One Month Already?

Fintan has reached the one month mark.  At his one month well check, he weighed 9 lbs 9 oz and was 20.5 inches long.  Here are some pictures:

A sleeping one month picture. 

And the brotherly love begins!

A picture later in the day with his eyes actually open.

Congenital Hypothyroidism

I have a new appreciation for the newborn screening tests done by the state.  Without them, we wouldn't have known until it was too late that Fintan has congenital hypothyroidism.  Untreated, it affects physical as well as mental development.  Apparently, that is what the Hunchback of Notre Dame had, except in the Disney movie he was smarter than he would have actually been.  (At least that is what I've been told, I've never seen it.)

Thankfully, since it was caught early, Fintan will likely develop normally.  After a couple of day trips to Seattle Children's Hospital, we learned that his thyroid appears to be physically normal and in the right location, so that is promising.  However, he does have to take medication every day until he is at least 2-3 years old.  At that time they will determine whether he needs to continue taking it, probably for the rest of his life.

While it wasn't fun to learn that Fintan is not completely healthy, it could have been so much worse.  We're thankful it wasn't.