I took Ella to her 5-year doctor's appointment this morning and she kept me entertained the entire time. She views everything as an opportunity for fun and adventure, and this was no exception.
Some highlights:
- The doctor let her listen to own heart (which she LOVED) and then she let her wear the stethescope for the remainder of her appointment, and spent most of her time trying to listen to the doctor's heart
- She asked to keep the disposable piece that goes on the ear-light (yuck, but I figured at least it's her own ear germs on there...)
- She asked for some tongue depressors to take home
- She told the doctor that she wishes her playroom had more of the things in the doctor's room
-She was not impressed with the sticker selection and settled on some train stickers that were not her favorites
But my favorite moment came after the appointment; we were in the parking lot, and she had her hands full with stickers, tongue depressors, ear-light thing, and a few other treasures she had brought in to the appointment.
She says to me very enthusiastically "well, that was great - but I do wish they had given me a goody bag for all my new stuff!"
Always an adventure with this one :)
Showing posts with label health. Show all posts
Showing posts with label health. Show all posts
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Thursday, January 26, 2012
4 year doctor's appointment
I took Ella for her 4-year pediatrician appointment a few days after her birthday. She has really grown - she is 34.5 lbs (47th percentile) and 39 7/8 inches (54th percentile). They checked her hearing and vision for the first time, and of course she talked and asked a million questions throughout - she wants me to explain every poster to her, needs to know why the inside of your throat looks like that, what the nurse is having for dinner, on and on - I would do anything for a running transcript of what is going on inside that head of hers!
The only bad part of the appointment was when the nurses came back at the end to give her shots - 2 shots in each arm, from 2 nurses at the same time. I had her in my lap and she started to get upset and was fussing and then all of a sudden she said "it's not going to hurt" and didn't even cry when they gave her the actual shots. It was pretty neat, she showed some mind over matter and did great. Of course she felt that after that amazing performance she needed a lollipop not just for her, but her stuffed kitty that came too. They earned it!
The only bad part of the appointment was when the nurses came back at the end to give her shots - 2 shots in each arm, from 2 nurses at the same time. I had her in my lap and she started to get upset and was fussing and then all of a sudden she said "it's not going to hurt" and didn't even cry when they gave her the actual shots. It was pretty neat, she showed some mind over matter and did great. Of course she felt that after that amazing performance she needed a lollipop not just for her, but her stuffed kitty that came too. They earned it!
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Quick Update
Thank you for the sweet and caring comments on my last post, we really appreciate the prayers and kind words. I wanted to give a quick update on Ella. By the end of the night on Friday her leg was hurting again, but she was fine when she woke up on Saturday morning, and has been great all weekend. The top of her hand is bruised from the IV and has been bothering her, mainly just putting a shirt on and off, but I'm assuming that should heal in a few more days.
Steve went up to MD and VA for his Uncle's funeral, so it was just Ella and I this weekend. We took it VERY easy, and barely even left the house except for the grocery store yesterday and church today.
Last night Ella had us play a long game of 'sick animals' (with her many stuffed animals) that had to go to the doctor. Some kept coughing and that's why they had to go, and some had ouchies on their legs and couldn't walk and had to go to the "hop-si-tal" and get a shot, and they didn't get lollipops after. It's amazing how much I learn about how she experiences things and remembers them, from listening to what she says while she's playing.
Anyway, I definitely think a quiet weekend was good for both of us, and I think Ella will do great at school tomorrow!
Steve went up to MD and VA for his Uncle's funeral, so it was just Ella and I this weekend. We took it VERY easy, and barely even left the house except for the grocery store yesterday and church today.
Last night Ella had us play a long game of 'sick animals' (with her many stuffed animals) that had to go to the doctor. Some kept coughing and that's why they had to go, and some had ouchies on their legs and couldn't walk and had to go to the "hop-si-tal" and get a shot, and they didn't get lollipops after. It's amazing how much I learn about how she experiences things and remembers them, from listening to what she says while she's playing.
Anyway, I definitely think a quiet weekend was good for both of us, and I think Ella will do great at school tomorrow!
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Scariest Night as a Parent
Monday night was the scariest night we've had as parents so far. I'm sure this will be a long one to read, so I will start with the most important part first - everything worked out okay, and Ella is going to be completely, 100% fine. BUT, oh my goodness, what a night we had with her.
Ella had intermittent leg pain starting last Wednesday, where she could complain that either her knee or her thigh hurt for a little bit, but then she would be fine. On Friday afternoon it was really bothering her and she didn't want to walk on Friday night, so we decided that we'd take her to the doctor on Saturday morning.
The night before this started, Ella threw a legitimate, crazed-toddler tantrum after dinner. Steve gave her the color vitamin that she didn't want, and then when he went to give her the color she wanted instead, she popped the first one in her mouth so then we said she couldn't have the second one. Well, this was the wrong answer and she went berserk. She threw herself on the couch and kicked her legs crazily for about 2-3 minutes. I've never seen anything like it. Because this happened the night before she first complained about her leg, we thought she must have strained a muscle during that crazy outburst.
On Saturday morning, she woke up completely pain-free and was back to normal, so we were convinced that our theory was right and her muscle must have healed itself, and we did not take her to the doctor. She was fine all weekend and we had a great weekend. Monday morning, still fine, but then on Monday afternoon her teacher called to tell me that her leg was really hurting her, and that she had been limping since lunchtime. She didn't sleep at nap time, I'm guessing because she was in so much pain, and after nap time was over, she said she couldn't stand up because her leg hurt so badly. I went and picked her up, and she wasn't crying, but seemed miserable and just wanted to be held. As soon as I got home we decided she couldn't wait until the morning to take her to the doctor, so we headed to the urgent care nearby. The doctor there told us just to take her to the ER because she was in so much pain.
By that point she was in so much pain that just getting her in and out of her car seat was causing her to cry. We got to the ER and while we were in the waiting room, she wanted to be held by one of us while we were standing, not sitting, and would cry out anytime she shifted at all, it seemed that she was in pain in both legs and her torso or ribs. We couldn't even imagine what could be wrong with her, but knew we had never seen her in so much pain, including when she broke her leg and sprained her foot, this was much worse. It took a few hours to get checked into a room and she got worse very quickly during that time. Her legs went completely rigid and she wasn't able to bend her knees at all, even with the doctor trying to force them to bend. She laid in one spot in the bed and couldn't move her legs at all, and was in so much pain.
The doctor told us they were concerned was a septic infection in one or both of her hip joints, but could also have been a necrosis of her bone due to the prednisone she had been on for croup a few weeks ago (she got hives for several days following the prednisone so we know she had an allergic reaction to it), very low potassium levels causing muscle problems, or another problem with the joint, but they really weren't sure. From the outside, everything looked fine, no swelling, redness, or bruising, so it was clearly something internal vs. an injury.
