immunizations – The Late Stork

Faith’s 1 Year Baby Check-Up

SherryJuly 10, 20131 Comment

Yesterday Faith had to go to her 1 year check-up. Her regular pediatrician had to leave for an emergency delivery at the hospital, so we saw Dr. Ross instead. Faith is naturally comfortable around men much much more than women, so seeing Dr. Ross was a good thing! She still tends to be so shy around women… and also afraid of them when she’s at the doctor’s office. She remembers immunizations from before :(

Dr. Ross is SO friendly, and funny… Faith was waving at him, smiling, and trying to smack the keys on his laptop the entire time he was in the room…. until he had to examine her. When it came time to hear her heart, check her ears, eyes and mouth… she squirmed in my lap, started fussing, and did everything to pull away from him. Still… she didn’t cry though! Just a little fussing and stubbornness, but no tears. She leaves the tears for the ladies with the syringes.

Faiths development is great! She is 29.4 inches tall which is in the 50-75 percentile for her age. So she is average/a bit above average height. As for her weight, she is 19 lbs and 1 oz which is actually in the 10-25 percentile for her age. That’s not great; it’s below average. However, Dr. Ross said he is not worried at all that she is a bit on the thin side because she has just started learning to walk and is burning much more calories now. So a dip in her weight is expected. As for her motor skills (gross motor and fine motor) and her communication skills, she is doing perfectly.

After Dr. Ross left, I sat her back on the table to wait for the nurse with the injections :(

She looks nervous in this picture. I couldn’t stand that feeling that in just a moment I would be subjecting her to pain, and there is nothing she can do about it. When the nurse came in, I laid Faith down, and she started crying; her eyes big with fear. She remembers. Poor thing. I held her hands while the nurse pinned her legs down, and when Faith received the first injection, she started bawling, but not screaming. I was relieved she didn’t belt out any blood curdling screams. Faith simply laid still; even her arms were limp. She wasn’t fighting me, or the nurse. She just cried. When it was over I scooped her up, and she was blubbering a bit. It wasn’t too awful this time. I quickly asked her, “Do you want to go outside?” And she stopped crying! If she could speak she would have said, “Hell yes!” I grabbed the diaper bag, and we were off down the hall. She was pointing at pictures on our way out, and saying, “Ooh!” All was well in the world again :)

When we got home, we played outside for a little while. I didn’t want her thinking about her visit with the doctor. When we went out into the backyard, she walked out to see her little buddy …

Being outside always makes her happy!

After a while, she was starting to get crabby. Those shots were kicking in and making her feel yucky. All she wanted to do was snuggle.

I just loved on her until Daddy came home and then it was his turn ♥

In Blog

Faith’s 4 Months Immunizations

SherryNovember 6, 2012

Good news! Faith survived her second round of immunizations today :) No worse for the wear!

Check out her huge band-aids :)

I love seeing her happy and full of smiles after her doctor appointment. It’s a relief to see because she was just miserable when she was being injected. I have never heard her scream so loud before… not even with her first round of immunizations when she was 2 months old. I think it hurt her worse this time because a different nurse gave her the shots, and she wasn’t quick to get the injections over with. By the time the third and final needle went into her thigh (which hit a capillary, and blood was instantly dripping out of the band-aid) she was screaming so loud my ears were ringing. I felt even worse than I did that last time she went through this. I grabbed her up in my arms after it was over with, and her cries came out in short screams as if she was trying to gasp for air. Her cry was different this time. Worse. It was very unsettling… and I could do nothing about it. I’ve always hated needles… now I loathe them even more.

On the bright side… Faith did recover a little bit faster than last time. She didn’t cry as long as she did last time. In fact, she gave us a few smiles before leaving the office :) My tough girl. Tough, tough, tough!

Aside from her immunizations, everything else is perfect.

Weight: 13 lbs. 3 oz (25-50 percentile)

Length: 24 1/4 inches (50 percentile)

Head circumference: 41 1/2 cm (50-75 percentile)

The pediatrician said that Faith’s physical and mental development is that of a 5 1/2 month old! My smart girl. The pediatrician said that he expects she will be crawling early.

I’m so glad this emotionally exhausting day is over. Faith is napping in her swing right now, and I am ready to go to sleep myself. Sweet dreams everyone ♥

In Blog

Faith is 4 Months Old Today ♥

SherryNovember 3, 2012November 4, 2012

Here is what she looked like at 3 months, 2 months, and 1 month.

An entire 4 months have passed since our baby girl came into the world. I still can’t believe how fast the time is flying by. Becoming a mommy for the first time was such a huge moment in my life that Faith’s birth still seems so fresh in my mind. I still think about my time with her in the hospital. The beeps from the monitor, the buttons at my bedside, the nurses, the hospital room smell, etc. It seems like yesterday I was resting in my hospital bed, with tiny little Faith swaddled in her hospital blanket, laying in my arms. Time is just passing too quickly. I was looking at newborn pictures and videos of her just the other day. So small. So new.

Everyday feels brand new with her. She is constantly changing, and learning new things every single day. New noises. New facial expressions. New movements. There is so much I want to hang on to! I know that in the blink of an eye she will be walking, and talking. Soon, she will no longer cry for milk… she will ask for it.

Here is what Babycenter says about the developmental milestones of four month olds, “Researchers believe that your baby can now understand all the basic sounds that make up her native language. Between this time and 6 months of age, your baby will develop the ability to make some vocal sounds, which means you may hear the words you’ve been dreaming about, namely “ma-ma” or “da-da.”

Just a couple days ago Faith was testing out some new sounds. She was going, “Hmmmmmmmmm! Hmmmmm!” Real loud. And then I heard, “Mmmmmmaaaah!” I guess that’s as close to “mama” as she can get for now :) I wonder if she will say “mama” or “dada” first? :) She LOVES talking. She loves making tiny high-pitched gurgling noises in the back of her throat. She sounds like she’s purring. She knows how to use her voice in such a way that makes her ultra-cute! And she knows it.

She is becoming less frustrated with tummy-time. However, she still can only tolerate being on her stomach for a little while. She still MUST be on her feet, standing. That is what she likes best. She doesn’t like sitting up. She would rather hold our hands and stand.

She is now starting to talk contentedly to herself when she wakes up in the morning. She doesn’t belt out a hunger cry immediately after waking up. Just this morning, Aaron and I were in bed listening to her sweet sounds. When I looked over the edge of her bassinet, she saw my face, and she smiled a big gummy grin. She is such a happy girl. I picked her up, and put her between us in our bed. She was reaching out with one hand to feel daddy’s whiskers, and the other hand grasping my shirt. I love these moments.

She is almost ready to roll over. She is SO close! Take a look at this …

She will be having her 4 months immunizations on Monday afternoon. I am praying it goes a bit smoother than her first round of immunizations. I hate to see her so upset. Her teary eyes looked like she felt betrayed by her mommy. Even after the pain was gone, she still sobbed like she had a broken heart :( I really really hope things go a little bit better on Monday.

Four months old :) Wow.