Verdict? She's Gonna' Need Glasses...

The bad side of the Aquilio genetics? Cruddy eyesight.

When the pediatrician asked if I had any concerns during Emma Vance's nine month appointment, I sheepishly mentioned that sometimes it seems as if E.V. goes cross-eyed when she's tired. I hadn't thought much of it until a family member pointed it out at Christmas, and I thought, "Well, if someone else sees it, then it must be a problem." The pediatrician recommended seeing an opthamologist, so we had an extremely early morning appointment today.

I brought a picture from December with me to show the doctor, which he asked not to see until after the exam. Here it is so you can know why I was concerned:

Looks cross-eyed to me...

E.V. had to get her eyes dilated for the exam (ugh), which meant holding her down for eye drops and then 15 minutes of entertaining a watery-eyed baby. Boo.

She looked so different with big pupils, which was a strange thing to see!

"Just stand and bang on that chair for 15 minutes, okay?"

The post-exam conversation went something like this:

"The good news is that her eyes are very healthy..."

{long, excruciating pause}

"...and super aligned. Not even close to cross-eyed."

{sigh of relief}

"But..."

{sharp inhale of anxiety}

"...she does have a large amount of astigmatism."

"I do, too!"

"I know, I could see it in your glasses as soon as I walked in."

{merp :/ }

"When did you get glasses?"

"Fifth grade."

"Yeeeeah, she's definitely going to need glasses, and a lot sooner than fifth grade."

{bah}

Then he looked at the picture I brought and showed me some examples of really cross-eyed babies. What did I learn? A lot of babies look cross-eyed because the bridge of their nose hasn't grown yet, resulting in a little extra skin coverage in the corner of their eyes. How can you really tell if your baby is cross-eyed? Look at a picture of them, and locate the light reflection in their eyes. Is the "dot" in the same place in both eyes? Not cross-eyed. Huh. Will wonders never cease?

Although I always secretly hope she's gotten my genetics in so many areas, this was one area I had hoped she'd side with Ryan. Oh, well. What can you do? Nothing..well, I can do something. I can promise NOT to let her get the pink, over-sized coke-bottle 90s glasses my mom let me choose for myself in fifth grade. Let's just say they didn't compliment my awesome vests-and-one-earring style or the extra 20 pounds I carried around as a kid... :)

After the exam, I asked the nurse if she needed little sunglasses because of her eyes being dilated. "Nah," she responded. "She'll want to close her eyes and go to sleep as soon as you get in the car." Yeah, right. She's been EXTRA active all morning, crawling at super-speeds and with insane amounts of interest and energy. Is it nap time yet?