19 Month Check-Up 7.25.13

Dear Conor,

Because you were born so close to Christmas your check-ups are always a little later than typical.  So, we had your 18 month check-up when you were really 19 months old.  Because Auntie was here visiting she got to go with us to your appointment (this was your FIRST time having someone else there besides Mommy and Daddy - in fact, Daddy stayed at work this time).

We arrived with just a few extra minutes (its a lot different driving from grandpa's house than our old house just up the street).  The nurse first had to take your measurements.

You have not grown that much little man!  You are still growing but only by the tiniest bit each time.  Nolan is as big as you now!  But, good things come in little packages and you are a VERY good thing!

As a reminder - here are your prior stats:

While waiting for the doctor to come in your played with the paper on the table.  You enjoyed playing peek-a-boo with Auntie and ripping the paper to shreds!

You did have to get one shot this time around (Auntie did not like watching that) and because she was such a good girl and you were a good boy (no nursing and you only cried for a minute) I took you guys our for ice cream.  This was your first ice cream cone.

You got so messy the owner asked if we wanted extra napkins or a bowl.  Nope - I just let you go to town and you rode back to grandpa's house in your diaper and sweatshirt and your clothes went right into the wash :)

Our next appointment will be in January for your 24/25 month check-up - that's a long way away so I can't wait to see how much you change!  Just think - at your next appointment you will have been a big brother for at least 2 months!

xoxo
Mommy

6 Month Check Up

Dear Conor,

On July 9th we went to the doctor's office for your 6 month check-up.  You were scheduled to receive 3 shots and to have your 'stats' taken.  Our doctor had just gotten back, that day in fact, from maternity leave so you saw Dr. Brooks instead.  She is very nice and we have actually seen her once before when you went in for an emergency visit.

We started the visit with your measurements.  I put all your measurement stickers in the back of your baby book so that we can compare as you grow.  This visit your head circumference went back to the track that it had been on when you were born which told us (and your doctor) that your work with Dr. Erika was a success and well worth it!  Your weight has slowed down considerably.  Instead of gaining about a pound a week or every two weeks you are not gaining a pound a month based on this month's weigh check vs. your 4month check.  And even though you have grown a lot taller - you are still pretty compact.  But, there are no worries - you have plenty of time to grow :)

You wore your owl diapers to the doctor's office and she said that your skin looked great as did your ears and eyes!  We visited in the sports room.


Waiting on the Doctor.

After you visited with Dr. Brooks we were told to get you dressed and ready for your shots.  Mommy always plans ahead and I had you wear a romper and Baby Legs so that you could be fully dressed but the nurse could have access to your legs for those horrible shots.  You were scheduled to get 3 and because another child there was having a difficult time with her shots we had to wait a while for the nurse to come in.  We kept you entertained by reading and you decided to busy yourself with ripping up the paper liner on the bench!

You did pretty well with your shots - though you moved your leg very fast and the needle grazed your skin on the last shot causing you to bleed.  The nurse was very upset but we weren't too worried about it.  Next time Mommy will just have to hold your leg a little tighter.  You recovered with a little nursing and some love before getting in the car.  You continued to do well at home.  Shots do not seem to phase you too much though this time you were a little extra fussy the following day but I can't say it was 100% due to shots because you didn't take your naps.....

Our next appointment is in October - I wonder what room we will visit in!

xoxo
Mommy

Adjustments

Dear Conor,

When you were born your Daddy and I promised that we would do everything that we could to make sure that you grew up to be a strong and healthy man.  So when Mommy noticed that the back of your head was looking flatter than what she considered 'normal' she began looking for ways to help fix it.

One thing that can be done is to get a helmet.  We talked to your doctor about this and she wanted to follow-up with you at your 6 month (really 7 month) appointment to see if we needed to go that route.  Mommy did some research and learned that there is a 2-3 month wait here in Maine to see a specialist and that by that time the helmet would do little good.  So, Mommy did some more research and learned that chiropractors can use adjustments and manipulations to massage the muscles of the scalp to relax them which allows your plates to shift back into a more circular (round) head shape.

Well, wouldn't you know - Neve's mom is a chiropractor and she has worked on many infants with flat heads so we went to see her for the first time on May 24, 2012.

checking your alignment and making little adjustments

You loved getting straightened!

At our first visit we learned that your jaw was very tense on one side (likely due to your tongue tie) and that your right hip was misaligned causing your leg to over rotate.  So, Miss Erika said she would continue to observe and make adjustments to those areas as well (while we love your crooked little smile I don't want you having jaw problems)! Your head was flat and you had little bulges behind each ear.

We have now seen Ms. Erika 4 times and your head is coming along nicely.  So nicely that you have graduated to biweekly visits.  Your leg/hip is also making improvements that we notice when you practice walking.  While you still occasionally step with your right foot over your left or you attempt to do two left steps before a right - when you do use your right foot it is most often going straight.

You have your next pediatric appointment in about a month so you will have had 2-3 more visits with Ms. Erika and it is my hope that we will have made enough progress that your Doctor will feel that a referral to the helmet doctor is not necessary!!!

xoxo
Mom

Second Surgery

Dear Conor,

Today we went for a ride with Dad for his work but we also had to go into Portland for your appointment with the ENT.  I was very nervous for this appointment because I wasn't sure what to expect.  The nurse that brought us into the room was very sweet and she explained what the doctor needed to do to examine you and at what points we should expect to hear you cry.  Then she got you all set up in the big chair.  You looked so tiny in the big chair because they kept you in your carseat the whole time.

After the nurse got you settled the doctor came in to check you out.  You did not like him sticking the Q-tip or his fingers under your tongue and you cried just as the nurse said you would.  He said that your tongue-tie was not severe but it was also not so minimal that he would suggest that nothing be done.  You had a moderate case that we could choose to have it cut or we could wait it out and see if it stretched or if it ended up impacting your speech.  If we needed to have it cut later it would likely need to be done in a hospital setting as the older a child gets the harder it is to cut it in the office because they squirm!

Your Dad and I decided that we didn't want to take that chance because it seemed more traumatic to potentially place you under anesthesia when you are a toddler to have something done that we could easily have done now and not have to live in constant wonder.  So, we told the doctor we would like to have it done while you were still little.  Little did we know that he was going to do it that day!

A little bit of numbing agent was applied to the underside of your tongue and then after a minute he snipped the little membrane and it was over - or so I thought.  There was a bit of blood and the doctor wanted to be sure it clotted before you left the office so he applied a clotting agent to the cut marks (it turned silver and remains there for a while).  He cleaned up your little face and then it was time to go.

I promise - it looks worse than it actually was - you kept spitting little bits of retained blood out at a time.



We saw improvements in your tongue action pretty quickly.  You were moving your tongue a lot more and sticking it out further than you ever had before.  Also, when you had dinner you stayed latched on much better. 

I am so proud of how strong you are - you didn't cry during your first surgery and you didn't cry during this one and you recovered nicely from both as well.

xoxo
Mom