Doctor Galore

I feel like we’re at the doctor’s office on a weekly basis. I guess that happens when all four family members see the same doctor.

Both kids went to the doctor yesterday. Emma was having her ears rechecked and John was having two vaccines. John was only supposed to see the nurse and save us a copay but he took a tumble off the bed Monday afternoon and landed smack on his nose and mouth. To get off topic, I was trying to get the sewing machine working so I could fix one of Ryan’s shirts. I just got so involved with what I was doing that I forgot that John was on the bed behind me. When I heard the thud of him hitting the floor, I thought I was going to be sick because, even before turning around and seeing him, I knew exactly what had happened. He did the silent cry for a few seconds before he could get a real scream out of his bleeding mouth. All I could do was sit on the floor and cry with him. We were so cautious with Emma that nothing like this ever happened with her. John seems to get banged up all the time.

Anyway, I switched John’s appointment from seeing a nurse to seeing the doctor because his little nose was so swollen and bruised and his gum around one of his front teeth was bleeding. Since it took us a week to figure out Emma broke her arm when she was two and a half, I thought John may have a broken nose or loose tooth and we’d never know it.

Emma went first and her ears are all clear with the exception of some wax in her right one. The doctor was going to tell us what to do but we all forgot about it.

John’s nose and mouth are fine. His nose is just bruised, all six of his teeth are firmly planted in his gums and his lip is just swollen. Then came the shots. Luckily, they have two nurses give the shots so they can be done at the same time in two different legs. He recovers very quickly from the prick but, man, does he have bad reactions to the vaccines themselves. His eyes were red-rimmed all evening, he fusses almost non-stop and he woke up four times last night to nurse. This morning wasn’t any better and I expect he’ll be like this for the next couple days.

John gained a pound since we were in last (three weeks ago, I think) and is up to 18 pounds even. Surprisingly, that puts him in the 25th percentile for his age. He’s obviously gone through a growth spurt which explains why he’s reverted back to several night feedings for the past week.

Emma weighed in at 31.4 pounds! Looks like we may be shopping for new car seats soon (finally)!