I took Dekker to see his doctor today. If you didn’t already know, Deks has been sleeping about sixteen hours at night, with a three hour nap at least in the day. I was starting to get a little concerned and decided to book him in.
I woke him up at 12:30pm from his nights sleep. Once I opened the door, he sat up straight, saw me, gave me a big sleepy smile, and folded back in half, laying his head on the mattress. Poor tired boy. He got up, ate, got dressed, and we were out the door a half hour later.
I love Dekker’s doctor. She is very warm and understanding. She has never made me feel like I’m doing something wrong, even when I have. She just boils it all down to what we need to do to get through where we are.
Dekker’s overall check up went well. His ears and throat look perfect, his lungs are clear, he’s not sick. She agreed that part of the sleeping is probably based off of the obvious: teething and fighting the cold Brady and I had. She says he is communicating very well, and that instead of how she or I would push ourselves to keep moving when we feel sick, he is doing what we all should do, and just sleeping it off. The only thing she said we needed to watch for was that he ate enough in those few hours that he’s awake. And guess what. He’s dropped in weight. Not very much, just a few ounces, but still. It made me feel sick to my stomach. She assured us that we were doing well and he’s probably going through a crazy growth spurt and we just need to be more watchful of not just giving him the same amount of food as before, but letting him tell us when he’s full. Its all a learning experience. I feel bad for all the first-borns out there. They really are the guinea pigs of their families.
Instead of leaving us to nervously hope we’re doing everything right, she booked us a follow-up appointment in about a month, mainly just to check his weight and make sure he’s following his curve. I really appreciate her!
So. I feel relief. But not completely.