More Calories

Although I wanted Ian to go down earlier last night, he actually ended up going down later (8:55pm). His first stretch was a little over 6 hours. I nursed him for 75 minutes and then he slept almost 2 hours. He got about 8 hours of sleep total, which isn't enough, but at least my day didn't start as early as it did the last two mornings. Nadia slept about 11 hours last night for the first time in a few days. I think Ian would have taken a great nap this morning if we had been home as he fell asleep in the car on the way to the doctor's office and fell back asleep almost immediately after I transferred him into the Snugli in the parking lot. He was awakened several times - first when the nurse weighed/measured him, second when the doctor examined him, and third when the nurse came in to give him his shots, but in between each of those activities he slept in my arms. He also slept in the car on the way from the doctor's office to the grocery store, while we were in the grocery store, and on the way home. He woke up and wanted to be fed (understandbly so!) once we got home. I have been working a bit on putting him in the Nap Nanny awake, and he has succeeded a few times at putting himself to sleep. I am hoping he can master that skill without needing to let him cry.

I was impressed by how little he cried during/after his shots. I think the pacifier helped. Nadia never liked a pacifier. He screamed for only a few seconds and then just sucked like crazy on his pacifier. I knew not to look at his face. I did that with Nadia's shots once and the look she gave me hurt my heart so much I knew I would never look in a child's eyes when he/she got a shot again. To be honest I wish I could delegate the job of taking a child to the doctor for his/her shots to my hubby, but I know that is impossible.

I wasn't able to answer "yes" to all the questions they asked me such as does he hold a toy in his hands (no), roll over (no), squeal (no), put his hands together (no), etc. He did flash the doctor one of his gorgeous smiles when the doctor was using the stethoscope on him. That surprised me as Nadia always cries when they do that (even at her last appointment). He didn't like his ears being examined though. The doctor said I need to give him more time on his belly to strengthen his shoulder muscles, etc. Ian hates tummy time, but I've got to start doing it every day.

The doctor wasn't happy with his height or weight. With a wet diaper on he weighed 9lb 8oz. At his 4 months appointment he weighed 7lb 3oz without any diaper. The doctor said that his head circumference is going in the right direction (catching up). However he didn't even stay on the same curve with his weight and length. In both cases he dropped farther down than he was 2 months ago. I don't put a lot of stock in the accuracy of the length measurements, but supposedly he is 22.75 inches long. They don't give specific percentiles but they said less than 5th % for weight and height and 25th for head circumference. I looked it up online and he went from the .3% for weight last time to not even on the chart this time. In comparison Nadia was up to the 21% at her 4 month appt. For length he went from 9.5% last time to .9% this time (Nadia jumped up to 35% by her 4 month appt). I also looked on a chart online that compares weight to length, and he's at the .5% for that. His head circumference is up to 16.6% according to the chart online. The doctor said 25%, but I think they were rounding. The doctor said he expected to see the other numbers start to catch up as the head circumference did. I said I did call at 3 months and was told that gaining 1/2 ounce a day was fine. He said well they prefer it to be 1 ounce and at the very minimum for Ian to stay at the same percentile (rather than dropping lower). He said Ian needs to be given more formula to supplement after I nurse him. He said that if I agree to increasing his calories and will monitor his weight at home that he won't require a weight check. I am to call though if he doesn't start gaining weight faster. Just to stay on the same curve he needs to gain at least 3 lbs in the next 2 months. The doctor said he'd be thrilled if Ian gained 4-5 pounds in the next 2 months but that at the very least he needs to gain 2.5 to 3 lbs.

I felt like bursting into tears, but I didn't. I want my son to gain weight so I will definitely start supplementing more. After I nursed him I gave him a bottle of 2 ounces that I pumped at school yesterday. I have a feeling that nursing is going to end sooner than I want it to. I am praying that he'll still want to nurse until at least 6 months. I've switched my goal from 12 months to 6 months as bottles are so much easier and I have a feeling he'll prefer those and gradually refuse to nurse. All I can say is that I have certainly tried my best to nurse my son for as long as possible. I hope once I get to school this evening I can forget about this as I don't want to start crying there. I scheduled Ian and Nadia's appointments (6 month for Ian and 2 year for Nadia) for June 24th. Hopefully Ian will weigh over 12 lbs by that point. He'll be seeing a urologist earlier that week to find out if he needs surgery or not.

On the way to the doctor's office I stopped at the bank. At first I wondered why Nadia kept saying things like "fries" and "good girl" and "happy," and then I figured out that she though the bank drive-thru was a McDonald's drive-thru, LOL! I tried to explain to her that they only gave me money, not food. In the exam room she was amusing herself with the contents of my purse. She had fun playing with my keys. She kept taking the keys, walking toward the door and saying "bye bye see ya" and then blowing me kisses. It was so funny! She also took a diaper out of my purse, laid down on the floor, and tried to put the diaper on. She's definitely into dramatic play. :-)