East vs. West

Not geography. My kids. About 2 years ago, during a time when all 3 boys were sick, I realized something. Something.....strange. It occurred to me that when one of the boys gets sick, the other 2 also get sick. But my one & only girl never does. She seems to have a pattern all her own and it doesn't coincide with her brothers.

Then I remembered that she was the only newborn who wasn't jaundice. All 3 boys were.

I finally came upon the explanation to this interesting coincidence. East vs. West. When each of the 3 boys was born, my hospital bed was facing west. When my daughter was born, the bed was facing east. East vs. west.

Today it held true, once again.

I took all 4 kids to the dentist for check ups this morning. Brady had 2 teeth pulled last fall due to crowding. We're hoping that, by pulling those teeth and allowing his remaining teeth to shift, we'll be able to do without braces.

Michael turned up with 4 cavities. The dentist also mentioned that his teeth are crowded and we will most likely wind up pulling a few of his teeth as he gets older, same as Brady, to avoid braces.

Andrew has one cavity. And his teeth are quite crowded, espicially on top, because his upper jaw is smaller than his lower jaw. This didn't come as a surprise to me. Most, if not all, people with Down Syndrome have a considerably smaller mid-facial region. This simply doesn't allow enough room for all those pearly whites. I was told that even the act of pulling a few teeth & hoping for a shift probably won't work in his case. He will most likely require braces when he gets older.

Ellie? Well, the dentist remarked that her teeth were beautiful. No cavities, no crowding, perfectly shaped, wonderfully white. Of course. East vs. west.