Current mood: sleepy
Well its that time again... Mia's annual doctor's visit. We were supposed to have her scheduled near her birthday but the office couldn't get us in until last week. Then my doctor's appointments interfered with her appointment so we had to reschedule her ... again. Today was the big day, with nothing to get in our way or make us reschedule again it was off to the doctors we went.
Before we went, since her appointment would be late afternoon, I decided to have her lay down for an early nap. Well that didn't work out to well ... I could hear her running around and playing in her room for almost an hour!!! Eventually the room grew quiet and I knew she fell asleep. Unfortunately, her playing ate into most of her nap time so we couldn't let her sleep to long. We tried to put off waking her up as long as possible but when it got later and later we decided it was time to wake her up.
I slowly walked into her room, to find her on a big pile of her blankets on the floor, completely asleep. I slowly woke her up and right away she wanted to cuddle. I wanted to cuddle her so bad but by then we were already racing the clock. Her doctor's office way out in ....Moreno.. ..Valley.... (25-30 mins away) and traffic is always a wild card. So I got her up and with the held of Dada we changed her diaper, dressed her and out the door we zoomed. I had packed her a lunch for the road so she munched on her cheerios as we drove there.
She has had the same baby doctor since she was born. His name is Dr. Brusch and hes awesome. Unfortunately, at her 18 month check up, the doctor was out and we had to go to a stand-in, but today he was there... YAY! She has not seen him since her 12 month check up over a year ago! They were doing some small remodeling to the doctor's office but we still found our way and checked in.
The place was PACKED ... I guess Monday's are the worst days to have appointments. The waiting area as jammed with coughing, sick kids. We couldn't wait to get out of there. Soon it was our turn and they called her name.
Dada carried her in while I carried in all her stuff! She just HAD to bring both her chicken and Brobee with her. As soon as we walked in they had us weigh her, and for the first time she got to use the big people's scale! That was bitter sweet for me to watch, she no longer sits in the baby chair scale but now has to stand on the big people's scale all by herself!! She did good for the most part, but the scale was taking FOREVER to measure her weight! Eventually we got our result, and she is 29 lbs! (I could have sworn she weight ALOT more since she is so HEAVY!) Next, the measured her height and had to learn up against the measuring stick on the wall. She did really well with that as well and is one inch shy of 3 feet!!!! Yep, shes 2'11! She just need to grow one more inch and two feet before shes my height! YIKES!!! hahaha. After that, the nurse took her vitals and measured her head and brought us back to the room to have her undress.
Another first happened in the room. She got to wear her very first hospital gown!! We have never had to have her dressed in one before. She didn't want to put it on at first but after she got it on and tied she fell in love with it!!! It was the cutest thing to see!!!
She didn't want to be left on the examination table so Dada had to lean on it with her. Still munching her cherrios, she destroyed the paper covering and put hand prints all over the mirror! haha Soon she began to relax and was literally laying down on the table acting silly. Then the door opened and the doctor came in.
Right away Mia got shy and wanted ....Adrian.... to hold her. The doctor was happy to see us and we updated him on how well Mia has been doing and the fact she is going to be a big sister soon! We chatted a bit then he asked if we had any questions for him. I did had a few. I commented (again... almost ever visit since before she was one I have brought this up) on the tiny red blotch she has on her right cheek. It has been there since her very first excema breakout back when she was only a few months old. Its barely noticeable but I know its there and I refused to take the answer of excema from the doctor (its the same answer I get EVERY time and I know its not since I am an expert on the condition since I have it myself, Adrian has it, and Mia has had it). Finally he agreed it may not be excema but still nothing I should be concerned about. It may fade over time or it just as well might be a birth mark or irritation. Only time will tell but its nothing to be worried about. My other concern was her finger sucking and how and when to stop it. He said its not a big deal until after 3-4 and only then could I make efforts to curb it since I will be able to reason with her more. The other issue was her teeth. Adrian and I are not sure if its due to the finger sucking but it seems that her two front teeth stick out slightly more than the rest of her teeth. I wanted to know if that was a result of her finger sucking since neither ....Adrian.... nor myself have teeth like that. He said only a dentist could really answer it but he doesn't think so. He said thumb sucking is worse and can cause that to happen but since its her fingers and she sucks them with palm down rather than palm up (like thumb suckers) that shouldn't be the reason, but again only a dentist could really answer that. My last question was her tiny lisp. Ever since she learned how to talk she talks with a slight lisp. He chuckled a bit and said it was completely normal and that his own 4 year old daughter has it as well, and both will grow out of it in time. YAY!!! All our questions were answered.
