Doctor Visit (18 months)

His stats:
Height: 35.25 inches (95th percentile)
Weight: 27 pounds 2 ounces (50th - 75th percentile)
Head circumference: 49.5 cm (90th percentile)

This was the first time since his birth that he broke the 50th percentile on his weight!! Yay, gettin' chubby!

Doctor Visit (15 months)

His stats:
Height: 33.25 inches (95th percentile)
Weight: 24 pounds 4 ounces (50th percentile)
Head circumference: 48 cm (95th percentile)

Pre Op Appointment

Today we went to Children's Hospital for Noah's pre-op appointment. I'd been looking forward to this because I knew that we would get all of our questions answered and actually see where Noah would be on the day of the surgery and walk through the general timeline of the day.

We met with a really nice counselor who usually meets with the children to discuss the surgery and their feelings about it. However, since Noah is so young he just acted out some of the procedures with Noah and a little doll. He showed Noah how he would get his blood pressure taken and be given some medicine to make him sleep. While doing this I started to cry and once those tears came I couldn't really turn them off. I know that he will be fine but he's my baby and thinking about him going under the knife just kills me.

I'm worried about how Noah will handle the little things that make him crazy--like having his blood pressure taken. We know from the last Ultrasound that he hates being restrained in any way. I'm worried about the brief seconds when the put the mask on his face to put him under. I know he'll hate it. How can we ensure that he won't be traumatized by this experience? Thankfully Children's Hospital claims to be particulary cautious in how they deal with kids because they don't want to cause unnecessary trauma. All I can do now is trust in the process and hug my little boy very, very tight.

Follow-up Pediatric Surgery Visit

Today we went to see the surgeon about Noah's missing testicle. We waited forever to hear nothing new really. The latest ultrasound showed what we knew from the last one, which is, there is something that appears to be a testicle and it's up fairly high. He said they'll need to go in and "explore" to determine that it's a viable testicle. IF it isn't then they'll remove it and he'll only have one. IF it's good they'll see if they can bring it down and stitch it in place. If the muscle or tissue that lets it descend isn't stretchy enough to allow them to bring it down they'll need to go in through the belly. I asked how he "explored", he said surgery. So, that was a little weird to me. I thought they would know BEFORE the surgery which way they would deal with it. Sounds like they go in through the groin to do it all and if need be they also go in through the belly. I thought it was an either/or thing. I didn't think it was both. Based on the ultrasound the doctor believes that in Noah's case he will also have to go in through the belly because the testicle is up so high. Going in through the belly more than likely means an overnight stay and longer recovery.

Noah will have surgery sometime in January. We're waiting to hear from the surgeon's office to schedule something so we don't know when yet. Needless to say I walked out of there with my baby in my arms and cried and cried and cried. All I could picture was him laying in a hospital bed. :(

Another Ultrasound

Today's ultrasound was absolutely horrible and not at all what I expected based on last year's ultrasound. Noah was completely traumatized by everything--the dark room, the equipment and even the technician. He screamed and cried and freaked out for about 45 minutes straight while we held him down. Poor little guy just couldn't deal with it. We tried everything. We took turns holding him, we let him watch movies with cute little animals and eventually we even tried a new technician. The only way we were eventually able to get a decent image was by dipping his pacifier into sugar water. For a few brief seconds he would sit still while he sucked on the sugar. Jeremy and I both left feeling exhausted and stressed to the max. I can't even explain how horrible it was and how horrible I felt. We went straight out for margaritas after wards. We follow up with the doctor next week to find out what the course of action will be.

Pediatric Surgery at Children's Hospital

We took Noah to Children's Hospital today to meet with the doctor regarding Noah's missing testicle. It seems as though some kind of outpatient surgery is inevitable. The doctor described the procedure and it doesn't sound terrible but it does mean general anesthesia, which sucks. We have to bring Noah back for another ultrasound. I'm not sure why they had us do one 11 months ago if they have to look at it again.

Doctor Visit (12 months)

His stats:
Height: 31.25 inches (95th percentile)
Weight: 21 pounds 9 ounces (48th percentile)
Head circumference: 47 cm (75th percentile)

Unfortunately since Noah's second testicle hasn't shown up we now have to follow-up with Pediatric Surgery at Children's Hospital.

Doctor Visit (9 months)

Noah is 9 months old today...and to celebrate we went to the doctor. :)

His stats:
Height: 30.25 inches (95th percentile)
Weight: 19 pounds 3 ounces (48th percentile)
Head circumference: 46 cm (75th percentile)

Since his last visit he has 4 teeth--two on the bottom and two on the top.

