18 Month Appointment

Robbie had his 18 month appointment today, which is a big milestone appointment for him because this was the last time he gets any vaccines until he turns five years old.  He officially weighs 25lbs 15oz (70th percentile), and grew one inch so he is now 34" tall (90th percentile).

He has also gotten to the point where he knows where he is and he knows he doesn't like what happens when he there.  So as soon as we started undressing him to get his weight and other measurements he started crying, and didn't stop until he was back with Mommy.  This appointment was the first one where he started fighting the shots before he even got them.  He's getting too smart for his own good; he knew what was coming this time.  This was a 2:00 appointment and they were running behind, and he hadn't had his nap yet so that was most likely a large factor in his crying and fussiness.  He also didn't know the nurse (our favorite one went to another office) so that comfort factor wasn't there either. 

Unexpected Doctor's Visit

On Tuesday night Robbie was getting pretty warm and acting a little lethargic, all he wanted to do was lay on me and half go to sleep.  After a while he started crying and screaming and nothing we did helped calm him down, and we had no idea what was wrong with him.  It's one of the most helpless feelings you can have as a parent, knowing your child is in distress but you have no idea what to do to help relive it.  Not even nursing helped him, this was how upset and in pain he was in.

I called our pediatrician's office after hours, so we had to wait for the doctor on call (which happened to be Robbie's doctor) to call us back.  We didn't want to give him any medication until we heard back from the doctor.  In the meantime of waiting for the call back Robbie had gotten so hot from constantly crying that he threw up.  That's when we decided we need to get his clothes off and try and cool him down with some lukewarm water in the bath tub.  He screamed during this whole ordeal, which was hard because we were trying to help him.  Thankfully this helped cool him down, and he finally started to calm down.  Soon after that the doctor called and told us to give him Tylenol or Advil to help reduce the fever.  He wanted him to come in the the office the next day as long as things didn't get worse.


Luckily Robbie seemed to get better, although his temperature was still elevated he wasn't screaming and he was also acting more like himself.  After a rough night we went to the doctor's office the next day where he still had a fever of 103 degrees, and we were told he had one of two viruses by the doctor on call.  Unfortunately he couldn't tell us which because Robbie couldn't tell us if he had certain symptoms or not.  He told us it should take a few days to pass and to just keep giving him the Advil to help control the fever.  I didn't like this doctor very much - his bedside manner left much to be desired - but it was a relief to identify what was wrong with Robbie.  


Within a day he started feeling much better.  His appetite is much better, and no longer reduced like it had been the last few days.  


While this is part of being a parent, it's one of the unpleasant parts.  The not being able to help your child, and to stand by feeling helpless.  It makes me appreciate Robbie's health more, and to understand better the position of those parents who have sick kids for various reasons for various lengths of time.  I wish all the kids out there good health, and all the parents with sick kids out there a speedy recovery.

15 Month Appointment

Robbie had his 15 month appointment yesterday, and he's starting to understand where he is and he doesn't really like being at the doctor's office.  He is now 25 lbs and 8.1oz, 50.5cm head circumference, and is 33" long.  So that puts him in the 70th percentile for his weight, and the 90th for his height.  The nurse was quite amazed that he had grown 2" in three months, and his head has finally slowed down in growth which is probably a good thing.  Robbie did not like Dr. V touching him at all during the exam, he came close to crying just from the doctor using the stethoscope.  Lucky for Robbie he only got one shot this time, and he took it pretty well only crying a little bit.

Unexpected doctor visit

Well Kelly took Robbie in to see the doctor today.  He hasn't been feeling very well, he's been running a fever and developed a rash everywhere but his legs (although he didn't seem to scratch at it).  He also got himself so worked up on the Thursday night going to bed that he threw up.  Well the doctor thought it might be strep throat, but the test came back negative.  The prognosis ended up being that it was just a reaction to the MMR vaccine, which does happen occasionally.  (Since I'm writing this about a month after the fact he recovered just fine)

12 month appointment

Robbie had his 12 month doctor's appointment today.  He wasn't the happiest he's ever been with all that has been going.  He is now 24lbs and 9oz, 50.1cm head circumference, and is 30 3/4" long.  His weight is down to the 80th percentile and length is in the 75th, the first time he's been below 90 in any of his stats.  His head is still in the 95th percentile, but that's okay.  He got some new vaccines this visit and was not happy at all about them, even nursing didn't calm him down (poor little guy).

9 Month Appointment

9 month doctor's appointment today.  He weighs 23 lbs 8.7oz (he gained a 0.1 of an oz), but he's now 29 1/2" long (he's starting to thin out), his head is now 48.6cm in circumference.

6 month appointment

Robbie had his 6 month doctor's appointment (even though he was actually about 7 months old).  He now weighs 23lbs 8.7oz, his head circumference is 47.7cm (97th percentile), and is 28 3/4" long.

Four Month Doctor's Visit

Robbie had his four month checkup, even though he's five months, his doctor is very popular and good so we couldn't get an appointment until today.  He's up to 20lbs and 15.9oz and still in the 95% for babies his age, that also goes for his length and head circumference.  Dr. V. says he can start having pain meds like Tylenol and Ibuprofen, we'd really prefer not to use them unless we have to, not at his age.   We also talked about starting to introduce solid foods.  What foods to start with and how long he should eat them to check for allergies.  Dr. V. also confirmed that his first teeth were on their way, perhaps only a few weeks from breaking through.  We were a little concerned about how sunglasses might affect his eye development, but Dr. V. assured us that as long as they weren't polarized then there was nothing to worry about.

A clean bill of health!