Well Visits

This was the last time that I was able to book the two girls' well visits together, so I took advantage of it.  Glad to have gotten it out of the way all in one afternoon, but it sure was a long time at the doctors.  A good part of that was the waiting.  To be called in, then for the doctor, and then for the nurse to administer shots.  All in all, we were there for two hours.  I had only put money in the parking meter for 1.5 hrs, so I'm very glad I managed to get away without getting a parking ticket.

I'm finally getting to the point with Annelee's visit where I have a post about Vivian's well visit at that same age to compare.  How fun.  I just read it and was contemplating copying and pasting about half of it because it applies to Annelee, too.  The other half is quite different for our two girls.

Annelee's vitals:

• 32.5 inches (82.6 cm) - Vivian was 31.75 inches at that age
• 26 lb 10 oz (12.1 kg) - Vivian was 24 lb 3 oz at that age

Vivian's vitals:

• 44.75 inches (113.7 cm)
• 44 lb (20 kg) - The official documentation from the Pediatrician says 42 lbs, but I'm pretty sure that's a typo, because I even commented on 44 & 44 being easy to remember.

Vivian announced prior to our trip that she did not want to go first and that she was afraid of shots.  Where that suddenly came from, I have no idea, she has always been fine about it, but nothing we said could convince her that it was not going to be absolutely horrible.

Weighing/measuring went ok, and then both girls stripped down to underpants / diapers and the wait for Dr. K. started.   We waited for close to half an hour.  Needless to say that the girls spent a good amount of time crawling all over that floor and chasing each other and having fun.

Finally, Dr. K came in and Annelee went first and was very good about being checked out.  Ears were okay (yay - despite her having a cold still/again).  Belly sounded fine, eye movement was smooth, after some misunderstanding we established that her language development is on track (even though on the slow side).  Her future ability to walk is certainly not a concern anymore.

We talked about her night-wakings and concluded that it may be some constipation, so we are going to try and address that.  I'm all for that if it allows me to spend all my nights asleep in my bed rather than about a night a week in the basement with Annelee.

Then it was Vivian's turn, and while she was rather reluctant, she let Dr. K do all her exams (clear ears on her, too, yay!) and even volunteered that we brush our teeth together sometimes so that she learns to do it properly.

When Dr. K talked about her "private parts" and how only the doctor could ask to see them and only if Mommy or Daddy were present and if Vivian agreed, I thought that was very good.  But then Vivian refused to let the pediatrician examine her.  Heh.  From the one or two questions on the way home, I think this will be an upcoming frequent topic in our house.  And that's a good thing I guess.  I have to give Dr. K credit for not just bringing up the topic, but then also not pushing when Vivian said she did not want to be examined.

While I talked to the pediatrician, Vivian was playing games on my phone (at the pediatrician's is pretty much the only time she gets to play them, so that's a big deal; and Annelee was playing with my car keys.  Not surprisingly, she was most interested in that bright red button.  And, sure enough, I suddenly heard a car alarm go off outside.  Luckily, I was able to also turn it off from inside the pediatrician's office.  :)

Then came time for shots.  Well, first more waiting, and crawling on the floor.  I'm sure I should've bathed the girls in bleach tonight before putting them to bed.

The nurse was pretty abrupt with Vivian, would not let her go second (probably a good thing), but I think she could've been a little more patient with her.  So, I took Vivian on my lap, held her arms in a big hug, squeezed her legs between mine, and, with tears streaming down her face well before the nurse came anywhere near her, we somehow managed to get her two shots administered.  Luckily, Vivian calmed down pretty quickly afterwards. 

Annelee was sitting on the floor with a detached and only slightly worried look of "Sorry, sis, but better you than me.  It is just you, right?  RIGHT?" on her face.  Boy was she wrong.  She was in for three shots.

Vivian grabbed my phone again, crawled under a chair, held her hands over her hear (she cannot stand Annelee crying), while I held Annelee down for her shots.  Her look went from outrage to "how can you let them do this to me" to "OMG I'm dying here!" in the space of the 4 or so seconds it took for the nurse to give her her vaccines and apply band aids.  Then I took the sobbing girl on my lap and tried to comfort her while she clawed at her band aids (the nurse had mentioned that the last one would sting).  She managed to rip them off almost immediately.  Luckily, she also calmed down pretty quickly after that.

Now, barring any trips to the pediatrician for illnesses, Vivian is off the hook for another year, and Annelee needs to go back at 18 months.  Whew.

Long post, and two days in a row without a picture of the girls, I know. I'll put some up again in the next post, I promise.