Tall, Thin, Blue-Eyed, and Vaccinated

Yesterday was my daughter Josephine’s four month wellness check. Admittedly, I never go to the doctor for a wellness check, but I do believe it’s important for my little girl. She looks great to my eye, but I appreciate the look-over by trained medical professionals. It was a doctor that spotted the cancer in my 4-year-old little sister that unfortunately ended up taking her life. I’d rather know than not know if something is brewing.

My husband and I were also curious to know how much she has grown in the two months since her last check-up. We could weigh and measure her ourselves, but we don’t. Our little girl was born full-term but small (despite my high weight gain!) and has grown tall while remaining light. The weigh-in yesterday confirmed this trend: she’s around 70 percentile for her height but around 15 percentile for her weight.

Another oddity: the nurse practitioner thinks that her eyes will remain blue despite no one in my or my husbands’ family having blue eyes that we can think of. There must be a recessive gene somewhere in us to give us this thin, tall, blue-eyed beauty!

When the nurse practitioner walked in the room, Josephine let out a fit of baby giggles longer and happier than my husband and I had ever seen before! Adorable doesn’t even begin to describe it. Pretty soon, giggling fits will be a regular occurrence. I’m glad the first one happened with the nurse practitioner who probably doesn’t see many happy kids.

And then, the main reason for the visit: the regular shots. She took them better than I would have! Along with her newborn and two-month shots, she is now vaccinated against rotavirus, tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis/whooping cough, polio, sepsis, hepatitis B, meningitis, pneumonia, and epiglottitis. All horrible diseases. I am a very strong advocate for childhood vaccinations to protect my and your children from these terrible, preventable diseases. Thank you, modern medical advances!

We will repeat it all again for her half-year check-up. Maybe by then, we’ll add teeth to the list of what to check on!