Pokes and Monitors

Robby's sleep appointment led to new discoveries. First, the doctor found a mild heart murmur. Apparently there are two types of murmurs: innocent & non-innocent. Innocent murmurs are caused by blood pumping through the heart at a quick rate of speed causing something in the chamber to rattle. These murmurs usually appear when the child has a fever or is sick. The non-innocent murmurs can be caused by numerous things including a hole in the heart, weak valve, etc. Obviously these are worse. Robby's is a mild murmur meaning in the middle. It is in the location of an innocent murmur, but it is louder than normal. Apparently he has had it all his life (makes me wonder why the pediatrician hasn't located yet when it took this doctor less than a minute). At this point he is not worried about it & we just have to be aware of it. Most kids outgrow murmurs by the time they are 6 or 7.

The doctor is also checking on his larger tonsils (sp?) as a possible side effect for allergies. This could be one reason for him having trouble sleeping. We also had a blood work up done (poor kid has veins like me and his grandpa - they don't exist - they had to check both arms & try a couple of times before they could get a good poke). The best line for the day, "I'm crying mama. I'm crying. It's pokey!" He did walk away w/ a Bob the Builder Sticker and camo bandaid though. The doctor is checking for restless leg syndrome due to his thrashing around at night.

Now to my proud moment - sometimes it pays off to manipulate a situation. I totally played the highrisk pregnancy card to get him into a sleep study, but I don't care. The earliest appointment they had was for January! Can you believe that!!! I almost hit the floor when they told me, so I played the sympathy card and took a cancelation spot for tonight! Yup, Robby and I will be hooked up to multiple cords and monitors tonight - while this will be tricky to not have him pull them off at least we will get results (apparently in 5-6 weeks).

My Mary Free Bed appointment went well. I met w/ Dr. Rush who seems straight forward but nice. He went through what we can expect from the clinic and average case senerios for babies w/ L-3 openings. While statistics are not promising for walking (in an efficient pace / mode of transportation) or for bladder/bowel control, we remain optimistic and will do whatever is necessary for the fullest potential of our child. Dr. Rush said to expect many doctor appointments in the upcoming year; thank God for an understanding work place that is going to let me take days off (unpaid, but won't hold it against me) to be there. He also said that the long wait to get into Mary Free Bed is due to the lack of pediatrician specialists that they have. This was a bit surprising when you think of our Michigan Street Medical Mile, but apparently they are overbooked to an insane number (one doctor doing the work of 4). The best part of the meeting was scheduling the baby's evaluation appointments for the clinic which are hard to get into to, so as long as we don't have to stay too long at NICU, the baby will be seen in September by a team of specialists. Now I just have weekly NST & MMPC appointments until the baby comes.

On to construction news! Robby's room had to take a back seat while Tom demolished the downstairs bathroom shower (imagine porclein tile shattering everywhere). We also had new doors put in (I made sure dead-bolts were on all of them in hopes of keeping Robby in since he knows how to open all doors even w/ safety locks/handles), and the painter is working on the staining/painting now. My house feels like a disaster zone, but I guess I have to let that go. Robby can't wait to see the tractors & animals at the Berlin fair, so that should be our high point of the week and his reward for the sleep study!