12 Month Check Up

Everything is going great with Arabella. She's at 31 inches tall and 27 pounds even. They made her stand and she was hanging on my finger, so I'm not sure how accurate that was as we weighed her at 11 months at 27 pounds 8 ounces. Anyway, the doctor says she's doing great, advanced with some of her skills, and growing like a weed. She's very proportionate although in the 95th percentile.

Then came the shots. The nurse didn't have a helper so I had to hold her down while she got three shots (Chicken Pox, MMR, and Hep A). After I picked her up she stopped crying after 15-30 seconds. And then we had to go to the lab for her blood draw. They were testing for lead and to make sure she's not anemic since we've started weaning off of the formula. The nurse specifically told me that they would do a finger prick which was fine by me. Then the hose beast (what I will call the old lady in the lab) says no, the arm collection is better to test. Mind you I have to hold a 27 pound baby ON my belly and keep her as still as possible. First off she wailed when they put the band on her arm, first left, then right, then back to her left. As if that weren't torture enough they jabbed the damn needle in her arm and "lost" the vein. The hose beast proceeded to dig the damn needle around for over a minute and I couldn't take it. I told her to stop. I go through that w/ my TSH draws and I know what it feels like. It's not pleasant and there was no call to do that to my baby. SO, she proceeds to bitch that UHC is picky about how the blood is drawn for those tests. I DON'T CARE! She proceeds to walk away from us and continues to mumble the same line several times. WHATEVER. So the other lady pulled out the finger stick and I again had to hold her still and keep her from retracting her arm. After a minute of wailing and blood collection it was over. We then had to wait around for the anemia results and all is well.

There were two other incidents that followed this at the doctors office, but had nothing to do with the appointment, it just turned out to be a really crappy afternoon for both of us.