They x-rayed both of her hips and took tons of blood, and after that gave her morphine for her pain. She'd been awake from 7am until 1am without sleep, so in addition to being in the worst pain of her life, she was exhausted, hungry because we hadn't eaten dinner and they wouldn't let her eat the snacks I had brought for her because they weren't sure if she'd need surgery. She finally fell asleep about an hour after the morphine, and was really out. She fell asleep holding some stickers one of the nurses had given her, like they were her little treasures. I cannot even explain how it felt to see her in so much pain like that, it was the worst feeling ever.
The X-rays ruled out bone necrosis and blood work ruled out low potassium, so they were more convinced it had to be her hip joint, because it was not the bone itself. They decided we needed to be transferred to the bigger hospital that has a more specialized pediatric department. Around 1:30 am the transfer team came to get her and I drove with her in the back of the ambulance. She looked so tiny and sad strapped in the stretcher and I was so glad she slept through the whole transfer and ride. While we were in the ambulance, her blood pressure dropped to 70/40 and because it dipped so low they had to quickly give her some fluid in her IV. Fortunately it quickly came back up, but that was one of the scariest parts of the whole of the whole night.
Once we got to the other hospital, they did ultrasounds of both hips, which she stayed asleep for. After that the orthopedist came to talk to us and said there was fluid found in the ultrasound, which indicated either septic joint or transient toxic synnovitis, but they couldn't be sure which one. Then they did x-rays on both knees, she woke up at that point because it was so painful to bend her knees, but she fell back asleep after. It was about 4am by then and Steve and tried to take sleep as much as we could until about 5am.
Throughout the whole night, there was tons of waiting. We'd have one thing done, then wait for several hours until the next time we saw a doctor. Plenty of nurse visits in between, but they were really just to check on Ella and keep track of all her vitals than to give us any news.
Sometime a little later in the morning the orthopedic surgeon came by and said he thought that from her blood work and ultrasounds, that it was very highly unlikely he would need to do surgery on her, that there was a less than 2% she would need surgery and he seemed really confident she would not. That was really good news and was the first time we started to feel a little better about things.
They took some more blood to check again on her counts and make sure everything looked good, and her blood work was very good again. A few hours after that, they told us we were going to be discharged because she definitely did not have a septic infection. What a relief! Though they were not 100% positive, they were pretty confident it was the transient toxic synnovitis, that is where the joint has fluid and inflammation around it due to a virus, and in many cases patients that have it will have had an upper respiratory infection a few weeks ago, which was exactly the case with Ella since she had croup a few weeks ago. He told us we need to follow up with a specialist but were officially free to leave, and that it should heal on its own with rest and Motrin for pain / inflammation.
We got home, totally exhausted and worn out from lack of sleep, worry, adrenaline, but so very relieved that we were home and grateful that Ella was okay, etc. We've been home the past few days with her and she is doing so much better - she is up and walking around, having fun, and in no pain at all. She has a very different idea of 'resting up' than we do!
This was without question the scariest thing we've been through with Ella - she was in so much pain, we knew something was wrong but had no idea what it was, and we were just so helpless to do anything. I prayed non-stop throughout the night and knew that when we aren't able to do anything, when even the doctors do not know what is wrong, that God was holding Ella in His hand the entire time, and I knew that He would take care of her.
We are so grateful to have been blessed with Ella as our daughter, and I absolutely know what a precious gift health is; this experience certainly confirmed those thoughts. I am one lucky Mommy.
Ella had intermittent leg pain starting last Wednesday, where she could complain that either her knee or her thigh hurt for a little bit, but then she would be fine. On Friday afternoon it was really bothering her and she didn't want to walk on Friday night, so we decided that we'd take her to the doctor on Saturday morning.
The night before this started, Ella threw a legitimate, crazed-toddler tantrum after dinner. Steve gave her the color vitamin that she didn't want, and then when he went to give her the color she wanted instead, she popped the first one in her mouth so then we said she couldn't have the second one. Well, this was the wrong answer and she went berserk. She threw herself on the couch and kicked her legs crazily for about 2-3 minutes. I've never seen anything like it. Because this happened the night before she first complained about her leg, we thought she must have strained a muscle during that crazy outburst.
On Saturday morning, she woke up completely pain-free and was back to normal, so we were convinced that our theory was right and her muscle must have healed itself, and we did not take her to the doctor. She was fine all weekend and we had a great weekend. Monday morning, still fine, but then on Monday afternoon her teacher called to tell me that her leg was really hurting her, and that she had been limping since lunchtime. She didn't sleep at nap time, I'm guessing because she was in so much pain, and after nap time was over, she said she couldn't stand up because her leg hurt so badly. I went and picked her up, and she wasn't crying, but seemed miserable and just wanted to be held. As soon as I got home we decided she couldn't wait until the morning to take her to the doctor, so we headed to the urgent care nearby. The doctor there told us just to take her to the ER because she was in so much pain.
By that point she was in so much pain that just getting her in and out of her car seat was causing her to cry. We got to the ER and while we were in the waiting room, she wanted to be held by one of us while we were standing, not sitting, and would cry out anytime she shifted at all, it seemed that she was in pain in both legs and her torso or ribs. We couldn't even imagine what could be wrong with her, but knew we had never seen her in so much pain, including when she broke her leg and sprained her foot, this was much worse. It took a few hours to get checked into a room and she got worse very quickly during that time. Her legs went completely rigid and she wasn't able to bend her knees at all, even with the doctor trying to force them to bend. She laid in one spot in the bed and couldn't move her legs at all, and was in so much pain.
The doctor told us they were concerned was a septic infection in one or both of her hip joints, but could also have been a necrosis of her bone due to the prednisone she had been on for croup a few weeks ago (she got hives for several days following the prednisone so we know she had an allergic reaction to it), very low potassium levels causing muscle problems, or another problem with the joint, but they really weren't sure. From the outside, everything looked fine, no swelling, redness, or bruising, so it was clearly something internal vs. an injury.
They x-rayed both of her hips and took tons of blood, and after that gave her morphine for her pain. She'd been awake from 7am until 1am without sleep, so in addition to being in the worst pain of her life, she was exhausted, hungry because we hadn't eaten dinner and they wouldn't let her eat the snacks I had brought for her because they weren't sure if she'd need surgery. She finally fell asleep about an hour after the morphine, and was really out. She fell asleep holding some stickers one of the nurses had given her, like they were her little treasures. I cannot even explain how it felt to see her in so much pain like that, it was the worst feeling ever.
