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January 14, 2004
1/14/04- An Update from the Freezing Northeast
Brrr....is it ever cold out these days! I hope everyone had a Happy New Years! We had a low key parents type--just went out to dinner with Hannah, who incidentally was horrible. She is in that stage where now that she can walk she absolutely will not sit in a high chair at a restaurant or in her stroller. Makes life wonderfully simple!
Skiing
On New Years Day we headed up to New Hampshire for some skiing at Bretton Woods. It was lots of fun and Hannah had a great time. I couldn't have been more grateful for that portable DVD player we got for Christmas! One day we took Hannah and her twin cousins all out to the bunny slope in their sleighs and walked down to the ski lodge (our condo was at the top of the bunny hill right on the slope). They looked so cute all bundled up! I got in a little skiing, but the conditions weren't very good. It was actually Hannah's second ski trip, but I can't wait for the first one where she'll actually get to try skiing! She will so be wearing a helmet though!
Gonna Get You!
Hannah has this new thing were if she sees skin on someone she must scratch it. She absolutely delights in hearing you say "Owww!" Probably not a good thing, huh? Even worse is that it does make me laugh. If my shirt pulls up if I'm laying on the couch or something she'll come over and "get" my belly and laugh hysterically. The funniest was when my husband was taking down the Christmas tree. He was lying under it helping me hold it up with one hand and trying to unscrew it with the other when Hannah attacked. His shirt was up a little and she went right for his ticklish area on his side. She started scratching him as hard as her little hands could and was laughing hysterically. Neither of us could really get her to stop right away b/c if we had let the tree go it would have fallen, so her poor daddy was quite scratched up. LOL.
On My Bad List
I have to say that pediatricians have really made it onto my bad list since Hannah has been born. Granted they are good for some stuff, but overall I'm just annoyed with them! First there was the whole crooked head, "don't worry about it, it'll round out on its own and if it doesn't at least she's a girl so her hair will cover it." That one still gets me heated! Then on Friday night Hannah came down with a fever of about 102, but no other symptoms. On Saturday she was still sick and holding her ears and had a fever of 103, so I called the pediatrician. I was instructed to call the on call group as they had office hours. I called and asked to have her be seen, but they said she didn't need to be seen as she had no other symptoms really. They said having an ear infection without any other congestion was very unlikely. Later that afternoon Hannah was really miserable and her fever had shot up to 104.1, so I called them back. They were closed, so the doctor called me back. He said no biggie as long as she is able to interact with me and to wait it out until Monday. On Sunday afternoon I took her temperature and it was 104.5. I was really pissed. I called and got a different on call doc this time. I told her of the past few days symptoms and she said, "And you're just calling now?!?" I almost lost it then and told her of the others I had spoken with. She said, "Well, you know I had office hours this morning and I could have seen you then. The doctor yesterday would have told you that." Um, no, actually they didn't and silly me didn't think they would have office hours on a Sunday! She said, "You need to take her to the ER, like you should have yesterday." Picture me fuming. Off to the ER we went where Hannah was diagnosed with double ear infections and we were sent on our way. Monday night she was way worse. I realize they antibiotic takes 48 hrs to work, but things were rough so I called the ped again. Hannah had been screaming for 2 hrs despite the benadryl I had given her to sleep on top of they tylenol/motrin/zithromax. I had gone into her room to pick her back up after I had put her down for the night to find her banging her head against her crib rails while screaming. I brought her downstairs and she had scratches all over her face from trying to rip her ears off her head and kept flipping off my lap and onto the floor to band her head there. Finally the ped called back and I was very happy it was our own and not one of those other jerks. She talked to me for a long time and said my goal for the night was just to get her to sleep, so we just doubled her dose of benadryl. It did eventually work and our ped called in some numbing ear drops that we were sure to pick up the next day. We used them last night and she did fine! I don't know how you guys who have kids with chronic ear infections deal with it! This was Hannah’s first fever and real illness ever! Anyway, though I do like our ped despite the issues I have had with her lack of plagiocephaly knowledge, I am thinking of switching. I have never had a good experience with anyone she is on call with. Also, she's a solo practice and is off on Thursdays, which incidentally is my day off. It just doesn't work out so well. I haven't made any decisions for sure, but I'm definitely considering it.
My Quest Continues
If you've been reading my diary for any length of time you know that Hannah had to wear a molding helmet to correct a misshapen head that she was born with. However, when she was born with this misshapen head I was told by everyone that it would round out on its own. As she got older and her head got worse instead of better I started doing my own research online and found a yahoo support group about the subject. I posted Hannah's pictures and luckily was urged to see a specialist by this group of moms. My ped didn't want to give me a referral, but I demanded one only to learn that Hannah had the worst case of plagiocephaly he had ever seen. It as become my mission ever since then to get more education out there on the subject of preventing and treating plagio. So many parents aren't told to reposition and when it is too late they are just told to wait and see if it gets better. However, plagio is both highly preventable and easily treatable in most circumstances. Since beginning this journey with Hannah I have been interviewed by newspaper and television reporters that I have contacted and even taught classes about it. In July she made the front page of a newspaper here. Anyway, I'm at it again. I recently put together a packet of all the press releases from the American Academy of Pediatrics within the last year about the subject as well as some articles and Hannah's story and progress pictures. I send them to the hospital where Hannah was born urging them to include something about the importance of tummy time in the arsenal of pamphlets they give you when you have a baby. I also suggested they include it in the prenatal classes they teach and offered to be a guest speaker. Hopefully something will come of it. Also, I am active in that support group I found almost a year ago and was recently made a moderator of the group. Helping the parents out there who are new to the world of plagio is the least I can do, considering I owe my daughter's rounder head to that group and Cranial Technologies.
Thanks for Reading,
Sarah & Hannah
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