The Doctor’s Visit

Sleep update: All night! 7:30pm to 6:30am! That’s two nights in a row now.

We all have been through the first doctor visit. Those who have adopted know that the first doctor’s visit also can be quite and experience for these little ones, especially when they have procedures that are normally conducted on newborns!

Today was Linda’s first visit here in the good ole US of A. If the quick medical exam in Guangzhou was any indication, this was going to be quite interesting. Off we went to visit the doc! BTW (that’s By The Way for new readers that do not know the acronyms, i.e. the old folk….), since Sunday we have not had the car seat melt down (CSMD). Linda was back to normal riding in the car. She was asleep about half way there! Once we found the place we were right on time and we were called in to begin the fun.

For those curious, Linda is 29 ½ inches long and weighs 19lbs 4oz without clothes. Yep, the first time she was weighed nekked. So far so good; she usually begins crying when the clothes start coming off. The real fun began when the doc started to check her out which meant holding her down for the ear check and such. She began to howl when that started. She did not cry during the eye testing, but she was not happy about it and would not look at the monitor. She preferred to squirm and I held her hand away from the probes stuck to her head. Very high tech I'd say. Not long after than came two shots. Oh, that was just the tip of the iceberg for crying, but we knew this was going to be a fun outing.

After the questions were asked and the preliminary check was clean with a mild yeast infection which we are treating it was off to the next stop, Scripps Hospital. We had to hit the lab where they drew blood. Ear plugs are a must the next time we do this! The blood work is to check and make sure there is nothing really wrong with her and to see what vaccines have been given her and to verify the Chinese immunization chart that we received. The nurse who drew the blood was quite nice and did a good job, it was just hard work keeping Linda still and comforting her. She screamed like a banshee! My ears continue to ring from that. We figured the rest of the day would be payback for the hell we put her through! Once we left and settled in the car, Mel fed her some food and Linda quieted down quickly. She was asleep when we got home.

The rest of the day was very boring. Lunch, play, play, snack, bottle, and nap. We bought a toy that can be used sitting, standing, or kneeling. Linda so wants to walk its quite amazing, so we got this toy that plays music and has the different shapes and textures. This seems to be the typical children’s toy of today. Linda does prefer paper and water bottles over these high tech gadgets, but it does humor her enough. After dinner we were sitting at this toy Linda pulled herself up twice from my lap to a standing position while I steadied the toy! She could not do it while sitting on the floor, but she sure did give it a try.

We are easing her into real people food now. We have some of the Gerber’s stage 3 foods which are a bit chunkier than the other ones. She likes them! She does not eat a whole lot, but at least she will eat it. We plan on trying other foods that we will eat ourselves and cut into small pieces for her. Soon we will be working on getting her to feed herself. This will take time, though, as she has never done this before. She will make the attempts with veggie puffs and at times succeed, but in general she is helpless right now. Like I said, it shouldn’t take too long and the mess will begin. Amber, the doggie, can’t wait for this stage. Talk about a feeding frenzy! I joked to a neighbor I am about ready to Teflon coat the walls and floors.

Now Linda is asleep. We still are trying to find the best method of putting the little one down. Any suggestions would be quite helpful! I have a feeling she will not sleep through tonight, but that is alright, it was quite a traumatic day. Tomorrow: Costco!

Good Night!