SO, since september 1st, we've all been on the stanford plan and now we go to the palo alto medical foundation for appointments. since none of you live in the area i'll just fill you in a little and say this is a posh doctor's office just down the street from stanford. it has giant murals on the walls... even in the parking deck. you know it's posh from the second you drive in. the parking deck has about a million guys directing you where to go and they're all wearing black pants, a while shirt, and a little black bow tie! and everyone in the building wants to help you. they treat you like you're at a five star hotel. when i was walking in, i tried to look at the map on the wall but the two helpful ladies at the greeting desk insisted on helping me themselves. people are stashed all over so they can answer your questions and help you know where to go. i don't mean this in any sort of sacrilegious way but i kind of felt like i was at the temple...
anyways, it would take me about a week to tell you how nice it is. the nurse came out and called baby's name and when i stood up to tell him that was us, he very politely introduced himself and offered to help me carry my stuff (carseat, diaper bag, y'know). i didn't take him up on his offer but let me tell you, i INSTANTLY liked this guy! his name is alvin and he's fantastic. he explained things so thoroughly it was almost annoying/insulting except that this guy was so genuine and i love when people spell things out for me like that. but my dear friend carolyn, i know she would have been totally annoyed by this guy. but we're just different like that. i think alvin would make a wonderful third grade teacher. he was very bubbly like my college suitemate whitney and she's a little kid teacher.
but then the doctor came in. i will take responsibility that i spent a lot of time trying to pick a doctor i would like but never came to that "i know this is the right choice" sort of thing. however, i did reach the "this one will be alright" conclusion. well, she walked in the door and something was off about her smile. and her hair was too gray. i don't know, i guess i just didn't like her face. or her voice or the way she talked. but i was willing to give her a shot. she was nice enough. she was great about addressing all of the issues i brought up except one.
my kid isn't losing weight, but her percentiles are dropping because she's not gaining weight as fast as everyone else's 2 month old heifers. but i'm okay with that because i like skinny babies. my child is the epitome of perfection in my eyes and i'm not just saying that because she's my kid. ask my mother, i've always wanted a scrawny baby. i have a thing against fat, unless we're talking about the fat content in a food and then i feel like more is always better. but that's not what we're talking about here.
i told my doctor that i try to feed her about every four hours and asked if that was too long to go between feedings. i asked her if i should wake her from her naps early and get her to feed more frequently during the day and she said that she wasn't concerned at all about the four hours and that she would just hate to disturb baby's naps. i told her "oh, it's no problem, i do it all the time and she's okay with it." but the doctor still was against waking a sleeping baby. umm i do that at least two times a day. whatever. her solution to getting an extra feed in during the day? add a dreamfeed! what? my kid just electively dropped that over a week ago! yeah, her solution was to wake baby up after six hours of sleep and then put her down for the rest. i'm no genius but i've read a few books and it doesn't make sense to me to purposefully let my child sleep as long as she wants (4 hour naps) during the day and then wake her up exactly half way through her nighttime sleep!
she suggested trying this out for a month and then coming back for a three month appointment (really just a weigh in) to see how things were going. and she suggested that i could rent a digital scale to see how much my kid is eating at each feeding. so i nodded and told her "no thanks" (in my head of course) and tried to reason things out on my own. i love that my kid is so easy but i don't want to take advantage of her at the expense of her health. BUT i was skinny and i turned out just fine.
so i walked out of the doctor's office knowing full well that i had no intention of following her suggestions and then i went to the bizkids playdate (business school moms and kids) and asked for advice from all of my knowledgeable friends. i liked their advice better.
and then today i talked to my mom who was not too opinionated but sided with me (she's so perfect. she always knows JUST what to say!) and told me about how i was less than the 5th percentile for all of my growing up years and reminded me of my cousin's kid who eats pretty much nothing and is doing just fine. SO, i resolved to just do my best to cram as many calories as i can into this poor child during the day and let her sleep as long as she wants to at night. it's the least i can do. poor girl wakes up to her mommy turning on the lights, opening the blinds, and in some sort of giddy/shrill voice singing "baby! time to wake up wake up and play with me!!!" three times a day. she tolerates me well but we all know that it would totally suck to be baby girl.
speaking of "sucks to be baby girl"... she got three shots. the crying probably only lasted about 20 or 30 seconds. i actually really like the sound of her cry because it's still the cute baby cry, but it was her face that crushed my heart. -just as a side note i gotta say that her eyes are so wise i swear she's an adult- anyways, her eyes were filled with tears and the way she was looking at me it was like she was scared. it made me so sad because i realized she doesn't know how to be sad or afraid yet. so really it just made me hurt for her because it was like "mommy, what was that?!?! why did that happen to me?!?!" and even though it didn't really register at the time because i was enjoying her little baby cry, it makes me super sad thinking about it right now. consensus on the shots though, i was anticipating much much worse. it was a breeze.
and just because i know you want to know, here are baby's stats so far...
7.15.10 - birth
8 lbs 5.5 ounces
20.5 inches
hc 34.5 cm
7.16.10 - discharged from hospital
8 lbs 1.1 ounce
7.18.10 - weigh in
8 lbs 3.5 ounces
7.26.10 - weigh in
8 lbs 5.2 ounces
8.9.10 - first well check
8 lbs 12 ounces 46%
22.25 inches 93%
hc 36.8 cm 55%
9.22.10 - 2 month appointment
10 lbs 3 ounces 26%
23.5 inches 83%
hc 37.7 cm 17%
in honey's words "our kid is shrinking!"
well, yes honey, but only when compared to other kids.
3 comments:
Well if you do feel like you want to change, ask them if Dr. Lloyd is still around. He was my pediatrician and we LOVED him!!! (this is back in the day when the medical center was down town of course, but I know that he did make the move when the building came up on El Camino a few years ago). Anyway, if he is still there, hands down, go to him!!! He was the best and was very personable with his patients and their families. If you need other recommendations let me know...I have a lot of other sources I can go to as well. :)
in my professional doctorly opinion, i agree with you. what's up with waking her at night!? not cool!
(there were so many things i wanted to comment on, that i have to open the post in another window to remember)
I was thinking exactly the same comparison to the temple before you mentioned it, so i guess we're both sacrilegious.
question - did you start using your Itzbeen in the hospital as soon as she was born, or was it more of a once-you-were-home thing?
Carrie-she's gained 2 + lbs in 2 months, she's fine. 1lb per month for the first 6-8 months is what you expect, 1/2-1" per month as well. She's okay. I would say don't stress about feeding her on a rigid schedule; she'll let you know when she's hungry. I would recommend reading The Baby Whisperer and also Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. Both books helped me tremendously figure out what the heck I was supposed to be doing for girlfriend. And she was always in the <30% weight category. Still is. Oh well. you can't expect a fat kid from scrawny 'rents. And if you don't like your doc or don't feel like you connect--for whatever reason...FIND A NEW ONE!! It makes such a difference! It doesn't matter why, sometimes patients and providers just don't jive. Find someone you feel comfortable with and trust. Those are my 34cents. AND I am sorry you had sucky nurses; unfortunately some of them do exist. Just call me next time! =)
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