well, it's not good news
But I suppose it's not really
bad news, either. We've finally gotten all the planets to align for our therapies to start. Sort of. The speech waiting list is about 4 weeks out. The PT list is 5-7 weeks out. And those? Are just for the in-house evals, not actual therapies. Hurry up and wait, why don'tcha?
And today we had a hearing test. It wasn't the ABR, so nothing definite, but Noel's showing a mild loss, somewhere around 30dB. Or maybe he was just being a stinkpot and didn't feel like looking at the speakers. Who knows, right? Tympanogram didn't show any major fluid buildup, but one eardrum was moving better than the other. What does this all mean? Not much, as far as I can tell, until we do the ABR. Interestingly, I found that if you stick your fingers in your ears, that approximates a 25dB loss- so says some website I found while adding audiology to my Dr. Google degree.
Oh, and for the record, Noel would like to request that no more little tubey wirey things be shoved in his ears, thank you very much.
it happened again.
Somebody noticed Noel's extra chromosome. Really, it happens so rarely that I'm usually surprised when it does, although now it's more a curiosity than a shock. Anyway, today we were getting a mommy snack (cafe au lait and beignets, if you must know), when the owner of the cafe we were in popped over and sat down beside us. I really thought nothing of it, as we were the only people in there. Having been a cafe employee, it gets REALLY boring on a Tuesday, and you occasionally pester the people that do come in just to have someone to talk to- I know we did at 'my' place. Well, we were also still allowed to smoke inside then, so we either pestered the clientele, or sat in the smoking section and did crosswords and drank coffee and smoked cigarettes. It was clearly hard work.
Anyway, over he came, and down he sat.
And started petting Noel's head. So that was odd, but people like the kid, even if the kid has a, how shall we say, distrust of strangers, generally giving them wide berth while staring them down out of the corners of his eyes. Not overly gregarious, my boy.
So we're talking, how old is he, what's his name, blah, blah, blah, oh, does he have Down's?
I smiled and said yes, throwing in the obligatory 'and he's doing great!' that so many of us seem to say. Then he asked me if Noel was born with a heart defect. Again, a little forward, but he's a nice guy, so I humor him.
It's a good thing my husband wasn't there. Coffee guy sits close and is petting the boy. Not that the husband gets at all protective of me... but he's got a germ quirk. It wouldn't go over well that a veritable stranger was touching Noel and sitting so close to the eats.
Anyway, turns out coffee guy's daughter was born with an AVD, and she was tested at birth for DS. She's chromosomally typical (and, says dad, 'now she's just a pain in the ass').
It's funny, though, how people are. How something years and years ago, with a different outcome and really not the same at all- made this guy single Noel out (hee. out of a completely empty coffee shop?) and come talk to us.
And then Noel cried, as I expected. He really doesn't like strangers.
Alaska
When I was pregnant with Noel, we went to Alaska. My grandfather always wanted to go, and it was getting to be a 'now or never' sort of situation. My mom wanted to make sure that he got there, as he'd been talking about going for decades. My husband and I got to go along for the ride. All the plans were made while I was still in the middle of the IVF cycle that resulted in a pregnancy, and a birth, and a boy- but when we were planning, I didn't know that it would work. My theory was that I could be miserable at home just as easily as in Alaska if the cycle failed, so off we went.
Lately I've been thinking a lot about that trip. It was amazing, the expanse of land, the amount of road we drove- and barely scratched the surface, the places we saw. There was a little utility shed coffee drive thru in every parking lot, of which I made good use. There was a pizza joint in Talkeetna that was really good. There was a coffee shop in Seward where we escaped for a while to just be alone (between my grandfather and my mom, we were slowly going insane), and we caught a fabulous jazz band. The cafe was originally a church, and still had pews inside.
But the thing I say almost every day is this:
"Remember when we went to
that mine? And we drove through Hatcher Pass? And we stopped at
that lodge to eat? The place where the chipmunk lived in the dining room? And there was a little family there, with a little boy who, for some reason, was running around in his little underoos? I want Razzleberry pie
again. With ice cream"
In our completely unscientific method, we suspect that this baby is a girl. I'm craving cakes and pies and cookies. A lot. A super lot, but I'm not really the sugar-fiend type. Not to mention the other differences between this pregnancy and Noel's... the greasy hair, the pimples, the morning sickness... With him, I was glowing and rosy, not shiny and ick. And sick, to boot.
We're not finding out until the birth, so it's just speculation.
Anyone else notice a major difference in pregnancies? Or is it just an 'every pregnancy is different' thing?
Back in Business.
At least, it seems that way. Hopefully we have solved the mystery of no connection, with no repeat.
Had my first appointment with my midwives, and everything is swimming along. There's a pitter patter of little heartbeat going strong. Go figure. Starting to try and figure out what people do with two kids. Logistics of getting two into and out of carseats, a double stroller, all the things I never would have thought twice about are starting to make me wonder, as it looks like we really are going to end up with another head to count. I still think it's nuts.
Oh, and the laws regarding midwifery here are such that I can't deliver in the birth center, although I can be attended by a midwife (or two, as the case may be). So...
we're planning a home birth.
That's all the catch up news I have.
We're ok!
I fried my ethernet card or port or something. Because I have an iMac, I most likely have to replace the motherboard... so I'm without internet, and therefore on radio silence.
The bean is still around, judging from the constant hangover I seem to have, and Noel is FINALLY back in EI- we qualify for speech and PT this time.
Visit with midwife is this week, and hopefully I'll be online again soon.
