15 Month Checkup
Greetings and hello to everyone!
Today, Xavier met with Dr. Abbey to look at his 15 months of progress. It began as a happy time, but ended on a less happy note.
Overall, Xavier is doing very well. He put on more than half a pound since his weight check a month ago. He should be putting on a third to half a pound a month. In the three months we have been focused on getting Xavier's weight up, he has put on about 28 ounces, so he has been meeting that goal.
Dr. Abbey had favorable words about all he saw with Xavier, noting how alert he is and how inquisitive. He watched Xavier study a part to his bottle, then commented how well Xavier was working things out in his head. We discussed eye sight, hearing, motor skills. Even temper tantrums, which, apparently, Xavier is right on schedule for at 15 months (and we've been noting more of the them of late).
Xavier need no longer be on the Neo-Sure formula, but can go to a formula that supplies a more general nutrition, rather than the targeted nutrition of Neo-Sure. Thank You, Jesus! Neo-Sure is $18 a can and lasts two days. The mix we are moving to is $11 a can and has three times the amount of formula as a Neo-Sure can. We are still mixing at 28 calories per ounce, but now we get more ounces per dollar!
Xavier can also start having honey, something Rebecca has being chomping at the bit (so to speak) to introduce him to. She wants him to acclimate to regional pollen.
His heart murmur is still audible, but nothing to worry about.
We also were able to pin down calories per day for him—even a formula to calculate this as he grows. We've been asking for that for months from the "feeding clinic" team. He needs to be getting 630-840 calories per day, which, when not teething, he consumes with margins to spare.
Where it turned more serious, from Xavier's point of view, came at the end of the exam: inoculations and a blood draw. Ouch! (as it turned out, Super Ouch! Super Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Super, Super Ouch!)
It started with a blood draw. I told the nurses it would take more people to hold him down. They thought they had enough. I held Xavier's legs and right arm. A nurse held his left arm and a nurse tried to tap a vein in his left arm. She had a difficult time getting a vein because it kept rolling. Just as she got a tap to go in, Xavier pulled and rolled his arm, and the butterfly needle came right back out.
We flipped him around to go for the right arm. After some work, the vein was tapped, but only one and a half vials were filled. The labs needed four vials. Did I mention the screaming and tearing (and kicking and flailing when he could) going on during all of this?
Well, the choice became try his left arm again, or schedule him at Children's to draw the blood. I decided to go for the left arm again.
A nurse gave his inoculations (one being a flu shot), two in one thigh, one in the other. She left to let me comfort Xavier and feed him a bottle. He thought things were finished. After all, he had his bottle.
The Super, Super Ouch. The nurses came back about :15 minutes later. This time, they brought in a third nurse. One nurse straddled Xavier to keep his legs down while she held his right arm. Another held his left arm in place so he couldn't move it like he did the first time. Tapping the vein took five minutes at least, and only yielded one vial of blood. There was not enough blood for all the labs, but enough for the most important ones. We were done. The nurses admitted he was much stronger than they expected and they should have had the third nurse in from the beginning.
All in all, an excellent exam and confirmation about Xavier's overall health. Here are his stats:
- Height: 28 inches
- Weight: 14 pounds 13.6 ounces
- Head circumference: 45.25 cm
Always, thank you all for your prayers. Today's results, when in context to the previous nearly two years, confirm how awesome is our God!