The Veldmans: We hate shots!!!

Yesterday was Ava's 2 month well baby check. With that well baby check comes 2 month immunizations. That's three shots and one oral vaccine. I had been dreading the appointment since Sunday when I remembered that she had it. I was so worried that I would have to hold her down while they administered the shots, and then she would look up at me with those big blue eyes and cry out in pain. The actual shots were not as bad as I thought they would be. As I've said before, I absolutely Love our pediatrician. She actually administered the vaccines herself. I have been a nurse for almost 7 years and have never seen a physician administer a shot until yesterday. She had them all in within 30 seconds and then she handed Ava to me to be soothed. I didn't have to hold her down at all which was good. Ava only cried for about a minute as was then fine. I had premedicated her with some Tylenol before we left the house. I thought to myself, "well that wasn't so bad, the worst part is over". Silly me!!! We went for a walk when we got home and upon returning home Ava woke up and was NOT happy. The poor little thing was in so much pain. Her little thunder thighs were even more swollen and bright red. I couldn't even breastfeed her because when her leg touched me she would cry out in pain. Nate and I felt so helpless. We gave her more Tylenol to help with the pain as well as the fever that she was running. Nate gave her a bottle at 10:00 and then put her down. She slept until 4:15. At that point her fever was gone and it seemed like the majority of the pain was as well. Her one thigh is still slightly swollen but she had a much better day. She slept most of the morning. I think she's just worn out from yesterday, and still tired from the weekend.

As for the rest of her appointment. She weighed in at 13 lbs 3 oz, and was 24 inches long. Yes, she's gained 5 pounds in 8 weeks. Needless to say, we got the ok to try to space her feedings out a bit longer. :) That puts her in the 97th percentile for both height and weight. Our Dr. said that she looks great. However, there are a couple of things that we need to continue to watch. She is still going cross eyed quite frequently which I know is normal up to 4 months. If it's not better at 4 months then she will send us to a pediatric eye Dr. I also began to notice this past week that Ava is getting a flat head on the right. She always sleeps on her back with her head facing right. So now we have to see if we can get her too start looking to the left while she sleeps. Otherwise we may be heading to therapy. The Dr. didn't seem nearly as concerned about it as I did (shocking, I know), but said that we will definitely re-evaluate at 4 months. If I don't notice any improvement or can't get her to sleep facing the other way in a couple of weeks I may just call the Dr. and see if we can do something before 4 months.

It was a beautiful day yet again. We did make it outside for a walk this evening when Nate got home from work. Other than that, we went to the new parent connections group again today. I really enjoy just interacting with other new parents and hearing what they are going through, and seeing the other kids and what they are doing developmentally.

Tomorrow my friend Becky is coming to visit us and is bringing lunch from panera. It will be good to see her again. Then I have another eye appointment in the afternoon. I'm hoping that this will be the last of the appointments. My eye is so much better. I've started to wear my contacts a few hours each day and continue with the eye drops. Grandma Veldman is coming over to watch Ava again while I am gone.

I think that's it for now. Thanks for checking in!