Monday, January 26, 2009

18 Month Well Baby Check-Up

We had to go back today since she was sick last week.

I found out Summer should be on whole milk, because her brain needs the fat, so we have to switch her back over (we have been doing 2%) - the doctor said it had nothing to do with her body weight, which was 27.2 pounds (83%) and she is 34 inches tall (96%) and her head was 47.5 cm (75%) - her growing curve was right on track.

The office is doing a new reading thing, to encourage reading they give books away at every checkup so Summer has a new cute little book!

Summer passed the mental exam - no worries with anything developmentally.

We had to get shots - today was the MMR (which we delayed until now), the HepA, DTaP and the flu shot. We didn't have to get the flu shot but after going through croup I think I will get the flu shot every year - if it has a chance to prevent a lengthy illness that is good enough for me! Both Kris and I got the flu shot as well, it actually didn't hurt either, and that was my very first flu shot. I forgot to get my sticker :o( Summer cried for about 5 seconds, she was ok as soon as I picked her up. We had 2 nurses give 2 shots in each leg so I think that helped it go faster.

Summer doesn't have to return for a checkup until she is 2.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Better & Sentences

I would say as of yesterday Summer is back to her old self. Her cough is gone, her energy and appetite are back, she has stopped whining and being clingy. Since recovering from croup it seems Summer's vocabulary has exploded. She is starting to say two sentence words. She was in the tub two nights ago and I said Hey You to which she replied Hey You. She can now say I'm Summer and this morning daddy said No Way to which Summer replied No Way. It amazes me how many words she is copying from us, daddy called her a Punk the other day too - to which she replied back to him Punk lol.

One of the questions on the 18 month well baby check was "is your baby saying two words together?" and it asks for examples. Just last week I could only think of a few to add to the list and now she says two words all the time. It amazes me how much they change from one day to the next.

I rescheduled her well baby check for this coming Monday, it should be a quick visit since I have most of the paperwork filled out - but of course she needs shots on this visit, and I am not looking forward to that. I may let daddy and papa take her this time, would that be evil of me?

Friday, January 16, 2009

105 and up

Summer has been sick since Tuesday morning, she started getting a fever and a runny nose. On Wednesday she seemed normal and played and ate like normal but had a low grade fever all during the day. When I got home from work she still had a mild 100 fever but seemed like she was feeling ok. She ate dinner like normal and drank a lot of water. We gave her a bath around 7:00 pm and that seemed to perk her up some. We only put a diaper on her to help cool her body off, and it seemed to work until we went to bed. Around 8:15 pm we were lying in our bed in a diaper and we took her temperature and the readings were around 104-106 which scared us to death so we decided to go to the ER room.

As luck would have it there was no line at the ER. They took her pulse, 140, and oxygen levels, 97. Her temperature, which they had to take rectally was 102.8. She weighed almost 27 pounds, which seemed like she was down a pound or at least down from our home scale. They gave her some Motrin and we sat and waited in the waiting area to see the doctor. When we saw the ER doctor he examined her and he said she looked fine, she was alert, she was playing, she did not have any rashes, so we were allowed to take her home and just let the temperature do its job and kill the bug.

The ER doctor asked if her shots were up-to-date, and yes all but the MMR that we delayed but planned on getting Thursday - but would be postponed until she felt better. The ER doctor said to keep a glass of water in her room to help with moisture, we asked if a humidifier would work and he said it didn't need to be fancy but we already have a humidifier. He then left to write out the orders and came back in looking a little worried and asked what kind of contraception we were using. Kris and I looked at each other like what? and said none. He then mentioned how we should hurry and get her MMR because catching something while pregnant is a really bad thing. No clue where that came from but ok :o) we plan on it as soon as she is better. We ended up getting home around 10:30 pm so we were only out about two and a half hours.

Thursday was Summer's 18 month well baby check but guess what - you can't have a well baby check up if your baby isn't well now can ya? We got there at 11:00 and they were more concerned with her fever, which she still had - and they would not complete the well baby check. The remeasured her and she is just shy of 27 pounds and they measured her height which they calculated 34 inches but I think they added a bit more than it was. I filled out all the well baby paperwork before they said we would have to come back so at least I have it for next time.

