When our name was finally called, it was time for Finley to get weighed and measured. Stripped down to nothing, our little guy weighed in at a whopping 12 lbs 11 oz!! That is a 3 lb gain from his one month check up! He is 23 inches long (1 inch from a month ago) and his head is 15 inches around (13 in at birth). This explains why my arms have been getting more tired these days and why I suspect I have carpal tunnel in my left wrist :) A healthy boy, no doubt!
After the doctor did his physical exam (all is well), I went into my list of questions about sleep patterns, bowel movement frequency (he went 5 days in between once!), eye contact, Tylenol dosage, etc. My final question was whether or not Fin's head was flattened at all (babies spend a great deal of time lying on their backs). The doctor looked closely and assured me all was fine (a slight flattening is expected) and reminded me that the more "tummy time" we can do the better. He put Finley down on the table to see what kind of head control he has when on his tummy and suddenly said, "Look at his right leg!" I looked over and it was lifted off the table and in a blink, Finley had rolled himself over onto his back!! Whoa!! I was shocked and the doctor laughed saying he knew it was going to happen once he had his leg off the table!! Who knows if he'll repeat this feat again soon, but what an amazing site to see.
The doctor wrapped things up and then explained the 4 immunizations the nurse would give Finley in a few minutes. Gulp. Three are shots and one is a liquid he will have to drink. Two shots in one thigh and one in the other. Okay, that sounds well dispersed, right? Before I knew it, the nurse came in and was ready to go. I'd never met this nurse before so I introduced myself and asked if she was the lucky staff member who gave all the shots. She said she was and then went on to say that when she got the job, she was so afraid of giving the infants the shots. Soon, however, she learned that infants are easy--it is those toddlers that are trouble because they can get up and run down the hall! We laughed and then got ready to give Finley the drink. He had to suck it out and swallow it down...oddly enough the plastic tube wasn't nipple or finger shaped--what baby would be interested in that? I held him closely while the nurse administered the drink. He took a while, but did a good job. Then, I put him down on the table for the shots. He looks happy here, I guess he had NO idea what was coming!
We turned him sideways and I hovered over his chest and held his hands. The nurse was really quick with the syringes, but Finley let out some blood curdling screams (3 to be exact, one per needle stick). I teared up and couldn't wait for her to put on the last band aid so I could scoop him up. Once held, he calmed down but his little face was SO red and his body was very tense. Poor thing :( I got him dressed and soon we were in the car. I nursed him in the backseat in hopes that it would make him feel better as well as fill up his empty belly. He then passed out asleep in the car seat and we ran some errands.
He slept for all the errands and continued to sleep once we got home. He woke up and was hungry, so I fed him. However, after eating he was quite hysterical and his cries were very strained. I knew he was in real pain because I couldn't soothe him with our usual techniques. He was crying so loudly, I called Dan and asked him to call the doctor to make sure it was okay to give him some baby Tylenol. I knew I wouldn't be able to hear the doctor/nurse if I called! After about ten minutes, Dan called me back and said they recommended getting his temperature before the Tylenol to have a baseline. I took his temperature (I won't get into the messy details) and it was normal, so I squirted the grape flavored gooey Tylenol into his mouth.
After about forty-five minutes, he seemed to relax. The rest of the night was up and down and we gave him more grape goo before bed in hopes that he wouldn't wake up in pain. The night was no different than usual, so I think we did the right thing.
It was certainly a tough day, but I was proud of him and of myself--we handled those shots like champs! Thankfully, round two isn't until March!
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