First Pediatrician's Visit

Today was The Princess' first visit to her pediatrician. We chose to go with a different pediatrician from the one we use with Josh because we felt a doctor who specialized in seeing children who are internationally adopted was a better fit.

We weren't sure what today's visit would entail, but Dr. H. visited with us for a while then checked Ellie's ears (good except for some wax in one ear that had to be scraped out -- ouch), throat (while still screaming from the ear wax removal), heart (good), lungs (good), head, tummy, "privates" and looked for scabies (none - yay!!). She was weighed sans clothing this time (12.4 pounds) and measured (24"). The nurse said we should expect rapid growth over the next month. That's pretty good news because I have very few 0-3 month sized clothes and her VERY CUTE Halloween outfit is a 3-6 month and swallowed her so I'm a bit bummed about that. (It's all about the cute factor, isn't it, girls?).

He indicated he was not going to refer us to the early intervention program because developmentally she is doing very well. She showed off how she can sit unassisted for about 5-10 seconds (it's a start, huh?), uses her legs to "jump", and can roll from side to side (but not all the way over yet). She smiled and babbled and giggled while she was there and he said she was "Charming" (which, of course, she is!!). We talked about her fascination with rubbing everything and her love of patterns. He indicated this was a very good thing as it indicated she was interested in exploring and didn't have sensory/touch issues. He indicated that her brain was processing all the new things she was experiencing and that all that her brain was doing was nothing less than miraculous. He indicated the next month would be amazing in her life. I've already seen rapid changes in just a few weeks, so it will be great fun to watch her throughout the rest of 2008 to see how she develops and changes.

We talked about attachment issues and he seemed to think she was doing well in overcoming the things we mentioned.

We talked about food and he wants us to add cereal (oatmeal as he indicates rice can be constipating) and some Stage 2 single food products to her diet twice a day. He wants us to up her formula to 6 ounces every 4-5 hours instead of the 4-5 ounces we've been giving her. I suspect this will also help her sleep. HOWEVER, she is having no trouble sleeping during the day! *smile* We are also adding vitamins each day.

We are going to wait a month to begin immunizations as he wants to give her immune system time to settle in to her new life/routine/diet. We will go this week sometime to have blood drawn to test for things like Hepatitis, HIV, blood count and lead exposure. That should be fun (not!). He will test for TB next month as well.

And, finally, we are doing the "poop samples" to test for parasites. Three poops, two scoops -- sounds a lot like some really bad cereal commercial, doesn't it? Ahhh... the joys of parenthood. I'm "letting" Kevin handle the poop tests.

After our visit to the pediatrician, we stopped off at our church offices. Ellie was sound asleep and never woke up even though several people held her. It was our senior pastor's birthday and we told him we'd brought him a present. *smile* I know he was just as happy for us as we are. He has most certainly prayed for us and counseled us for a long time regarding this little one. We are so glad to be able to share our joy at the fulfillment of God's promises to us with the people who have shared the hard and painful times as well.

So, I'm off to sleep. If I can sleep from 4:30 - 9:30, then I can stay up tonight and just nap if/when Ellie does. I'm finding it's a great time to do laundry, dishes and paperwork.

I'll post a couple of photos from the doctor's office a bit later this evening.