The X-rays ruled out bone necrosis and blood work ruled out low potassium, so they were more convinced it had to be her hip joint, because it was not the bone itself. They decided we needed to be transferred to the bigger hospital that has a more specialized pediatric department. Around 1:30 am the transfer team came to get her and I drove with her in the back of the ambulance. She looked so tiny and sad strapped in the stretcher and I was so glad she slept through the whole transfer and ride. While we were in the ambulance, her blood pressure dropped to 70/40 and because it dipped so low they had to quickly give her some fluid in her IV. Fortunately it quickly came back up, but that was one of the scariest parts of the whole of the whole night.
Once we got to the other hospital, they did ultrasounds of both hips, which she stayed asleep for. After that the orthopedist came to talk to us and said there was fluid found in the ultrasound, which indicated either septic joint or transient toxic synnovitis, but they couldn't be sure which one. Then they did x-rays on both knees, she woke up at that point because it was so painful to bend her knees, but she fell back asleep after. It was about 4am by then and Steve and tried to take sleep as much as we could until about 5am.
Throughout the whole night, there was tons of waiting. We'd have one thing done, then wait for several hours until the next time we saw a doctor. Plenty of nurse visits in between, but they were really just to check on Ella and keep track of all her vitals than to give us any news.
Sometime a little later in the morning the orthopedic surgeon came by and said he thought that from her blood work and ultrasounds, that it was very highly unlikely he would need to do surgery on her, that there was a less than 2% she would need surgery and he seemed really confident she would not. That was really good news and was the first time we started to feel a little better about things.
They took some more blood to check again on her counts and make sure everything looked good, and her blood work was very good again. A few hours after that, they told us we were going to be discharged because she definitely did not have a septic infection. What a relief! Though they were not 100% positive, they were pretty confident it was the transient toxic synnovitis, that is where the joint has fluid and inflammation around it due to a virus, and in many cases patients that have it will have had an upper respiratory infection a few weeks ago, which was exactly the case with Ella since she had croup a few weeks ago. He told us we need to follow up with a specialist but were officially free to leave, and that it should heal on its own with rest and Motrin for pain / inflammation.
We got home, totally exhausted and worn out from lack of sleep, worry, adrenaline, but so very relieved that we were home and grateful that Ella was okay, etc. We've been home the past few days with her and she is doing so much better - she is up and walking around, having fun, and in no pain at all. She has a very different idea of 'resting up' than we do!
This was without question the scariest thing we've been through with Ella - she was in so much pain, we knew something was wrong but had no idea what it was, and we were just so helpless to do anything. I prayed non-stop throughout the night and knew that when we aren't able to do anything, when even the doctors do not know what is wrong, that God was holding Ella in His hand the entire time, and I knew that He would take care of her.
We are so grateful to have been blessed with Ella as our daughter, and I absolutely know what a precious gift health is; this experience certainly confirmed those thoughts. I am one lucky Mommy.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
3-year Doctor's Appointment
I took Ella to her 3-year checkup on Monday morning. Since Ella turned 3, she now stood on the scale to get weighed and up against the measuring stick (I'm sure there is a real name for that) to get her height measured, and she even had her blood pressure checked (96/52) for the first time!
She weighs 28.5 lbs which is 20-25th percentile, and she is 36 1/2 inches tall, the 35th-40th percentile. They didn't measure her head this time, so I guess that stops at the 2 year appointment, although I'm sure it would be just as robust as always. She gained more than 3 pounds since her 2-year appointment and grew almost 4 inches, she's getting so big!
She refused to say a single word to the doctor except to tell him that she likes to eat chicken and macaroni and cheese. The appointment was quick and easy though and she needed just one vaccine. She cried but was quite pleased with the band-aid and lollipop that she got after.
I dropped her off at school after her appointment around 10 am, and then because we had snow coming, her school was closing at 3:30 for the day. I went and got her around 3, and she said her arm hurt when I was putting her in her carseat. I was thinking I must have twisted her as I got her in her seat, but then later that night she was complaining about it again. Then it occurred to me that it must have been soreness from the site of her vaccine. She is a real trooper though and in general does not complain about pain unless something is really painful, so we were surprised how badly her arm was hurting from just one shot.
After her bath it looked like she had several small bug bites on her skin that popped up out of her nowhere and she was acting kind of cranky, so we thought she was having a mild reaction to the vaccine. On Tuesday morning she woke up covered in hives. They were all over her body, her face, hands, feet, etc.
I was so scared she was having a severe allergic reaction and called the nurse line since the doctor's office was having a delayed opening because we had some ice overnight. The nurse said she doubted it was from the vaccine but probably from something else, although we hadn't given her anything new to eat or any other changes. Once the doctor's office opened we had several phone calls and the doctor thinks she must be allergic to something in the vaccine, and so we gave her Benadryl every 4 hours and just had to make sure she didn't have any serious signs like changes to her breathing, throat or mouth swelling, etc.
Fortunately nothing like that happened, and it was just the hives, which were really itchy to her, and on Wednesday she woke up with a swollen face and the hives over her eyes were worse so that she couldn't open her eyes all the way. She just looked terrible and we felt so sorry for her. By Wednesday night they were fading a lot and she was acting a lot more like herself, hyper and excited and happy. On Thursday she went back to school and still had the rash and was itchy, but over the weekend she got back to 100% again.
It makes me nervous to know that she has an allergy to something in the vaccine, and I hope it's an isolated case and that whatever the ingredient is, is something so unusual that she'll never come in contact with in normal life.
She weighs 28.5 lbs which is 20-25th percentile, and she is 36 1/2 inches tall, the 35th-40th percentile. They didn't measure her head this time, so I guess that stops at the 2 year appointment, although I'm sure it would be just as robust as always. She gained more than 3 pounds since her 2-year appointment and grew almost 4 inches, she's getting so big!
She refused to say a single word to the doctor except to tell him that she likes to eat chicken and macaroni and cheese. The appointment was quick and easy though and she needed just one vaccine. She cried but was quite pleased with the band-aid and lollipop that she got after.
I dropped her off at school after her appointment around 10 am, and then because we had snow coming, her school was closing at 3:30 for the day. I went and got her around 3, and she said her arm hurt when I was putting her in her carseat. I was thinking I must have twisted her as I got her in her seat, but then later that night she was complaining about it again. Then it occurred to me that it must have been soreness from the site of her vaccine. She is a real trooper though and in general does not complain about pain unless something is really painful, so we were surprised how badly her arm was hurting from just one shot.
After her bath it looked like she had several small bug bites on her skin that popped up out of her nowhere and she was acting kind of cranky, so we thought she was having a mild reaction to the vaccine. On Tuesday morning she woke up covered in hives. They were all over her body, her face, hands, feet, etc.
