Four Month Appointment

I realized that I never posted about Jack's four month appointment! With the hectic-ness of the work week and juggling house duties and taking care of Jack, I don't have any time to update blogs, post on the Bump, or even make a phone call.

On Wednesday, Jack turned four months and he had his four month pediatrician appointment. The day started rough for him. He threw up at Karen's and didn't feel really well.

The appointment went as usual in the beginning. He was weighed and measured. Here are his stats:

15 pounds 6 ounces (60th percentile)
26 inches (90th percentile)

When the doctor came in, she did her exam. The first thing she did was use a wooden tongue depressor and look in Jack's mouth. Well, he didn't like that. He immediately gagged. She seemed concerned so she tried again. Again, he gagged. Apparently, she states, that only the most severe cases of reflux babies react that way.

Since there is a history of seasonal allergies in my family and Jack's reaction to the taste of the tongue depressor, the pediatrician recommended that we don't start solids until Jack is closer to 6 months. She is concerned that not only will he have allergic reactions to food, but the texture and mouth feel might make him gag. I am going to have to puree all his foods into near liquid she says. Poor baby. I am completely fine with having him wait for solids. I want the best for him, and Lord knows with all his eating issues now, the last thing I want is for him to have more bad food issues.

The pediatrician finished her exam and labeled Jack "perfect". She is very happy that his Prevacid is working. Since he won't take it on the spoon anymore, we usually give it to him in his bottle. This isn't the ideal way since he gets it over the course of an hour or so, but it's the only way he will ingest it without gagging. I am not worried about giving it to him in the bottle anymore though because Dr. D says it doesn't matter HOW he is getting his pill as long as he is getting it.

The nurse came in afterwards to give Jack his shots (eek!). She started with the oral Rotavirus and Jack did NOT like it. In my previous post I mentioned that he started gagging. Well, he continued to gag and even though I warned the nurse, he still threw up everywhere. I felt so bad for him. He still had over half the tube left and he needed to take it. Rotavirus is no joke. He toughed it out even though I knew it had to be hard for him. He still gagged but managed to get most of it down.

He took the shots like a champ. He only cried a little at the first shot. I think it startled him more than anything else. As soon as I picked him up, he was perfectly fine!

Jack's appointment went relatively well except for the puking incident. He didn't seem sore at all later on. I even managed to give him a bath (I had to because that Rotavirus liquid was incredibly sticky and it got everywhere), give him a baby massage with lotion, and bicycle his legs. He got one dose of Tylenol before he went to bed and another at around 2:00am but after that, he was fine! He doesn't seem to be more sleepy after his shots like other babies. His nap routine remained the same the rest of the week.

My big boy is growing up so incredibly fast! Where have the last four months gone? It's crazy.