First Doctor's Appt

Maria's View-

Today, we had to be up at the crack of dawn to get Griffin to the doctor's office.  Thank you to Val and Hadley for volunteering your morning to us which caused you to be on the road at 6:30AM! 

We had to fill out a questionnaire for a typical 3 year old child.  Yeah, that didn't go well.  I had to answer 'no' to every single question on the sheet of probably 50+ questions.  Can't they make a questionnaire for children with Down syndrome?!?  No, he can't line up 4 blocks, but he can stack rings like no body's business!!! 

To start off, Griffin is 20.4 lbs and 31.3 inches tall.  That is in the 0th percentile in a typical child's growth chart.  He is just barely in the 5th percentile on the Ds chart.  In his country, if the scales were correct, he was 22 lbs, so he has lost 2 lbs.  However, we have been having to do glycerin enemas on him because he is so impacted.  So it's quite possible that he has lost 2 lbs of... well... poop.  So, with all of this being said, we are going to step up his meals a notch and feed him an additional piece of fruit with his meal.  Did you know that any fruit that starts with P are good for fiber?  Pears, peaches, prunes?  I knew about prunes, but I didn't associate the whole 'P' thing with fiber.  Interesting!  The doctor also gave him Miralax to start using regularly to kick his system into gear.  She said that his colon has stretched out and it can take about 1 1/2 years for it to go back to normal, but only if he's regular.

He had as many vials of blood drawn that they would allow for his small size.  We will have to go back on Monday to finish off the blood work.  He also got 3 shots for his immunizations and handled all of these things very well.  I guess he's so use to being poked and prodded on that he just takes it.  The lab tech said his blood was much too thick which indicates dehydration or really high iron.  He doesn't drink much so I'm pretty sure that's the problem.  I will do my best to fix that.

We have a referral in for the behavioral specialist.  This doctor is more like a referral specialist and is located in this clinic, so hopefully we can schedule an appt with him asap... which could mean a month from now for all we know.  This doctor will evaluate him and give out referrals for everything that will help him learn to live such as speech therapy, physical therapy, occupational therapy... we will discuss whether we feel that he should start his special needs preschool program this fall or wait... we will discuss any issues from his food frustration to 'crib head'.  His poor head is so misshaped from laying in a crib far too long, so I hope that we can help with that.   Let the appointments begin!

He has a referral in for opthamology.  He continues to have issues with his eyes that comes across as pink eye but since it's a regular occurance, all of his symptoms point to clogged tear ducts. So the opthamologist will be able to take care of that very easily. He also has one eye that crosses so I wonder if he will need some sort of prism type glasses or an eye patch to strengthen that eye. He can pinch tiny pieces of food between this thumb and index finger very easily so I think his depth perception is great. 
His only major concern is his constipation so we are very thankful for that.  We will just have to wait and see what the lab work reveals.  I'm praying that all of his little organs are working properly and that he's a healthy little boy!  She gave him aquaphor for his thumbs because when we left him for the 10 day wait, he chewed his thumbs raw.  Now they won't heal but I guess that's just how he coped with us disappearing on him for 10 days.


But anyway, that's all we have on our little dude right now! He was a champ today. Very, very proud of our little son. :-)

Please continue to pray that his lab work reveals one very healthy little boy!


Oh, and by the way, Little G saw me carrying Griffin in the Moby wrap... and now she wants me to carry her that way too!  Oh my BACK!!! 


Chris's View-

So, I want to get something off my chest... well, many of you already know this.  I wasn't on board with a special needs adoption to begin with.

As I look back over the past few months... well, almost a year now... I am amazed at how God has changed my heart.  I want to tell you all, it is not that I was incapable of loving a child with special needs; it is quite the contrary.  I felt that I would love this child too much!  I love my kids, and I always said I'd be willing to lay down my life for them... even the child we would adopt.  When Maria mentioned special needs, I knew this child would have a tough road ahead of him.

See, I knew people would look at him differently, and kids might pick on him.  I am protective!  I know I am, and admitting it is the first step in resolving the problem!  LOL!  I even got a little defensive inside when the doctor said my son was the 0th percentile for his age for height & weight for non-Ds kids.  I won't tolerate anyone saying my kid is a zero!  It hurt inside when they said he was zero anything!  He's been a "zero" to everyone around him for the first 3 1/2 years of his life... NEVER AGAIN!  I have prayed since the beginning of this process that I would not interfere with God's work in this, but God would have to prepare me for what is to come and to be able to handle issues like these.  I went into this process knowing that God would stop the entire process if this wasn't His will.  I actually have noticed that He is preparing me for the "trouble makers" and "haters" that may come up in his life.

I have found myself looking at some pretty neat shirts and bumper stickers and things over the past few weeks.  In fact, the first shirt that I almost bought him was in his region at a store at the Karavan... no, sadly I didn't buy it, but it said "I'm not perfect, but I'm so close it's scary!"  The ones I have been seeing the past few days online are things like:

See, if I help Griffin embrace who he is, he will OWN the diagnosis, instead of the diagnosis OWNING him.  God has been showing me that He will help lead me in how to handle the issues he may face in the future.  I can't say that I am fully over this issue, but I am letting God continue to work on these feelings inside me.  I may never be 100%, and may always be an over-protective father, but at least I... no we... will be better able to handle these issues that I am for sure will come up late in life.

***NOTE: If you'd like to help spread acceptance of people with an extra chromosome, you can find these products & more by clicking the link HERE!***

See ya'll later!