From my other journal, dated August 10, 2002

We were in Gaithersburg by 10:15, which is pretty good considering we had two kids to dress and make ready and the office is about 40 minutes away. On the way in to the parking lot my eyes, still partially sleepy and droopy because I didn't have time to get a caffeine fix before I left, were assaulted by the site of an aborted fetus. Fundamenalist nazis were perched at the entrance to the parking lot handing out tracts and telling people they were going to hell. Normally I couldn't give less of a damn what people think but this issue is rather sensitive to me.
My cousin would have died from a ruptured fallopian tube because she had an ectopic pregnancy - the procedure she had done saved her life.
Also, I have no problem with a peaceful demonstration but the picture of the aborted fetus I mentioned earlier was about the size of my bedroom door. There was no avoiding it and it was indescribably horrible. Bloody and mangled. I hope I never again see anything like that.
I was going to yell at them on the way out, just because I feel as if the things they do are upsetting to people like my cousin who desperately wanted to keep their babies and were utterly devastated when they found out they couldn't. What right do they have to make someone miserable who had absolutely no choice but to terminate?
Valid medical reasons to have abortions do exist. Ectopic pregnancy is one of them.
We saw the doctor and for a change there was some good news. We've been dealing with people telling us our baby is not normal since December when we went in for a routine checkup and the doctor was concerned that he isn't speaking as well as he should be. About two or three months ago the speech therapist suggested that we get a hearing test but didn't think it was something we had to rush to do since Trent had already passed two hearing tests right after his birth. I didn't have them scheduled yet because I was waiting to see how Trent did with his therapy.
I had forgotten something very important though. He was given different drugs intravenously when he was born because he was a preemie and needed lots of antibiotics, a bili blanket, ect. I don't remember the name of this one particular drug, but before they gave it to him the hospital made us sign papers giving permission because it could cause some hearing loss.
He was so small and we were so desperate to make him okay we would have signed off on anything short of heroin or nerve gas if the doctors had asked us.
The child psych watched him for awhile and asked us lots of questions and had some periods of interaction with Trent. He said that there's no way Trent can be retarded, which falls under the category of PDD (there was some reference made to this as being a possibility by the health dept.). Autism is a spectral type of disorder. There isn't just autistic or not-autistic, there are lots of different levels. The psych said that if Trent is autistic he falls into the extremely mild area of the spectrum.
He does not, however, think this is the case.
He thinks he has hearing loss.
The drugs they administered to him after birth could have made it difficult for him to hear. The doctor asked us other things too, the main thing I remember being; if he's watching TV and we turn the sound down or off does he react?
He doesn't. And he only seems to hear us about half of the time but we were thinking he was ignoring us because he didn't want to do what we asked, or he was distracted by something else.
So now we have to take him to see a child ENT, which we can't do without an appointment and because our doctor's office was so busy with school related appointments we have to wait until September. It takes a referral.
So all we can do is wait. This wasn't altogether bad news, though. Hearing loss is not as traumatic to the rest of his future and autism or PDD would be.

~~~~

Larry and I are going to DC tomorrow to see the Museum of Art. I love that place!

Yay us!! Good news today and a date tomorrow. I am indeed a happy girl.