Verity and Drew both had well-baby appointments this morning. Drew turned 2 the end of November, and Verity was 4 months the end of January, so I'm a little behind, but better late than never, I suppose. With stuff every afternoon pretty much, and Nathan needing the minivan for his community college class (it has the parking pass), and me not wanting to drive the big van to Bethesda, there really wasn't a good day or time to go. But Bob was TDY to Florida this week, so it worked out well to get 2 appointments.
The good news is that Drew is just fine. Big, even, for one of our kids! He's like 28 pounds, I think--whatever the 57th percentile is--and the 80-something percentile for height. A veritable giant for us!
Verity, however, not so much. You may recall that after much syringe-feeding, she was finally up to 10 pounds, 14 ounces the end of November at her 2 month well-baby appointment. So yesterday I decided to weigh her, just to get an idea of where she was. It's a good thing I did, because she weighed less than 12 pounds. What?? I reweighed her several times, but that's what it was. I am *so* glad I was prepared, because it would have been a TOTAL shock to find that out in the vitals room of the hospital today! So to recap, she went from the 50th percentile down to the 3rd percentile in 2 1/2 months. Well!
I was so surprised because she is a totally healthy baby. She eats well, sleeps well, pees and poops a good amount, is very bright-eyed and interactive, pushes up and has really good muscle control--everything a healthy baby does! Ans she's so happy and talkative! I had no reason to be worried at all, which is why it never occurred to me to check on her weight.
Now I do happen to have some experience with really skinny babies. Luke, for example. I stopped nursing him at 6 months and started him on formula and solid food because "that will make him gain weight", all the doctors told me. But it didn't. He hung out around the 5th percentile for years. Grace was the same way. She will be 8 on May 1, and she weighs 48 pounds now, which is all the way up to the 19th percentile for her. She also hung out around the 5th percentile for awhile though. I checked Grace's baby calendar, and she was all of 13 pounds at 6 months (8# 14 oz. at birth). In fact, after she got sick Christmas 2008, she dropped down to 18 pounds at 20 months. That was when she got cream on her cereal, Carnation breakfast drink, and all the ice cream she could eat!
But alas, Verity can't eat ice cream, or make any of her own high-fat meals, and you can see how sad she is about that. So we are embarking on a weekend of Operation Feed Verity. The doctor wants her to gain an ounce a day for the next 3 days, and if she hasn't gained that, then she wants us to take Verity to the ER on Monday. Now that seems a bit drastic for a baby that is not showing any signs of failing to thrive, but the doctor did tell me that if this had been my first baby, she would have admitted Verity to the hospital (bringing back memories of Luke . . .) Geesh! So we are supposed to give her 2 extra ounces of either formula or pumped breastmilk after every feeding. She tried some formula in the doctor's office, and she was not a big fan. I may have to resort to the syringe again, since at least I can just squirt that in. Still, I think it is going to take a long time after each feeding, and really, I don't expect her to start packing on the pounds. She even looks a lot like Grace! But if she could just gain some ounces by Monday, that would be really great. We go back Thursday morning for another appointment, which is a total bummer because Amy is coming out here to visit from Ohio, and I don't want to have to trek to Bethesda and back while she's here! But hopefully it will be a quick appointment, if Verity is moving in the right direction, weight-wise (please, Lord!). I'm trying not to be too stressed, since she seems perfectly healthy, but I'm definitely feeling the pressure right now!
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