Plugged Tear Duct

I wrote in my last post that Avelyn had been referred to a Pediatric Ophthalmologist at her 6 month appointment. We went to see him today. For anyone needing one in the Austin area, we would highly recommend this guy (Dr. O.B. Jackson). 

Avelyn came down with something last night. I noticed she felt a little hot and was congested. She also wanted to cuddle (which never happens)...and I was happy to oblige. At her 5 am feeding I could tell she was definitely sick. She coughed a bit in her crib and has a runny nose with a low grade fever. I haven't given her any Tylenol or anything because I am hoping her fever will kill off whatever bug she picked up. 

Anyway, back to the eye dr. I got her all dressed up for her appointment. :) I even made this matching headband this morning. Seriously, it took all of five minutes. I love my hot glue gun!

 You can tell she isn't feeling 100% in this picture.

 Still cute as ever though!

 I let her play her flashcard game on my iPad. It's from Preschool Prep Academy and was only $0.99! She knows to tap the card to have it flipped and everything. We have an app for colors, number and letters!

We arrived at the dr. office in good spirits. I played with her in the waiting area.

We were taken first to this room where we met with the Dr.'s assistant. She scared the beejeezus out of us telling us how they strap the baby to a "papoose" which she describe as some sort of board..and make the parents wait in the lobby while they do the probe. B and I both practically shouted at the same time, "THAT'S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!". 

 The Dr. came in afterwards and was so nice. He looked at her eye and pressed on the membrane..trying to see if he could unclog it while we were there. He showed me the proper way to massage it...which was not the way I was shown at her regular dr's office. Basically, you put your finger where an under eye circle would be. Then you feel for the rim of the eye socket. Once you get the rim you push your finger upwards and towards the nose. Do that for 5 seconds every time you nurse the baby.

He never mentioned the papoose...thank goodness.

We were then directed to another room where Avelyn got drops in her eyes to dilate them.

She was not a fan.

 Doesn't that face just break your heart?

We waited in the lobby for 30 mins for her eyes to dilate. After they finished, we were called back to a different room where the dr checked out her eyes with some lights and magnifying glasses. Honestly, I wasn't really paying attention to what he was doing because Avelyn was crying so hard. :(

The dr. had all these antique toys that are connected to pedals. He would push the pedal with his foot and they would dance and make noise. That made Avelyn look in the places he needed her to. Quite clever right?! This doc is old-school. A woman in the lobby was telling her little girl that this was her doctor when she was that age. 

So everything worked out. We have a follow up appointment in 6 weeks to see if I am able to unclog the membrane myself. He said that she wouldn't need to be put under general anesthesia until she is about 18 months so we have time to try to correct the problem on our own.

Overall, I think the appointment went great. I will be more diligent with the eye massaging and the saline drops from now on. I will also do an update when something changes.

A fun little fact we learned while we were there...Avelyn's eye color is permanent! That means this gorgeous blue/gray color that I have been loving is here to stay!! :)