And yes, it was nearly as bad as that time at Natalie's 10 day weight check when they detected a heart murmur and she had to be whisked away for an immediate EKG.
Today was worse than all of those checks.
Hands-down.
On one hand Keely is growing right on track.
Well if your track runs absolutely slow as molasses, in the middle of December, in Alaska. Then yes, Keely is growing right on track.
Weighing in at 18 # 10.5 ounces and measuring 28.5'' long, Keely falls in the 5th percentile for both height and weight. She's grown a total of 3'' since her 6 month check and put on an impressive 4 pounds.
Triple Crown 1 year stats:
Ash:
25 # and 31.5'' long
Natty Kat:
22 # and 30'' long
Keely Q:
18# 10 oz and 28.5'' long
Now that's a tiny sister.
As far as milestones go Keely is pretty much spot-on. She says Dada and Mama and will also bust out an occasional "Wazzat?" (what's that?) and point to something. Keely is getting more and more stable with her walking, although crawling is her preferred method of transportation as it's quicker and not nearly as wobbly. Keely sleeps through the night (thanks in part to her ear tube surgery back in April), and she eats pretty much what we eat at mealtimes. Keely loves to self-feed, and like most babies, would make carbs her meal, every meal, every day.
Keely fits comfortably in size 9 months clothes, except for PJ's which I'm switching out to size 12 month. But with the season change, she'll be headed into 12 month stuff just for the sake of having pants and shirts/sweaters (love those hand-me-downs!). Size 3 diapers fit her perfectly, and at the rate she grows, she'll likely stay in those until her 2nd, possibly 3rd birthday.
All-in-all that part of the appointment was beautiful.
So why the dramatic entrance to the blog?
Well, I'm getting to that.
Keely's fought a weird, nasty rash in/on her neck for 6, 7, 8 months? It's been so long I can't even remember when it started. We've done 2 separate antibiotic creams.
Nothing.
We've done homeopathic creams.
Nada.
We've down the 2 antibiotic creams simultaneously.
Zilch.
It seemed nothing could kill that funk.
In the midst of all of that, we worked on introducing dairy into Keely's diet to see if she had overcome her sensitivity. At first she seemed to be handling it okay; none of the nighttime screaming escapades or nasty, raunchy-smelling, green-mucous poop. But she did start spitting-up/urping like a mad man and her skin started breaking out something fierce (this was a sign to us back before we had her tested for the sensitivity; extreme baby acne in a matter of hours). Keely was getting whole milk mixed in with breast milk and I was also giving her regular yogurt almost daily. It wasn't too long before I made the connection so I decided to replace the whole milk with almond milk and dairy yogurt with coconut milk yogurt. And I was pleased to see things starting to clear up.
Up until last week her neck was as clear as it had ever been. But then a few days ago she broke out in a rash around her mouth and her neck flipped out again. I admit I haven't been as hardcore lately with what goes into her mouth so trying to think about what it *could* have been causing the reaction was proving difficult.
After a lengthy discussion on allergies in general (Pedi knew of our recent trip to Doernbecher for Ashley), we decided it'd be beneficial to have Keely tested for the top 20 food allergies, top 20 environmental allergies and the top 20 Oregon allergies (who knew that Oregon gets it's own panel?!).
On one hand I know having this information will only prove helpful in helping Keely stay healthy. But on the other I knew it meant blood work.
Crap.
No. Make that double-crap.
Pedi also wanted to draw for a couple of other things related to her small size just to make sure everything was good.
So after her clean bill of health from Pedi, her nurse came in and stuck her twice for her vaccinations.
That made for an irritable Keely.
In an attempt to make her happy, I let Keely walk down the hallway to the lab. By the time we arrived she was happy and smiley.
Thankfully she had no idea what was about to happen.
Once we got squared away in a room, the tech came in and started the arduous task of getting everything set and in order for the draw. I was shocked at the number of vials the tech lined up in the tray. I was pretty certain they'd be taking at least half of Keely Q's blood. Next up was the nearly impossible task of finding Keely's itty bitty, teeny weeny veins. She checked both arms, and with the assistance of another phlebotomist, they decided to go for the left arm.
The absolute SECOND they tied her arm off, Keely cried.
No. Make that wailed.
And she didn't stop for a solid 10 minutes.
After feeling and looking the phlebotomist finally went in for the poke.
And Keely wailed.
She dug around and tried to puncture the vein.
And Keely wailed.
After a minute of digging, the phlebotomist decided to pull out and try the other arm.
And Keely wailed.
Then the other phlebotomist searched out a vein on her right arm.
And Keely wailed.
Once her arm was tied off and the vein was located, they stuck her and started the draw.
And Keely wailed.
The vials were filled, the needle removed, Band-Aid applied and snuggles given.
And Keely wailed.
I'm not sure at what point Keely actually calmed down. Somewhere between scream 8592 and 9312 perhaps. I do know that when I leaned down and started singing in her ear and she got quiet for half a beat, it made me cry.
You'd think it'd be the opposite: hearing her cry would make me cry. But nope. When I started singing to her, and she stopped wailing for half a second, something about the power and bond between a mother and her child nearly brought me to my knees.
Or maybe it wasn't my singing after all? Maybe she was just waving her white flag?
During the escapades I encouraged Keely to suck her thumb. At one point, after she had been poked and the draw was happening, she did take it and her eyes started to close. She was physically exhausted. Emotionally too, I bet. It lasted .01445 seconds, which was nice. But still torture.
I'm not sure when the results will be ready. I'm anxious to see what they say.
Anxious and nervous.
Keely Q's precious little legs have bruises from her vaccinations and her adorable little arms also have battle scars. It was a rough, rough day for that little thing.
Heck. It was a rough, rough day for this mama.
Keely Q started her morning like this: bright-eyed, bushy-tailed and wacky-haired
Eating a little snacky-snack while we wait at the pedi's office
Walking and cruising like a champ
More snacks while we wait, this time in the exam room
Favorite place to hang?...
...in the crawl space under the exam table
Naked baby!
Love how the exam rooms are more like play rooms; each room is different and today we got the newly constructed (and painted!) farm room. The favorite is still the castle room, John Deere tractor room and train room with a real working train.
Draw time. Otherwise known as Hell time.
Mama snuggles after the left-side draw *fail*
More Mama snuggles after the torture was over and the blood was drawn
Snot-nosed, teary-eyed, upset baby girl tucked away in her car seat ready to LEAVE
Bruising on poor Keely Q's arm - this is the one they actually got the blood from
Didn't take long (maybe 20 seconds) of being on the road before pure and total exhaustion set in