I was so scared she was having a severe allergic reaction and called the nurse line since the doctor's office was having a delayed opening because we had some ice overnight. The nurse said she doubted it was from the vaccine but probably from something else, although we hadn't given her anything new to eat or any other changes. Once the doctor's office opened we had several phone calls and the doctor thinks she must be allergic to something in the vaccine, and so we gave her Benadryl every 4 hours and just had to make sure she didn't have any serious signs like changes to her breathing, throat or mouth swelling, etc.
Fortunately nothing like that happened, and it was just the hives, which were really itchy to her, and on Wednesday she woke up with a swollen face and the hives over her eyes were worse so that she couldn't open her eyes all the way. She just looked terrible and we felt so sorry for her. By Wednesday night they were fading a lot and she was acting a lot more like herself, hyper and excited and happy. On Thursday she went back to school and still had the rash and was itchy, but over the weekend she got back to 100% again.
It makes me nervous to know that she has an allergy to something in the vaccine, and I hope it's an isolated case and that whatever the ingredient is, is something so unusual that she'll never come in contact with in normal life.
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Rough Week
It has been a rough several days around here. Mom was here visiting last weekend and watched Ella for us on Saturday night. Ella ended up getting sick all night with a stomach bug :(. Poor girl, she really felt horrible. She was sick all day Sunday and Monday, and then once she was just about better, Steve got really sick while I was just feeling moderately sick, and then I got really sick once he was getting better. Uggh, the good thing there was that we both felt the worst on opposite days so the other one was able to take care of Ella. I wasn't sure we'd make it to Thanksgiving but luckily I felt okay on Thursday.
In the meantime, Mom had gone back to Charlotte, and got very sick, it definitely hit her worst of all of us. The reason that all this matters is that we are all waiting for the birth of Erin's baby boy, and of course cannot be around a precious newborn bringing germs with us and risk getting him or Erin sick.
So, Mom has been staying by herself in Charlotte, Glenn ended up having Thanksgiving with Erin and Josh but we didn't get to see him, and Steve, Ella and I would not have been able to go had Erin already had the baby. A very weird week all around. Luckily, things are looking up - we're all getting better, most importantly Erin and the baby are healthy, and we're all ready for his arrival (Erin most of all!)!
In the meantime, Mom had gone back to Charlotte, and got very sick, it definitely hit her worst of all of us. The reason that all this matters is that we are all waiting for the birth of Erin's baby boy, and of course cannot be around a precious newborn bringing germs with us and risk getting him or Erin sick.
So, Mom has been staying by herself in Charlotte, Glenn ended up having Thanksgiving with Erin and Josh but we didn't get to see him, and Steve, Ella and I would not have been able to go had Erin already had the baby. A very weird week all around. Luckily, things are looking up - we're all getting better, most importantly Erin and the baby are healthy, and we're all ready for his arrival (Erin most of all!)!
Monday, May 10, 2010
Rest Time
When I wrote about Ella's first day of school, Steve had picked her up before nap time, so I did not yet know how nap time was going to go. Well. On her 2nd day, she did not sleep at all the entire time. The teacher told Steve that she rested very nicely on her mat the whole time, but didn't fall asleep. Steve picked her up early enough that she was still able to get a nap in for the day, so although it wasn't her normal schedule, she was okay for the rest of the day.
That night I asked her how nap time went and here are some of things she told me:
"Ella, no playing toys now - it's night-night"
"Rest time, fall asleep please"
"Mat is ouchie"
"Ame (= Miss Erin), Ella mat rest time"
Hmm, this sort of revealed to me that Ella was a little more active during rest time than we were imagining. They do sleep on mats, but they look very thick and comfy, but certainly not as good as a crib which is what Ella still sleeps in. But, according to Ella the mat is "ouchie."
On Friday, Ella did not sleep a wink again, and this time a very monstrous Ella came out on Friday night - whew, I can barely even explain how unhappy she was - cranky, shrieky, yelling, whiny, screechy, all at the same time - yikes! We knew she was just totally exhausted by that point.
Until last week, we put Ella down around 9:00 pm for bed time each night, but if she was up later it was no big deal, and she'd always still be happy and cheerful because she'd catch up during naptime the next day. But we decided her pre-school bedtime should be 8pm and we're getting closer and closer to that goal.
Over the weekend I talked to Ella about nap time and how she wasn't falling asleep and what would make it easier for her to fall asleep. And she said "blankie". She has her binky, sheet from her crib, and a blanket from her crib, but it is not her one-and-only blankie that is her true blankie. I had purposely not sent this one because I have a horrible vision of leaving it there one day and then she'll be up all night. I decided to give her a few days into this week and if she was still not sleeping, to come up with some alternate ideas.
After a very rough drop-off this morning (that is a whole other post in itself), I was thinking about Ella all morning and called school around lunch time to check in and see how things were going. Miss Erin told me that Ella was resting very nicely on her mat. I asked her if there are other kids in the class that don't sleep, and she said "yes, there are 2, but they don't rest like Ella. She is TRULY resting - she closes her eyes, lays on her belly, she just doesn't fall asleep." While I was happy she is a good rest-er, I still want her to have the renewing effect of an actual NAP. Then Miss Erin said to me "does Ella have a favorite blanket at home? She is asking for a different blanket."
In about point two milliseconds I decided that blankie is going to school tomorrow and I'll just deal with the consequences later. I might just throw Snoopy in for good measure. I feel bad that I purposely witheld something that I knew would make her more comfortable because I'm trying to 'wean' her from being so reliant on these comfort items. I was planning on pulling the plug on binkie in about 2 weeks but now I'm rethinking that whole idea and feel like I just need to focus on making Ella feel as secure and confident as possible in this time of transition.
At any rate, she did end up falling asleep today at nap time - for about 20 minutes -and then woke up with a fever :(. I was on a call but saw the school's name come up on my caller ID and couldn't get off the phone fast enough. I know the system works though because when I didn't pick up the phone, they called someone else in the office to track me down, which was exactly what I had asked them to do, so I was glad to see that. Erin told me that Ella woke up from her nap very flushed and not wanting to wake up, and she took her temperature and it was 100.8. I know this is certainly not an emergency temperature, but Ella never gets fevers and hasn't been sick in over a year, so I was really worried. I left work to go get her and she definitely did not seem her happy and cheery self. When we were driving home I asked her how school was and she said it was good but said "Mommy, blankie at school please." Sheesh, good thing I had already decided on that one!
She perked up a lot once we got home, but still felt a little warm all night, although she has no other symptoms of anything. I put her down for bed right around 8pm so I'm hoping that a really good night of sleep will be good for her. I will see how she's doing in the morning, hopefully she'll feel the same or better ansd not worse.
First sickness on her 4th day in school, yikes. I knew to expect she'd get sick once she was exposed to all the new school germs, but didn't know it would happen quite so fast. And of course it's not fair to point a finger at 'rest time' for her getting a fever, but so far this rest time has not been a good thing!
