Well Baby Visit - 2 months

Today is Gavin's two month birthday! He is a growing boy and has the chart to prove it! He had his two-month well baby visit today and he's in the 75th percentile for his height at 23 1/2" and in the 80th percentile for his weight at 12 lbs, 12 oz. Although during labor, his big head got stuck on the way out, it is apparently very average sized - he's in the 50th percentile on head circumference. His temperature was also good (98 something I think?). After being weighed and measured, Rita checked him out and said he looks great! She looked in his mouth and nose and in his ears. She checked his hips and legs, which apparently were fine. She bravely removed his diaper, which is risky business when he is naked and chilled, and checked out all of his little boy parts. Everything appeared healthy! To see a list of what was covered in this check-up and what the doctor is looking for, see http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/healthy-baby/PR00026

After the check-up, it was time for vaccinations. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but it wasn't a walk in the park either. On the good side, he doesn't remember or recognize Brenda yet, so he isn't yet afraid of her, but she promised us that as he gets older, he will grow to dislike her! She was very good though and we are going to do our best to explain to him why he needs shots once he is old enough to understand so that he doesn't blame Brenda! One of the vaccines was oral, so that one wasn't bad at all! He almost seemed to like it. For the shots, Cliff held his legs straight and his body still while I tried to comfort him. Brenda warned us that he would jump, but with the first shot, he not only didn't jump, he didn't even make a peep. He didn't seem to notice that he had just gotten a shot. But, the second shot was a different story. He screamed, turned red, tears rolled, and he barely gasped for a breath between long, almost soundless wails. She quickly moved on to shot number three (in the other leg), so the painfully sad wailing continued, but only for about a minute and then he was fine. Poor little guy. After he stopped screaming, he still gave us his pouty bottom lip, which Brenda even pointed out. Yup, he's got that pouty lip down pat! He was really a trooper, tears and all. The immunizations he got were:
* PCV (pneumococcal) http://www.babycenter.com/0_the-pneumococcal-vaccine_13782.bc
* DTaP, HepB, IPV (diptheria, tetanus and pertussis + hepatitis B + polio) http://www.babycenter.com/0_the-dtap-vaccine_1563.bc
* HIB (haemophilus influenza) http://www.babycenter.com/0_the-hib-vaccine_1562.bc
* RV (rotavirus) http://www.babycenter.com/0_the-polio-vaccine_1566.bc

We gave Gavin a dose of infant Tylenol about a half hour before his appointment, and he got another dose of Tylenol about 5 hours after his appointment, but Carrie said he did well all day and wasn't particularly fussy. That was great to hear!

Brenda is going to write down Gavin's weight and measurements at each appointment for us so we can put the sheet in his scrapbook.