Neuro update!

After 17 longggggg months-yes-that's right-17 months...9 months of a pregnancy and 8 months of his short little life right now, Anthony FINALLY has a perfect clean bill of health! YAY!!!! If I was on the twinstuff.com website, I could add a dancing banana in here! ;) 

I wasn't too worried about the appt because I see him everyday and I know that he is doing everything he is supposed to be doing. But still as a mother, you'd hate to have your child labeled, no matter what that label may be. Even now, some people would make comments about the size of his head, not knowing that it could potentially be of great concern. I am just thrilled beyond words that my sweet baby boy is ok-and it's something I may have known from the start!

This was the appt: The NP met with us, and we went over his ct scan. She said it looked beautiful. There was no fluid in the ventricles, the sutures didn't shut prematurely, etc. She said it all looked great. She did say there was some fluid in the front-but it's "common" and it wil be reabsorbed-so nothing to worry about. So-the end diagnosis for his big head was fluid and familial. Thank god. The Dr. came in and we went over the CT scan again. She measured his head-and it only grew .5cm in 2 months! I was very excited-it's still big though! She said at around 18 months it starts to level off, and it looks like that's where he is headed now. I am just thrilled beyond words. They basically took one look at him and could tell nothing was neurologically wrong with him. He flashed that smile and won their hearts in an instant! 

For a "quick" background on Anthony's short life so far.. At our first u/s, Baby B was a small sac. I didn't know the stats at the time, just that it was 2 weeks behind, and it was a yellow flag. Dr. mentioned if I did start to bleed, chances are, I was miscarrying Baby B. I was beyond thrilled I had twins. I met my mother and godmother for dinner. I told my godmother(who is a twin herself) that it was twins..BUT..and she stopped me. She said, "Meaghan. Don't even think like that. You are having twins. That baby is going to be fine. So get used to it!" From then on-I didn't worry about it!

Eventually, the sac size caught up where we couldn't even tell there was an issue. Fast forward to the nuchal fold test. As a first time mom-I wanted the extra u/s. So we went for it. Then the results came back-Baby B had a 1 in 49 chance of Down's. 2% chance. 98% chance he was healthy. As a mom, you hear 1 in 49, not 2% chance, not 98% chance all is well. We opted to not do anymore testing, unless further u/s's warranted it. Fast forward to the big u/s. Baby B's femur was shorter than A's. 4 weeks behind. Guess what that is a "soft spot" for? Yep-Down's. Dr was very nice in explaining things, so I felt good, for the most part, leaving that appt. We went back 4 weeks later-still the 4 week gap in length-but-it grew. A good sign. At all of the u/s's they could never get a good look at the heart, which would have given us maybe a little better idea if he had Down's or not. We opted out of all testing. We could handle what we were given. He's a miracle no matter what afflicted him, and we would love him no matter what. 

The day he was born, he came out 2nd and was quiet. But I didn't worry. I knew he was fine. Tony was able to sneak a quick peek, and he looked at me and said, "He's fine." I knew in my heart of hearts he was. Must be mother's tuition! ;) He did end up in the NICU for a week...again...more issues-fluid possibly on the lungs, heart murmur, spina bifida, lack of eating, yadayadayada.

We waited on pins and needles for his release date-it was just his eating that needed to be worked on. He was too tired to eat. And to think that back then he struggled to drink one ounce-wouldn't know it now!

So I end this with a beautiful picture of Anthony-and yes-Nicholas is just as beautiful! ;)

Can he get any more beautiful? I didn't think so...