That night I asked her how nap time went and here are some of things she told me:
"Ella, no playing toys now - it's night-night"
"Rest time, fall asleep please"
"Mat is ouchie"
"Ame (= Miss Erin), Ella mat rest time"
Hmm, this sort of revealed to me that Ella was a little more active during rest time than we were imagining. They do sleep on mats, but they look very thick and comfy, but certainly not as good as a crib which is what Ella still sleeps in. But, according to Ella the mat is "ouchie."
On Friday, Ella did not sleep a wink again, and this time a very monstrous Ella came out on Friday night - whew, I can barely even explain how unhappy she was - cranky, shrieky, yelling, whiny, screechy, all at the same time - yikes! We knew she was just totally exhausted by that point.
Until last week, we put Ella down around 9:00 pm for bed time each night, but if she was up later it was no big deal, and she'd always still be happy and cheerful because she'd catch up during naptime the next day. But we decided her pre-school bedtime should be 8pm and we're getting closer and closer to that goal.
Over the weekend I talked to Ella about nap time and how she wasn't falling asleep and what would make it easier for her to fall asleep. And she said "blankie". She has her binky, sheet from her crib, and a blanket from her crib, but it is not her one-and-only blankie that is her true blankie. I had purposely not sent this one because I have a horrible vision of leaving it there one day and then she'll be up all night. I decided to give her a few days into this week and if she was still not sleeping, to come up with some alternate ideas.
After a very rough drop-off this morning (that is a whole other post in itself), I was thinking about Ella all morning and called school around lunch time to check in and see how things were going. Miss Erin told me that Ella was resting very nicely on her mat. I asked her if there are other kids in the class that don't sleep, and she said "yes, there are 2, but they don't rest like Ella. She is TRULY resting - she closes her eyes, lays on her belly, she just doesn't fall asleep." While I was happy she is a good rest-er, I still want her to have the renewing effect of an actual NAP. Then Miss Erin said to me "does Ella have a favorite blanket at home? She is asking for a different blanket."
In about point two milliseconds I decided that blankie is going to school tomorrow and I'll just deal with the consequences later. I might just throw Snoopy in for good measure. I feel bad that I purposely witheld something that I knew would make her more comfortable because I'm trying to 'wean' her from being so reliant on these comfort items. I was planning on pulling the plug on binkie in about 2 weeks but now I'm rethinking that whole idea and feel like I just need to focus on making Ella feel as secure and confident as possible in this time of transition.
At any rate, she did end up falling asleep today at nap time - for about 20 minutes -and then woke up with a fever :(. I was on a call but saw the school's name come up on my caller ID and couldn't get off the phone fast enough. I know the system works though because when I didn't pick up the phone, they called someone else in the office to track me down, which was exactly what I had asked them to do, so I was glad to see that. Erin told me that Ella woke up from her nap very flushed and not wanting to wake up, and she took her temperature and it was 100.8. I know this is certainly not an emergency temperature, but Ella never gets fevers and hasn't been sick in over a year, so I was really worried. I left work to go get her and she definitely did not seem her happy and cheery self. When we were driving home I asked her how school was and she said it was good but said "Mommy, blankie at school please." Sheesh, good thing I had already decided on that one!
She perked up a lot once we got home, but still felt a little warm all night, although she has no other symptoms of anything. I put her down for bed right around 8pm so I'm hoping that a really good night of sleep will be good for her. I will see how she's doing in the morning, hopefully she'll feel the same or better ansd not worse.
First sickness on her 4th day in school, yikes. I knew to expect she'd get sick once she was exposed to all the new school germs, but didn't know it would happen quite so fast. And of course it's not fair to point a finger at 'rest time' for her getting a fever, but so far this rest time has not been a good thing!
Sunday, February 28, 2010
No More Boot!
Ella's follow up orthopedist appointment was on Thursday and she'd been acting so comfortable on her leg that I was expecting great news at the doctors office, and we were not disappointed!
She was much more nervous about the X-ray this time than she was at the ER, and looked a little panicky and just wanted to be held. I tried to explain it all to her and told her how easy it was going to be, and once it was over, she told the nurse "EASY!" and was quite proud of herself. Steve was out of town and so Mom came with me, and when we went back in the exam room from the X-ray and she told Mom it was EAS-Y! When the doctor came in, she asked Ella if she could see her leg, and Ella, who was busy playing with toys we had brought, looked at the doctor, tapped her leg and went back to playing...well, she let the doctor "see", right? When she realized the doctor was going to actually need to touch it, and not just look at it, she offered her other foot and took off her shoe and sock on the other foot for her...ha! Eventually the doctor managed to get her hands on the correct leg, and Ella didn't flinch at all, no matter where she pushed. She said the X-ray looked perfect, and that she is completely healed!
So, she is done with the boot - I had her shoe in my purse and she was so excited to see it and get to put it back on, and walked a little funny at first but quickly got back to normal. She still says "ow" and points to her leg, but she sometimes points to the wrong leg, so I think she's just remembering that she had the boot and had an 'ow', because it definitely seems that she is in no pain at all.
We took a short walk with Cory yesterday and then a long one today, it's so nice for her to be able to be mobile again outside. And we'll go back to gymnastics next weekend. I still need to get the courage up to take her to the playground again. Of course she's been there many times before this and nothing has happened, but I still feel a little bit nervous about it.
A few pics from the past few days -
I'm so happy that she is healed and we successfully survived her first broken bone. What a little champ we have!!
She was much more nervous about the X-ray this time than she was at the ER, and looked a little panicky and just wanted to be held. I tried to explain it all to her and told her how easy it was going to be, and once it was over, she told the nurse "EASY!" and was quite proud of herself. Steve was out of town and so Mom came with me, and when we went back in the exam room from the X-ray and she told Mom it was EAS-Y! When the doctor came in, she asked Ella if she could see her leg, and Ella, who was busy playing with toys we had brought, looked at the doctor, tapped her leg and went back to playing...well, she let the doctor "see", right? When she realized the doctor was going to actually need to touch it, and not just look at it, she offered her other foot and took off her shoe and sock on the other foot for her...ha! Eventually the doctor managed to get her hands on the correct leg, and Ella didn't flinch at all, no matter where she pushed. She said the X-ray looked perfect, and that she is completely healed!
So, she is done with the boot - I had her shoe in my purse and she was so excited to see it and get to put it back on, and walked a little funny at first but quickly got back to normal. She still says "ow" and points to her leg, but she sometimes points to the wrong leg, so I think she's just remembering that she had the boot and had an 'ow', because it definitely seems that she is in no pain at all.
