Doctors, Nurses, and Such...

Hooray for no need to search for a new pediatrician.  I spoke with Brady's yesterday and he was very knowledgeable about Down Syndrome, about Early Intervention, what tests would be necessary, what specialists would be necessary, and it was the best conversation I've ever had with him.  We don't usually chat much because we really haven't had much to chat about.  Brady has really only been to see him for normal appointments and a couple of extra things, mostly paranoid mommy things.  I'm happy to get to stay with him because I feel like he is very down to earth.  This is important because he has not been concerned about Brady's size at all.  He says he is growing, just on his own chart mostly (he's actually in 1% on the growth chart, but he fell below in height at one point).  He acknowledges that Brady is just going to be smaller, naturally, because his parents are small people too.

I'm also happy with the pediatric cardiologist we saw at Ada's fetal echo.  Not that I would actually want to see him a lot, but he still seemed great.  I was not so happy with the nurse (or ultrasound tech) who performed Ada's fetal echo.  She performed our level II ultrasound at 18 weeks, which was just after we got Ada's diagnosis, and was very reassuring.  This last time, she waited until all the doctors left (there were three) and told us that one measurement was slightly large.  One or both (I can't remember for certain) of her brain ventricles measured 11mm.  The limit for "normal" is 10mm.  I asked the nurse what this meant and she stated, "Well, she's not going to go to Harvard." Yes, she said that.  I then asked her what it meant about Ada's health because that's what I really wanted to know and she said that it's just a measurement.  I did look it up later and, as it turns out, it's just a possible marker for chromosomal abnormalities and doesn't always or even often mean anything.  Apparently, about 20% of "typical" babies with this "issue" will have a mild developmental delay. Usually it will resolve itself.  Really, I don't know how she can predict on an ultrasound if my daughter will go to Harvard or not.  Also, most people don't go to Harvard.  Anyway, just wanted to vent about that a bit.