The doctor who came in was a PA and she said since Summer had a fever with no other symptoms, even though we said she had a runny nose and a slight cough - that it might be a UTI and they wanted to do blood work and a catheter. Kris was upset and didn't think it was a UTI nor did he want to do that to her because the ER doctor just said a fever was basically a normal thing, so we asked her for another opinion.

Another doctor comes in who has had several years experience and we go over everything again and she hears Summer get upset and cough and she thinks it is probably croup instead. We all agree to wait on the UTI and blood work and see if Summer will get better in a few days. From what I read about croup it does sound right, Summer gets worse at night and sounds horse/barky when she is more upset or tired.

As of today she is still pretty sick, her fever is much lower but her voice is much worse, she sounds horrible now. Kris just called and said she wants held and is unhappy and cranky. She is ok for the moment - watching Sesame Street - but I sure hope it passes soon, the stress on the parents is horrible!

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Fever

Summer has a fever. She has had maybe 2 other fevers but one was shot related and the other I don't remember so it was a quick 12 hour thing that didn't get very high. Even though I have gone through this twice already it is still so hard not to panic. We gave her tylenol and the fever went down. All day yesterday she was running a fever around 99/100 but she acted completely normal and ate and drank just fine. She went to bed and it went up to around 102/103 this morning (if you trust our head thermometer). Today she is up and running around and her temperature is back around 99/100 but she is acting almost normal. She has her 18 month well check up tomorrow at 11:00 am, I did call and got her a 9:40 appointment today but canceled it. If she wasn't act normal or wasn't eating or drinking I would be more worried and I would probably take her in. I think Kris is more worried than I am. She also has a runny nose but the snot is clear. No diarrhea or throwing up thank goodness. I hate fevers :o/ I have a feeling her shots will be delayed tomorrow, but I go in next week anyway so we can take her then. I am a little freaked out about measles because I just saw that show and we were just at a casino ... it was a local casino but still, how can I not be going crazy. I think kids should not get sick because it puts way too much stress on parents. Maybe we should all write congress?
In other more exciting news I weighed and measured Summer yesterday, my big 18 months old now weights around 28 pounds and is a little over 33 inches tall. She grew an inch and a half in three months, and almost three inches in 6 months. I cannot believe she is getting bigger, if it wasn't for the measurements I would not see it. I will have more measurements tomorrow after we see the doc. I am also going to ask about the dry spots on her legs to make sure we are doing what we should - lotion. I have no other concerns, she seems to be on track or ahead in most areas. She speaks all the time, she will repeat almost everything you say. She loves to talk and loves to eat and loves to play. She is still such a good baby, I have never had to smack her hand or say No, I have been able to remove her from the situation to avoid punishment. She has started to get a little attitude but we can usually diffuse it before it gets worse. I think she is well behaved and listens but it can all change I guess. I just hope she stays sweet and like she is.

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Boogie Boogie Boogie

Kris just called me from home, I guess Cliff was out and brought Summer home a doll - well a head with a big orange nose - a Veggie Tale doll. Apparently Summer is grabbing the nose and running around saying Boogie Boogie Boogie. She has had a mild runny nose for the past month, and when we go to wipe her nose we say, "give me those boogies", so I guess she understands boogies come from your nose. New word this week, Boogie, nice.

Little Helper

Summer usually helps when I make dinner, she gets out bowls from the cabinet, and she gets out mixing spoons from the drawer to keep herself entertained. Normally she mixes nothing in a big bowl and is a happy baby. Yesterday she realized she can get the mixing spoons out of the drawer and reach and throw them into the sink ... great! These are clean spoons she is throwing into the sink, so now I guess I have to keep the sink empty of dirty dishes (yah rite).

I have been feeding Summer frozen veggies for snacks, this past weekend I had microwaved some green beans and gave her some in a bowl. I continued to cook while she went into the living room to eat them. She normally takes her bowl onto the rug and sits in front of the tv. Well she came back with an empty bowl and said "more" so I gave her more. Not long after she came back again for "more" so this time I watched her walk right up to the dogs with her bowl of green beans and start hand feeding them green beans ...great!

Whenever I start a bath for Summer, I take her shirt and pants off. I leave her diaper on for a few more minutes while the tub fills, and during this time she has to run into the closet up to her clothes and pull several pieces out. She brings me tese items and runs back into the closet to find some more clothes. I have no clue why, she never picks her pajamas so I always have to put these clothes back, now all wrinkled and unfolded, but she does this every single time before she gets into the bath.