Adventures in Baby Vaccination

 03/20/10
Yesterday, we took Remington in for his 4 month shots. This post notes my thoughts on vaccinations.

Anyway, I didn't know how Remington would react to this round of shots since he's older. The first time, at 2 months, he cried a little bit, but calmed right down with a pacifier. This time, however, I came prepared. We gave him a little bit of Tylenol 30 minutes before hand, and brought his bottle. He took the rotavirus slowly. It's an oral vaccine and you could tell it tasted bad. Then came the shots. I gave him the bottle, partly to wash down the rotavirus stuff and to help soothe him for the shots. He cried a little for the first one, but quickly calmed with the bottle. Then, the second shot came. The nurse warned me that it would hurt him worse than the first. He was stuck with the needle and cried for quite awhile. I tried to get him to suck on the bottle, or recognize that it was in his mouth, but he was not having it. He finally took it and calmed down. By the time we left the exam room, he was smiling again.

Warning: Part of the following may come off as snobby, but please read on.

I wish we were able to get these shots at our regular doctor, but for some reason, we have to go to the county health clinic. This is not a place I want to take my baby to. I'm sorry if I sound rude, but the quality of people who frequent that place are not the kind I want around my son. Sitting in the the waiting room bugs me. A waiting room at any doctor office is probably full of all kinds of nasty germs, but a health clinic just seems worse. Also, the posters in the exam room are irritating. I'm sorry, but I don't need to know (by a posting on the wall) that I can only have a 3 month supply of birth control pills. I also don't need to hear about how a real man steps up and accepts that the kid is his (another poster). I feel like the nurses and staff assume things about us if we take our baby to the county health clinic. They probably think we're some high school aged punk kids, who got knocked up with a baby, still live with our parents, and don't have jobs or insurance. But, then maybe I'm also assuming that those kind of people are the only ones who go to the health clinic, when obviously that is not the case. I know, I'm being a bit hypocritical here, but this is just how I feel about it.

Landon and I have worked hard to get to where we are, and I truthfully feel like a county health clinic is beneath us. We are in our mid-twenties, well educated (I have my masters degree), have good jobs, insurance, were married two years before having a child, and try to do a good job raising him.

What made this trip to the clinic worse was the trouble we're having with Landon's insurance. It has taken forever for us to get Remington enrolled. They haven't paid for any doctor visits, vaccines, or even the hospital stay when he was born. We're having to pay for most of these doctor bills out of pocket, which is super difficult. My insurance is good, but it costs more to have Remington on my insurance rather than Landon's. So, because of this mess, the health clinic looks at us like we don't have insurance and are trying to get out of paying the bills some how.

I truly don't know how people pay hospital bills without insurance. I have some friends who are in this situation, and if you're reading this, how do you do it? How are you able to pay hospital bills or well baby checks? I guess this is why there's such a big deal being made about the health care crisis and system.

We're starting to get the insurance mess worked out, and in the mean time are having to deal with a very unhappy baby. Remington ran a mild fever for part of the day yesterday, and he was very sleepy and irritated for the entire day after the shots (which were at 9am). He's done a bit better today, but he's still sleepy and acts like he doesn't feel well. It literally breaks your heart to hear his sad cry. I have trouble holding back tears when he cries like that (and I don't ever cry). So, heres hoping to a better day today.

4 Months

03/01/10

Remington is now 4 months old! I can't believe how much he's grown and changed since he was born. On Wednesday, I took him for his 4 month doctor appointment. He weighs 13 pounds 6 ounces ( 25th %ile), and is 24.5 inches long (50th %ile). His head circumference is 16 inches (10th %ile).

While we were at the doctor, I also asked about Remington being sick the last 3 days. I know that some stuff has been going around. He's been coughing and wheezing a lot. The first night, we decided to put him in his seat and keep him next to our bed to keep and eye on him and his breathing. That did not work, neither of us got any sleep with him breathing so loud and being worried about him. He's also been really congested and has a runny nose. After going to the doctor, we let him sleep in the crib with the mattress slightly elevated with a pillow between the mattress and springs. The doctor said that he probably has RSV, or Respiratory Syncytial Virus. Most babies get it at least once before the age of 2. She said she could run a test to know for sure, but according to her professional opinion, he has it. Unfortunately, there's not much you can do about it, but let it run its course. By now (Monday), he's pretty much over it. However, he has given it to Landon and I. We've both been sick for the last couple days.


A year ago today, we found out I was pregnant, what a year!

Here's what he's supposed to be doing at 4 months (from MedlinePlus):

PHYSICAL AND MOTOR SKILLS

The typical 4-month-old baby should:

• Show a slowing of weight gain to approximately 20 grams per day- He's still a little small, but gaining.
• Double the birth weight- Almost, he should be 14 pounds to be double. But, he's pretty good for having lost so much at first and having so much trouble with the weight gain.
• Have almost no head lag while in a sitting position- He's very good at this now.
• Be able to sit up straight if propped- Yep, he falls over fast though.
• Raise head 90 degrees when placed on stomach- Pretty close, he still hates tummy time.
• Be able to roll from front to back- Not yet, hopefully he will soon.
• Try to reach objects with hands (may commonly overshoot)- A little bit. He likes to reach for and hit the sack of wipes by his changing table and he'll hit the buttons on his excersaucer.
• Hold and let go of an object- Yep
• Play with rattle when it's placed in the hands, but won't be able to pick it up if dropped- Yep, he'll hold one for quite a while now.
• Be able to grasp rattle with both hands- Yep
• Be able to place objects in mouth- A little bit, he tries to put the pacifier back in if he took it out and still has it in his hands.
• Sleep 9 to 10 hours at night with two naps (total of 14 - 16 hours per day)- Yes, yippee!

SENSORY AND COGNITIVE SKILLS
A 4-month-old baby is expected to:

• Have well-established close vision- Seems to.
• Increase eye contact with parents and others- Yes, he really likes to watch people and smile.
• Have beginning hand-eye coordination- He likes to watch his hands and feet sometimes.
• Be able to babble and coo- He's been doing this for about a month.
• Be able to laugh out loud- Yes, and it's adorable!
• Anticipate feeding when able to see a bottle (if bottle-fed)- Yep, if he sees it, he watches it pretty intently.
• Begin to show memory- Kinda, it's hard to tell at this point.
• Demand attention by fussing- All the time.
• Recognize parent voice or touch- Yeah. There are certain things that Landon does to make him laugh, that I'll try and he just looks at me. And I can put him to sleep and comfort him way faster than Landon.

PLAY
You can encourage development through play:

• Place the baby in front of a mirror- He likes to smile and watch himself or look at us when we're holding him.
• Provide bright-colored toys to hold- I almost think the excersauser is too over stimulating.
• Repeat sounds the infant makes- We've been doing this from the beginning.
• Help the infant roll over- We try this sometimes, need to do more to help him learn to roll over.
• Use a swing or stroller- Since day one.
• Play on the stomach (tummy time)- He still hates it.

Remington is still eating just formula, we'll start some rice cereal soon. He sleeps well and laughs and smiles all the time. He does this adorable shy smile, where he smiles and then turns away to hide his face like he's shy. His eyes are still gray and he's getting more hair. He's grown out of most of his newborn clothes and is starting to wear some 3-6 clothes.