Thursday, February 24, 2011

Dawson's Psychology Appt and Cord Blood Kit

The Psycologist appointment seemed a lot like the Neurology appointment. She was much more friendly though! She asked a ton of the same questions the other guy did, but a little more on the personality side of things and asking about his little quirks and stuff like that. She thought he was pretty hyperactive and asked if we'd be interested in medication to slow him down a bit. After talking with his teacher about it and confirming my thoughts, we decided it's best to just wait it out. He's a 3 year old and they are very active to begin with. Plus Dawson does have times of the day where he's pretty calm, so it's not continuously. She didn't have much input or comments about my answers, she just wrote everything down and referred me to the next person. So he has a Psyciatrist appointment on April 19th. I had no clue what the difference is between Psychology and Psychiatry is, so I had to Google it! Here's what I found out, thought it'd be interesting to post here. Don't worry, there won't be any "cology" term quiz to follow. ;)

"A psychologist is someone who studies the mind and behavior."
"Psychiatrists have specific training in the assessment, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of mental illnesses. Psychiatrists attend medical school and receive an M.D. After completing medical training, they complete an additional four years of residency training in mental health. In addition to this, some receive additional training in a specific area of interest such as geriatric psychiatry, child and adolescent psychiatry, addictions and other areas." They can also prescribe meds, where Psychologists can't.

So now I'm more looking forward to the Psyciatrist since it sounds more promising to get some answers from that one!


I also got my Cord Blood Kit in the mail today! They said they'd mail it about a month before the baby is due, so that was another reminder that I'm getting very close! It came in a big box, I was very surprised! I had expected a small package, but instead I got a "shipping vessel" that includes Polar Ice Packs, a container for the cord blood, viles for my blood sample (to make sure I have no diseases to pass on) and a bunch of directions and paperwork. It says that we are responsible for getting it to St. Paul (almost 2 hour drive) within 24-36 hours of collection! We can have it shipped through their 2 approved shipping companies, which I've never heard of. One was air mail. I'm sure same-day shipping a box of that size will cost a lot, so Dan will probably just drive it down himself. I'm glad my OB sounded like she'd done the collection before, because the directions were very specific! I'm sure we'll look a bit weird hauling that big box all the way up to L&D, plus my bags and stuff! Seeing Tyler's name as the recipient of the cord blood was a sad reminder of why we're doing this in the first place. They're going to test him for a match and keep it if he is. If not, we have a choice to pay to store it somewhere else, destroy it or donate it. Since they don't use the baby's own cord blood for themselves later anyway, we'll just be donating if it's not a match.

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