Two Year Checkup
Greetings to everyone.
Today was Xavier's two-year checkup. Last week, Rebecca began tensing up about it. She was dreading hearing another lecture about Xavier's weight and being told he needs to eat more, etc. and yada, yada. You could tell she was steeling herself for such a tongue lashing. Xavier's eating has been off the last few weeks due to new teeth and a cold. His chest was looking more bony. What else was the doctor going to say other than "he needs to eat more."
As always, God is good! No lecture and nothing to make Rebecca feel like an "inadequate mother" because of Xavier's languid weight gain.
When the nurse called Xavier back, she weighed him, but this time not on a baby scale. No, he got to stand on a big-boy scale. After removing his shoes, Xavier stood still, fascinated by height-measuring part of the scale. Meanwhile the electronic readout fluctuated between two numbers. Before the appointment, Rebecca was hoping Xavier would weigh in be close to 18 pounds; I was voting for 19 pounds.
The number first jumped and held steady at 18.8 pounds. It moved to 19 point something, then back down to 18.7. There it wavered, holding more steady at 18.8 more than 18.7 (in my opinion). I lobbied the nurse to record 18.8. Alas, his official weight today was 18.7 pounds (18 pounds 11 ounces). Glory to God! (note, he got another unscheduled weight check Friday, but that's a whole other story!)
So, in three months (since his last weight check), Xavier put on one and a half pounds. He is supposed to be adding a third to a half pound a month according to the doctors. Xavier cranked it up, putting on one and a half pounds. The comment on Xavier's chart concerning his weight is <1st percentile (CDC). Less than the first percentile! Xavier is off the charts, but still tracking with his own chart!
The height measuring rule on the scale did not go low enough to measure Xavier's height, so we had to use the roll-out mat rule instead. Xavier gained three quarters of an inch in height, now at 31.5 inches! This puts Xavier in the 3rd percentile for height.
Everything else about him looks fine. His "bony chest" interestingly is due to something called "asymmetric chest development." Dr. Abbey gave the technical term also, but after the fourth word, my mind dropped it like a slippery, wiggly eel. Nothing to worry about on this; it's a mild case, but does make Xavier look a little more bony than he is.
He got his final Hepatitis A shot today, which he was not all to happy about, but he survived nicely.
Xavier was very active and chatty today for Dr. Abbey. And he took part of a bottle while we consulted with the doctor. Dr. Abbey said he would like to see Xavier in six months (generally it's a year for the next physical), but he wants an interim weight check and exam.
All told, this was a great exam and a good report. As many problems we have getting Xavier to eat and the amount of work we have to put in, we did not think to have so good a report. Thank you, Jesus!