The Tale of Two Preemies: Never Ending Worry

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Never Ending Worry

Tate had his one year check up today. It could have gone better. He is 18lb 12 oz (4%) and 29 1/4" (34%). That part is all fine. It's the other stuff that could have gone better. First she noticed a murmur which no one has ever heard before. I'm not terribly worried about that. However, since we have met our deductible for the year, I figured we'd go get it checked out. Of course, once I heard that my mind starts to go and I over think everything. Is he napping too much? Is he over tired? Yada yada yada... Unfortunately, that wasn't the only thing she noticed. She also noticed that his right eye and ear are slightly lower than the left. What does that mean? Maybe nothing, maybe something. So now we have to decide if we want to follow through and have that checked out by a pediatric cranial specialist. Pat and I have noticed it before, not so much the eye as the ear. It's more predominant from the back. I just don't know what to do. More than likely it's nothing, but there is a slim chance there could be a genetic problem, or could cause problems in hearing and vision later on. I'm just torn. If we get it checked out are we over reacting? If we don't are we putting him at risk for problems later on that could have been fixed now? Since I know you are all going to be searching for a picture to see if you can see it, I posted one for you. I think it's easier to see in this picture. Of course, as I was cropping the pic for this post I accidentally saved it over the original. Hopefully I have it on FB since it was really cute. Anywho, here you go. If anyone has any advice, I'm all ears, crooked or not!

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Cole's Story

Cole was born at 30 weeks 3 days, much to our surprise, in 2006. I went in to the hospital because I wasn't feeling well and was afraid I'd get dehydrated. I ended up being air lifted to a larger hospital where Cole was born 24 hours later. He weighed in at 4 lbs. 2 oz. and was 17" long. He had some developmental delays, mostly due to acid reflux. He also had positional plagiocephaly and was in a remolding helmet for 6 weeks. At 14 months he underwent a cardiac catheter procedure to close his PDA. At 25 months he tripped getting out of his kiddie pool and broke his femur. He was in a cast from his hips to his toes for 4 long weeks. He also broke his shoulder at age 5 1/2. His latest medical drama has been a cyst in his left ear. He's had his adenoids removed and another surgery to remove the cyst. He'll have a second surgery in August. He's been through the ringer, but you'd never know it. He just rolls with the punches. He's 100% farm boy. He wants to know how everything works and why. He loves the farm. Farming is definitely in his blood.

Tate's Story

Tate was born at 34 weeks 2 days in 2008. Since I had a previous premature delivery, I was on high alert for another one. It didn't help. We had ultrasound after ultrasound and everything looked great. Tate, however, was not patient. I was admitted to the hospital with preterm labor. He held off for a couple of days, but was still born early. He weighed 5 and a half pounds and was 19" long. Fortunately he had no problems and was released from the hospital 3 days after he was born. He was born the middle child. He desperately wants to do what his big brother does, but has his own interests and wants Cole do to those with him. He's my trouble-maker, fit-thrower, and snuggle bug.