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Wednesday, September 21, 2005

Second round of vaccinations

A baby's first vaccinations are supposed to be done at 2 months and then again at 4 months. Due to a combination of complications with our HMO insurance (we had to change Astrid's primary doctor to her pediatrician since they had my doctor listed as her doctor and we had to request a backdated effective date) and our concern for giving her shots too early, we waited until she was 3 months old to start vaccinating her. So now that she's 5 months old, she is due for her second round of vaccinations. Astrid and Uwe sitting in the waiting room of the doctor's office.In one of the rooms waiting patiently to see the pediatrician.

There's a sign posted to the left of the sink, right above the trash can.Here's what it says.

On our first visit to the doctor's office, we had changed Astrid's diaper and looked around for the trashcan, only to see this sign posted right above it. Both Uwe and I were scratching our heads asking, "If we can't put the diaper in the trashcan, where are we supposed to dispose of it?"

Our pediatrician told us that we could go out of the office, down the hall, to the building restroom to dispose of it in that trashcan. What??? Are you serious??? A pediatrician's office that sees babies all day long, 5 days a week and they don't have any place to dispose of diapers? Our pediatrician said, "If we let people throw dirty diapers away here it would smell up the place." So it's okay to stink up the public restroom for all the people on the same floor? That doesn't seem to make much sense either. My response was, "Sounds like you need to get a Diaper Genie." But I think my comment must have fallen on deaf ears because today we saw the same sign posted.

Is this just a kooky policy of our pediatrician, or do all pediatrician offices have this policy? I'm curious, because it seems very un-baby-friendly. While we were waiting, we sat Astrid down and let her play with the crunchy wax paper sheet that lined the table. Still waiting... Finally the pediatrician is here.

Astrid is a healthy baby. She weighs 17 lbs and 10 oz. Her height is 26 1/2 inches. Her head measures 16 3/4 inches around.

And as a merit of our due diligence, Astrid has not had a single case of diaper rash to date. *knock on wood*

Uwe was concerned that Astrid's eyes are still a bit crossed at times. Our pediatrician says that it looks like the right eye is a bit crossed and we'll have to see if it corrects itself in another month. Looking at mobiles and hanging toys will help her eye muscles get stronger.

We were also concerned that her teeth came in so early. Everything we read said that babies get their teeth between 6 and 8 months normally. Our pediatrician says that it's early but still okay. He said that some babies are born with teeth. Imagine that!
We had to wait a very long time for the nurse to come in to give Astrid her shots. Here is a photo of Astrid getting cranky and starting to cry... "What are we waiting for? Can we go home already?" Not the most flattering photo but you can see her two pearly whites are coming in nicely.

Astrid cried when she got her shots and kept looking at me like, "What are you doing? Don't you know this hurts?!" There were lots of tears and sobbing and I did my best to soothe her, so no photos of that. But she's a little trooper. She got through it just fine.Here is a photo of me holding Astrid while we were still waiting for the nurse, right after she started crying and I was able to get her to smile for a few seconds. She loves the camera.

Thanks goodness we're done with the second round of vaccinations and won't have to worry about this for another 2 months. No one wants to see their kid cry and be in pain but unfortunately it's a necessary evil that every kid and their parents have to go through.

6 comments:

April said...

I read on Karissa's blog that Astrid may have one eye crossing. Well, I have a lazy eye, and I have had 3 surgeries to fix it... I still have a lazy eye. Better than it was before, but still there non the less. My advise, do the surgery and do it early. Get a second opinion from an eye doctor. The only reason my surgery didn't work as well is because they gave me anistetic I was alergic too, and I threw up so much that it popped stitches. Not to scare you, just follow up on that as much as possible.

Karissa (mommy) said...

Babies born with teeth?! Wow, that would be crazy.

I know how you feel about the shots and your baby crying. I always make Doug hold Isabella when she gets shots so that I can be the one that comforts her afterwards and she doesn't blame me for it. I know it's awful, but I just can't hold her while it's happening. The worst was yesterday when they had to do that lead check and had to stick a huge needle in her arm to draw blood. That's the first time I actually felt like crying for her. I can't wait until all her shots are over with!

I too love that pic of her showing her teeth. Too cute!

After reading how long Astrid is, it makes me really think about how short Isabella is. Yesterday they measured her at 29". I'm only 5'3", so it doesn't surprise me that I have a short little girl, but wow, either Astrid is super tall or Isabella is super short. :) Oh well, they are both adorable either way.

Again, good luck with her eye. I hope it straightens itself out.

Rose said...

Yeah, Astrid is tall for her age. She's in the 90th percentile.

Anonymous said...

that diaper trash sign is too funny ...

did you actually get to use the genie yet? we found that in the pre-solid food time it is actually a bit of a waste (since diapers do not smell too bad yet) ... and i think since introduction of solids, we have just become used to it ...

But we still have over a year to go before potty training .. so we will get to use it again ...

Rose said...

We have a "Diaper Dekor" which is a diaper disposal trash can lined with scented bags and has 2 flaps at the top that close shut. I have a very sensitive nose so this was a must for me. It's worked great so far but the true test will be when Astrid starts eating solids.

Amy said...

My babies' doctor has the same sign.