New Paediatrician
We went to see the new paediatrician yesterday, which was quite a challenge. We had to go to the GP first to get the referral and then race across town to get to the paediatrician in time. We made it – just. Are there any doctor’s on earth who actually run on time? Anyway, Dan managed very well, considering all this was occuring during his lunch and nap time. He ended up falling asleep in the car on the way home, but he coped okay up until then.
The doctor obviously wasn’t able to give us much of an opinion based on such a cursory examination of Daniel, but I’ll try to summarise what he did say.
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Daniel is to be tested for autism. Having said that, it’s still a bit early for anybody to be able to make a diagnosis on that, but if he’s seen to be a contender, then it may be possible for us to access services for him that we otherwise wouldn’t. However, both Richard and I agree (and the doctor also) that while he has a few traits which may indicate a very mild form of autism, he also has a lot of traits which indicate the he isn’t autistic. I’m fairly confident that he isn’t.
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Daniel is to have his hearing tested. I don’t think he’s had his hearing tested since he was in the nursery after he was born. We know he isn’t deaf, but if he isn’t hearing us properly it wouldn’t be helping.
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The doctor thinks that the occupational therapy that we’ve organised is absolutely the right path to take – he’s going to refer us which should offer some medicare rebates. He will also look to get us private physio to see if that will help as well, though he thinks there’s a limit to what can be gained by physiotherapy.
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Speech therapy will be needed in a few months, but he’s too young for it to be of any use now.
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He would also relook at the reflux issue. We assumed that both boys had grown out of their reflux, but it was just a guess. He would like to see if reflux may be what makes Dan so whingy all the time.
That’s about it, as far as I can remember. I think both Richard and I found it a fairly positive experience. We feel that we’re doing something now. We’re still going to go back to see our other paediatrician next month, but I think we’re going to have to make a decision about who’s going to be Daniel’s primary carer. We’ll see what the old paediatrician plans to do about the situation first. I’m just a bit upset that he never told us that any of these options were available to us. We had to find it out for ourselves.
Doctors
We had another paediatrician appointment at the WCH last week. I haven’t written about it before because it wasn’t a good session. Basically, the doctor gave us the bad news that Daniel didn’t seem to be catching up with his developmental delay, and the doctor was beginning to worry that he would never catch up and he would struggle and have learning difficulties for the rest of his life. Naturally, Richard and I are pretty upset about this, as we’ve always been told that with the assistance we’ve been giving him he’s still progressing and will probably catch up by the time he’s two. Well he’s two in three months, so that doesn’t give us much time.
Having heard the bad news, we went home and discussed our options. We have decided that the care we’re receiving at the WCH isn’t enough, so we’re going to get some private assistance. We’ve already gone to a private Occupational Therapist, who agrees that Daniel needs some regular therapy, but doesn’t think it’s all bad; and we’re going to see a reputably fantastic paediatrician next week. Unfortunately, we’ve been told that we have to sneak around in the private system if we’re to still receive the benefits of the public system, which I guess is fair enough. Hopefully, the new paediatrician will have some more advice and be able to provide more regular monitoring of Daniel’s progress.
On a more positive note, Daniel is now able to push himself to standing without assistance (or a wall) and is happily climbing up and down the step into and out of our courtyard playground. I’ve also caught him imitating the animal noises that one of their toys makes, so it’s looking more positive on the speaking front as well. Lachlan seems to imitate Daniel a lot too, so his collection of sounds has increased to include most of Daniel’s favourite noises. He’s also stopped teething for the moment with his top two eye teeth coming through. We’re still waiting for the bottom two to come through, but for the moment he’s returned to much better sleeping habits. (Except last night, when Daniel woke him up and he couldn’t go back to sleep.)
I’ll write again after the next paed appointment.