He then asked a few questions regarding her development and shes right on target with everything. He commented that her weight is very good and that both her weight and height are in the 75%. Then came her head size and before he read the number he stopped himself and said what every doctor who has seen her before says with regards to her head ... "well umm.... well you know she already has a large head... but its growing normally" Adrian and I smiled and said what we always say to that comment "well it just means she houses a big brain!" and its true she is so smart! He never gave the actual measurement but from her 12 month check up we know it was already way off the chart.
After all his questions were answered it was examination time. Mia did awesome with that! She never cried once but she did give him a dirty look the whole time. The only thing she struggled with a bit was when he wanted to check her mouth with a tongue despensor. ....Adrian.... had to step in and help open her mouth because she refused to but he did a quick look and stopped. Again she never cried! What a big girl.
After her physical exam was done we chatted some more. He said she wouldn't need to come back to see him until she was 4 years old! YAY!!!! however, we did mention we are relocating back to ....San Diego..... We told him we wouldn't want to change her doctor and would be willing to travel to see him. He was happy to hear that but knows its unpractical since ..Moreno.. ..Valley.. from ....San Diego.... would be almost a 2 hour drive! So he gave us some personal referrals for doctors in ....San Diego...... YAY!!! He then gave us some parenting tips on how to treat Mia after the baby is born and to be aware she may regress a bit but only for a short while until she is fully adjusted to the new baby. That was about it, and he said his goodbyes and off he went.
We were not in the clear yet... unfortunately, they added ANOTHER vaccine to the schedule just recently so yep we were ambushed with another shot!! We weren't expecting this since she is fully caught up but since we are no longer rookies to doctor's visits we brought a lollipop with us just in case! So before the nurse came in with the shot ....Adrian.... and I were already developing our plan on what and how we would handle this. We decided to dress Mia so we wouldn't have to fiddle with putting on her clothes after she got her shot. So we attempted to remove the gown but Mia would have no part of it. She protested and screamed when we tried to take it off!! Oh-No!!! So we had to compromise with her. We took off the gown, put her shirt back on, then put the gown back on. She screamed so loud when we took off the gown that you would think she got the shot already!!! but once she had the gown back on she was happy... then the nurse walked in... and right away SHE said "Uh-Oh"
They had us lie her down on the table. ....Adrian.... busted out her lollipop and I took it the wrapper off and hid it behind my back. Then the nurse took out the shot and did the deed! Right away Mia started to cry, not really bad but she was getting there. Thats when ....Adrian.... (like a doctor asking for a scalpel) asked for the lollipop and once she saw that she perked up and stopped crying. YAY for candy!!! We got her shorts back on and off we went. Mia was so happy to have a "candy" that she didn't even care about her shot anymore.
We left the room and thats when I realized they forgot to give us her updated immunization card! Oh-No! So we asked the nurse for one and she said she would print it out and give it to us but it would be a few mins. So out back into the germy waiting room we went.. YUCK!!!
I had to get a couple of blood tests done so I took the chance to get them done while we were waiting. I left Mia and Adrian in the waiting room as I zoomed off to the lab. I got my blood drawn and later met up with Adrian and Mia again so we could head home. Both Mia and Mama had "ouchies" haha
Mia did great on the car ride home. After eating her lollipop she munched on a nectarine. Once we got home she remained in good spirits till about her bed time. Thats when she started to cry for everything. I know it was the combo of the shot and having such a horrible nap so I put her to bed early. After protesting that a bit she finally gave in and went to bed.
Though I don't think Mia will have a bad reaction to the shots, since we have been so VERY blessed thus far that she never does, I don't think we will have a bad night. But you never know... one thing I learned as a new parent is you never say never!! haha So we will see. Hopefully she will sleep well and we all will have a good day tomorrow. ....
