Heidi's Eyes

Have I ever mentioned anything about Heidi's eyes on here?  I'm not sure, but I don't think I have. So, I'll go ahead and do so now.  :)

When the twins were a little over 3 months old, I began to notice something different about Heidi's eyes.  Instead of looking straight at me like Hanna, her eyes would be uncontrollably moving quickly back and forth.  I knew that she could see, but had no idea why her eyes were doing that. We began noticing this right before we were planning on returning to T-land after their birth. So, we anxiously took her to the children's hospital hoping for some kind of explanation.  

That crazy day (which was the day before we were flying back to R-land), Heidi saw several different doctors, including a specialized children's eye doctor and a neurologist. She had an ultra-sound of her brain and many other different tests done. Thankfully, they could find nothing wrong! Her nervous system was normal and there were no tumors present on the brain or spine (which they thought could be causing the eye movement). Also, the eye doctor declared that her eyes were perfectly formed and in good condition. We were thankful to hear that good news. But still puzzled about her eye movement. 

The doctors told us that the movement could go away in a year or so.  Well, it has not gone away, but thankfully, it seems like the eye movement has become slower and less frequent. Upon our return to Germany last March, we took her back to the eye doctor, where they determined that she has an eye nystagmus. You can go to this site if you'd like to learn more about what an eye nystagmus actually is. (If you'd like to see what an eye nystagmus looks like, you can click here. This is a German site, but if you scroll down a bit, you will see a video clip which shows an eye making the similar movements which Heidi's eyes did.)

Because of the movement of Heidi's eyes, we were told that she most likely could only see about 30%. Crazy. But thankfully, she never ran into any doors or other objects, so we did not notice any difference with her sight. We do believe her nystagmus is the reason why she began walking several months after Hanna... just because her visibility was limited and therefore she was not as sure of herself. But it could have also affected her balance too.

People with an eye nystagmus tend to have an eye position where the movement is less and they can see better. Heidi would often look out of the corner of her eye, as this is the position where her eyes were the calmest and she could see the best. You can notice her looking with her "still position" in each of the following pictures. While Hanna looks straight ahead, she tilts her head to the left and looks out of the corner of her eye.

While her eye nystagmus has gotten considerably better since she was a baby (thank-you Lord!), we were told that she will always have a bit of nystagmus. But as she gets older, she will adjust even better to it. We are SO thankful that her eyes are fully developed and healthy. She has very good eyes for having a nystagmus, we were told. 

A little while ago though, we began noticing her crossing her eyes.  Since she has an older sister and brother (and papa) who are far-sighted, we figured that this was the reason for the eye crossing.  After several doctor appointments and eye drops (and a day of wearing sunglasses)...

it was determined that Heidi would need to get her own pair of glasses, as she is a bit far-sighted. We talked to her a lot about getting glasses, and she was SO excited!  And she LOVES them!!!  It is SO cute to see! She'll walk around the house with a huge smile on her face, saying "Heidi, glasses!"  And in the past couple of days that she's had them already, she has only taken them off once! I'm telling you, she LOVES them! (I'm sure it helps having an older sister and brother with glasses too!) She'll wake-up in the morning, and the first thing she'll ask for are her glasses. Oh, and we think she's just the cutest little thing!

We are SO thankful for her glasses, as we think they help her see so much better! She doesn't cross her eyes with them on, and her eye nystagmus even seems to be a bit less... actually we don't even notice it really! She seems to be happier too (as she can see better)! We are just SO thankful for her glasses! 

Oh, and yeah, there is one problem though.  Her twin can not understand at all why Heidi gets to have glasses and she does not! (And Hanna isn't buying the "why don't you wear these sunglasses" trick. She wants the real thing, just like her sister has.) Hmm... 

And notice how she is looking straight ahead in this picture and not off to the side? Yep, these glasses are such a blessing!