Curious Maria Goes to The Doctor

We went to the pediatrician today. I hate taking Maria to the pediatrician. First, even though there is a sick and a well child waiting room, invariably in the well waiting room there is a child coughing up a lung. I am a bit of a germaphobe and so with every hack I am sure that my new born is going to catch the plague.

When we get called back they have to weigh Maria naked. Amelia is awesome about getting Maria undressed, but I really suck at it and for some reason I always end up being the one that is holding her come weighing time. The scales at the office are ancient (I mean they look like they are out of the 70's) and they are not calibrated, which means we have to weigh Maria twice. Wisking a naked new born between scales is not the easiest feat, especially given that Maria likes to pee when she get a blast of cold air. Most of the time we are sucessful in avoiding an accident, but we failed once and I got a really dirty look from the nurse. I was only able to shrug and say "Woops".

The scales always give two answers that are significantly different so either Maria is 7lbs 4 ounces (which is way down from her birth weight of 7lbs 15 ounces) or she is 7 lbs 7 ounces (which is down but all that bad).

They should move into the 21st century and buy a digital scale.

Short of the addition of a diaper, Maria kept naked for the appointment, which makes her extremely fussy. We haven't introduced her to a pacifier yet, but I do let her suck on my pinky. Of course I am so skeeved about being in a doctor's office that generally afraid to let her comfort suck on my finger without washing my hands several times.

The one positive is that our Doc, Mike Ward is extraordinarily calm. His zen master calm seems to transfer well to Maria. The time with the doc isn't bad, generally. This visit he has asked us to begin supplementing with formula for a couple of weeks. It isn't our preferred mechanism, but really right now we are very concerned about Maria's weight.

Worst of all for Maria, three of our four visits have ended with a heel stick to draw blood for different tests. It really sets our child off and I don't blame her because it looks very unpleasant. I keep telling myself that someday these visits won't be so upsetting and while we are there I try to put on my calm persona, but it really wears me out.