4 Days Old
12/07/2010
Jack's very first doctor's appointment. We were led into a separate waiting area because Jack is so young and hasn't had any immunizations yet. Kyle and I were paranoid bringing Jack in there, just thinking about what possible germs could be floating around our 4 day old baby. We were finally led to a room. A nurse had us strip him down into a clean diaper and wrap him up in a blanket while waiting for the doctor. Whoops! We forgot the blanket. The nurse had to wrap poor little Jack in paper towels. He looked like he was a poor, neglected child. Jack also decided to take a nice big poo and mess up his only change of clothes we had. We couldn't have looked more like first time parents then at that moment. The nurse took him, and gathered up his measurements. He weighed 6lb 7oz, which was 7oz less than his birth weight, but totally normal. Also, they found out he was measured inaccurately at birth, and his true length was 19.5in. The doctor met with us, who was a "to-the point" woman who seemed like she just came from Russia. She gave a thorough inspection of Jack, commenting on his "shovel hands" and how incredibly alert he was. When asked, she told us that baby powder was like giving a baby a pocket knife to play with...very dangerous. News to us! After confusing us with her professional opinion on breastfeeding, she thought it would be a good idea for us to come back in a few days so they could make sure Jack was eating right and gaining weight properly. We learned a very important lesson that day about diaper bag packing and baby powder.
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6 Days Old
12/09/2010
After taking Dr. Lagod's advice about how I fed Jack for the previous couple of days, we were hopeful that our little man gained some weight. Basically, I just switched from feeding him off one breast at a time, to doing 15 min on each breast per feeding. It worked! He was up to 6lb 11oz., just shy of his birth weight. After another comment about how alert Jack was, the doctor said everything looked good, keep doing what we're doing, and we'll see you again in a week.
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2 Weeks Old
12/17/2010
I was looking forward to this appointment for a while. I couldn't wait to see how he was doing, how much weight he gained, and what the doctor would have to say about the job we've been doing with taking care of Jack. We met with Dr. Didea, who was my favorite doctor there so far. Looks like we were doing a great job because Jack was up to 7lb 12oz and was now 20.5in long! I was so happy after hearing that. It felt like we could relax...stop being tense...whatever we are doing was right. Didea gave us some information on the immunizations that we can expect to come up, told us to make sure we never leave him alone because he'll be more and more active with each passing day, gave a few tips on burping and common baby things.
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2 Months Old
2/03/2010
Jack met with Dr. Coffman for this visit, who was really great. He checked out Jack, performing all sorts of tests and games to see how Jack is progressing and doing overall. Dr. Coffman had nothing but wonderful compliments and good news about Jack's well being. Jack weighs 12lb, is 23in long, and belongs in the 50th percentile for all of his measurements. Our little guy is a "perfect square" as the doc said. He also commented on how it's good that Jack would always be sure to look around the room to make sure his mommy and daddy were standing there with him. Dr. Coffman also said his reflexes are great, and his attention is so well that any chances of Autism are very, very slim. Once we informed him that Jack has been sleeping through the night since 6 weeks he said, "Okay, now what you need to do this week is to go to church...and then thank God for that!" It was pretty funny. Overall, it was just SO good, so relieving, and so amazing to hear that he is doing great. Maybe they just beefed us up with all of this positive news before giving Jack the shots lol. The nurse came in, laid out all of her needles, explained what to expect, and how it's going to happen. Poor little Jack was laying on the bench in between the nurse's stack of needles. After she gave him the oral vaccine (which was no big deal at all), she proceeded with the shots. It hit me worse than I thought it would. He wanted to scream to hard that no noise was coming out, he could barely take a breath in. It was terrible to witness, but it had to be done, and I knew the pain wouldn't last. As soon as the nurse said, "all finished" I scooped him up into my arms and he stopped crying. Mommy's love was just what he needed to rid those tears. I needed to hold him to calm me down just as much as he needed me. He fell asleep, and has been a calm, cool, and collected little guy ever since. Phew!
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4 Months Old
04/05/2011
Jack was eerily calm went we went to the pediatrician. He seemed to be in a weird mood...almost like he knew what was coming. It reminded me of my dog before we take her to the vet. Once we arrived, we got to sit in the "normal waiting room" as opposed to the separate room because he's had his first set of shots. We were in there with a dressed up business-man in his late 30s, no wife present, just his little baby and a flowery diaper bag slung across his arm. It was amusing. Anyways, the nurse came and to get his stats. She asked, "what do you think he weighs?" I guessed 16lbs. We weighed him...the scale said 16.0 exactly. [Maybe I cheated and weighed him at home a few days ago ;-) ] She measured his length...25.5in. Then she said, "So who is the tall one in your family?". Kyle and I just looked at each other...."Umm....no one."
Jack is in the 75th percentile for both height and weight and 50th percentile for his head circum. How perfect is that? Pretty damn perfect if you ask me!
Doctor Didea came and in and started performing all of the little tests on Jack. While doing so, Jack's little calm mood stopped and he started balling. While this was happening, the doctor just continued to calmly talk about the process of feeding Jack solids. I couldn't pay attention to his words because of Jack's cries. I did at least catch him agree with me in saying to let's try and see how long we can EBF for without actually introducing solids. I'm hoping to go 6 months, but if the kid decided he wants it sooner, I'll bend. The doctor seemed to be in a hurry because he never asked us if we had any questions, and rushed out the door as quick as possible. I didn't like that at all. I was expecting him to go over a lot more than he did. At least we know that he is going well and his health and development are superb [but I didn't need the doctor to tell me that]. He got his shots...I didn't cry this time. I was hoping he would just sleep it off like his 2mo. appt, but no go. He was feverish and fussy. We gave him some tylenol and put him to bed early. He slept for a good 12 hours straight, but has been puking all morning long. Poor baby.
Jack is in the 75th percentile for both height and weight and 50th percentile for his head circum. How perfect is that? Pretty damn perfect if you ask me!
Doctor Didea came and in and started performing all of the little tests on Jack. While doing so, Jack's little calm mood stopped and he started balling. While this was happening, the doctor just continued to calmly talk about the process of feeding Jack solids. I couldn't pay attention to his words because of Jack's cries. I did at least catch him agree with me in saying to let's try and see how long we can EBF for without actually introducing solids. I'm hoping to go 6 months, but if the kid decided he wants it sooner, I'll bend. The doctor seemed to be in a hurry because he never asked us if we had any questions, and rushed out the door as quick as possible. I didn't like that at all. I was expecting him to go over a lot more than he did. At least we know that he is going well and his health and development are superb [but I didn't need the doctor to tell me that]. He got his shots...I didn't cry this time. I was hoping he would just sleep it off like his 2mo. appt, but no go. He was feverish and fussy. We gave him some tylenol and put him to bed early. He slept for a good 12 hours straight, but has been puking all morning long. Poor baby.
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6 Months Old
06/08/2011
Kyle and I were not very happy with our recent visits to this pedi. I was kind of on the fence with whether or not we should stay with this practice. We were going to see how the 6 month visit went before we made any final decisions. We met with Dr. Ryan, who was the doctor that visited Jack in the hospital when he was first born. We really liked her, including Jack. He was so good for her even though we were all really hungry and tired [after waiting over an hour before she came to visit with us]. Jack weighed an even 18lbs and was a little over 26in. long, making him in the 55th and 50th percentile respectively. As she checked him out, she said he is a very healthy baby and all was going well, stating we are "good parents"...but I'm sure she tells that to everyone :) She said his eyes will most likely be a light brown eventually, and it will still be another couple of months before he gets any teeth.
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