Angelica's 3 Year Checkup

It just occurred to me that I totally missed out on posting about the complete debacle Angelica's three year well kid check-up!

I alluded in a post a few weeks ago that Angelica wound up going to the doctor for nursemaid's elbow. She was roughhousing with another kid at daycare and he yanked her arm. That was June 1st. On June 7th, she had her well kid checkup. As you can imagine, the fact that those two dates were so close together did not bode well for her well check-up.

Let me elaborate. When I called the pediatrician on June 1st, after picking up Angelica, who was very much in pain, from daycare, she immediately knew what it was and said to just bring her on over and they'd fix her. If you've ever been through Nursemaid's Elbow before, you know it's usually a ten second procedure and the kid walks away like nothing ever happened, right? So that's what the doctor thought she was getting herself into.

Apparently, that doctor had never met Angelica.

To make a long story short (and skip over the copious amount of screaming which took place that day)...three hours later...including a round of x-rays (which came back normal) Angelica was still screaming bloody murder and refusing to use her arm. The doctor said to just go home, give her some ibuprofen, let her rest, and see if she started using her arm again.

No sooner did we walk in the door did Angelica walk over to the cat, grab her with both arms, and give her a piledriver head first into the ground. Drama queen, much? She was totally fine...like nothing ever happened.

When her appointment rolled around on the 7th, I was fully prepared for her to freak out. And freak out she did. As soon as we pulled into the parking lot, she knew. she started screaming her head off, yelling "NO! I JUST WANNA GO HOME! JUST TAKE ME HOME MOMMY!" I wound up carrying her into the appointment over my shoulder like a sack of potatoes...except this sack of potatoes was repeatedly kicking me in the stomach.

We walked in the office, and Angelica stopped mid-scream and said "Mommy, there's a fishy in there!" (The pediatrician's office has two fish tanks in the lobby.) They also had Curious George on the TV, and that's her current obsession, so she sat and happily watched...

Ten seconds later they called her back and the screaming started again.

Let's just say that we didn't get to weigh her. We didn't get her height. The doctor commented that I should get her in gymnastics because of the ways she was able to contort her body. She also commented on how strong her lungs were and how keen her speech was (since there was a lot of "Go away mommy! Don't touch me! Leave me alone! I want to go home!" being yelled). I'm pretty sure if I were a worse parent, Angelica would have been screaming some four letter words at the doctor.

I did mention to the doctor that we weighed her at home and she was 27 pounds. That put her in the 10th-25th percentile, which is one higher than she was at age 2, when she was 22 pounds and just barely in the 5th percentile. The doctor was happy with that.

The most ridiculous part was when they were trying to weigh her. She screamed and screamed and then, as if we didn't already know she was upset, forced herself to scream louder.

Lest anyone thing I have no compassion for what my little girl was going through...I felt awful. We had tried to prepare for the appointment by talking about what would happen. We even watched a Sesame Street podcast where Grover goes to the doctor for a checkup. I told her that it would be okay and this time it wouldn't hurt (which turned out to be a lie,  since she got a vaccine)...but it just didn't stick. She was overwhelmed. All I could do was just hold her and rock her and tell her she was doing great. She pretty much screamed through all of that, too, so I don't know if she heard me.

After the shot, the doctor kicked us out for being so loud wished us a good evening and said she'd see us in a year.

Let's hope between now and then she doesn't get sick again and forgets all about the ordeal. Maybe next time she'll actually like the doctor.

If not, I'll bring a pair of earplugs for the doctor.

Angelica's trip to Arnold Palmer

Just a little update following our visit to Arnold Palmer children's hospital today for Angelica's kidney/bladder testing. We got there around 8:30 this morning (okay, we were scheduled for 8:30 but those of you who know me know we didn't actually get there until around 8:50) and finally got seen at around 9:30 and were completely done by about 11:30.

