Thursday, May 31, 2007

The best things come in small packages

When Kiernan was born, I was surprised he only weighed 7lbs 1 oz. Not only had he been almost two weeks late (BLAH), but I was big, and the ultrasound I had had the week before had him weighing in at least 1-2 lbs more than that.
But that was ok, he was healthy. When we left the hospital I started bringing him to the well baby clinics run by the city to have him weighed and see the progress he was making. He was gaining weight like crazy - for weeks every time he was weighed a nurse would say something to express how great it was that he was gaining so much weight. And you know, it made me feel proud, like I was doing a really good thing, I was providing well for my baby and he was gaining weight - yay me and yay Kiernan.
His percentiles were good! He was tall, but not too heavy. And then he started sliding. We figured out the acid reflux thing, and the milk and soy protein thing and that helped, but the thing is, he's still sliding.
Today we had a follow-up appointment with the pediatrician about the reflux, the allergies, etc. And the measurements from today had him at 10th percentile for both weight and height. I know that scales are different and the measuring can be different by different people, but it feels like he's stopped growing. And you know how I said it made me feel really good when he was growing so well? Well this makes me feel really bad, like I'm doing something wrong.
I know I'm not, in my head, I know that. I'm doing my best. And the doctor didn't seem overly concerned. She said he could just be a small guy. Which would be fine with me. But I know babies are supposed to maintain their percentiles. If he'd been in the 2nd percentile the whole time and stayed that way, I wouldn't be so concerned, but it's the slipping. I'm afraid he's going to slip right down off the charts, and then they'll label him "failure to thrive". Which seems so ridiculous, Kiernan never ever looks like "failure to thrive". :)
So what now? The doctor has referred us to another pediatric allergist to get another opinion and to get a sense on how to deal with the fact that Kiernan appears to have other intolerances that we're discovering as we introduce more and more food. The first available appointment is for the week I go back to work (in the 3 months!) - stunning!
The doctor also wants Kiernan to have a milk scan done (a series of scans that track the journey of a liquid after it's swallowed). That test is next Friday. We have to bring him to CHEO at 8:30 am. We can't feed him after midnight (which will be horrible) and we have to bring 16 oz of milk with us (I have a hard time accumulating 4-5 for a feeding). I am dreading this.
I'm going to try to figure out times of day that Kiernan prefers eating because for the last little while, we can't get him to eat supper about half the time (he just smears the food all over his face instead of eating it. He appears tired but once you take him away from the food, he stops doing it). I've bought a few more new things for him to try this week, and we're going to up the protein.
I'm ok with having a little guy. Little guys are cute :) I just wish so many people didn't seem to have issues with little being bad. And it doesn't help Kiernan is one of the smallest babies at mommy and baby lunch, despite being one of the oldest.
On the up side, his head was on a much higher percentile, to accommodate his genius brain ;)

4 comments:

AmyE said...

Oh Lara, I'm sorry you have to go through this. It's definitely a trying time, but at least you and your doctors are a team and are trying to figure things out. Let me know if I can help in any way- if you need a ride to CHEO, or a break in any way, or just someone to come over and clean the freaking bathroom. Seriously- let me know.

Some kind of Mom said...

Kiernan will probably have a huge growth spurt and do all his catching up at once! Then you'll be fielding off comments like, 'YES! He IS only 1 year old, grows like a weed!'

Roz said...

Hey Lara, don't fret.
I know you only want what's "best" for your guy, but really, we are all who we are, and it's not up to you, or the docs or Kiernan to decide how big or tall he will be...that's up to something much higher than all of us.
Kiernan will be perfect because he is Kiernan!

Anonymous said...

Um... do you remember Jeffrey? That's all I have to say on the subject.