The Mommy "Gut"

If you are a mom, you have likely experienced something like what I have recently experienced.

It’s that gut feeling that something isn’t quite right with your kid. You can’t put your finger on it, but you know something isn’t right.

But, because you can’t put your finger on it, you wonder if it’s all in your head.

I tend to be a hypochondriac about my kids. I see a spot that could possibly be a rash, I am googling pictures of rashes to make sure we don’t have something highly contagious. Miss N starts coughing during the night, I get the inhaler out so I know where it is if it gets bad like last time. My kid has “the runs” for a few days, and I start researching dietary sensitivities.

Because I know that I tend to be a hypochondriac about my kids, I also tend to take two or three steps back before calling the doctor. Thankfully, I am raising kids in the age of Google, so most of the time I can reassure myself that, while a 102.5 fever seems scary, it does not warrant a call to the doctor.

Yet, there are those times when I know something is not right. Like the last time Miss N had pneumonia. I just knew she needed to see the doctor. Or when Miss M wasn’t talking right. I knew she was behind and would qualify for intervention, even though everyone assured me she was “fine.” (For the record, she is doing amazingly with her speech and did end up being “fine,” but I was “right” in that she was significantly behind at the time.)

Anyway, I have been wondering for a while if Miss N needed glasses. I’ve been trying to put my finger on why, but I can’t. She’s never outright struggled to see, but I just had this gut feeling. In Illinois, kids have to get their first eye exam at kindergarten. I decided to see how the beginning of school went and see if her teacher mentioned any concerns when we had our first conference. There were a few little things, like getting headaches when playing a hand held video game or insisting I hold books a certain way when reading to her, but nothing huge that would have warranted a trip to the eye doctor.

But that gut feeling wouldn’t go away.

So on Tuesday she had her first eye doctor appointment. The doctor asked me my concerns and I couldn’t really tell him much. The whole time I was sitting there thinking I was crazy and being hyperactive or overprotective.

Then he started the exam. It was clear that one eye she could not see well out of when he did the first test for seeing far away. He measured and took pictures and did all sorts of tests, most of which I had never seen done, and most of which did not involve having her say letters or identify pictures. They were mostly all measurements.

Turns out Miss N is quite farsighted, which means she can’t see things close up. The doctor commented several times that she has a very strong prescription, and that she should wear her glasses all the time because it is affecting her distance vision because it's so bad.

That’s why she gets headaches and has to have the book held a certain way. In fact, a year ago I had a vision screening done and she showed some signs of having an issue, but they said not to worry about it until she was in school. The eye doctor said she’s has significant problems and also some permanent vision loss, which indicates she’s had trouble for a while, at least a year.

So my mommy gut was right. In just a few days my little girl will be sporting her spectacles. She’s excited about it. I am glad she will be able to see properly, but I am a little sad. It will change the way she looks and it will be a big responsibility for her. She also freaks out if there is any sort of smudge on her sunglasses, so teaching her to keep them clean will be interesting. Keeping her sister’s hands off will also be a challenge.

So wish us luck as we enter into the world of glasses!