I had another check-up the other day – another one of those where I go in, do the normal “pee in a cup” thing, they weigh me and gasp that I still haven’t gained weight, then I wait forever for the doctor to come in and check the heartbeat before I leave. Wooh…
However, everything was on schedule, and they didn’t gasp at the lack of weight gain (I may even be down a little more), and I seriously had just opened my book when the doctor came bouncing in. She checked the Bean’s heart rate, measured my belly (which is freaking hilarious because it’s not like it’s anywhere near normal… measuring the belly only works if the belly wasn’t pregnant looking to begin with!), and then sat and talked to me. About the J-man!
We talked about that he was a big baby (9 lb 4 oz), but that no, I hadn’t had Gestational Diabetes before. I also told her that the Bean is measuring more of a normal size so far.
Then, we talked about autism. She was very interested in what we are going in terms of school/therapy, and how the J-man “measures” on the spectrum, so we talked about his class a little, which seems to be a pretty good representation of the fact that there IS a spectrum in the first place. Every one of those kids has his own strengths, and his own weaknesses. Every one does something that the other parents think “Man, I wish my kid did that!” We talked about the fun “additions” that ASD seems to have in some kids – sensory issues, apraxia of speech – and I don’t think she really knew about those things. We talked about oral/manual sensitivity, and how it can relate to eating issues. We talked about “behavior issues” and how much of the time, that’s the child’s only way of communicating that something is overstressed in his environment. The J-man’s whole class is boys, so I wasn’t leaving out the girls – although there are some in the higher grades at his school, I don’t know them!
The whole time I was sitting there thinking: I know more than this person. It’s not her area of expertise by far (hello, I wouldn’t want to be an OB-GYN!), BUT I knew a lot more than she did. It reminded me that sometimes, we as parents, know more than experts.
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Glad to know your pregnancy is going well.Wish you a happy 9 mos