I'm not a doctor or a nurse. I don't pretend to have any superior medical knowledge. However, I'm positive it's impossible for my child to have grown four inches over night! Yesterday we were at the IA doctor. It's the same every time. The nurse check his vitals and weight and height. To check his weight he sits in the baby scale because for some reason he thinks the grown up scale is some torture device. I guess he is right, I know many adults that think that's true. Then to check his height he lays down on a a similar contraption. I hold his head touching the top and the nurse reads the number at the bottom of his barefoot. Yesterday that number was two feet ten inches or 34 inches tall, which is around the 25th percentile.
Today we went to the pediatrician. Same drill. Vitals, weight, height. However, the nurse that checked his height did it in a way I would teach kindergarteners to measure. She had him lay down on the exam table. She marked the crunched up paper at his head and at his shoe covered foot, then she straightened the paper out and measured it with her tape measure. With this extremely accurate system of measuring he is now 38 inches tall, which is the 90th percentile. For a top dollar amount I'll tell you what I fed him for dinner last night! Ha! Since I like comedy I didn't explain to the doctor how the nurse measured him and that he is really 34 inches tall. I just hope that at our next visit they discover he has shrunk 3 or 4 inches, and become panic stricken.
After that fiasco the doctor came in to chat. She was impressed with Oliver's language, mostly his three word phrase; "shut the door" which he said while closing himself into a little corner cupboard. She asked us why we adopted, how things are going, does he sleep, does he eat, etc. She reviewed his confusing and haphazard shot record. I'm already convinced that proving he is fit for school, in terms of vaccinations, is going to be complicated. No record of Hep B vaccination, but his blood test show he has had it...and that's just the beginning. Oliver got his first four shots and is due for his next round in three months. I had to hold down his little arms while another person held his legs so the nurse could administer them. This was my first time. I was teary and he was screaming. When the nurse was done she said all done, Oliver sat up, stopped crying, and said all done. Guess it wasn't that big of a deal.
After the doctor we stopped at the garden store for some yellow mums to brighten up our front yard and a stop at the ice cream shop to brighten our spirits. Both worked as intended.
Today we went to the pediatrician. Same drill. Vitals, weight, height. However, the nurse that checked his height did it in a way I would teach kindergarteners to measure. She had him lay down on the exam table. She marked the crunched up paper at his head and at his shoe covered foot, then she straightened the paper out and measured it with her tape measure. With this extremely accurate system of measuring he is now 38 inches tall, which is the 90th percentile. For a top dollar amount I'll tell you what I fed him for dinner last night! Ha! Since I like comedy I didn't explain to the doctor how the nurse measured him and that he is really 34 inches tall. I just hope that at our next visit they discover he has shrunk 3 or 4 inches, and become panic stricken.
After that fiasco the doctor came in to chat. She was impressed with Oliver's language, mostly his three word phrase; "shut the door" which he said while closing himself into a little corner cupboard. She asked us why we adopted, how things are going, does he sleep, does he eat, etc. She reviewed his confusing and haphazard shot record. I'm already convinced that proving he is fit for school, in terms of vaccinations, is going to be complicated. No record of Hep B vaccination, but his blood test show he has had it...and that's just the beginning. Oliver got his first four shots and is due for his next round in three months. I had to hold down his little arms while another person held his legs so the nurse could administer them. This was my first time. I was teary and he was screaming. When the nurse was done she said all done, Oliver sat up, stopped crying, and said all done. Guess it wasn't that big of a deal.
After the doctor we stopped at the garden store for some yellow mums to brighten up our front yard and a stop at the ice cream shop to brighten our spirits. Both worked as intended.
The Children's Mercy nurses looked down upon my pediatrician's nurses for measuring Annique the same way, on the crumpled paper. "Her weight pushing down on the paper adds to her height." Sometimes I get free simple physics lessons with those visits.
ReplyDeletethe inconsistency in measurements drives me nuts too! Irina and Oliver are now the same height as she is around the 34 inch mark too. I hate it that they become a pin cushion around this age. But usually a fancy band aid makes them forget the prick. We had a 3 "word" milestone a few weeks ago when Irina signed finger-shut-door - after her fingers were pinched in the door. Now if only she'll start articulating this rather than simply signing it!
ReplyDeleteI didn't know height could be measured inconsistently, seems so standard to me. I found it so funny that he sprouted overnight. Ha!
ReplyDeleteGo Irina! Busting out all her signing skills. What a smartie pants.