4 Month Check up at 5.5 Months

 Olive is a little behind in her shot schedule/doctor visit due to our move this summer.  She just had her 4 month visit and shots now that she's 5.5 months.  Her doctors were fine with this slightly delayed timeline and there really wasn't anything we could do to prevent it short of flying back to Utah to have her visit her original pediatrician at 2 months.

I scheduled her appointment for Tuesday afternoon at 3:00pm.  It was good because we had a busy day of travels the day before but it turned out to be a bad time because they were running really behind.  We checked in around 2:55 and hadn't been called back yet at 3:45.  I checked in with the front desk and the apologized for running behind.  Olive was getting restless and wanted out of her car seat.  I was trying to quarantine her in the well area of the waiting room and to not touch anything.  I'd hand sanitized several times and we were both tired of waiting.  We were finally called back at 4:00 and I was juggling her car seat, the diaper bag and trying to hold a squirmy baby.  Not exactly what I'd planned.

Lucky for us, the nurse was really nice and sweet to Olive so we quickly forgot about the wait.  She measured Olive's head and then we stripped her down to get the rest of her measurements.

                 BIRTH:                              5.5 Months

               7lbs 11oz                            16lbs 13oz

                20inches                              25.5 inches

                                                          head 17 inches

                  

I brought her favorite taggy blanket and toys to keep her occupied.  She was thrilled to have room to spread out and play with her blanket while we waited for the doctor.

Olives is growing really well and the doctor was pleased.  We are going to try to phase out soy formula after she turns 6 months, keep eating baby foods/rice cereal and watch for some baby teeth to appear.  She's sleeping pretty well with naps and long periods of time at night.  Olive smiled at the doctor and seemed to really like her again.  The doctor also wanted Olive to get her flu shot as soon as she turned six months old so we scheduled that and I was told to get a flu shot ASAP.  I asked the doctor about Olive's head because she's got a little flat spot on the right side.  She said she thought it would all even out and that we should have her sit up as much as possible in her Bumbo, Boppy and exersaucer.  

Olive got one oral shot and three shots in her legs.  The oral shot made her mad again and the nurse had to push her cheeks together to get her to swallow it.  Olive didn't get hysterical this time but she wasn't happy about it.  She cried when she got her three shots but recovered quickly.  I think it helped that I had her mostly dressed so that after her shots we just had to slip on pants and go.  Last time, I made a rookie mom mistake and only had her in her diaper for the shots.  Then afterwards I had to wrestle her a bit to get her clothes back on.  Glad we'd been to this rodeo before so that I could help things to go smoothly.  We made our next appointment/well check for January 2014.  Hopefully we will stay happy and healthy until then.

Mommy lesson learned:  Schedule your appointments early in the day so that they are running closer to their scheduled times and the waiting room will be cleaner/less germy.

 Olive had a slight fever for the next 24 hours or so and her legs seemed to be sore.  She was a little crankier than usual but nothing we couldn't handle.  She was easily distracted by her new big girl toys most of the time she was awake.  We also let her wear comfy jammies so that her legs wouldn't be squished.