They Just Keep Growing and Growing

Last week we went to Charles’ and Amélie’s well visits.  We were lucky enough that we were able to align the little dude’s 2.5 year visit with baby girl’s 9 month visit.  Score!

In the office, the nurse started with Charles who straight out refused to stand on the scale to be weighed (I swear, he is such a scaredy cat!).  No worries, though, he was happy to sit down on the baby scale instead.  He’s just over 31 lbs now.  He then stood against the wall to get measured; only 8 cm away from measuring a meter (or just over 3 feet tall).  His pediatrician was happy with his progress and was surprised that he was potty trained.  She was completely unfazed by the constellation of bruises on his legs and arms and merely smiled when we mentioned that he falls…a lot.

(He also likes to wear goggles, by the way.  Specifically when I wash his hair.  Actually, the goggles were a solution to the endless screams and tears that were associated with the hair-washing experience)

As for Amélie, she is now 18 lbs and back up on the average curve with regards to her weight (the last time she had a well visit, at 6 months, her pediatrician had expressed some measure of concern because she had dropped quite a bit on the percentile curve).  She remains on the shorter side, measuring up at 69 cm.  When our pediatrician asked if we had any concerns, we mentioned the bump she has over her right eyebrow.

Do you see it, right above her right eyebrow (your left on the picture)?

It’s been there a while, I remember it being there during her 6 month visit, but I hadn’t talked about it because I figured she’d just bumped her head and that it would go away.  It hasn’t.  It’s about the size of a cooked chickpea and has never seemed to bother her (I also don’t remember when it appeared, but it doesn’t seem to have grown or reduced in size).  Her pediatrician, poked and prodded and squeezed and frowned.  Then, she told us she thought it was a cyst, but gave us a referral to see a pediatric surgeon at the Montreal Children’s hospital (which is where we went for Charles’ allergies before the allergy department moved out of the hospital).  So we’ll see where that leads us.

I should probably mention that the little princess is intent on being able to follow her big brother around.  She still hasn’t mastered the crawl (which doesn’t stop her from being super speedy by doing her zombie drag), but that hasn’t stopped her from pulling up and starting to cruise.

Oh boy!

A week ago, I caught her doing this for the first time. Now she has figured out that she can even move as long as she’s holding on to something.

Dear [Insert Name] – Short Letters From A Frustrated Sleep-Deprived Mama

Dear SUV-driving stranger that parked beside my car yesterday morning,

I know that sometimes it is hard to find a parking spot.  Trust me, I do.  For instance, yesterday morning, I had to park on the outer edge of the parking lot and walk a good 5 minutes with my heavy 6 month old in her bucket seat and tantrum-prone toddler instead of right beside the medical clinic because, well, there were no more parking spots right next to the clinic.  So you see, I totally understand that when you find a spot, you take it.  However, it would be nice in the future, if you could just park a liiiiiiiiitle further away from my car because, quite frankly, it was hard as heck getting my toddler into his seat in the minimal space that was left once I opened my car door.  It was also hard as heck getting enough of my arms inside of the car to manage to buckle him up.  I also wanted you to know, dear driver, that I made sure to keep my fingers between my car door and yours just to make sure that you very lovely SUV didn’t get dented.  I cannot, however, guarantee that I will be able to safeguard the bump-free surface of your vehicle when my kids are old enough to open their doors all by themselves.

Sincerely,

The mama who had two kids to juggle and a tiny space to juggle them in

***

Dear Yahoo,

a couple of nights ago, after battling it out with my infant daughter to get her to fall back asleep for over an hour and a half, I decided to hang out in my living room with my iPad to pass the time as I waited for her to wake up for the umpteenth time in a minimal time frame.  To be quite frank, I was past the zombie-tired stage and was wondering how I was even still standing (truth be told, I was sitting, but hey, what difference does it make?).  As I was looking through the photos of my kids on my iPad and deciding which ones I would upload to my Google+ page, I noticed that there was an icon that allowed me to upload them directly to a Flickr account.  I thought it was the best idea ever so I prepared myself to create a Yahoo address to get the job done.  I was stoked until I saw that I had to insert a mobile phone number that would be used in case I forgot my password (emphasis on had to).  Let me tell you, dear Yahoo, that I do not own a cell phone.  I’m sure there are others that live in the Stone Age that choose not to have one like me.  You probably don’t care that I won’t be a Flickr user, but I wanted to let you know that I will be staying with Google+.

