You’ve Got To Be Kidding me! A Doctor’s Update

Ugh!  We just got back from Josiah’s 3 year well visit and Elijah’s 1 year well visit and those well visits turned into sick visits.  I’ve so looked forward to these visits to see how they’ve grown and to discuss some basic topics with our favorite pediatrician, Dr. Worthington, but they went differently than hoped.

In the past week Elijah’s eating habits have changed and he’s woken up at night several times.  I had hoped he was working on a tooth since there were no real specific signs, but as it turns out he has an ear infection – his first.  I guess it is not too bad because she wasn’t sure just based on her visual and had to test pressures.  Also, Josiah came home last night with a 104 degree fever, but no other signs and he was fine this morning, so I was hoping for some short viral illness, but we are currently waiting for a culture for strep throat.  The in house test was negative,  but several factors make it suspicious.  (To top it off, Jacob came home sick today  with high fever and went to the Urgent Care Center.  He also had a negative strep test, but they said it can be negative if it is early, so we’ll see.  He’s currently picking up all the antibiotics and appropriate probiotics.  Maybe I’m a hypochondriac, but I think my throat is getting sore!)

We did proceed with thorough exams and all that goes with a well visit, but talk of illness was the priority.  Here are their respective stats:

                                          Josiah                               Elijah

Height                          38”  75%                       29 3/4”  55%

Weight                        31 lb  50%                    19 lb 13 oz 10%

Head                                                                      45.4 cm  30%

I guess they don’t do the head measurement anymore at 3 years old, but they did do blood pressure and heart rate, which I thought was interesting.  They also did a CBC with Hemoglobin, which was fine.

I’m not sure if Elijah is following the skinny trend Josiah went through (though not as extreme) or if his repetitive sickness hampered appetite and growth.

As far as Josiah’s GI issues go, since we are in the middle of yet another struggle brought on by a GI bug back in January that he has yet to straighten out from, she suggested a two week break from all dairy products to give his gut a rest.  I dread this and he’s going to hate it once he realizes it, but if it works, we’ll be happy.  In addition, we are trying a new probiotic.  Maybe we’ll be able to move forward with potty training.

Other than all that they both look great (ha, ha!)!  And on top of that, Josiah was FABULOUS at the doctor.  Since my arms were full of my rambunctious red head, the nurse and doctor had to handle Josiah and he followed every instruction to a T.  I had to pick my jaw up off the floor.  Usually he is too nervous with strangers to follow precise instructions (stand here, lay down, stick your tongue out), though he’d never pitch a fit or vocalize rebellion.  He did, however, have a minor panicky moment where I could see fear and tears welling up in his eyes after she gagged him in the process of swabbing his throat, but he waited till she left the room with the sample to quietly fuss.  When she came back he just asked me to hold his hand while she finished the exam.  I was so proud.

(At the moment he is accurately singing his ABC’s…music to my ears!)

I also had a discussion with Dr. Worthington about Josiah’s personality type.  I could write a whole post on this based on this conversation and a book I’m reading.  Very interesting and cool to think about.  One thing I’ll say now is that she said his type tends to lead to good decisions and a healthy lifestyle in the future.  I sure hope so!

Sorry, no pictures.  Just lots of words.