When it comes to developmental milestones, I have to always remember these are guidelines, so I need to not obsess. However what happens when your pediatrician decides to raise an eyebrow at your concerns and begins to take every precautionary step in the book? Crazy mommy is what happens.
Let me take you back to August when I took Audrey in for her three year old check up. It was our first trip to the Offut Medical Clinic and boy was I impressed. They wanted me to fill out developmental questions, five pages, and even had Audrey complete an eye test! The eye test by the way could be a separate post as you really should not give a three year old an eye test in a hallway of a clinic! I think by the end of the eye test Audrey had the plastic eye cover on her nose and she was telling the gentleman she saw Santa on the third row.
When I was finally able to herd my two children into a room, I addressed my concern of a few gross motor skill delays for Audrey. She wasn't able to jump and her running, well she didn't run. She would be a great person to have with you hiking if you were not a fast runner, as she would be the first thing the bear ate! (I know horrible mom thought, but it is so true, the kid could not run!)
We talked to the pediatrician and she decided that with a few of these delays, Audrey needed to have a few other doctors to see her. They wanted her to see an optometrist due to the results of her eye test, and I chuckled because well, the test they did earlier that day was useless with the distracted kiddo I had. We also got a referral to Monroe Myers for a developmental evaluation...gasp...could there be something wrong? So now the worrying began. I expected the conversation that Audrey was slower to develop in some of her gross motor skills, but it was nothing to be alarmed about. I left with the kids and I realized that the referrals were not bad, but just precautionary, and I just needed to breathe.
It wasn't until ten minutes later I received the phone call from the pediatrician that she wanted us to come back so that she could redo her height. We had left thinking her growth curve was normal, but she was referring to older data from previous appointments. The result was that her height growth curve was not consistent with her weight, and that her height had dramatically dropped. As the doctor is talking to me, I lost it, serious tears streaming down my cheeks because now there was actually alarm by the doctor. Tests were ordered for blood work and further referrals for a neurologist. I was a complete stressed out momma!
We got Audrey's blood work done right away, as we wanted to figure things out quick if there were problems. Tyler took her in for her first blood draw and it was a success as she was very calm and did not even cry. But because she was little we had to get the rest of the blood on another day, so I thought I could handle the next blood draw. It was a nightmare! The gal couldn't even get her vein and traumatized the little gal. I would never want to draw blood, but geesh, I would think after digging around that she would have the decency to move to the next arm, not wait until the mother holding her screaming child hollered to try the other arm. After all that, we got the last of the blood drawn and then we waited for the call from the doctor.
It took forever for the doctor to call, well only a week, but it seemed like forever! And to my greatest relief, everything was normal. I finally requested what I had anticipated would be the results of mentioning the delay in gross motor skills, physical therapy, and it was agreed upon that this would be a good idea. We still have the developmental evaluation that will happen this week, but I sure will be glad when this will be over! My thoughts on what will occur in the evaluation is that they will conclude that Audrey will not be a basketball player, but will be able to talk circles around her peers. However, only time will tell and don't worry I will keep you posted:).
Overall I understand the importance of milestones, as we need a guide to ensure kids are on track and when we need to raise concern. However, I feel that sometimes people jump to conclusions to try and catch things early when a concern is brought up. I am all for precautionary steps, but my mommy heart strings cannot handle it when there may be something wrong with one of my babies. My lesson learned here is that I need to take everything with a grain of salt when it comes to child development. Everyone develops at a different rate, and I need to go with my gut of piping up when I think there is a serious issue or if it is a concern.
I am sure I will be addressing milestones with Ayden soon, as we are at a complete opposite end of the spectrum. The kid is mastering his gross and fine motor skills, however his vocabulary is not increasing as rapidly as it should. However I have to cut the kid slack as he is seriously interchanging sign language and words. He may not be saying two or three word sentences, which is something kids should be doing by 18 months, however he is developing his vocabulary daily and that is all that matters to me according to my mommy intuition.
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