Sincerely,

The mama who doesn’t own, want or need a cell phone (and who can remember her passwords like a big girl all on her own *gasp*)

***

Dear pediatrician,

I know that you care for the well-being of the kids that come through your office.  Really, I do.  I also know that you are swamped in paperwork, an ever-rising workload and are likely feeling more and more unappreciated by parents who are frustrated with the healthcare system.  However, it would be nice (like really nice) if you could update your knowledge of introduction of solids just a liiiiiitle bit.  I was, to be honest, a bit disheartened when, upon mentioning that we were doing baby-led weaning with Amélie, that you had absolutely no idea what I was talking about (it was apparent when you concluded that it meant I was doing veggies and fruits with my baby girl).  I was equally disheartened when you ignored the fact that my daughter was exclusively breastfed for 6 months before any solid food got into her mouth (instead of getting rice cereal as early as 3 months as seems to be the custom here) while looking at her curve and telling me that I had to give her iron-fortified cereal and veggie purees twice a day because she had dropped (barely) under her growth curve.  Perhaps, even, if you don’t have time to read the new research that is starting to show that the only foods that are off limits until the age of one are fresh milk, egg whites and honey, you could at least keep an open mind when I tell you about the variety of foods that my daughter has had (including cooked egg yolks, avocado and toast strips).

Sincerely,

the mama who has successfully raised a two year old who is an awesome eater and is attempting to do the same with her 6 month old daughter

***

Dear itsy bitsy spider,

I’m so sorry that, upon reading a story to my toddler that included a dog who was afraid of a spider, I giggled like crazy and concluded with my son that the doggy was silly to be afraid of spider.  I’m sorry that, I told him how unscary spiders were because they were so much smaller than us humans.  When I saw you this morning, squashed between the nimble fingers of my triumphant toddler (“look mama, a spider!!!!!!”) I was very sad that my desire for my son to remain unafraid of your kind resulted in your death.  I promise that the next lesson will be that we must be gentle with spiders.  May you rest in peace.

Sincerely,

the mama who didn’t want her toddler to be afraid of spiders

Updates!

So today was Amélie’s 1 month check-up.  Since her brother had had a mysterious illness over the weekend, we decided to bring him along as well to get him checked out.  It turns out that the pediatrician took more time with Charles than she did with Amélie.

I commented a couple of days ago about how baby girl suddenly didn’t fit into her newborn clothing anymore.  It’s little wonder though as she is now measuring 54.5cm.  That means that in 14 days she grew 4.5cm (or almost 2 inches).  Holy crap!  Now that’s what I call a growth spurt.  She also gained 780g (or 1 pound and 11 oz).  It would seem that mama has got some pretty darned good milk.

As for Charles, well, the pediatrician was absolutely flabbergasted when she saw him and heard what had happened since last Friday.  She immediately told us that it was a pretty impressive allergic reaction (hives) and urged us to talk about it with Charles’ allergist the next time we go to see her.  She is pretty certain that the reaction is in response to the amox that he took to treat an ear infection as the hives started to appear the morning after he finished his prescription.  She’s asking us to continue to give him Benadryl every 4 h until the hives are all gone and had us meet with a pharmacist to see what was the maximal dose we could give him.

Dada and I are both conked out from the stressful weekend and the little guy (who has always been super good about taking medication) now has to be forced to take his Benadryl (we suspect it’s because he associates it with the intense itch his hives cause).  No fun!

To give you an idea of the progression of the hives, here’s what our weekend looked like:

On Friday, they were just small red spots here and there.  As the day progressed, the spots got redder and larger and had raised edges.

On Saturday, the spread the continued the spots changed again and became the crater-like spots that turned blue that you see in the picture below and his eyelids became swollen after his nap.

By  Sunday, most of his body was covered by either new or old spots.  BUT at least he started to be in a good mood in the afternoon and started to play so we were seeing the light at the end of the tunnel!

