Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Good news/Bad news

Chase had his 2 month visit to the pediatrician today. She said he looks great- he's up to 9lbs 12 oz (way to go, breastfed boy!!) and he's pretty much on target with his baby milestones. He's starting to smile, coo, and hold his head up for tummy time. He's 50%-ile in head circumference and weight, 75%-ile in height. He had 3 shots and an oral vaccine. He was not happy at ALL about the shots.

Despite glowing reports and evaluations from this visit, I left a little melancholy. For the past few weeks, I guess I've been living without really thinking about the Down syndrome. He's just a baby- doing baby things! But going to the pedicatrician reminds me of that pesky extra chromosome. I love his doctor- she's on top of it all, and I guess that's what makes it hard.

She mentioned his Brushfield spots- they're definitely there. His skin has that mottled appearance that may last through adulthood- she said it's just another characteristic of Ds that doesn't really affect anything, doesn't really have an explanation, but is just there. She also talked about how even though he's meeting milestones now with PT, not to be surprised if he begins to slip behind soon. How's that for pessimistic? That's the only thing that she said that kind of truly upset me. But I guess she's just being a realist, and preparing me for what probably will happen.

Still. *sigh*

1 comment:

Cate said...

It's hard.

The skin thing, could she just be pointing it out so you don't suddenly notice and panic? I notice Abby's skin gets much blotchier when she's cold, and I would have been more freaked out about it if I didn't know it was a DS thing.

Actually maybe she's doing the same thing with the milestones. My understanding is that the differences become more obvious as kids get older. But still. Way to squish your optimism.