6 Month Wellness Visit

Today was Shelbi's 6 month wellness visit at the pediatrician. Wow! It's extremely hard to believe that she is almost six and a half month old. I know that time has always gone pretty quickly, but it has tripled in speed since she came home from the hospital. Anyway, I digress. Shelbi had a nice, full belly on our ride to Camp Hill to Dr. Shrift's office. She had a nice breakfast consisting of some rice cereal with sweet potatoes followed by approximately 20 minutes of boob juice. I have found that it's a lot easier if she is wearing a one piece outfit when we have trips to the doctor. They are a lot quicker and easier to get on and off, as she needs to be stripped down to only her diaper for her check ups. She had on a cute Carter's footless outfit with a cute collar and ruffles on it that Mammi had gotten for her. It's pink with little strawberries all over it, and she looks so adorable in it (well, she looks so adorable in just about everything...I know...I'm bias)! Mammi met us at the doctor's office, and we actually both got there at the same exact time. She was 12 pounds 13 ounces, and she really seemed to enjoy sitting in the scale seat. She looked so cute in it too. Her head circumference was 40 inches and 3 cm, and she was 25 1/2 inches long. Dr. Shrift goes by her actual age and NOT her adjusted age (which I prefer by the way), as some of the other doctor's would still have her on the adjusted age curve. She is only in the 3rd to 5th percentile with her weight, but she is in the 65th percentile with her length. She's going to be a tall one! Gee, I wonder where she gets that from? The land of the giants on the Branyan/Flannery side. He was not concerned with her weight, and he actually said that we could stop with putting the Neosure formula in with her bottles. Yay for $15 extra dollars a month and no yucky formula for her! The only thing that I did not agree with was that Dr. Shrift thinks that I should nurse Shelbi first thing in the morning, and then wait until later in the morning/afternoon to feed her cereal, but I'm sticking to the routine that we are on. She eats the cereal (normally with a fruit or vegetable) and then she still nurses. If she didn't nurse at all in the morning, I would try it his way, but I think she is doing just fine the way things are. She now does not have to go back until she is 9 months, and she is done with some of the vaccinations. It seems as though she is getting worse with each set of shots, but I don't blame her, as I'm NOT a fan of needles at all either. She was as happy as an ant at a crumb fest when he first came in. Probably because her Mammi and I are a little silly AND she was only wearing a diaper. She likes to be naked. Dr. Shrift took her to give her a once over, and she was smiling and bouncy. He put her feet up on the table and she bounced around a bit, and he asked her if she was dancing, and she let out a nice, long, loud scream. She was extremely ticked off. I don't know if she was scared or cold or what, but it was actually kind of entertaining. I know it's not nice to get enjoyment out of Shelbi's sadness, but she's just so animated and dramatic already, that I have to laugh. I'm sure it won't be as amusing when she's a bit older, but I'll take advantage of it while I can. He finished checking her out and gave her back to me, and she seemed to simmer down a bit. Then, came the fun part (I know that sarcasm can't be sensed in a blog, but that was sarcasm). The nurse or medical assistant or whatever her title is, came in with the three shots and the oral vaccination. She drank the oral vaccination like a pro! The nurse said she thinks that may be the fastest anyone ever took it before. That's rather amusing because the last time she had it, she cried and kept turning her head and acted like it was horrible. Then the lady got her ready for the shots, and I covered her eyes. I don't want her to see me and associate me with the pain and discomfort, and boy was she discomforted. She let out a nice hurt cry while the lady gave her two shots in one leg and one in the other. Then, she rubbed the spots for a minute, put the band aids on, and finally I could pick her up. She continued to cry for a bit, but it was more of a mad cry. That was the excitement for the day. I did stop at CVS on the way to lunch with Mammi and Aunt Megan so that I could pick up some hydrocortizone. Dr. Shrift said to use that 3 times a day on the rashes on her face, and hopefully that will clear it up (at least for a while, as it will probably keep coming back). Hopefully, this "baby" eczema will NOT transform itself into the adult eczema that Aunt Megan and Mammi suffer from. Aunt Megan and I walked around the mall for a few minutes, and I found a cute pink, summer outfit (with a giraffe on it) for Shelbi as well. We headed home shortly after that, and Shelbi was fussy and clingy off and on all night. She went to bed around 8:30 with no problems whatsoever, as she was exhausted. Hopefully she will be feeling better tomorrow!