Gettin' Restless

Courtesy of buzzle.com

"Soooo - you're here because he's not...sleeping?" the nurse asked curiously, perhaps even a bit increduously at a set of parents who were forthcoming enough to request a doctor's time for this sort of thing. After all, that's a big part of what kids do, right? Not sleep?

"Yes, that's the case," I said with confidence, the dark circles lining my eyes adding to my tone that I meant it.

Minutes later (yah our pediatrician rocks her throughput), Dr. D arrives, having already reviewed little dude's chart, the causations practically circling her head as she asked us a few key questions. One of which was something along the lines of rumpled sheets, the amount of time it took him to wind down, etc. Immediately my defense flew up, thinking she was going to head straight for the dreaded acronym of ADD, but instead I was pleased to hear her ask:

"Has you or anyone in your family been diagnosed with restless leg syndrome (RLS)?"

Why yes, doc, yes we have. My legs nearly ached in response just hearing the words. Couple that with wanting to punch myself in the face for not having thought of it before or bringing him in earlier and I was about ready to pop out of my seat...

One blood test later (go little dude for taking two whole viles with the distraction of a lollipop and one very charismatic nurse), we discovered his iron was low, an indicator for RLS in ped patients and were sent home with supplements and a dream. Oh, and a much-needed lecture on the tactics of three-year olds and how we could toughen up to aid in the behavior (admitted parent fail here - what can I say - I'm a softie with baggage).

Two weeks later our sleep situation improved with a dose of Fer-in-sol, nightly leg massages and some tough love (aka Ferberizing when your child actually gets it and can guilt trip the crap out of you), and now we exist as a mostly happy family once again. In fact, most evenings we average 1-2 wakeups and many of them none, getting back to what was our utopia for nearly the first three years of his life.

RLS - who knew?

No more gettin' restless with the restlessness-just back to rest. Marriage saved. Child saved. All is right in the world again.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.............