Endocrinologist appointment

After having Olivia'a blood tests performed nearly a month ago, we finally got in to see the endocrinologist today. The pediatrician's office had told us her numbers were normal. Well, they were just barely normal!  Her symptoms were in fact because she needed a boost in her thyroid medication for hypothyroidism.  She has been so very tired lately. Less and less endurance everyday. Constipation. Tummy aches resulting in disturbed sleep and fussiness.  And I imagine that being tired all the time made her fussy too.  We were so relieved that all of her symptoms can be explained by hypothyroidism that needs a medication adjustment.  Hypothyroidism hit Olivia at 4 months of age and will hit 80% of persons with Ds by adulthood.  Untreated hypothyroidism is a major contributor to mental retardation.  We have not noted less intelligence in Olivia than we would expect. But she has become increasingly unmotivated to do "harder work"  that I know she is capable of when she has the energy to concentrate.  I think that this uncontrolled hypothyroidism is why she has been crying at the drop of a hat. She is just always tired.  And sometimes when we adults are tired/ exhausted we just want to cry, too!  Hopefully we get our Olivia feeling better soon. Bad news is that she needs blood work in 4 weeks, then 3 months, then 3 months later.  No fun!

From Insomnia to Narcolepsy! :-)

Here is a little update on O's sleeping.

Nights remain pretty decent. She still eats about twice at night and is not the fastest in the world to get to sleep for the night. But she is usually sound asleep by 10-ish. We still try to get the bath early which is about 6pm. Then try to get to the nursery to start soothing by 7pm. We have had some nights when she has been asleep by 7. Some by 8, or 9 and the worst is sometimes 10. Probably not too bad so far.

The days have gotten remarkably better since Mommy's humble phone calls Monday night to the Pediatrician and Aunt Jen who is a Mom, Montessori trained and works for a Montessori Training Center. There were some simple changes made, such as putting O down for naps sooner and with less soothing (only 5 minutes) and then Mommy leaving the room. O has not cried anymore with this new routine. When Mommy was more involved in getting her to sleep at nap time she cried more! Go figure! Mommy is also to work to have O have more independent time during the day with Mommy doing her own thing in the room with O and O having to entertain herself and soothe herself with only minimal intervention by Mommy. This is also going well. The first day O protested this new plan, but by the second day it was going well.

The narcolepsy??? O has been taking really long naps now. As long as 2 and 3 hours and has also been taking more cat naps. Even at inopportune moments when Mommy thought she was ready to eat, but she falls asleep while Mommy gets the bottle! This is the current situation. I am now waiting for her to wake up and hoping it is soon so we don't waste a bottle. The alimentum is expensive!!!!

We are also making some progress on the back arching. In the written report from the Physical therapist we read that she attributes much of this behavior to GERD (gastro esophageal reflux disorder) GERD is common with Down syndrome. Today we further increased the angling of her crib, and are also keeping her upright 2o to 30 minutes after a bottle. This is usually in an infant seat, or sometimes being held. It doesn't seem to matter which I do, she stays asleep when put in her crib.

We have our happy calm sweet baby back! Hallelujah!!!! Praise God!!!

Mommy is doing the St Anne Novena this week... two intentions!!! Gratitude for O and For O to sleep well. Thanks for the intercession St Anne. St Anne is O's name sake as it is part of her middle name.