The first test they did was a VCUG, which required yet another catheterization (good times...that part in and of itself took about a half hour because she's so young and was so incredibly upset, they couldn't get the catheter in until about five people had tried five times...even though they did restrain her...the actual test took about 5 minutes once she was catheterized). During this test, they found that she has a condition called vesicoureteral reflux...essentially, her bladder is refluxing back up to both kidneys. On the right side, it's grade III reflux, and on the left, it's grade II reflux (they rate it on a scale of I to V). Also, on the right side, she's got something called a duplicated system. Essentially, her bladder is refluxing back up to both kidneys. On the right side, it's grade III reflux, and on the left, it's grade II reflux (they rate it on a scale of I to V). Also, on the right side, she's got something called a duplicated system. Essentially, she's got two tubes coming from her kidney instead of one. They fuse together right before they reach her bladder. They think she may also have it on the left side, but had to send the urology films off for further review. Nevertheless, this is what caused her UTI about a month and a half ago.

The second test was just a renal ultrasound, which still made her completely miserable but was thankfully much quicker and less invasive.

So, the plan from here is to put her back on prophylactic antibiotics and after the holidays we'll go visit a pediatric urologist (we have to wait to get the referral before we can schedule it). Her pediatrician told me that in most cases, kids outgrow it the reflux, but the duplicated system is something that may or may not require surgery (which is why we have to see the urologist).

Anyway, the good news is that all of this sounds a lot worse than it is, and she's going to be fine. The bad news is that it means more tests that are going to make her unhappy and uncomfortable. (Also the prospect of surgery and dealing with insurance crap...never fun.)

Also, interestingly enough, as I was reading up on the condition, I learned that this problem happens more commonly in girls than boys, and also more commonly in girls who have red hair. Also, not that we're currently planning on having future children, the condition is genetic and any siblings she may have will have a 1 in 3 chance of also having the condition.

The nice people at Arnold Palmer also gave her two beanie babies which she loves :)

So, that's the update for now. Will post more updates when we have them.

Hope everyone has a happy holiday!

Mommy Moment #4/Angelica's 6 month checkup

15 pounds, 7 ounces, and 26 1/2 inches of pure spitfire. Still 50th percentile in weight and head size, but 80th in height. Tall, skinny, with a normal-sized head. She's perfect!

She screamed through her shots, as usual. She's been to the pediatrician so much in the past couple of months that she knows it's going to be a bad time the minute we walk in the door, so she was angry before it even began. But, when it was all over, she went to daycare and had a great time, acting like her normal self.

I was reflecting this evening on the past six months as I packed up the remainder of her now too-small clothes in the 3-6 month size. (always a tough milestone for me, it means she's growing up). I remember her being only a few days old, and asking questions about this and that...everyone told me "It gets easier at 6 weeks." Six weeks!?, I thought...I couldn't grasp the concept of her being six weeks old. especially being as sleep deprived as I was, with a colicky baby! And now here she is, 6 months.

I had a dream last night that I was talking to a pregnant friend (Hi Cara!) and telling her that when her baby is a newborn, she is going to be so overwhelmed by how much he's going to need to be held...and how much she's going to want to put him down! I know that's how I felt when Angelica was still teeny tiny and very needy. Now that she's bigger, she's not cuddly at all and I MISS those days so much. Between the time I spend away from her at work and her new-found abilities (crawling, pulling up to standing, etc) there's not much cuddling to be had. Part of me would give anything to go back to the zero to six weeks phase, where all I did was snuggle my baby.

Truth be told, though, so far every stage has been precious and wonderful, especially in hindsight (I've found as a parent, I tend to look at the past with rose-colored glasses). Her first cry, her first smile, her first laugh, her first crawl, her first time sitting up...the first time she reached for a toy...the first time she reached for me...I feel lucky that I haven't missed any of these things, even though I am a working mom. I'm lonely a lot for the early days when I was with her 24/7, but even now the time we spend is so precious, and I know I'm doing her the benefit of being a good role model (meaning, showing her that women can have it all...careers, family...they just have to work extra hard to balance it all!) But I would give anything to have one more day to just pick her little 8 pound body up and bring her to bed and snuggle.

So I take the moments as they come and try to be as present in those moments as I can. Babies grow so fast; once they've moved on from a stage, you can never go back. Every stage is a challenge, but is also completely wonderful and fulfilling to experience. So wonderful that sometimes I contemplate what it'd be like to do it all over again (and then I slap myself in the face and return to reality)!

Until you actually have a baby, though, there is no possible way to fully understand this.

Angelica updates...doctor visit, milestones, and more!