We took a short walk with Cory yesterday and then a long one today, it's so nice for her to be able to be mobile again outside. And we'll go back to gymnastics next weekend. I still need to get the courage up to take her to the playground again. Of course she's been there many times before this and nothing has happened, but I still feel a little bit nervous about it.
A few pics from the past few days -
I'm so happy that she is healed and we successfully survived her first broken bone. What a little champ we have!!
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Great Strides!
Ella made amazing strides (pun intended!) with her leg this weekend. On Friday she still wasn't standing on it, and Friday night Steve had the idea to do a movie night. We kept telling Ella how fun it was going to be and after bath we put her on the couch and she grabbed the remote and was ready to go!
Popcorn! (or dap-dap as Ella calls it)
It was so nice - she sat right in between us on the couch and we watched a cartoon movie, it was so fun snuggling and relaxing with her for the night.
On Saturday she stood up on her leg early in the morning, and by Saturday afternoon she was walking on it. She started pretty hesitantly and was walking with a kind of stutter-step where she'd step ahead with her good foot, pull her left foot even with her front foot, and kept leading with her good foot. A few hours later though she was walking fluidly and almost just like normal, except with the boot.
We didn't give her Motrin all day because I didn't want her to do too much on it if she couldn't feel it, and she did great.
Here she is, up to her old tricks!!
This video is so funny - I was wanting to get a clip of Ella walking but Steve started vacuuming upstairs right when I started filming, and this shows her reaction when it comes to the vacuum!
We had some friends come to visit for the weekend and it was fun to catch up with them for a few days. Valentine's Day was Sunday, Ella and I got some treats from our Valentine, and Ella made an adorable craft at church. A few Valentine's pics -
She continues to do great and this morning she walked down the stairs for the first time. She's getting better so quickly which is just awesome to see!
Popcorn! (or dap-dap as Ella calls it)
It was so nice - she sat right in between us on the couch and we watched a cartoon movie, it was so fun snuggling and relaxing with her for the night.
On Saturday she stood up on her leg early in the morning, and by Saturday afternoon she was walking on it. She started pretty hesitantly and was walking with a kind of stutter-step where she'd step ahead with her good foot, pull her left foot even with her front foot, and kept leading with her good foot. A few hours later though she was walking fluidly and almost just like normal, except with the boot.
We didn't give her Motrin all day because I didn't want her to do too much on it if she couldn't feel it, and she did great.
Here she is, up to her old tricks!!
This video is so funny - I was wanting to get a clip of Ella walking but Steve started vacuuming upstairs right when I started filming, and this shows her reaction when it comes to the vacuum!
We had some friends come to visit for the weekend and it was fun to catch up with them for a few days. Valentine's Day was Sunday, Ella and I got some treats from our Valentine, and Ella made an adorable craft at church. A few Valentine's pics -
She continues to do great and this morning she walked down the stairs for the first time. She's getting better so quickly which is just awesome to see!
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
She's Crawling!
Ella is doing so well with her leg. She can't stand yet, but is scooting around a lot and tonight was crawling all over the place laughing hysterically. She does not complain about it AT ALL. She will occasionally do something that hurts it, and then she makes this heartbreaking little face where her lip quivers and she fights back tears and puts out her arms to be picked up. But other than that, she is just her happy cheery self and continues to amaze us with her attitude.
She had a very bad night of sleep on Monday night, and was awake from 3:30 am - 4:15 am - I think she must have woken up, forgot it was hurt and stood up on it, because she really cried and we woke up to her screaming :(. Poor little thing. Last night she slept right through, which we were so glad about it. We're still giving her Motrin during the day and before bed, but it really seems that when she's sitting she's really comfortable and doesn't even notice it.
Here's the sweet girl on her favorite perch, the kitchen counter
She had a very bad night of sleep on Monday night, and was awake from 3:30 am - 4:15 am - I think she must have woken up, forgot it was hurt and stood up on it, because she really cried and we woke up to her screaming :(. Poor little thing. Last night she slept right through, which we were so glad about it. We're still giving her Motrin during the day and before bed, but it really seems that when she's sitting she's really comfortable and doesn't even notice it.
Here's the sweet girl on her favorite perch, the kitchen counter
Monday, February 8, 2010
First Broken Bone
So, this is definitely one "first" that I wish I was not writing about. Our sweet little angel has a fractured tibia :(.
I took her to the playground yesterday afternoon and we were on the steps climbing up to the big slide, which we'd done several times in a row already, and Ella fell backwards off a step, just several inches high, and on to the metal platform below. It was a small distance, but she twisted and fell pretty hard, and really hit the step below. The way she was crying I knew she was really hurt - she screamed and screamed. And in a way-to-make-me-feel-even-worse, she wailed "I - WANT - DADDY"...I did get her to settle down after about 5 minutes and asked her if she wanted to keep playing or go home. She said 'home', which was my first sign that something was really wrong. She seemed really down in the car ride home, and when I brought her in the house she would not put any weight at all on her leg and just wanted to be held. She sat with me on the couch for a while which she never does, I was thinking she was really shaken up and scared still. I fed her dinner and gave her a bath, and every time she was sitting in one place she was so happy and content, but still just refused to put any weight on it. My final diagnosis occurred in the playroom because she always has a million things to do in there and I was sure she'd start moving around. But she didn't, she just stayed in one place and scooted around a little, but still wouldn't stand. At that point I called our pediatrician after-hours service and the nurse said we should bring her to the ER.
There are several hospitals in the area, one of them is only about 15 minutes away, but there is a Children's ER at one about 45 minutes away, and that is the one she told us to go to. We got there around 9pm and were there until after midnight. I could write a twenty-page essay on the ER experience, which I will spare you, but the final result was that the first reading of the Xray showed a fracture, but they could not conclusively decide, and told us to go home and if she was still unable to bear weight after a night of sleep, to get her in to see an orthopedist today. Ella was such an amazing sport the entire night - she was up from 3:00 pm until 12:30 pm and didn't have a meltdown once - she was sweet and snuggly and just wanted to be held the whole time.
This morning she woke up and was the same, so I made an appointment for this afternoon with an orthopedist that was referred by our pediatrician. After making the appointment, a nurse from the ER called and said that there had been a mistake when they read her Xray and we should not have been discharged without having set her leg, and that we needed to come back in to the ER today to be seen again - like I was going to repeat that experience on a weekday when there are doctor's offices open!! I said thank you but we'd already made our own arrangements and would be taking care of it ourselves. Hmph.
I finally felt that things were well handled this afternoon, and the orthopedist office was great. The doctor was wonderful and was able to point out the fracture on the Xray so that we were even able to see it. It is a buckle fracture, on the tibia which is the larger of the bones in the lower leg, right above her ankle. She explained that the way she must have landed on it very hard caused the bone to actually buckle into a little horseshoe shape. Ella was so brave during the appointment and when the doctor pressed on the spot where the fracture was she just buried her head in my chest and whimpered but didn't even cry. She is a little champ.
