EEG

Just yesterday, little Joseph had to have an EEG to monitor his brain waves. He sometimes has tremors when he's startled. Our pediatrician thinks the tremors are benign and linked to familial history on Jason's side, but we collectively decided to have him evaluated just to be sure. Especially since he had the curled up arm and wrist after birth.

The little guy was so patient and brave during the EEG! He had about 30 wires attached to his 95th percentile head, and then it was all wrapped in gauze. None of this hurt him at all and Mom held him the whole time. He let Jarod, the tech, attach everything over the first 20 minutes or so - during that time he ate a bit and just watched what Jarod was doing. Then came the gauze and Joseph was not too happy. So he fussed for about 1 minute, then fell asleep. This was perfect, since he had to then be still for 30 minutes while his brain waves were monitored. Mom was so proud of having the best baby ever to have had an EEG!

During the test, Jarod flashed strobe lights at Joseph's eyes. At the end of the test, Jarod and I tried to devise ways to have the tremors appear, since nothing out of the ordinary happened during the test so far - and they need to see the tremors in order to evaluate what is going on. Just at that moment, Joseph stretched and woke up...right on cue! So Jaron played the BEST game of peek-a-boo with Joseph, trying to startle him a bit. Nothing abnormal happened. Then I suggested blowing a table fan in Joseph's face - Joseph doesn't understand wind yet and this often sets off the tremors. It worked - tremors occurred. But the brain waves looked ok - nothing like epilepsy or something serious. We'll get a formal evaluation from the doctor in April, but things are looking good for the little guy.