Crisis Averted

OK, so I have a funny story to share (and thank God it turned out funny b/c it wasn't so funny for a while there). Anyway... for those of you who have been reading for a while you know that during the middle of my pregnancy Abby had a problem with her brain that we thought was going to have catastrophic results (it is the reason her motor is so delayed now). She had an enlarged ventricle in her brain that was full of fluid. We have to keep an eye on it so that we can be sure it never fills further with fluid and causes hydrocephalia. Since the girls turned 5 months last week we promptly weighed them so we could figure out weights and percentiles to put in the baby books. Abby was 12 lbs 7 oz (back down to 8 or 9th perc) and Grace was 14 lbs (33rd perc).

I forgot to do their head circumferences so two days ago Bry asked me if I remembered. Since I didn't we measured her head and I put them numbers in the computer to figure out the percentile score. We don't do Grace's normally since we aren't concerned about her head swelling. The last time we visited the doc Abby's body was in the 10th percentile but her head was in the 25th. The docs are planning on keeping an eye on it and we planned to visit a neurosurgeon to have one more ultrasound done. Well, when I put the numbers in the computer it said she was the 9th percentile for weight but the 44th for head. Since she jumped we both thought it was going to be a problem. For the past two days I have not slept well and have been very worried about shunts and swelling and fluid on the brain. We planned to call the doc tomorrow and get the referral for the neurosurgeon at CHOP.

I was expressing my concerns to my Mom today and she first told me how much I need to trust my gut. If I thought I needed to get the ball rolling on seeing the neuro guys sooner rather than later I should. We got to talking about how it was probably nothing and how large heads run in the family. All my siblings, my nephews, Genna, myself and all my cousins measure as having very large heads. She then asked me if we measured Gracie for comparison sake. We didn't but I made a mental note to do so.

On the way home Bry and I discussed our strategy of CHOP first or u/s first or what we should do. We decided to measure Gigi and see what it said. Her head measured 17 inches and when I put in her stats she was in the 25th for weight and the 75th for head. I just sat there and laughed. I guess if we should worry about anyone having fluid on the brain (and obviously she doesn't) we should be worrying about big head Gracie. :>) So now that I know my children are of a large headed stock I am much less worried. We will still follow up with neurosurg. but I now don't have to play the role of crazy, neurotic, worried mother.