pretty much the whole way home in the van though. Monkey.

He really hasn't been sleeping well this week and Tuesday night he had a 90-minute screaming fit that drove us crazy. Then last night he slept through the night. Who can figure this kid out?

Darcy is still being Darcy. Yesterday morning I got out of the shower to find her in Wesley's crib. She had climbed in there when I was in the shower. We've put her in the crib a few times for them to play together but she's never gone in there by herself. I asked her what she did and this was her response (I couldn't have made it up if I tried!), "Mommy, sometimes when your parents aren't around, you've got to do things for yourself."

We're loving the spring weather and trying to spend as much time outside as possible. We took our first walk along the river yesterday and Darcy brought her new butterfly net to try to catch butterflies. We only saw one and he was way to quick for her. I've got daffodils blooming in the front yard and the tulips are on their way too. Spring is finally here! I took some pictures of our trip to the park so I'll try to get them up here soon.

Not Much New

Things have been kind of slow around here the last few days so there hasn't been much to say. Nick has been working midnights so the kids and I have been keeping ourselves busy while he sleeps during the day.

Wesley's sleep continues to be an issue for us. He's still not napping well during the day which wasn't so bad before because at least he slept through the night. Lately though he's not napping reliably during the day and he's not sleeping through the night. I'm getting up with him again through the night for a feeding somewhere between 2 - 4 am. Not cool. I'm pretty sure it's all related to his teeth. His bottom two are in in the front and I think the top front ones are coming in too. On top of that, he bumped his head pretty well the other night and I had to wake him up during the night to make sure he was responding well. He was and is completely fine. Not even a bruise, we were just erring on the side of caution.

Today is a bit of a milestone for Wesley too. He is leaving his baby car seat behind and moving up to his big boy car seat. No more carrier seat for us. That stinks because it's so handy when he falls asleep in the car and you can just carry him in the seat still asleep wherever you have to go. The car is still the best place for him to have a nap so that could make things worse for us!

Darcy is still doing great. She's borrowed "The Little Mermaid" from the library and would watch it all day long if we'd let. Fortunately the weather has been beautiful here so we're spending a lot more time outside than we had been. We've been to the park a couple of times now and we also did some sidewalk chalk art yesterday. I drew a hopscotch board for her yesterday and Nick walked across it. He was sternly reprimanded, "Daddy, it's not called 'walkscotch', it's called 'hopscotch'!" Sorry.

We've got a few fun playdates set up over the next few days and we're heading up to Cambridge for the weekend. We haven't seen my family since Wesley's dedication in January so we're looking forward to a good visit there.

What Goes Around Comes Around

My cousin Donna recently left a comment about Darcy acting just like me. Unfortunately tonight I saw another example of that.

Nick was out this evening and I was putting the kids to bed. We were all walking upstairs and when we got to the top Darcy laid down on the floor of the hallway, saying she was tired. I told her she needed to get into the bathroom so she could get ready for bed and she looked at me and said, "I'm tired of you telling me what to do." I said, "Pardon me?" and she repeated it. I asked her what she meant by that and she said, "I don't know".

What is she going to be like as a teenager?