Finally, this morning, we’re noticing that there don’t seem to be many new spots and the ugly red-bue ones that were there yesterday are gone.  He also actually had breakfast: his first complete meal since Friday at lunchtime (we’ve been keeping him hydrated and have managed to get him to snack a bit over the course of the weekend).  However, because of the insane amounts of Benadryl he’s been taking all weekend, he now looks like a zombie.

Oh well, we’ll get through this!  I’m just happy nothing worse happened.

So milk and now, it would seem, amoxcillin.  Here’s to hoping we don’t discover any new allergies.

Love & A Shrinking Baby

Yesterday, we went to Amélie’s 2 week check-up.  Besides a leaky eye (she’s got a blocked lacrimal gland, but we’re working on that) she’s doing great.  Not only has she regained her birth weight, but she has surpassed it (we’re talking a 300g/8oz gain) weighing in at 7lbs 6oz.  Yup, the little lady is a champ nurser.  Of course, she has also grown, but I don’t know by how much as her hospital records put her birth length at 51cm and her 2 week measurements put her at 50cm *scratches head*.  Hehe, that’s what happens when your baby is measured with a tailor’s tape measure on an overbooked and understaffed day I suppose ;).

On another note, Charles is deeply in love with his little sister.  At least once per day, when I’m holding his Amélie, he comes up to me, taps on my nursing pillow, outstretches his arms, points to his sister and says “that”.  Translation:  I want to hold the baby.

Ten Thought Tuesday: Almost June

1. A little late in the day for a TTT, but hey, better late than never, right?
2. By next Monday, we’ll be in June.  Can you believe it !?!  The school year has zipped by.
3. We’ve been looking at paint colors for Little Dude’s big boy room.  The bottom half of the room is going to be green and the top half blue.  The colors are going to be separated by a road decal and we’ll be adding some car and truck decals on the road.  We’ve already decided on the green that we’d use, but are now hesitating between three blues: Rushing Stream, Yucatan and Perfect Sky.
4. The little guy has been getting his game on and has been experimenting with yelling, crying and pouting when he doesn’t get what he wants.  It never lasts very long though.  I’m hoping it’s because he understands that yelling, crying and pouting won’t get him any closer to what he wants.
5. I don’t know if I have bad memory, but I can’t remember Charles ever moving as much as Peanut when I was pregnant with him.  Seriously, I am rudely awoken nightly with well-placed kicks to my bladder and then kept awake by a seemingly hyperactive baby.
6. Since I’m aiming for a med-free birth this time ’round, I have started to work on a birth plan.  I found an awesome resource here and am happy with what I’ve got down on paper so far.  I like how the author of the post, a L&D nurse points out that a birth plan needs to be flexible because, well, labour and delivery is unpredictable and we shouldn’t feel as though we’ve failed at birth because things don’t go as planned.  Valerie put a great post on the subject earlier this week.
7. While working in the garden last weekend, my partner found a couple of grub worms.  I fed one to each of my geckos.  They were very happy for the treat!
8. In a contrast to the nice weather we’ve been having for a couple of weeks, it was really chilly outside today.  Brrr… But I won’t complain, the sun and heat is supposed to come back by Thursday.
9. I just realized that I’m off next Monday.  I think I will try to get an appointment for a massage.
10. Tomorrow morning, I’m heading to Charles’ 18 month checkup.  I’m curious to see how much he weighs now!

I’m Allergic to Dairy.

Actually, I’m not.

But it feels like it.

Here’s the thing though, I’ve been dairy free for a little over a month (I think) now.  As hard as it was in the beginning, it has now become normal for me.  I don’t look longingly at cheese anymore.  I don’t miss milk or ice cream or yogurt anymore.  I’ve become adept at recognizing the hidden milk names in the ingredient lists and am starting to know which products are safe to eat.  Instead of looking at what I can’t eat, I look at what I can eat.  And there is PLENTY that I can still eat.

