Evening all
Sorry I’m nowhere near caught up but I wanted to update you with what’s been going on.
The doctor at the local hospital reviewed some videos I’d taken and had said that she didn’t think it was anything but also wouldn’t give an explanation about the movements he does that nobody else’s baby seems to do.
It got really bad over the weekend; he was actually shuddering in clusters at one point.
I was obviously beside myself.
So because she’s unwilling to give an explanation and because I’m not willing to let it drop, I got in touch with two of the top paediatric neurologists, from The George and The Portland.
Both have reviewed the videos and both are as sure as they can be that there is nothing sinister going on with Finn. It’s not normal but it’s not abnormal either.
Dr Clarke (The George) I had a proper consultation with (as in she’s writing to Finn’s doctors here) and although she’s sure it’ll come back as normal, she wants to know why they aren’t giving him an EEG as it’s not an invasive procedure and he’s so little. She said they have a really low threshold for babies at her hospitals (in that they test them for everything) and she thinks the same should be done for Finn.
She also said though that if he was 2 she wouldn’t test him.
She doesn’t think the jerks are anything to worry about and the shudders don’t happen in all babies (but in some) and that they just grow out of them although it can take a few months.
She also said that as the movements have been going on for a few weeks, if it was anything sinister it would have escalated by now and we’d see a really difference in him for the worse. He’d basically stop developing and smiling etc. And he’s gone the other way; giggling and smiling loads more now.
So I feel so much better now.
I’ll probably freak out when it’s time for his EEG but the fact that two of the UKs top neurologists have told me it’s nothing obviously is a huge, huge comfort to me.
Interestingly, none of them told me I was being overly anxious and Dr Martinez said she thought I was just being cautious and she wished more parents were.
That said, I realise that I’m definitely anxious now I’ve had Finn and I can’t go hiring top consultants every time there’s something potentially up with Finn.
So I’m gonna chat to the doctors about post natal anxiety.
In this instance, I don’t think I’ve been overly bad (in that Finn does movements that none of the other babies do and the GPs referred us to the hospital as they “share my concerns” BUT I realise that it’s taken a lot of convincing for me to resolve it in my head.
And I need to start enjoying this or it’s gonna be a long few years/lifetime etc.
Thank you all for your lovely kind wishes and for thinking of Finn and I.
I’m not feeling in the right head space to be fully ‘back’ yet but I’ll dip in more than I was.