Thursday, October 8, 2009

9 Month Appointment and Sophie the Giraffe...

It was Lucy's 9 month appointment yesterday and as luck would have it both Rob and I had the day off! Hurray! This was particularly nice because we started seeing a different pediatrician at the practice that we go to and he had not met her yet. I absolutely adore her so I was excited for him to get to meet her in person.

We got to the appointment and got Miss Lucy Lou stripped down for the stats. At Lucy's 6 month appointment she was in the 75% for everything-- length, weigh and head circumference so I was expecting her to be around that this time around as well. The nurse put her on the scale, looked at the chart and frowned. She asked me to put her back on. Then she filled out the piece of paper with all her of managements and said she wanted to go get the Doctor because it seemed that Lucy had some drastic weight loss since her last appointment. Rob was holding the paper, but me being the nervous sort of person I am immediately snatched it to see what she was looking at. She was in the 10th percentile for weight, TENTH from SEVENTY FIFTH. I looked at Rob with my mouth hanging open. Am I blind? Is my baby wasting away and I don't even notice? Is this my fault with my yo-yo-ing supply issues? Does she look like a lollipop and I don't even know it?

Seconds later, before I had time to totally freak out and blame myself for my clearly starving baby, the nurse bustled back in full of apologies! She had been using the percentage chart for a 12 month old baby instead of a 9 month old. Lucy was actually in the 50th percentile which is completely perfect and normal as very active babies do tend start to slim down a little at this age and Lucy is most definitely one active baby. PHEW! What a relief! Lucy is 18 lbs 9 ounces, 28 inches long and ok, I admit, I stopped listening on the head circumference, to me her head looks lovely and that's all that matters.

The doctor had nothing but wonderful things to say about Lucy. How friendly she was, how active, how much eye contact she was giving and how smart she was (Lucy knows to point to a person's nose when we say "Lucy where is her nose?" and so we showed that off a little bit). Everything looked wonderful.

Since Lucy had the sniffles we didn't do any vaccines this time around but we are going back to a check on her iron levels in a month (which are a tiny bit low, which means more iron fortified cereal for Lucy, lucky she loves her HappyBellies) so we'll be getting a flu shot then. Our clinic is one of the few clinics that offer the no-mercury flu shots, so I'm relieved for that as I've never personally had the flu shot and have always been wary of unnecessary vaccines, but the doctor assured me that this one was as safe as they get and I trust her judgment. That is one of the things I love about her, she's not pushy, just gives you all the facts for you to make the decision.

The doctor's office is located in a really cute, funky part of Portland with fun cafes, restaurants and shops to wander around so after we were done we walked down the street to a tiny coffee shop called Lovecup and had a delish panini sandwich and soup lunch. We then made a quick stop by Mother Nature's cloth diapering store where I picked up some of the much heralded Charlie's Soap, some wool Imse Vimse diaper covers and, most excitingly, Sophie the Giraffe!

Let me tell you a little about Sophie. She's made of soft , 100% natural rubber from the Heva
tree, completely phthalate free. She's painted with totally safe food grade paint. She squeaks when squeezed and the soft rubber is great for teething. She's darn cute and Lucy just LOVES her. Sure, she looks (and sounds) like a dog toy, but she's so much more than that...I can tell by the way Lucy squeals whenever I bring her Sophie. Other toys she discards within minutes, obviously they are much more fun to throw than to play with, but she hangs on to Sophie and just cannot get enough squeaking and the rubbery ears and feet to nom on!

When we got home we were all pretty tired, we've been fighting this cold that has been going around. Rob is finally feeling better but he's still pretty worn out from being so sick, and no it wasn't h1n1 thankfully, and amazingly enough I haven't gotten really sick yet! I'm always the one to get sick between the two of us, but all I've had is a little bit of a sore throat for the past couple days and that's it. So we all decided to take it easy when we got home, Lucy took a nap and I got to watch NieNie on Oprah (I just cannot get enough of her blog, she is amazing!).

All in all we had a really lovely little family day off all together yesterday, although it does makes me just yearn to stay home with Lucy. Sad. More tomorrow on my trials and tribulations with exclusively breastfeeding, working, pumping, all the good stuff. I just cannot seem to catch a break and I want to make it to a year damn it!

"Life is full of beauty. Notice it. Notice the bumble bee, the small child, the smiling faces. Smell the rain, and feel the wind. Live your life to the fullest potential and fight for your dreams."
-Ashley Smith

8 comments:

PDXTwins said...

OMG, are you seeing Dr. M.P.? I'm guessing so based on the Lovecup and Thermisol free shots references. She rocks! She makes me feel like the best mom on earth. I'm so glad my girls have such an amazing doctor.

The Crivella Family said...

We LOVE Sophie the giraffe for our little Sophia! It is THE best teething toy ever! I just got one for a friend who is due in January! Sophie is a little expensive (I thought for a teething toy) but worth every penny!

AP said...

My friends were given a Sophie as a shower gift and she's been at their son's side since the day he was born- he loves his Sophie too! Plus, his parents have peace of mind when he decides to gnaw on it every now and then!

Jennifer said...

I need to get Evie a Sophie the giraffe. Glad Lucy's appointment went well. It is important to have a doctor you trust and respect to care for your baby.

Miss Amelia Jane. said...

I love random days in the middle of the week that are relaxed, family days. The weekend you kind of expect it, but the middle of the week you don't. Sophie is so cute! My sister in law is on board with all of the things you look for in toys (she uses the same kind of diapers, still breastfeeds my nephew, who will be 2 next week) so I like to read your finds on here, espically so close to his birthday! Lucy sounds like she's doing great, no thanks to an awesome mommy and daddy! :) Just wait until her 1 year check up. It'll be here like tomorrow!

Unknown said...

Another blog that i enjoy reading (Anne Marie at www.cheeseslave.com) has had issues with her toddler and anemia. One thing she did that helped was to make sure she was not mixing iron rich foods with calcium rich foods. Calcium will bind to iron making it unavailable for Lucy to absorb. More details are on her site.

Anonymous said...

That giraffe is so cute! Saw it the other day and wished I had it when my little girl was teething. Glad to hear that Lucy is healthy, happy, and bright! As cliche as it is, those little reports from the doc do so leave us beaming with pride and accomplishment! You would be an excellent stay at home mom. Yearn is a very powerful word.

Drew's Adventures said...

Another thing to remember honey is breastfed babies gain more weight in the first 6 months (and rather rapidly) and then their weight gain tends to slack off. It's nothing to be concerned about! The growth charts most doctors use in their offices are from formula fed babies (and was put together back in the 70's) check out www.kellymom.com and take a look at her breast fed baby growth charts!

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