To the Doctor we go

Today was Julia's 1 year check-up. S usually goes to all her doctor appts too, but this one he couldn't make. :( I went into it hoping that she was well over 18 pounds. Yesterday with the poor man's weigh in the evening she was over 19. I know people weigh more in the evening, so I was hoping for high 18s with an early morning weigh.

I really don't know how people function with 2+ kids. I have my skills in life, and they tend to be more oriented toward math and technology. Kiddie logistics is beyond my capabilities. I cannot get 1 figured out. If we were ever to toss a newborn into the mix, I don't think I'd ever leave the house.

Do you know that I have never used a public changing table? Yes, I am that remedial. Julia is over 1, and I have never used one of those things in public restrooms. Before you think I should be locked up: 1) I avoid public restrooms at all costs for myself, much less a little kid. 2) Julia doesn't eat a lot and therefore doesn't pee a lot. Even overnight, she only wets her diaper a little. 3) She doesn't poop in public. She only poops at home (usually standing next to the coffee table) or daycare (we encourage daycare poops). Therefore, if we are going out, I change her before we leave, and she's good for 3-4 hours at least.

This past weekend we switched carseats. She's now in a convertible car seat. I have a feeling she'll be rear facing for quite a while. The recommendation is that she be rear facing til she's 35 pounds, and she will hit that when she's 13 or so. :) For those without kids, the big difference between a convertible and an infant seat is that the convertible stays in the car whereas the infant seat often gets popped into shopping carts or just carried around.

All this is to set up the fact that this was the first voyage in the convertible car seat that I've taken with Julia other than daycare. The plan was that after the doctor visit we would go to my work. People keep asking for me to bring her in, and I finally had an opportunity.

Load up the car. The diaper bag is very spacious, but with her medical records and blanket on top of everything else, I can't even zip the darn thing. Her medical records are getting quite thick. And the blanket now goes in the diaper bag because when I take her out of the car, the blanket needs to go into the diaper bag or be carried since I can't just put it in the infant carrier anymore. Get Julia dressed, try to do her hair ("try" because, well, yeah, you get it). Commence screaming, which somehow spurs the snot fest. Pause to get a kleenex, take spare kleenex. Try to wipe her nose (after all, having a snotty nosed kid in public is sooooo trailer park). Commence more screaming - wipe, wipe, with her vigorous head turning there's snot now on her eyebrow, cheek, and chin as well as her nose. Get a baby wipe and do the best I can. Put on her shoes. She has the cutest sandals, and I love to put her in them & they went with the outfit. Butttttttt.... the sandals are way too wide for her feet. The length is a-okay, but her feet are so narrow that they somehow slip through and her sandals come off all the time. Try to feed her. No-go.

Julia hates her car seat. About as much as getting her hair done and diaper changes and getting her nose wiped. We somehow get to the doctor's office. At this point, I'm ready for a nap. My doctor calls it low protein or low iron. I call it putting in a full day's work by 9am.

I get out of the car, open the car door, and see a virtual snot factory sitting in the car seat. There's snot all over her pacifier (which was my saving grace during the drive), her cheeks and her nose. Get another baby wipe and try to un-trailer park her. Get my purse, the diaper bag (which I am pretty sure weighs more than Julia), and Julia and lug it all up the stairs to the doctor's office. On the way up the stairs, Julia loses her pacifier. Bend over and pick it up without toppling over--success. Pick up the pacifier, get up to the landing, and she loses a sandal. Stop, bend down, hold that in the crook of my arm because I haven't mastered how to hold her, diaper bag, purse, pacifier, shoe & open the door. Nearly collapse at the counter, and they ask to see my insurance card. Ugh, seriously? It's the same insurance - same exact card. Really? Must we do this now? So while holding her I try to dig through my purse and find the exact same card I've already given them.

(At this point, you may wonder why I don't use a stroller. The stroller wasn't already in the car, so I would have had to lug the monstrosity to the car, lift it into the car, reverse the process when we got to the doctor. The doctor's office isn't very wide, and the patient rooms are fairly tiny.)

Then they give me a clipboard to fill out about her development, and I go to sit down. Thank heavens Julia lets me sit her down without screaming. Again, I soooo want a nap. And I canNOT imagine having another kid with me at the same time. Finish the paperwork, and I get out the bottle to try to feed her. She's about to take the bottle, and the nurse calls us. Repack the bottle, get all the loose fallen stuff, clipboard, bags, her and follow to the room. Get her undressed while the nurse asks questions. I have to fill out a really stupid form that had no purpose. It basically asked if I was Native American and if I was on Medicaid (negative, negative). Then the icky weigh-in. I kept her diaper on, which was ever so slightly wet. 18 lbs, 1 oz. Blah! I was disappointed. I really thought she would be mid-18, almost 19.

Go back to the room to wait for the doctor. We play for a bit, and then I try a bottle again. She downed 5 oz! This is something she's only been doing for the last few weeks - drinking so much at a time. Of course it would have been nice if she did it BEFORE the weigh-in.

I do like her doctor. He's so nice. He paid a lot of attention to her development. Probably because she's so little he wants to make sure things are going okay. So the short story is:

Julia has a massive head (75th), good height (a little above average), very low weight (5th). We talked about her development quite a bit - asking about what she does and doesn't do & he played with her. What reassured me is that he says she is well above average in her physical development - her walking at just turning 11 months, the games she initiates, cognitive abilities. I really wasn't worried about those though. I'm more worried about her being behind in her eating abilities. But that's the feeding specialist's area. He says she is doing great, she's just skinny & she'll probably hover in the 5th percentile for quite a while. Get the vaccines. As one may expect, she screamed, but she quickly calmed down and got styling band-aids that matched her outfit. Oh, he was also ticked off that the GI specialist didn't send him the endoscopy results. I said I only knew they found white blood cells, and they said to put her on Neocate. (Which I have not done because I think we need to find out what she's allergic to first) He said he'd get the results himself and call me this afternoon. I heart Julia's doctor. I am so glad we switched from the icky pediatrician.

Oh, she has a slight ear infection. All the snot from her cold seems to be filling her ears and irritating them. I get an amoxicillin prescription. I'm actually happy about the prescription because Julia's perpetual snot and cough is getting a bit worrisome.

At this point, I'm ready to call it a day. But since Julia's doing okay, I take her to work. She was in a good mood, and with a couple of people she even played. She got comfortable enough that I set her down, and she walked around, gave kisses, and was an overall charming baby. And this was AFTER vaccines! Let's just say that I dig the toddler years far more than I dig having an infant.

I wanted to get the amoxicillin prescription, but after hanging out at work for 2 hours on top of the doctor visit, I was done. Head home, take a nap, then go back out to get the prescription.

And that, folks, was my day "off."