The doctor said she was going to need a plaster cast (I chose purple which I thought Ella would like) but then came back in with this lady who fits children for walking casts and said that they did have one small enough for Ella. That was a small miracle and we were so happy with the change in plans. It is like a boot cast that we can take off to give her a bath, and will be much more comfortable for her than a plaster cast. She will need to wear it for 3 weeks and then we'll take her back for another Xray and assuming it's healed, she'll be able to stop wearing it. The doctor said that little kids' bones are so much more resilient than adults and that the same injury on an adult would take 8-12 weeks to heal (but I guess this also explains why theirs break easier as well).
We got home around 5pm, almost exactly 24 hours after she fell - 24 hours I am very glad are past us. Ella is such a trooper and has once again made me feel incredibly proud to be her mom. It is so hard not be thinking that I somehow failed her, and the 'what-if' I could have done differently and maybe she wouldn't have fallen. But I know that's not productive and we just need to make the best of it now that it's happened and focus on taking good care of her. She won't be able to go to Little Gym for the next 4 weeks and is really going to be limited in her activity - she's watched more TV in the past day then she has in the last 6 months, and I'm thinking at least the next week or so will be the same. She loves books so we've read a lot and she does play in one place and hopefully she'll be feeling better each day and will want to play more and more. It's hard to think of things to do in just one place because she's alwasy so busy and plays outside a lot, but we'll do our best to come up with things to keep her busy and happy.
I am sure I'll be writing more about this the next few weeks so I'll wrap up here for now because this is already very long, definitely not the abridged version! Here are a few pictures of my sweet little angel in her "Wee Walker".
Her boot
Taking Motrin, which she really likes the taste of!
How is she still so darn cute, even after the day she has had??
Cheerful on the couch before bedtime
My poor little girl!!!
I took her to the playground yesterday afternoon and we were on the steps climbing up to the big slide, which we'd done several times in a row already, and Ella fell backwards off a step, just several inches high, and on to the metal platform below. It was a small distance, but she twisted and fell pretty hard, and really hit the step below. The way she was crying I knew she was really hurt - she screamed and screamed. And in a way-to-make-me-feel-even-worse, she wailed "I - WANT - DADDY"...I did get her to settle down after about 5 minutes and asked her if she wanted to keep playing or go home. She said 'home', which was my first sign that something was really wrong. She seemed really down in the car ride home, and when I brought her in the house she would not put any weight at all on her leg and just wanted to be held. She sat with me on the couch for a while which she never does, I was thinking she was really shaken up and scared still. I fed her dinner and gave her a bath, and every time she was sitting in one place she was so happy and content, but still just refused to put any weight on it. My final diagnosis occurred in the playroom because she always has a million things to do in there and I was sure she'd start moving around. But she didn't, she just stayed in one place and scooted around a little, but still wouldn't stand. At that point I called our pediatrician after-hours service and the nurse said we should bring her to the ER.
There are several hospitals in the area, one of them is only about 15 minutes away, but there is a Children's ER at one about 45 minutes away, and that is the one she told us to go to. We got there around 9pm and were there until after midnight. I could write a twenty-page essay on the ER experience, which I will spare you, but the final result was that the first reading of the Xray showed a fracture, but they could not conclusively decide, and told us to go home and if she was still unable to bear weight after a night of sleep, to get her in to see an orthopedist today. Ella was such an amazing sport the entire night - she was up from 3:00 pm until 12:30 pm and didn't have a meltdown once - she was sweet and snuggly and just wanted to be held the whole time.
This morning she woke up and was the same, so I made an appointment for this afternoon with an orthopedist that was referred by our pediatrician. After making the appointment, a nurse from the ER called and said that there had been a mistake when they read her Xray and we should not have been discharged without having set her leg, and that we needed to come back in to the ER today to be seen again - like I was going to repeat that experience on a weekday when there are doctor's offices open!! I said thank you but we'd already made our own arrangements and would be taking care of it ourselves. Hmph.
I finally felt that things were well handled this afternoon, and the orthopedist office was great. The doctor was wonderful and was able to point out the fracture on the Xray so that we were even able to see it. It is a buckle fracture, on the tibia which is the larger of the bones in the lower leg, right above her ankle. She explained that the way she must have landed on it very hard caused the bone to actually buckle into a little horseshoe shape. Ella was so brave during the appointment and when the doctor pressed on the spot where the fracture was she just buried her head in my chest and whimpered but didn't even cry. She is a little champ.
The doctor said she was going to need a plaster cast (I chose purple which I thought Ella would like) but then came back in with this lady who fits children for walking casts and said that they did have one small enough for Ella. That was a small miracle and we were so happy with the change in plans. It is like a boot cast that we can take off to give her a bath, and will be much more comfortable for her than a plaster cast. She will need to wear it for 3 weeks and then we'll take her back for another Xray and assuming it's healed, she'll be able to stop wearing it. The doctor said that little kids' bones are so much more resilient than adults and that the same injury on an adult would take 8-12 weeks to heal (but I guess this also explains why theirs break easier as well).
We got home around 5pm, almost exactly 24 hours after she fell - 24 hours I am very glad are past us. Ella is such a trooper and has once again made me feel incredibly proud to be her mom. It is so hard not be thinking that I somehow failed her, and the 'what-if' I could have done differently and maybe she wouldn't have fallen. But I know that's not productive and we just need to make the best of it now that it's happened and focus on taking good care of her. She won't be able to go to Little Gym for the next 4 weeks and is really going to be limited in her activity - she's watched more TV in the past day then she has in the last 6 months, and I'm thinking at least the next week or so will be the same. She loves books so we've read a lot and she does play in one place and hopefully she'll be feeling better each day and will want to play more and more. It's hard to think of things to do in just one place because she's alwasy so busy and plays outside a lot, but we'll do our best to come up with things to keep her busy and happy.
I am sure I'll be writing more about this the next few weeks so I'll wrap up here for now because this is already very long, definitely not the abridged version! Here are a few pictures of my sweet little angel in her "Wee Walker".
Her boot
Taking Motrin, which she really likes the taste of!
How is she still so darn cute, even after the day she has had??
Cheerful on the couch before bedtime
My poor little girl!!!
Monday, January 11, 2010
2 Year Doctor's Appointment
We took Ella for her 2 year doctor's appointment on Wednesday morning. It was pretty quick and easy. Ella weighs 25 lbs, 3 ounces; and is 32 3/4 inches long - both between 25th - 30th percentile. And her robust noggin is in the 70th percentile :).
