Six Month Checkup
Greetings to everyone.
Today was likely the most challenging for Xavier for this busy week. He woke about 5:30 wanting to eat, though he was not loud about it. He lay in his crib, softly cooing and sucking his fingers.
I got up to feed him, giving Rebecca a much-needed break. After, he and I dialed in to work (I took the day off because of the six month exam and the closing, but thought to use the morning to log a few more hours). As Xavier and I studied the problem I worked on, I turned to him after stepping through the debugger a few times.
"You have a busy day today," I explained. Then I proceeded to tell him what was on the agenda. I did not hide or sugar-coat his doctor visit and his shots and possible blood draw. I told him right after we had to go to a closing which would take a few hours. I then asked him if he thought he could help us out by holding off on any meltdown until after the closing. He cooed his agreement to try. What a trooper! He held to our agreement, and further extended us grace to make an unscheduled stop after the closing.
He held up well in the doctor's office until the shots were given to him. He complained and broke down loudly and with piercing wails, but who can blame him? The two nurses were much better practiced at giving simultaneous shots than the two he had last time. He got five shots today: two in each thigh and one in his left arm.
One of his shots was his RSV shot, a monthly shot he gets the next six months. Another shot was unexpected: a flu shot. Dr. Abbey gave the flu shot in place of the third Hepatitis B, which he will get at 9 months. The flu shot went into his arm.
As expected, Xavier had blood drawn. This was not fun for him. The same two nurses could not find a vein in either arm. They left to find another nurse known for her ability to "get the job done." She did. She came in, held Xavier a little to renew their acquaintance, then immediately found a vein in his left arm. A few minutes later the catheter was inserted and vials of blood collected. Xavier got an Iron Man bandaid to hold the cotton ball in place (his other bandaids were zebra stripes).
During the visit we learned two things we had not heard. Two specialist visited Xavier while in the NICU, one a renal specialist, the other a geneticist. Unbeknownst to us, Xavier had follow-ups scheduled.
The renal doctor found something he "could not explain" on an ultrasound done on Xavier's kidneys (we had no idea this was done). The follow-up is to make sure it is, in fact, nothing of concern. Dr. Abbey wrote us a referral.
The geneticist follow-up is nothing concerning. He found nothing during his initial exam, but he wants to see if there is something to explain the complicated pregnancy, and to verify Xavier's good health.
The number one reason, of course, for Xavier's incredible resiliency and health is all the prayer allowing Father to work wonders, many of which we are still to learn!
We also asked Dr. Abbey several questions about Xavier, handling and crowds. As we have said and we told Dr. Abbey, we are not wanting to raise a Martian (a reference to War of the Worlds), but we don't want to expose Xavier to nasties beyond his ability; we asked for a balance to what we were taught/told in the NICU and advice from other sources and life's necessities. Dr. Abbey smiled. He liked Rebecca's use of the term "balanced." His advice was in line with what Rebecca and I had already concluded and been practicing.
We also learned what to look for in Xavier that will indicate he is ready to start solid foods. We may be a little closer than we thought as he occasionally demonstrates this behavior. In preparation for this, we have some documents Dr. Abbey handed out for us to study.
I've purposefully left the stats for the end.
- Weight
- 9 pounds, 3.2 ounces (4.173 kg)
- Length
- 21.75 inches (55.25 cm)
- Head Circumference
- 15.95 in (40.5 cm)
Always, thank you all for your prayers.