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6 Month Well Baby Visit

Posted on November 16, 2007 9:26 am by TheAngelForever

JSL was 6 months old on Wednesday. It is hard to believe that just six short months ago I gave birth to this active little munchkin. He has changed so much in such a short amount of time. So many days he amazes me with new skills and milestones. These fun accomplishments include blowing raspberries, saying "Mama" and "Nana", rolling/scooting all over to get an item he wants, pulling up to a stand, sitting up for long periods of time on his own (while playing with a toy now too), cutting new teeth, learning to eat, or laughing at his hilarious big brother.

Wednesday morning we went to the doctor for his well baby visit. The weigh in may have been off a little. Just before he was diagnosed with the ear infection at the urgent care place he weighed 19 pounds, Wednesday he was 18.1 pounds (75% again). It may be right since he has not been nursing/eating as well since he was sick. The great news was he had a HUGE growth spurt in height. JSL is now a whopping 26 inches from 23 inches two months ago. Back then he was barely on the charts, but is in the 50th percentile. Everything looked great and no signs of the cold in his chest. He showed many of his tricks to the doctor and much to my relief his muscle tone looks great. We have a lot of concern there since NHL had low muscle tone that was undiagnosed for a while.

I talked with her about a few things. We wanted to know if we should be giving him vitamins. She said no he did not need them since he was being breastfed. Once he’s one and chewing he can do chewable vitamins. She agreed that he needed a prescription for the fluoride drops since he has teeth and our water isn’t treated. Then we chatted about how interested in food JSL is, but how he does not really want to taste/swallow/try things that are true baby foods. She told me not to get too concerned yet since breastmilk is perfectly fine for him. She agreed that I should stop forcing the issue on cereal and move onto yellow veggies. (We did this last night and I will post the video later – did no go too well). She also thought he may really like Cheerios or the Gerber Puffs where he can have them on his tray to try and eat alone. We did that and he likes them, but has issues swallowing.I may call back next week if this continues. I am starting to wonder if some of the swallowing troubles and refusing to eat (clamping mouth SHUT) could be from his slight tongue tie.

After the exam they said he was healthy enough for his immunizations. He needed 5 different things along with the first half of his flu shot. Thank goodness there was one that had three together, so he only needed to be a pin cushion 4 times. We go back for the other half of the flu shot in December and for his 9 month check in February, but NO more shots until he’s 1 after the flu shot!!!!!!

Here is a photo comparison of both of the boys.

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Now we just need to watch his poor little thighs that are SO swollen from the DTaP vaccination and also the flu shot. Poor little guy did not want to stand up much yesterday. On that note I hear someone chatting in his crib after an early morning (4 am) wake up call by big brother NHL. *sigh*

Categories:
doctor jsl milestone

Doctor visit – take 2

Posted on November 7, 2007 8:42 pm by TheAngelForever

JSL had a horrible night . . . as did mommy and daddy. The little guy was up crying at 12:30 and 4:30. He nursed like a champ during those times though. He never wakes up like this. I figure he was making up for barely eating all day. When he refused to nurse again this morning and was crying and clingy I called to make an appointment. At this point I just wanted him checked since he wouldn’t eat, was crying, and gurgling during the night.

He must have heard me make the appointment and was acting a lot better after that. Still he whined when nursing and wasn’t smiley. I decided with heading out to visit my brother, sister-in-law and meeting my new two month old niece, that I best get him checked.

JSL and I went to watch NHL and his class swim this morning. Then we went home for a few hours. My grandmother watched NHL so I wouldn’t have to drag both boys to the doctor.

Everything looked good in the ear and his lungs were clear. We need to finish the ten days of antibiotic and hope that the nursing strike is something else. It very well could be the ear and more teeth coming. *sigh*

In a week we are back there for his 6 month well baby visit where he will once again become a human pin cushion. Do the immunizations ever end?

Categories:
doctor jsl sick kid

1st day & major immunization mess up

Posted on October 15, 2007 3:07 pm by TheAngelForever

So did you hear me screaming wherever you may be? If not count your blessings.

Let’s start with the good news. NHL had a wonderful first day at his new preschool. No crying, no fussing, followed directions, great report. It was so refreshing to hear positive things from a teacher. I NEVER heard that at the Montessori school. He liked it and seems excited to go back again tomorrrow.

After JL and I dropped NHL off this morning I ran some errands. First I stopped at the Montessori school and picked up the items we had there. I cut our loss on the supplies that we sent (annoys me though). The principal was there and took me to the classroom. I was hoping to avoid both of these things. The teacher was sugary sweet and asking where NHL was. . . then she recalled he started today. I told her I’m taking his lead on whether or not to come to say goodbye. If he asks I will contact her, if not we’re done. After that JSL and I quickly stopped at the pharmacy.

Then we went home. Once JSL was fed he fell asleep and I put him into the crib. No sooner had I done this the phone was ringing and it was the nurse from the Montessori school. She knew it was it first day at the other school, but wanted to point out a problem with NHL’s immunizations. Apparently in this state the chicken pox vaccine has a law where you must give the shot +/- 4 days from your 1st birthday.

Please sit down for the next part, I wasn’t and wish I had been.

NHL’s birthday is the 17th, his immunization was given on the 11th!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So based on 3 measly days he was not considered immunized. CRAP I tell you. The nurse was condescending and honestly made no sense. I called Aunt M and asked her. She found a few things. Then JL talked with the ex-daycare director since he was there anyway – she had never heard of it. JL then called the State Health Department’s Immunization division. Sure enough the nurse was right, but wrong. JL took this information and called our doctor’s office. They had not heard of it, but were going to look into it. The nurse there called me back. Sure enough THEY messed up and are not sure how, but he needs it done again. They were all floored and upset – which they better be.

