Good news and bad news...

Joan had her one month check-up yesterday, and follow-up hearing test.

Good news is, she's not deaf. They tested when she was born, and her left ear was fine, but they got no response from the right, so we had to have her re-tested with the "big machine." Everything was perfectly fine - the nurse said sometimes they can't get a reading in the hospital, because the ears are still filled with gunk from delivery.

Other good news - she's growing well and is now 13 pounds, 4 ounces.

Other good news - the swab from the eye infection came back negative. It was just a clogged duct and a little cold after all. A waste of antibiotics, but better safe than sorry.

And now for the potentially bad news:

She's being referred to a pediatrician for two things - first her insane vomiting. Usually it would qualify as spit-up, but sometimes, she vomits. Tons of it. Sometimes with such force, it shoots out her nose as well as her mouth, and hits objects a foot or more away. It's not affecting her growth at all, but the doc says it warrants a closer look by a specialist. He thinks it might be reflux. They might give her Zantac or something like that until she outgrows it.

As if that wasn't bad enough, he found a heart murmur. He assured us it's likely nothing and something perfectly harmless - it's a very small number of kids who actually have murmurs that cause problems. He said it's extremely faint, but he wants to make sure it's nothing. Hopefully, we can get her seen by someone soon. I like to think pediatricians have short waiting lists.

I'm really hoping he's right, and that it's nothing, but I'm a little nervous. When she was first born, the nurse said there was something odd with her heart. She heard it skip beats. She called the NICU nurse down, who said that it was more a slow-down, rather than a skipped beat. So they called the pediatritian down, just in case. He said she was fine - noted that she was a little more pale and jittery than she should be, but that her heart seemed fine - he said the tempo was changing, and that sometimes doctors and nurses find it a little alarming, but it's perfectly fine for a newborn heart. Maybe that was actually the first glimmers of a bigger problem. Hopefully not. Her heart had actually stopped several times during her delivery. She had her cord tucked under her arm, so during the big contractions right at the end, her heart would stop. They were discussing a c-section, but it kept bouncing back after each contraction, so they kept holding off. Hopefully, that didn't cause some sort of damage.

Otherwise, things are chugging along well. I have a busy couple of days ahead. I have to tidy the house today - my parents are coming for a visit tomorrow. And tomorrow, I promised John I'd take him to the early years centre. We had to go to one for Joan's hearing test, so we let John play while we waited for her turn. Wow. He's been out of daycare for way too long. He didn't interact at all with the other kids. There was a circle time running, which he used to love in daycare, but he wouldn't sit - just ran from toy to toy, like he'd never seen a toy before in his life. When we went to go, he had a major, major tantrum. And he hadn't even seen the Tonka trucks! Mike said he acted like he'd been kept in a closet all his life, and had been set free for the first time. So, I vowed I would take him back the next time I have the car - which is Thursday. Should be fun. Chances are, Mike will be working, so it will just be me and two kids. It took two of us to drag John away the last time. Should be interesting on my own.

Oh - more good news for John - while Mike took Joan in for her hearing test, I stayed with John, and got a little tour of the facility. It turns out, the ENTIRE best start program is up and running there!!! That means nothing to anyone up north. But under the Liberals, east Hamilton was made one of two or three pilot sites for Best Start - Ontario's answer to Universal Child Care. It includes centralized services and daycares within existing schools, which is exacly what this centre had - it had hearing tests, speech pathologists, an early years centre and a paid daycare all in one existing school.

However, there was one part of the program I'd heard was scrapped entirely when the Conservatives came in, but it actually exists. It's universal pre-school. It's a fully government-funded half-day daycare program for 3-year-olds, which mimics real kindergarten. The orininal vision was for every kid not already in institutional care to get a half day each week, in the year before JK, to get used to a school atmosphere. But now it's a half day, every day. John qualifies to start in September, because he's turning three this summer, and there's a program in our school catchment! Isn't that awesome!? That will be so good for him while I'm on mat leave. Five days seems like a lot, though. But it's only 2 and a half hours, and they play games and have a snack, and have structured school activities in a mock kindergarten class. I think he really needs that. He's just been in home-based care, which was very, very good for him. He really blossomed there. But I think he's reached a point where he needs to get used to larger groups and the chaos of a classroom. He really shrinks in larger groups, which will be a problem come school in a year and a half. Hopefully, the program for September isn't full yet. I'm waiting for a call back from the co-ordinator. I don't think I can make use of it after I'm back at work though - it would mean moving him three times in a day, which would be a logistical nightmare, but even September to January would be valuable, I think. Besides, it was designed for the kids of stay-at-home moms, so that school wouln't be their first exposure to a school-like atmosphere.

Anyway, I'd better get going.