Sam's 1 Year Check-Up

Well, a week ago we had the dreaded 12 month well child appointment.  I knew going into it that Sam would have 4 shots and a toe prick for a CBC.  I usually schedule appointments for the morning, but I think to avoid the sick children in the mornings, I opted for an afternoon appointment.  I am usually only at the pediatrician's office for 45 minutes total.  I was there for about 30 minutes longer this day.  Thirty minutes isn't very long unless you have a child with you.  Tack on a fussy and exhausted because no afternoon nap was taken to that child, and it is an eternity.

We arrived early.  What?  I not only made it on time, but I was early.  *High Five!* First time for everything, right? We sat in the waiting room for maybe 10 minutes...Yes!  We are going to be out of here in no time! Sam freaks out when I try to put him on the table to undress him.  I guess he remembers that flu shot a month before after all.  I pick him up, and he screams at her for measuring his head...18.75 inches(75th). And how dare the nurse take his temperature!  His day is ruined!  It was 99 something...which for him is a little higher than normal.  I pick him up, and we walk out the door to weigh him and see how long he is.  He does not want me to put him down AT ALL.  He screams the entire time, but he was 25 pounds solid(75th) and 31.5 inches long(90th). After that she pricks his toe and squeezes blood out of it, and of course Sam really loves this. Nurse exits.

We wait for our doctor at least 20 minutes...maybe more.  I had time to walk around the room and point to every picture, feed him an entire banana, and nurse him on both sides, so it was probably more like 30 minutes. He is feeling better at this point and sits on the floor between the doctor and I as she reads off his stats and asks/answers questions.  He loves computers, so he was all over hers.  His white blood count was 16, and she said that was high.  I am guessing that means 16,000 because when I looked up the normal range it was 4,300-10,000. His platelets were high too.  She asked if he just gotten over a cold.  I told her he had a little bit of cough from drainage a week ago, but nothing I would deem as a cold or illness, so we go back for another CBC to make sure they go back to normal. She checks him out, and he again does not want to be on the table, so he screams the entire time.  He looks good!

I think it takes about 15 minutes for the nurse to come back with his shots.  He was only happy if I was blowing his belly or tickling him.  He, of course, begins crying again as soon as I try to put him on the table.  One in each leg and one in each arm.  I held him while she did his arms, and when she was done, I notice my hand was slippery.  That's not normal, so I looked and his leg was bleeding pretty badly.  I told the nurse, and it sort of shocked her.  We went to the sink so that I could clean my hands off, and clean him off.  I am pretty sure the rubbing of his leg as she was wiping the blood off caused his leg to turn red, but she wasn't sure and was afraid he may have been having a reaction.  She brought in the doctor who ordered some benadryl.  It wasn't really red by the time she brought it.  It had already started bruising.  I gave it to him just in case, but I felt it was not necessary.  We were there for an extra 15 minutes for that.  By the way this nurse is awesome!  She is always so kind, and Sam usually always smiles at her even after shots.  I hold nothing against her.  It was just random that this happened.

He was out when we got in the car to drive to pick up Gabe.  So happy I didn't take him, and he stayed with my sister.  That would have added to the misery.

This was his bruise 3 days later.

A week later, and he is now running a fever with a runny nose.  It has gotten to almost 103 before I dosed him with Advil because he was fussy.  Hopefully, it is just a virus!  We will see in a few day if it gets better or worse. On top of that, he has FOUR molars turning his gums red and purple about to bust on through.  He has a lot going on.