Why women have more wrinkles (a tale of mommy-hood)

I know why women usually get more wrinkles than men as they get older. We worry. Specifically, I worry- a lot! I remember my third grade teacher calling me a "worry wart" because I was freaking out about a tornado "drill" (which turned out to be a real tornado by the way.) But even I didn't know the meaning of the word worry until now- until I became a mommy.

Since she was itty-bitty Eleanor has done this thing where she shudders and her head shakes. It looks like she's getting the chills. The first time she did it I thought it was cute. I assumed that she had actually gotten the chills (besides the fact that pretty much everything is cute when a five pound baby does it.) Then it happened again, and I started taking note. Well, recently, it began to happen more often. And in the past few days, I had noticed it happening much more frequently. I couldn't get it out of mind, so I called the doctor's office. They suggested that I video tape it, and have the doctor take a look. (They also said that it sounded like it was nothing to worry about, but I didn't let that stop me.) Yesterday afternoon, I captured this little head bobble thing with my video camera. I called the doctor's office- all excited that they would be able to drop what they were doing and watch my video. So, it was 5:30?! I don't see the problem. The phone nurse said no one would be able to look at it until tomorrow (that was yesterday. You with me here?!) I was totally bummed. I even asked if I could e-mail it to her. She said yes, but she never received the message. I was frantic. I had a knot in my stomach and was on the verge of tears. So, I turned to the next best thing to a doctor- my mommy friends. I e-mailed it to my friend Ashley who said it looked like it was either nothing or reflux. Reflux had never crossed my mind, but here are a few of the thoughts I had as I was lying in bed last night (in between trips to check on the Punkin') fully awake:

• Parkinson's disease (which I don't even know babies can have)


• Tourette's syndrome


• Infantile seizures


• Nerve damage (from the vaccinations she had Monday)

You get the picture...I was thinking of all the most horrible scenarios that this little head wobble could be a part of. This morning, I had a prior engagement with Little Jordan, so I couldn't go immediately to the doctor's office, but don't think I let the morning go by without making Jordan's mommy Laura watch the video. She said the exact same thing as Ashley! Nothing or reflux. Both much better answers than those ideas I had let crop up in my little noggin' overnight.

I took the video to the doctor's office and the bestest nurse ever Lori said she would look at it right away. (She thinks Eleanor is the cutest baby ever and she loves her.) She came out and took me into one of the exam rooms, and told me that she and Dr. Schwartz watched it, and determined that it was most likely- REFLUX! I should try giving her Maalox three times a day. (And a side of Xanax for mommy, please!)

So, there are two morals to this story-

1. My friends should be pediatricians.

2. By the time I'm 30, I'm going to look something like this:

if I don't stop worrying!


If anyone is interested, here's a link to the video. The questionable shuddering is at the end.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5MLfi_l468