Everything looks good, she's such a healthy girl which I am so very grateful for. She just needed 2 shots, including her 2nd H1N1 vaccine, and although she cried from the shots she calmed down really quickly and we were happily on our way with a dum-dum from the receptionist!
The little patient
Everything looks good, she's such a healthy girl which I am so very grateful for. She just needed 2 shots, including her 2nd H1N1 vaccine, and although she cried from the shots she calmed down really quickly and we were happily on our way with a dum-dum from the receptionist!
The little patient
Monday, November 9, 2009
No Fun
Ella has somehow caught a virus called Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease, which is thankfully much less serious than it sounds, but still no fun at all.
She has blisters on her hands and feet and some in her mouth but we can't see them because she won't really let us look in there. Apparently it's a really common childhood disease that adults really don't catch because we've got the antibodies against it. The doctor's office said not to bring her in because she's acting okay and doesn't have a fever, and to just give her cool easy foods to eat and lots of fluids. Her favorite so far has been juice popsicles and she's even learned to say "pop" for the occasion.
For the most part she's acting okay but has been cranky off and on. And tonight she did say "toes ow" and pointed to her blisters, and sometimes she'll be opening her mouth really wide to smile or laugh and then will say "ow" and close it.
Here's the little patient managing to have some fun
Poor little girl, I hope she feels back to normal soon!!
She has blisters on her hands and feet and some in her mouth but we can't see them because she won't really let us look in there. Apparently it's a really common childhood disease that adults really don't catch because we've got the antibodies against it. The doctor's office said not to bring her in because she's acting okay and doesn't have a fever, and to just give her cool easy foods to eat and lots of fluids. Her favorite so far has been juice popsicles and she's even learned to say "pop" for the occasion.
For the most part she's acting okay but has been cranky off and on. And tonight she did say "toes ow" and pointed to her blisters, and sometimes she'll be opening her mouth really wide to smile or laugh and then will say "ow" and close it.
Here's the little patient managing to have some fun
Poor little girl, I hope she feels back to normal soon!!
Thursday, July 9, 2009
18 Month Check-Up
Ella had her 18-month doctor's appointment yesterday. I thought she's seemed a lot taller lately, and she had grown several inches (the nurse measured her twice to make sure) and is now 31 1/2 inches, which is the 35th percentile! For her weight, she's 22 lbs 4 oz which is the 20th percentile, pretty much right where she was last time, and her robust noggin is in the 60th percentile.
She was very polite to the doctor, showed him the book she was looking at and said a little bit to him, until he dared to pull out the stethescope and had the nerve to actually touch her with it! At that point her niceties ended and she was all business...
In the category of 'what a big girl', her vaccine was in her arm this time. The nurse said we could choose her arm or leg but arm is easier for them because they're not bearing their weight on it all day, so I had to sit her in my lap and hold her hands while she got the shot...luckily it was just one. Of course she wailed for that one, but as expected. She managed to cheer up pretty quickly though and on the way out the nurse said bye and Ella even conjured up a weak little bye and a wave in return.
Here is a shot of her first-ever arm bandaid, and Ella looking like a sad little patient
A little Sammy-therapy goes a long way!
She was very polite to the doctor, showed him the book she was looking at and said a little bit to him, until he dared to pull out the stethescope and had the nerve to actually touch her with it! At that point her niceties ended and she was all business...
In the category of 'what a big girl', her vaccine was in her arm this time. The nurse said we could choose her arm or leg but arm is easier for them because they're not bearing their weight on it all day, so I had to sit her in my lap and hold her hands while she got the shot...luckily it was just one. Of course she wailed for that one, but as expected. She managed to cheer up pretty quickly though and on the way out the nurse said bye and Ella even conjured up a weak little bye and a wave in return.
Here is a shot of her first-ever arm bandaid, and Ella looking like a sad little patient
A little Sammy-therapy goes a long way!
Monday, April 6, 2009
15 month check-up
This morning we took Ella to the doctor for her fifteen month check-up. This Saturday the gymnastics theme was "Patience please, because we have our agenda and they have theirs" - truer words have never been spoken!
Ella wanted nothing to do with the appointment from start to finish. From getting weighed, to her head measured, you would've thought they were torturing her. She happily sat in my lap and talked while we talked to the doctor, but as soon as it was time to actually touch her, she just cried and cried. And she was clinging to me and trying to hide her head in my chest, it was so sad. But of course none of it hurt, she was just afraid for some reason. Luckily there was just one vaccine and she cried, but by that point we didn't expect anything else. Poor little lady :(, we felt so bad for her.
In checkup news, she weighs 20 lbs 12 oz (so she has broken the 20th percentile in weight!) and is 29 1/2 inches long (25th percentile) - and of course her head is holding steady at the 50th percentile. We talked about how she is still not walking and he said that she's still in the "normal" range, but defintely on the tail end of it...and that if she's not walking in a month to call him. He said she's clearly able to walk, but is "electing not to" because she already has such a fast way to get around.
We also askked about her eating which seems to be so picky and irregular but he said to think about it as a 48 hour window and as long as she gets a balanced diet over the 48 hours, don't get too worried about meal-to-meal, so that's good. Steve managed to give her a good serving of peas for dinner tonight, which always feels like a little victory. Overall she got a great bill of health and except for the doctor's office clearly not being "on her agenda", it went fine. I'm glad we've got 3more months though before it's time to go back (if all goes well)!!
Here she is this morning, blissfully ignorant of what lay ahead...
Ella wanted nothing to do with the appointment from start to finish. From getting weighed, to her head measured, you would've thought they were torturing her. She happily sat in my lap and talked while we talked to the doctor, but as soon as it was time to actually touch her, she just cried and cried. And she was clinging to me and trying to hide her head in my chest, it was so sad. But of course none of it hurt, she was just afraid for some reason. Luckily there was just one vaccine and she cried, but by that point we didn't expect anything else. Poor little lady :(, we felt so bad for her.
In checkup news, she weighs 20 lbs 12 oz (so she has broken the 20th percentile in weight!) and is 29 1/2 inches long (25th percentile) - and of course her head is holding steady at the 50th percentile. We talked about how she is still not walking and he said that she's still in the "normal" range, but defintely on the tail end of it...and that if she's not walking in a month to call him. He said she's clearly able to walk, but is "electing not to" because she already has such a fast way to get around.
We also askked about her eating which seems to be so picky and irregular but he said to think about it as a 48 hour window and as long as she gets a balanced diet over the 48 hours, don't get too worried about meal-to-meal, so that's good. Steve managed to give her a good serving of peas for dinner tonight, which always feels like a little victory. Overall she got a great bill of health and except for the doctor's office clearly not being "on her agenda", it went fine. I'm glad we've got 3more months though before it's time to go back (if all goes well)!!
Here she is this morning, blissfully ignorant of what lay ahead...
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