Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Eye See

J had his 4 month well visit last Thursday.  He has a wonderful pediatrician (I'll call him Dr. J) that is confident, good with children, and a generally likable guy.  In fact, he was the one who demanded we take J to get his bilirubin levels checked within 24 hours of birth - what ultimately saved him from brain damage.

As it is, I really trust this doctor with the well-being of our child, and I always look forward to these monthly visits.  Upon arrival last week, J was weighed and measured.  Our itty bitty 7 pounder is now a 15 lbs. 5 oz. and 26" boy.  Basically, he's long and lean like his Papa.

As Dr. J was praising his tracking skills, he paused and asked to stare into my eyes.  He held eye contact for a moment, and I smiled uncomfortably.  He did the same to T who made some crack about gazing lovingly into each other's eyes.  Clearly, Dr. J was looking for something in our eyes.  He then told us that J's right pupil was larger than his left.



Dr. J quickly added that all three of his children have this issue - a genetic condition called Aniscoria, hence the uncomfortable eye contact.  This is a virtually benign condition that will hopefully not affect J's vision whatsoever.  Dr. J is not officially diagnosing J with this, but said it is something we're going to watch as he grows older.

T and I felt awful for many reasons.  I breastfeed J and gaze into his eyes all day long admittedly should put down the iPhone.  T is a pediatric nurse and tests children's pupil dilation all day.  How could either of us have missed this?

In our own defense it is a very small size difference, unlike the image on the Wi.ki page.  Can you tell in this picture?



Or this one?



Parent Fail.

Do any of you know someone with Aniscoria?  
Have you ever taken your child to a pediatric opthamologist?

8 comments:

stephanie said...

I don't think I've ever stared that intently at my own kiddos pupils- no parent fail for you. and seriously I don't think he could be any cuter!!

Mrs. E said...

I'm sorry you got that news. I'm not a parent, but for what it's worth, I don't think that's a parent fail! The difference is so small. Your son is so cute by the way! I love the last picture :)

Nikki said...

We had to take my daughter to a pediatric opthamologist because of a blocked tear duct. The visit took a while, but overall it wasn't that bad.

I'm following back through TAT! Thanks for stopping by, and I'm looking forward to reading more the future!

makesperfectsense.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

You didn't fail as a parent....please don't beat yourselves up for that. I kept staring at the pictures and I didn't notice at all. He's so, so, so adorable!

mama foosa said...

Absolutely cannot tell! And what a cutie he is! As others said, don't beat yourself up over this!

I'm following back from tat :) It's nice to meet you! I just scrolled through your past posts and saw some on bedsharing which I'll revisit later, but wanted to say we ended up bedsharing simply out of laziness and ended up loving it. Our little guy started sleeping through the night around 10 weeks but lately (3 months) has been trying to eat ALL night long. I'm even debating kicking him to the crib at this point. Did this ever happen to you? How long do you plan to bed share?

E @ Life on a Quilt said...

Thanks for the love, everyone. We'll see how it goes...I'm going to consult with a pediatric opthamologist and see if an appointment is even necessary at this point.

@e&w: Yes, I would LOVE to chat with you more about this...I'll see if I can find your contact e-mail. :)

Amy said...

This is not a parent fail at all. I know I have never looked at Aubrey's pupils that closely (even though I guess I will now lol). I honestly didn't notice looking at the pictures.

Jessica said...

I love how our children have the same stats!! 15 lbs 5 oz and 26 inches long! That's crazy :) Your little guy is ADORABLE!!!