Thursday, April 02, 2009

I learned something today!

This post has no pictures, but please bear with me!

I took the girls in for their well child check ups at the doctor this morning. Eleanor is 27.4 pounds and 35 inches. Chloe is just a half ounce shy of 13 pounds, and she is 23 3/4 inches. They are both growing well and very healthy! Apparently they are both at the 90th percentile in height and 50th in weight. Eleanor has gained four pounds and four inches since her last visit in August when she was 17 months. Chloe has gained just under 3 pounds and 1 3/4 inches since her last visit in January when she was 6 weeks old. I am so thankful that my doctor understands my decision to not vaccinate and he doesn't give me a hard time about it! He did ask if either of them had received any shots and when I told him no he just said OK.

Alright, now on to what I learned today. I have been slightly concerned about Chloe's right eye since the night that she was born. She had tears the same day she was born and I noticed that her right eye had a lot of "goop" for lack of a better word. It seems to have gotten a little worse over the last three months and I have to clean it several times a day. Usually she has a hard time getting it open because of all the "goop" after she has been asleep for a while. Well, I asked my doctor about it and he reassured me that it was nothing to worry about. He told me that the tear duct is actually the tear drain that drains down into the nose, which is why you usually have to blow your nose when you cry. The actual tears are produced inside the eye. Now maybe I just didn't pay attention in school, but I always thought that tears were formed in the tear duct. So he told me that the reason her eye is getting so "goopy" is because her tear duct isn't allowing her tears to drain and it could take several months for it to get "normal". He also told me that in 20 years of practicing medicine, he has only seen one baby that needed to have a procedure done to open her ducts. I am relieved at this news and I will gladly clean her eyes several times a day and I pray that hers open naturally without having to have a procedure performed on her little eyes.

I am sure that I could just keep on typing about this and that, but Sean is awake from his nap and Chloe is getting fussy, and we are going to mom's tonight for Eleanor's belated birthday party, so I should go.

3 comments:

  1. Did he say anything about gently massaging the tear duct? I remember having to do that with one of mine - I just don't remember which one.

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  2. Hmmm....interesting. At least it's not serious. Good thing!

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  3. Such good news, I might just "tear up"! But seriously, it's good to know!

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