Finn's 18-month well baby checkup

Finn and I visited our favorite pediatrician this morning. The highlights:

• Finn weighs 19 lbs. 8 oz. He's actually lost a bit of weight over the last couple of weeks because he had the stomach flu and wasn't eating much for a week or so. I can't remember his length, but according to his file, he's grown an inch and a half and gained a pound and a quarter since his last visit 3 months ago. Good news!
• We're getting a referral to a Down syndrome clinic that recently opened at our children's hospital. Apparently it's staffed by a team of doctors who are especially knowledgeable about Down syndrome. While I love our pediatrician, and we've been with him for a long time (since my first was born 13 years ago), he's not especially well-versed in things relating to Down syndrome, and I think it could be beneficial to visit the Ds clinic and get recommendations for things we can do to optimize Finn's overall health and development.
• I've been a tad concerned about Finn's urine output lately, as he is peeing through all his diapers in short periods of time. It might just be the diapers, I don't know. But I also know that diabetes associated with Ds is not unheard of. So we decided to do a blood panel to check his blood sugar levels. While we're at it, we're having his thyroid re-checked (his thyroid panel at 12 months was normal).
• I talked to the doc about Finn's recent eye-rolling episodes. Honestly, I am just not as concerned about it as I was a few days ago. I've observed him doing it a couple more times since I posted here about it. The last time I saw him do it, he was sitting on the kitchen floor playing and babbling, and then he did it - he rolled his eyes way up. But the thing is, he kept babbling the whole time, and it seems to me that if he were having a seizure, he wouldn't have been babbling while doing it. It seemed pretty innocuous at that moment, and I haven't seen him do it since. The pedi is not super concerned about it, but did say to keep an eye on it, and if it continues and/or if I become very concerned again, we can certainly investigate. Also, there is a pediatric neurologist on staff at the Ds clinic we're getting a referral to, so I will definitely take my concerns about these episodes there as well.

Interestingly, Michael just happened, by pure chance, to catch one of these episodes on video:

(That's Michael doing the funny voice . . . such a comedian, that man.)

Sometimes he's done that off-to-the-side eye-roll like that, and other times, it's been more rolling his eyes straight up. So, I dunno.

What's this??? . . . continued.

By last night, I was near frantic about these "episodes" of Finn's. And in all honesty, I was kicking myself for putting it out here on my blog, because the comments were scaring the crap out of me. And the fact is, nobody can tell me what's really going on with Finn, all anyone can do is relate their own experiences.

So I went to bed last night intent on calling our pediatrician first thing this morning and demanding he get us in to see a neurologist STAT.

But when I woke up this morning, the situation suddenly seemed much less dire. I still don't know what these "spells" or "episodes" are. Maybe nothing. Maybe Finn has just discovered he can roll his eyes back, and so he does. Maybe he gets some sensory charge out of it. Maybe it is seizure activity. But my panicking about it isn't going to help or solve anything. Whatever it is, it doesn't seem like any kind of emergency. We already have an appointment scheduled for this coming Wednesday morning for his 18-month well check, so I will definitely talk to our pediatrician about it then. In the meantime, I'm going to keep a close eye on him to see if he continues to do this, and if so, what details I notice about it (does anything trigger it? does he stiffen up? etc.)

So there you have it. And thank you everyone for the love and concern!

What's this???

Okay, I do NOT want to go borrowing trouble. But I've noticed something new and strange about Finn recently. His eyes will kind of roll back, almost like he's looking at the ceiling, but without moving his head, and he seems a little . . . vacant. I've only noticed it maybe three or four times over the last few days, and each time it's lasted no more than a second or two. Somewhere in the back of my mind, when I've noticed it I've been slightly concerned, but not terribly. But this afternoon, Michael noticed Finn doing it - just for a second. I hadn't even mentioned it to him, but he saw it and described to me exactly what I have noticed and he even said "It's like he wasn't there for a second or two."

Now I'm a little scared, now that both of us have notice the same exact thing. Could this be seizure activity?? This is one of my greatest fears for some reason. I know nobody who reads this can tell me anything definitive, but I'm just wondering if anyone has experienced something similar with their own child.