The Scoop

Two posts ago, I referenced our stressful day, but said I wasn't ready to talk about it. Well, here's the scoop. Mira had an EEG on Tuesday. Yes, that's right, an EEG. You know, where they put at least 15 little electrodes on your head to measure brain activity. Yes, it was a stressful day. Why did she have an EEG? Well, for at least a month now I have noticed that she does a funny little "shiver" where she drops her head down suddenly and then quickly back up. Almost like a sneeze without the sneeze. I thought it was a little odd, but just figured it was the chills or something, especially since I mostly noticed it when she was in her high chair eating (and it happened a lot when she had a bite of something she wasn't too keen on eating). And then I read an article in Parent's magazine about a little boy who had done the same thing when he was an infant, except at the same time his arms would also get stiff (which Mira's did not). It turned out the boy had epilepsy. Needless to say I sort of freaked out a little and Abe began doing some research on the subject (as it was a Saturday and I couldn't call the doctor). He discovered several parents who said their baby did the same thing and they went to specialists and had tests run only to find the baby was perfectly fine. Some even called it the "pee shudder" because their babies would do it when they would pee. We felt better about the issue, but I called the doctor the next week anyway. She wanted to see Mira, so I took her in for the doctor to examine her. Of course there were no obvious issues, but our doctor said she was concerned and wanted Mira to have an EEG, see a neurologist, and me to video-tape one of the shivers.

So, Tuesday was the day of the EEG. It was stressful for two reasons: the first was just being at the hospital. The waiting room was right next to ICU, and an immense reminder of two years ago when Abe's dad was in ICU for three weeks before passing away. Too many memories conjured up of that sad time not so long ago. And, of course, the second obvious stressor of watching your sweet little seven month old being held still while an EEG tech scrubbed her head with a grainy paste at every spot where she was to place an electrode. Not fun. Once the electrodes were on, Mira was fine. However, she didn't like having to lay on a bed on her back and just hang out, but I was able to lay next to her and then nurse her so she could go to sleep. The tech told us she would send the results to a pediatric neurologist who would read them and then send them over to our doctor. We were glad to have the procedure over, and then the waiting began. We knew our pediatrician would have the results by the end of the week. Wednesday wasn't too bad of a wait, but on Thursday morning I was getting anxious to hear something. Our doctor told us she wanted me to video-tape Mira doing one of her shivers (my term) so she could see it. So, as I was dropping off the DVD on Thursday, the nurse walked by and said hi to us and then said, "Oh, she wanted me to tell you the EKG was normal." Yes, she said EKG instead of EEG, but I didn't care because I was so glad to have the great news! Woo hoo! What a relief it was to know Mira's brain is normal! It was what I had felt we would hear all along, but the confirmation was such a relief. We are grateful to God for a healthy sweet baby girl. I haven't heard back from the doctor regarding her thoughts on the tape of Mira, so I plan to call her next week to see what she thinks and see if there is any additional plan, like are we still supposed to take her to a neurologist? I would prefer to not have to do that, but are willing to if that's what the pediatrician wants. So, stressful day over...stressful wait over...and grateful to God for keeping Mira safe and healthy.