First of all, we had a follow-up with the pediatrician today about Angelica's UTI. We won't know if the infection is gone until probably Wednesday, but the poor thing broke my heart, screaming during the catheter again. She's still at 15 1/2 pounds...one week shy of her half-birthday!

The screaming she was doing sounded even worse because the two of us are fighting terrible colds. She came down with it last Monday and I started coming down with it last Tuesday. I think I'm finally starting to get better, and so is she, but it's been miserable the past few days. Just miserable.

And now for.........milestones!

I will have pictures of this to add later on (probably tonight), but our little angel is standing! About 2 weeks ago, I was sitting on the floor with her, and she lunged forward and grabbed the edge of exersaucer and pulled herself to standing. Then all weekend, whenever I'd try to sit her down, she'd get rigid and demand to stand up. So I put her next to the coffee table and she just held on and stood there...kind of cruised for a couple of steps but then fell onto her butt. The coffee table which is too tall for her to pull herself up on, but she can still reach up and hold on if I help...it's about mouth-level for her, so she can hold herself up and gum on the edge of it.

She also braced herself up against the edge of the pack & play, which didn't have anything to hold on to. She just put her hands against the mesh and used her legs and balanced...for a good five minutes probably!

Finally, we are probably going to have a tooth any day now. She has become a biter...she bites and chews on just about everything from her toys to the nipple on her bottle, to her own fingers.

Only 5 more days to her half-birthday. My how the time flies!

Angelica's first trip to the late night pediatrician

We had to run Angelica over to AfterHours for the first time last night. When I picked her up from daycare, she felt a little warm...I thought maybe it was because she was in their swing snuggling with a fleece blanket. So when we got home and she was still really warm, I was surprised.

So I took her temperature under the arm...101.1. Yikes. So then I did the dreaded rectal temperature....103.5! Yikes! So off to AfterHours we went.

(I have no idea how she could have had a temp. that high and nobody at daycare noticed. But we won't go into that rant.)

Three hours, one blood draw, one catheterization, one dose of Tylenol and two shots of antibiotics later we had our diagnosis. She has a UTI. Poor baby!!

Her screaming while being held down for the tests nearly killed me. After each one I would rock her to sleep but she would wake up to more torture.

She's better today...still a bit of a temp but overall in better spirits. We got a script to pick up more antibiotics and get her rechecked in 10 days.

We did get complemented last night on how calm we were...the nurses said there was no way we were first time parents. I try hard not to panic in front of the baby because I don't want her to pick up on it and feel worse, but I was scared over how high that temp was.

Anyway, it's time for me to drag myself to get ready for work after a long night...

[Edit] In my haste, I forgot to mention that she got weighed yesterday...15 1/2 pounds! WOW! She was only 14 lbs 4 oz a month and a half ago. This also means she's essentially reached the "doubling her birthweight" benchmark (15.6lbs is double her birthweight). Wow!!

Angelica's 4 Month Checkup!

As promised, here's the update from Angelica's checkup today!

In good news, she's still falling right along her growth curve. She was 13 pounds, 6 ounces (50th percentile), 25 inches (80th percentile) and had a 16 inch head (50th percentile). So she's still tall and skinny with an average sized head.

The doctor was amazed at her development so far. She was very impressed by how well she holds her head up and can flip herself over...she said she'd never seen a baby do that well at only 4 months. (Little does she know, Angelica's been doing that for about a month...my girly's always gonna be ahead of the curve physically it seems).

She got her vaccinations and cracked the nurse up afterward by shooting her a dirty look. The nurse said she doesn't usually get dirty looks like that from kids until their 12 month shots.

In bad news...about a week ago, one of the daycare people noticed one of her eyes was a little swollen. I checked it out and noticed that she had a tiny lump just below her eyebrow. I asked the pediatrician about it today and she checked it out and says it seems to be a cyst...she thinks it's probably benign (she said not to worry about it being cancer or anything because it's not), but referred us to a pediatric neurosurgeon to have it checked out nevertheless. Her vision is fine, and she said it's probably on the bone and not on the eye, but if it grows it could compromise her vision. So, I've been trying to call and schedule an appointment with the place they referred us to today but I've been getting a runaround. Who knew it'd be so hard just to schedule an appointment??

Anyway, that's the update for now! She's finally sleeping after fussing pretty much all morning and early afternoon, and I'm finally getting to eat something. And now I'm going to go do some work.