Something To Talk About
We’ve had a bit of a break over the Christmas Period and had a pretty nice time… The boys are still completely unaware of Christmas and didn’t have a clue about opening presents. I spent about two hours wrapping all their presents, and then unwrapped them all myself on Christmas morning. I tried to get them interested, but they really weren’t. They didn’t get too many new toys this year, which is probably good because they’ve got so much stuff already. The toys they did get included a huge box of lego (duplo), a playhouse and an inflatable paddle pool. They also got lots of books and some clothes. Their favourite present was the enormous ride-on Thomas the Tank Engine that they got from their Grandparents. Daniel was frightened of it at first (but is no more) but Lachlan loved it on sight. It’s taken him a couple of weeks to want to ride it, but he’s loved pressing the buttons which toot and whistle and play the theme music. Now they both love being pushed from one end of the house to the other. (And I thought my back aches were over when Daniel started walking!) Christmas Day was spent at Richard’s cousin’s and we all had a really nice time. We were late, of course, because we had to wait until the boys woke from their sleep, but we didn’t miss too much. I was really expecting the boys to crack the sh!ts but they were really happy exploring the back yard and playing on the swings.
Unfortunately, since Christmas the boys have been a bit sick with a stomach bug. We thought they were sick a week ago and took them to the doctor who ordered some tests (which came back negative) but then before we even got the results they really got sick. I think last Thursday I changed about 10 filthy nappies! Twins with a stomach bug is not nice, but at least they haven’t been vomiting as well. (At least, no more than normal.) Poor Daniel has even pooed after he’s gone to bed at night, though we’ve managed to change him in his sleep a couple of times. Their poor bottoms are so red and sore… Thankfully, they seem to be getting better now and are much happier again.
In other news…
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Daniel now has his first pair of proper shoes and Lachlan has his second. We took them to get them last week and they both cried the whole time. I can’t believe Lachlan has outgrown his first pair already and I can’t believe Daniel’s feet are too small for Lachlan’s old shoes. <sigh> Daniel seems to be coping with the shoes well, though he was quite moody last time he wore them – we don’t know if it was the shoes or something else.
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To add to his week of misery, Lachlan is also teething again. His top eye teeth are finally coming through. Daniel’s have been through for months.
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On advice from Daniel’s team of infant development doctors, I have attempted to get Lachlan referred to them as well. However, there’s a three and half month wait to get an appointment with the paediatrician who has to do the referral. I guess he’ll see them unofficially until then.
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Jealousy is becoming a big issue between the boys now. Anytime I’m talking to or cuddling Daniel, Lachlan tries to push/pull Daniel out of the way and worm himself into the picture. He’s pushed Daniel over a few times, and he’s even started pulling his hair. Daniel is showing similar traits, but it’s not as bad as Lachlan. They’re also fighting over toys a lot more (including pushing and shoving each other to get the toy). And I thought life was going to get easier…
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Neither of them are talking yet (still), but they’re getting much closer. Daniel is making all sorts of noises and we have lots of ‘dialogs’ with him using the grunts and whistles and babbles that he so likes. Since the doctors have encouraged us to try and get him to respond in a conversational style, we’re really happy about it. Lachlan isn’t nearly as vocal as Daniel, but he’s always been much more interactive than Daniel as he loves cuddles and kisses and games and he’s always made lots of eye contact. Until recently, Daniel has been a bit more remote and hard to connect with. Now he’s becoming as much a cuddle boy as Lachlan, which brings tears to my eyes. For example, when I read him stories at night, he’s so happy and smily and he stands in front of me and pushed his head into mine – which is his way of cuddling. As soon as he gets into bed he’ll roll onto his tummy and wait for you to tickle him then he’ll squeal and giggle with delight. He’s so much happier now that he can walk. He’ll disappear down the corridor at his leisure and when he returns he’ll always give you a beautiful big smile.
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One of the down sides to Daniel’s newfound independence is that it’s much harder to get the boys in the one place at the one time – like the bathroom at bathtime. I liken it to herding cats…
Yesterday we inflated the boys new paddle pool in our newly shaded courtyard. Since they’ve become so impatient at bathtime I wasn’t expecting them to show much interest, but they absolutely loved it. They both cried inconsolably when we forced them to get out late in the afternoon because they were turning blue with the cold. Here are some pictures from the pool and from Christmas…
Lachlan and Thomas
Lachlan in the Pool
Daniel in the Pool
Daniel Splashing
