4 Month Checkup

This morning was Abby's 4 month well-baby check-up.

Wow! This little gal is growing! She's now weighing in at 12.13 pounds and she's 23 inches. The doctor said that prematurity is "a thing of the past"! Her weight is in the 25th percentile for a four month old!! The doctor, at her previous visits, said that because she was two months premature that we'd be gauging her growth using an age-adjusted scale. (If she's four months, she'd be compared with two month babies, etc.) However, it looks like we're not going to be doing that anymore, as she's making incredible strides in all areas of growth. I couldn't be happier!

She got her vaccinations as well, however John and I decided that instead of following the AAP recommendations we are going to be following a delayed schedule. We still want her to be completely vaccinated, however. So instead of the normal six vaccines, she got two plus an oral one. We'll go back in a month and get another one. I most certainly don't want to get anyone's panties in a bind about this, but we just think that this would be the best for her. She didn't tolerate her two month shots well, so I'm hoping that by spacing them out she'll do better. The doctor said more and more patients are chosing this route as well, especially those who've read Dr. Sears' book, The Vaccine Book. Yup...I just finished it yesterday, and I highly recommend it to anyone wanting additional info on vaccines. It is decidedly pro-vaccine, but gives lots of info about them, including a safe alternative the current vaccine schedule. (I didn't realize that cow serum, monkey tissues, and aborted fetal tissues are the ingredients in some of the vaccines!)

William was relieved that he didn't have to get a shot! We've decided not to do the H1N1 shot, for lots of reasons. Way too much hype and hardly any safety testing done for me to allow it. Also don't like that the multi-dose contains mercury. I did give him the seasonal flu shots some time ago, but only because they assured me it was a single dose, mercury free. Appears he got the dose just in time, as they are all out of the single dose, and now are moving on to the mercury containing, multi-dose flu shot.

Well, Miss Abigail is sound asleep in my arms. She seems to be MUCH happier than she was after her two month shots, as she screamed solid for hours and hours. Who knows exactly why...maybe she was just cranky that day. Maybe it did have something to do with vaccine overload...whatever the case is, I feel confident we made the right choice for her!