You didn't think that the shots would be worse for Rachel than for me, did you? Rachel started screaming and crying the second we entered the doctor's office. My baby is smart. She recognized the hostile surroundings and noted immediately that there was no place to hide. So, she had a meltdown.
It lasted from the time we took off her clothes and the nurse weighed her, through the minutes that nice Dr. Rappaport checked her ears, her tummy, her legs and hips, and during the entire time we tried to ask him questions about her development. Drew managed to calm her down long enough to read a book that she appeared to enjoy (well, she was flipping through the pages, anyway), and then when the nurse came in with the tray of needles (why on a tray? Why can't they just hide them in their pockets?) Rachel started all over again.
I was nauseous and white by this time, but it wasn't over. Oh, no. The torture continued down to the lab, where Rachel needed to get a blood draw to make sure there's no lead in her body. This is mommy and daddy's fault, because we live in an old house and she is at risk for blood poisoning.
She calmed down as soon as she realized we were walking OUT of the doctor's office. Drew will tell the daycare ladies to give her some extra TLC. And the next time we do this, she'll be even more aware of things around her so we will bring some sugary treats and her favorite toys. It probably won't work but we'll give it a try.
Oh yeah, her latest stats: She is 2 feet, 6 inches long (90th percentile) and weighs 19 pounds (27th percentile, which alarmed me, but apparently she'll start gaining as soon as she starts drinking more whole milk). I was surprised she weighed so little, she looks really healthy to me. Dr. Rappaport said he was very pleased at her progress.
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Yeah, I couldn't stand the shots either, Doug has to do those appts and I wait out in the hall with whichever child is not getting shots. There will be a period of time when she doesn't get any shots. For my boys, they got shots at 18mo and then nothing until 4y.o. Andrew is done until he's around 11 (assuming they don't make any new shots mandatory between now and then). It's nice when their appts are spread out to 1x/year but then of course you have to start with dentist and eye doctor appts so I guess you still take them the same # of appts, just to different doctors. I just took the boys to the dentist and the dentist showed me where two of Andrew's adult teeth are coming in behind his baby teeth. It was exciting and a little sad at the same time, to see my baby growing up.
ReplyDeleteAdult teeth! Wow! I know Andrew and Jack are growing up but they will always seem like little boys to me. (this means, of course, that in a couple of years they'll realize how hopelessly old I am and won't want to be around me!)
ReplyDeleteOh, I forgot about the blood draw. we have that to look forward to at marigold's upcoming 12-month appt. i find those worse than shots b/c at least the shots only last a moment. It can take a long time to get enough blood for a sample. argh. marigold had to get that done every day for awhile when she was a newborn and had jaundice. My hormones were crashing and i cried with her.
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