So Wednesday JL, NHL and I are having flu shots and NHL is getting what they are calling his first Varicella vaccination. They will look into when to do the second one that is normally done from 4-6 years . . . . and said they will write a note to the district explaining what happened should we need it for kindergarten.

Thank goodness JL will be there for that since the last shots were "fun" to do in August.

C’est Moi

Categories:
doctor losing my mind nhl sarcasm school stupidity

Sick NHL = Tired Mommy & Daddy

Posted on October 10, 2007 9:40 pm by TheAngelForever

Sick kids are NO fun! Especially when you have to sit and watch them as they are miserable. This is why I have not been able to blog for a while now.

NHL has not felt good since Sunday. Monday he was really congested and lethargic, but no fever. Monday night he woke up in the middle of the night with a fever. He stayed home with JSL and I Tuesday. This complicated matters since I was supposed to head to the school district for a meeting about NHL and his new school. Last night at 2:00 he woke up hysterical and burning up. He couldn’t stop coughing and ended up tossing his cookies from the ick he was hacking up.

JL and I freaked out since he was not responding to us. He looked like he did before he had the febrile seizure. I quickly called my parents and they were here within 15 minutes. While waiting for them I went to JSL and found him with a receiving blanket twisted around his head (can’t put that in there anymore since he rolls). I panicked and thank goodness he was fine.

My father helped to hold JSL who was hungry since he fell asleep at 6:40 (teething is wiping him out badly). Mom helped us to do a steam shower to open NHL’s airways. He was shivering and hysterical. We then took him to out bed to do a Fever All suppository since we didn’t think he would keep Motrin down. It took all three of us to hold him and get it done. About an hour later we gave him Motrin since the temperature was going up again.

He finally went to sleep close to 4:30 in our bed and was soaked from the fever breaking. At that point we fell asleep and the alarm went off at 6:00. JL opted to stay home since the boys have been up the last three nights and he was exhausted.

We took NHL to see the doctor at 11:30. She was great. She was able to look in his ears and immediately told us they were both infected and red. Then listened to his chest and told us the croup also had a wheeze and he had bronchitis. So he’s on an antibiotic and Muscinex since we don’t want to do albuterol now. She also suggested taking his temperature rectally – ummm. . . . I DON’T THINK SO!!!! He’s 4 and too darn strong to fight. So we sucked it up and got an ear thermometer per her suggestion.

Kudos to Target for understanding kids. We went there since it was by the doctor’s office and fell in love with the pharmacy. They not only flavor medications for free, they also have incentives for kids. They handed NHL a chart and stickers to mark off each time he takes his medicine (3 times a day for 10 days). Once it is filled up he can bring it in for a prize. You know a mom must have come up with this. Hey it works and he’s been great with it.

Now I am off to try to get JSL who is a miserable teething mess to bed. NHL will be home with me again tomorrow and we’re debating Friday since he starts his new nursery school Monday. He needs closure, but it may be worse since he hasn’t been to the school since last Thursday.

Now if only we can get more than 3-4 hours of combined sleep tonight we may be able to semi-function tomorrow. *YAWN*

C’est Moi

Categories:
customer service doctor nhl sick kid sleep

4 Month Well Visit

Posted on September 11, 2007 10:27 pm by TheAngelForever

Yesterday I took JSL for his 4 month well visit. We made the appointment with the new doctor in the practice (now there are two doctors and one PA). I loved her. She was so caring, sweet and really got involved in the questions she asked me. In fact she wanted to see JSL do some of the things and picked him up to try them with him.

Now here are a few of the things that happened.

The nurse brought us back and measured him. He’s 23 1/4 inches tall (I believe from the charts that’s about the 10th percentile). Then it was time to strip him to get a weight. I put him on the scale and he was very upset about being naked. The scale was reading 10.5 pounds.

I don’t think so! –> Hello the kid was born at almost 9 pounds!

She tried to fix the scale again to work and thank goodness I asked for something to put over my little sprinkler. Second later he peed all over the place. Fun!

No matter what she did, the scale wasn’t working. After the doctor did the exam she asked another nurse to see if she could get it to work. This time he weighed in at 15 pounds 13 ounces (that’s about the 75th percentile).

She immediately told me that we were good to go on trying cereal. I looked at her and said no thank you, I want to wait until he shows interest in food. At this point he’s quite content with only breast milk. She was floored and told me it was refreshing to hear someone like this. I told her I was in no rush, and carting baby food around and feeding them that is more complicated than nursing him at this point. She completely agreed and said since he’s gaining weight, sleeping at night, and going long periods during the day without nursing he’s fine. In fact she was floored that he hasn’t woken up for a feeding since he was 2-3 weeks old. I don’t count when he goes to sleep early and wakes up at 4-6 to eat. . . that I understand completely. I count my blessings since this could stop at any time.

So she’s very happy with his development and was impressed with his strength. He’s babbling consonants, rolling from tummy to back (almost able to go back to tummy), pushing to stand when sitting on a lap, and can sit up in a tripod stance for a minute or so before toppling over. We watch carefully on these things since NHL had low muscle tone.

The poor monkey had four immunizations. He was so good for them and smiled a few minutes after until he fell asleep. Today he was a little cranky and was projectile vomiting Tylenol at me, but was better this evening. So now we see how things are before our next visit with the same doctor in 2 months.

C’est Moi