Four-Month "Well" Baby Check Up

(Firstly, please tell me that I'm not the only pet-owning new parent who struggles to remember to say "pediatrician" instead of "vet.")

And secondly . . .

Peeper saw the pediatrician today for her four-month check up.

She got to visit both her boyfriend at the registration desk and her buddies at the pharmacy.

(You know, I kind of like that she makes such an impression on people, but it's probably not a good sign that so many medical types recognize her and know her by name.)

The doctor said that she looks great, and was happy with everything we had to report about her developmental milestones.

I asked about the dairy thing and she said that it's pretty rare, but certainly a possibility, and that I should stay away from dairy until Peeper is six months old, then we can try adding it back and see how that goes.

Sigh.

We had kind of a wierd discussion about solid food. I'd been told that it would be on the agenda, bu the doctor didn't mention it, so I asked.

She said that she usually recommends cereal at three months, which surprised me, because everything I've read says four to six, and just a couple of weeks ago, one of their nurses referred to the cardiologist's mentioning it at three-and-a-half months as "weird."

Basically, she said that the sold food will have some vitamins that aren't as abundant in breast milk, but that it's fine to wait til six months, or start now we want. Whatever we prefer is fine with her.

I am loathe to mess with her diet until we know we've got this poop issue sorted out, and then we've got surgery right around the corner. I think we're going to hold off at least until we're past that, and then evaluate her readiness, based on her behavior and growth after she's all fixed up.

All in all, the appointment went well, other than the part about the shots. She got one oral vaccine, two vaccine injections, and her Synagis shot. She was not happy about them.

And we were not happy about her being unhappy.

If, after all the injections and heel sticks and even venous blood draws we've been through, I can still be in tears over a couple of sticks in her thigh, how the hell am I going to survive her having open-fucking-heart surgery?

(As I told her when she was crying, "You think you got it bad? She only put holes in your leg, she put holes in my baby!")

We had to hang around for fifteen minutes to make sure she didn't have any kind of reaction to the Synagis, and by that time, she was calmed down, nursing and about asleep, and the docs were on lunch break, so they let us stick around until she finished nursing.

By that point, she was zonked, and pretty much stayed asleep through a trip to the pharmacy (in the same building) and the ride home (other than being pissed about the carseat bucking / unbuckling, as usual).

I'm assuming that she's not feeling so great, because of the shots, because after a diaper change - followed by a outfit change, because of a mid-change pee incident - and some Tylenol, she nursed back to sleep, and other than waking up to fuss, get a diaper, and nurse a few times, she pretty much slept until well into the evening.

Then she was awake and fussy / whiney for an hour or so, until I finally had the good sense to give her more Tylenol, then she settled down, nursed went back to sleep.

I'm really wishing I'd thought of the Tylenol a little earlier, so she could have another dose before Shrike and I go to bed.

But, other than the post-shot grumpiness and, you know, that heart thing, she's fit as a fiddle.

She goes back for her last Synagis shot the week after surgery, and for her next check up a couple of days after she turns six months old.

And now, the tale of the tape:
(Current / Birth / Percentile / Adjusted Percentile)

Length: 22 1/4 " / 18" / 3rd / 10th
Weight: 9 lb 12.5 oz / 4 lb 12 oz (?) / < 3rd / 7th (?)
Head: 15" / 12" / < 3rd / 7th (?)