4 Year Old Appointment

The girls had their four year old checkups this week.  It is always a brutal day because their doctor is all the way in the city.  It takes us a good hour door to door and always forces us to miss the nap.  Each girl is always thrilled to go until in the building and then fights me every step of the way.  I always arrive home exhausted.

Before we saw the docs, the girls had to have their weights, heights, and BP done.  There was a resounding, "NO squeezy squeezy!," which is what we call the blood pressure cuff.  Adeline was a mess just being in the same room with it but Lila put on her brave face allowed the cuff to be wrapped around her arm.  I was very proud of her.  The vitals are always the hardest part of the appointment for Adeline.  There is a lot of touching and it moves quickly.  We were barely able to get her to stand on the scale.  The unknown really freaks her out in these situations.  She screamed, "It's not noisy!" but couldn't process that it wasn't going to move or make noise when we told her.  Here she is sporting her fifth percentile weight.  30 pounds continues to elude the girl.  

While waiting in the room, the girls took out the crayons and entertained themselves which is a far cry from years past.  Here is Lila's drawing of Adeline with a squeezy squeezy (I drew the cuff).  She tried really hard to make her look scared and added tears.  I think she did a great job.

 

This visit went pretty well.  We love Dr. McNett but see him only once or twice a year since our Pulmonologist stands in as our sick doctor.  Dr. McNett sees special babies and we are happy to be under his care.  He has seen it all and always comments on how remarkable the girls are.  This time was no exception.

First, we are visited by his resident.  This is the only appointment that I will give a resident the time of day.  Why?  Because they actually read the chart!  They sit for at least a half an hour and read the history of the girls.  It is long, involved, and leaves them wondering who they will meet when entering the room, but they always do it. 

The girls responded well to the resident.  He started by asking how they were developmentally using questions such as, "I bet the stairs are really hard for them, can they do them independently yet."  He was surprised to hear how much they can do and really surprised when they started talking to him.  He wasn't expecting sentences and, boy, was he wrong.  We have to remember that he sees special babies and we the very lucky ones when it comes to this population of children.

Next, Dr. McNett came in to see the girls.  They looked at books and just talked.  It gave him a chance to get a feel for them.  He was thrilled.  He was also able to help us out with some of Lila's stomach issues - possible constipation that presents as diarrhea.  Don't ask me how.  Other than that, it was no news is good news.  

The worst part of the appointment was the shots.  Each girl received four boosters!  It was awful and they were so hurt by it.  Dr. McNett held Adeline for me while Lila and I stepped out.  Miss Adeline was so upset when they opened the door.  I felt like I betrayed her.  Lila wasn't going to let Dr. McNett hold her so I had to which broke my heart as well.  

We left crying.  I walked down the side walk, in the middle of city, with a girl on either hand crying.  However, they recovered after I spied a Dunkin Donuts.  They were able to hold the tears in when ordering but when I mentioned that they had just received four shots to the man behind the counter, both girls broke out in sobs.  I guess the girls were a pretty compelling case because our donuts were free!