Waaaaaahhhhh!!!

Tanner had his 4-month old check up yesterday. I had to entertain him in the exam room for a little while, after the nurse and prior to the doctor. That is what the smilie pics are from because he sure wasn't smiling during the 3 shots! He now weighs 15 pounds and 3 ounces. His length is 24.25 inches. His corrected measurements (compared to a baby born 7 weeks early) are all really high because he sure doesn't look preemie anymore! His head circumference and length were in the 70-95%, but his weight was a flat 95th percentile!!!!! LOL!! Meaning, only 5% of kids born 7 weeks early are larger than he is! Too funny! I don't think he looks outrageously fat, but he is a healthy lil' chub-chub these days! When his measurements were compared to 4-mo old babies born full term, he was average on all counts.

I had the option of splitting up his shots yesterday, but decided against it. Not sure why, I had to make a quick decision and panicked. He had done fine the time before, as far as after effects go, but who knows about long term. He did cry so hard that the nurse commented on his "good set of lungs." He cried harder when she showed me how to correctly use a bulb syringe. I had never been shown to occlude or hold one side of the nose shut in order to get a better suction. It makes sense, and sure is way more productive!

My doctor said that due to my concerns about the MMR shot and possible autism connections, she will allow me to split up the measles, from the mumps, from the rubella vaccine. However, I will need to find some other mothers to go in on the vaccines because each separate vial is over $200. I would have to buy them from the pharmacy and do all the legwork. Then, my doc will administer the shots on different occasions. I am very pleased that she is willing to work with me on this. My last pediatrician was not and he is even in the same office!!! Since we do not know what causes autism, I plan to do my best to contact others in this area that have the same concerns that I do...documented or not, they have not proven that there isn't a correlation between the timing of the MMR shots and the rise in autism rates.