He got a Polio shot today.

From today on he is no longer vegan so we can introduce full fat plain yogurt, cottage cheese, cream cheese and egg yolks. He can also have turkey and chicken, but since we're making all his food we're not too keen on mushy meat so we'll stick with beens, lentils and egg yolks for awhile.

Doctor Visit (6.5 months)

It was an unusual day at the doctor's office because we had to wait for quite awhile. I was holding Noah and showing him the view from the 12th floor when he caught the eye of a nurse. She was a funny older woman with bright red glasses. She started waving at Noah frantically and doing this big exaggerated laugh which he thought was hysterical so he started giggling which set her off even more. They entertained each other over the receptionist's head for quite some time before she came out and asked if she could take him for a little bit. I agreed and off they went. For the next ten minutes I could hear beyond the closed door all kinds of adults laughing and carrying on. Finally the nurse returned, handed him back and proceeded to rave about his happiness, his general demeanor, and his giggles. She told me repeatedly how lucky I was to have such a happy little baby. It was definitely nice to hear such praise from a woman who meets so many different babies.

Once in the room, Noah proceeded to wreak havoc by tearing the paper tissue that covers the bench. It wasn't just tearing, but tearing spastically while throwing it everywhere. By the time the doctor came in the room looked like a tornado had hit. The lesson I learned was who needs a bunch of plastic toys when you've got a roll of paper. :)

Since his last visit he grew one inch and gained two pounds. His stats are:
Height: 28.25 inches (90th percentile)
Weight: 17 pounds 10 ounces (50th percentile)
Head circumference: 44.5 cm (60th percentile)

He's still tall and skinny. Maybe if he'd quit growing in height he could actually start getting chubby. :)

The doctor said his teeth are right at the gum line. They could come in any day now.

He got his DTap shot and his Rotovirus vile.

Doctor Visit (5 months)

Height: 27.25 inches (90th percentile)
Weight: 15 pounds 6 ounces (46th percentile)
Head circumference: 43.5 cm (70th percentile)

He got his PC and HIB shot today.

Doctor Visit (4 months)

Height: 26.5 inches (95th percentile)
Weight: 13 pounds 14 ounces (48th percentile)
Head circumference: 43 cm (75th percentile)

He got his DTap shot and his Rotovirus vile.

Doctor Visit (3 months)

Height: 26 inches (95th percentile)
Weight: 12 pounds 11 ounces (45th percentile)
Head circumference: 40.5 cm (25th percentile)

He's tall and skinny with a little head and great big eyes. I call him my little English Cucumber. :)

He got his HIB and PCV shots today.

Doctor Visit (2 months)

Height: 24.75 inches (98th percentile)
Weight: 10 pounds 14 ounces (45th percentile)

Doctor Visit (1 month)

Height: 23 inches (90th percentile)
Weight: 9 pounds 5 ounces (50th percentile)
Head circumference: 37 cm (25th percentile)

Doctor Visit (12 days)

It was Noah's first doctor visit. For some reason we couldn't see his regular doctor which was kind of a bummer.

We were expecting that Noah would lose a little weight, which is normal, but were surprised to find out that he'd lost so much. The doctor wasn't overly concerned because he didn't appear to be dehydrated. He felt that Noah had more than likely been incorrectly weighed at the hospital. He said that he's seen many times where an extra blanket was left on the scale, or even sometimes a hurried nurse doesn't realize they still have the hands on the scale. Jeremy and I both knew he was wrong about either scenario because we have several photos of Noah after he was born where he is clearly the only thing on the scale and we can see the readout perfectly. The doctor also acknowledged that my milk did take longer than usual to come in--5 days--which probably played a part in his extra weight loss. He said as long as Noah was back to his birth weight or higher by the next visit then he wouldn't be concerned.

Noah grew one inch in 12 days! He's getting taller, but losing weight. Our son is a bean pole. :)

Height: 22 inches
Weight: 8 pounds 3 ounces
Head circumference: 35 cm

After the visit we decided to go out to eat--our first dining out experience since he was born. We went to Sushiya for some real sushi!! I was so excited. We'd been going to Sushiya every Monday night before our birthing class so it was fun to go in with our new baby. The owner and wait staff was happy to meet our new little guy. And I was happy to eat real FISH!! Sooooo good.