However, I wonder when I will be eating dairy again.  You see, as you can imagine, I’ve been reading a lot on food allergies since I first “diagnosed” my son when he was six months old (need I remind you that he hasn’t been officially diagnosed because our appointment with the allergist is at the end of October?) and there is a lot of research.  Among this research there is – you guessed it! – contradicting information.

Some sources say to try again after a few weeks.  Others say to do so after a couple months.  I’ve also read to wait until the age of 1.  And then there’s all of the other foods that I’ve opted not to try yet.  This includes nuts and strawberries, to name a few.  A part of me is afraid that he’s going to have a severe reaction but a part of me wants to try the foods out anyways.  Although “common knowledge” dictates to wait until the child is 2 to introduce peanuts and tree nuts (some say to wait until the 4th birthday for kids who have allergies or who have parents with allergies) new research has revealed that the sooner you expose your child to a food, the less likely they are likely to develop an allergy to that food.

I was thinking of reintroducing dairy in my own diet first to see how my son reacts to it.  If his eczema doesn’t come back and his stools stay nice and solid (I’m sure you’re all very happy to read about my son’s bowel movements haha), it would be a good sign that he’s on the right track to eating dairy himself.

What to do, what to do?

I’m reluctant to speak to our pediatrician about this.  I’m also reluctant to reintroduce dairy in my own diet lest my son develop bad eczema again by his next appointment at the end of the month and she indirectly accuses me of being a bad mom again.  Perhaps I should just wait and talk to the allergist about it at the end of October.

Thoughts?

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Waaaay Past Annoyed

First off, I apologize in advance because I am about to launch into a rant.

Those of you who have been following this blog for the past month, will probably have an idea of the issue I am about to address.

I just got back from the pediatrician’s office.  We went back in two weeks after his previous visit because Charles has had more allergic reactions to food.  My goal was to at least get a script for an epipen in case his next reaction turned into something worse than hives.  I also wanted a RAST test (which requires blood to be drawn) to be prescribed so that I could know exactly what he is allergic to right now.  That way, I can be more certain of which foods (besides dairy) to avoid.

Here are the salient points from our appointment…

1.  The pediatrician won’t prescribe an epipen because he’s too young.  To further argue her cause, she cites that he has “only” had hives so far.   “Just don’t give him the foods he’s reacted to (duh!), keep some benadryl with you at all times (double duh!) and bring him to the ER if his reaction is more severe (triple duh!)”.  So if my 7 month old stops breathing on me after eating something then I have to drive 20 min. to the nearest hospital.  Excellent.

2.  We’re also not getting a blood test done.  I can’t really cite the reasons; by that time, I had decided to learn from her and ignore what she was saying.

3.  When she asked me to repeat which foods he’d had a reaction to, I recited them again.  Mentioning that I was certain about an allergy to dairy, tomato and cantaloupe and was still unsure about wheat, eggs, fish and blueberries.  She nods her head and asks me how old he is (what, you mean you didn’t take a few minutes to read his file before calling us in?!?).  7 months.  And then she goes on to scold me because supposedly he’s too young to be having fish, eggs and dairy.  WTF?  Since when?  It’s not like I gave him nuts.  And it’s not like I had any idea that he’d have a reaction in the first place because neither my partner or I have any food allergies.  Besides, I didn’t know when I started solids that his eczema was most likely a sign that he was reacting to something that was in my milk (more on that in the next point).  In her opinion, my son should be on cereal, fruits and veggies.  Good thing she doesn’t know we’re not doing purées!  Also, the introduction of solids, much like every other aspect of parenting, has many many many schools of thought.

4.  I told her that I’d read that his eczema might be a result of an allergic reaction to the lactose he gets through my breastmilk because I eat dairy.  I went on to add that I was meeting with a dietician tomorrow so that she can help me with an allergy elimination diet starting with the removal of all milk products from my meals.  The pediatrician tells me that I should definitely be removing not only dairy but anything else that my son has reacted to so far as though it was the most obvious thing in the world (let me remind you here that the last time I went – two weeks ago – she had asked me if I’d had to remove anything from my diet since giving birth and when I said ‘no’ she didn’t suggest that dairy was one of the things that was probably causing my son’s bad eczema).

