9 Month Check-Up

Last Thursday I took Hailey in for her 9 month well visit. It was in the afternoon and normally I would have had to bring both girls with me, but Matt was actually home from school with a stomach bug. By the time the afternoon rolled around he was starting to do better and was up and moving, so since Savannah was napping when I needed to leave, he told me to go ahead and leave her at home with him. I was able to enjoy taking Hailey in on her own, and it made me realize that I have never taken Hailey by herself to the doctor. Kind of crazy, I guess, but that's what happens when you're the second child! I was looking forward to only having one child to take in and out of carseats, etc., but I actually think Hailey was extra antsy in the exam room without her sister to occupy her and hand her toys, etc. Anyway, here are her stats!

Height: 27 and 3/4 inches (51st percentile)
Weight: 17 lb 5 oz (33rd percentile)
Head: 44 cm (53rd percentile)

She's so little! I was a bit worried since she has only gained exactly one pound since her 6 month check-up, so I brought up her size to the doctor. He was not worried. :) As he pointed out, I'm not really a very big person, and my daughters probably won't be that big, either. He showed me her growth curve and told me that she's pretty much been hanging around her growth curve since birth. Her weight gain is slowing a bit but she is mobile now, so that's probably why. She just seems to be petite, like me, which is okay.

Developmentally she seems to be doing just fine, too. Once again, I worry a little when I compare her to her big sister, who was a more sturdy baby and was pulling up to a stand and cruising by now, but the doctor seemed to think she was just fine where she is at right now. I also need to remember that Savannah was very advanced with her gross motor skills. She took her first steps on her own at 10 months; most babies don't do that! As long as the doctor is happy with her development, I will try to relax! She bears weight on her legs and can stand at her activity table or the toy chest when I put her there, but she's just not pulling herself up on her own quite yet. She'll get there in time. :)

We talked about how she self weaned and I told the doctor that I am pumping but only making about 10 oz of milk each day. :( I told him that I supplement with about 10 oz of formula, but that she often has trouble drinking the full 20 oz of milk and will leave an ounce or two in a few of her bottles. He said as long as she was drinking between 15-25 oz, that's good, and to keep supplementing with formula until she's one, and then we can move to milk or almond milk or something along those lines. I know I won't keep pumping beyond her birthday; if we make it to a year with pumping, I'll pat myself on the back for a job well done and give myself permission to stop at that point. We talked about what she is eating and the doctor gave us the okay to start meats and to move towards more and more table foods as opposed to purees (which Hailey will be excited about, since she prefers to self feed).

At a sick visit two weeks prior to this (when I took her in to check for an ear infection during her nursing strike, because she had had a cold for a few weeks at that time) the nurse practitioner heard a heart murmur and referred her to a cardiologist. We talked briefly about this and I let the pediatrician know that I had scheduled her appointment for March. Neither myself or the doctor is too worried about this. Matt and I both have functional heart murmurs, and so does Savannah. When Savannah was six months her pediatrician heard a murmur (once again, at a sick visit!) and so she was checked out and found to have a Patent Foramen Ovale, which is a benign finding, basically a functional heart murmur, like the rest of us! So Hailey will visit the cardiologist and they will do an EKG and an echocardiogram, but I'm expecting the findings to be benign. Since it will be a lengthy appointment with some tests I scheduled it for a day when Matt is off of school so that he can give me a hand with both kids. Hopefully all goes well. As the doctor said, likely she will just be joining our "family club".

At the end of the appointment Hailey had to receive one vaccine, which she was not happy about, but she got over it pretty quickly. The doctor said that Hailey is adorable and we should just continue to enjoy her, and we plan to do just that! We love our Hailey Boo!!