5. As seems to be the case with our recent appointments, she kept focusing on his eczema.  So, I ended up getting a prescription for a moisturizing cream, another prescription for a cortisone cream for his body, another one to control his itchiness and a reminder that the cortisone cream we already have at home is for his face…

Basically, we’re going to be treating the symptoms instead of the cause until our appointment with the pediatric allergist comes up in October and hoping that his hives stay “just” hives to avoid a trip to the ER.

I’m really hating our health care system right now.  I know that the grass only looks greener on the other side of the fence and that no matter where I’d go, I’d have to face different challenges, but the grass is looking pretty yellowish to my eye on my side of the fence right now…

OK, rant over.

What Makes A Good Pediatrician?

On Wednesday, Little Dude had his 6 month appointment at the pediatrician’s office.  This was our fourth well check since his birth and though I love the clinic and staff and rather like the woman, I found myself questioning whether I should stay with her or find another.  Not that I think she’s a bad doctor, only that perhaps I may be happier with her if some small things were different.  Perhaps an example would help make my point.

Yesterday’s appointment looked like this and is a good example of what typically happens:

We arrive at the clinic on time and register with the receptionist who smiles at my son and greets him telling him how handsome he is.

A nurse comes to fetch us and after exchanging civilities, asks me to undress my son so that she can weigh him.  She comments on the cloth diaper and shows him a stuffed animal as he is seated on the scale.  I then put the diaper back on and then my son length and head circumference are measured upon which time I am prompted to wrap him up in a blanket and go back into the waiting room.

We are then called in to the pediatrician’s office.  I am greeted with a warm smile and again we exchange civilities before getting down to business: “Hello, how are you doing?”, she asks.  “Oh we are doing pretty well, aren’t we Charles?  Except, we’ve been having some trouble with nighttime sleep this past week”, I answer.  “Good, good”, she answers while she looks through my son’s health booklet.  “I see you’re still breastfeeding”, she adds “do you have enough milk?”, she asks.  “Absolutely”, I answer.  After all, we get a plentifully wet diaper each time he nurses.  She nods.  “And how are solids going?”, she asks.  “We haven’t started yet.  We were actually going to start today at lunchtime”, I answer.  “Oh”, she replies as she looks back down upon her growth chart, “well that’s good, he just barely gained the acceptable amount of weight since his last appointment”, she adds.  I was floored.  Did she not understand that my son had been exclusively breastfed for six months.  Does her chart take into consideration that at the same age, most babies have already started solids around here?  I think not.  Doesn’t she know that typically, in breastfed babies who went through a rapid weight gain in the first months (as was the case with my son) that the weight gain slows down after a few months?

She gets up and gestures towards the examination table.  As I rise to bring my son there, she looks back down upon her file: “how’s his eczema?, she asks”.  “Oh, it has cleared up”, I reply.  Once my son is seated upon the table, she examines him (or tries to) as he attempts to grab everything to put it in his mouth – stethoscope, tongue depressor, that thing you use to check the ears – and so begins my monologue to my son, explaining what is happening and why.  She puts him on his back and presses his tummy, stretches and folds his legs, removes his diaper to check if everything is OK there.  “Everything looks good,” she says, “come back in three months”.

That was it.  In and out in five minutes.

As I was driving back home I couldn’t help but wonder.  Shouldn’t she at least be asking if he’s able to roll over?  Shouldn’t she be inquiring as to how we’re introducing solids?  Shouldn’t she be talking to him, at least a bit, as she’s examining him?  Shouldn’t she be taking into account that he had not had anything other than breast milk for 6 months before telling me that her standardized growth chart indicated that he’d just barely gained enough weight?

I don’t know, perhaps I am being overcritical.  I know that I’m doing a good job as a mom.  I know that I shouldn’t worry about the fact that his weight gain has slowed down (he gained 2.25kg between 2 weeks and 2 months, 1.43kg between 2 months and 4 months and .79kg between 4 and 6 months); my son is content after feedings and showing no signs of being undernourished.  I also concluded that our difficult week was due to a growth spurt/wonder week/ 3-2 nap transition.

What do you think?  What are your experiences with pediatricians?  What makes a good pediatrician?