First Doctor's Appt.

I took Almaz to the doctor for her first appointment yesterday. Can I tell you how strange it was to fill out paperwork as someone's mother? This whole motherhood gig I am in still hasn't sunk in.

She started out in a good mood. She thought sitting in her diaper playing with her phone was pretty fun. I was looking forward to the appointment. I wanted to hear what they had to say about her health and eating habits and bowel issues. Here are her stats:

Length: 32"
Weight: 23.75 lbs.

You can see from the above photo, getting weighed was no fun. Good news is she is in the 25 percentile for weight and slightly higher for height (between the 25th and 50th percentile). Pretty average which is good. Same for head circumference but I forgot to get that measurement. From today's exam she said she seemed pretty healthy overall considering her background, but I need to take her to a lab to have some blood work done later on this week for more analysis. I couldn't do that after today's appointment because she was traumatized enough. The doctor looked at her ears and Naomi had an enormous fit. Imagine the above photo amplified by ten. I am sure the whole office heard her screams. The doctor looked in her ears and discovered she has an ear infection in her left ear. She couldn't check the second ear cause of the wax buildup which she usually flushes that out to examine but after her reaction she decided against it! Well, if there is one in the other ear the antibiotics will obviously clear that up, too. I took a sample from her diaper with me to the appointment which is being sent to a lab. I suspect Giardia. I will get those results in 3 days.

She is behind in her immunizations. No surprise there. I plan to space them out as much as possible. That's such a touchy subject so I won't go into it in any more detail than that. Hopefully blood titers are covered by my insurance so she won't get inoculated for things for which she has already an immunity.

As far as her eating habits, the doctor surmised that she's in survival mode based on her experiences in the orphanage. She didn't think I needed to limit her anymore than I already am. She also affirmed my plan of not introducing her to nuts or seafood. She said wait until at least age two to give her those foods as doing so before can lead to allergies. She also said to introduce fruits one at a time in case there is a reaction. As far as dairy, she said once her diarrhea clears up I can try reintroducing it to see if recurs.

Almaz gave her one of her classic scowls and some attitude. It surprised the doctor which in turn surprised me. I mean, she is with kids all day and if she's surprised by her behavior than it must not by typical, right? She even said to bring her back in ten days after the course of antibiotics for her ear infection to be sure that's cleared up but also to see if "we see changes in her personality." Wow. That has me nervous. Am I wrong to assume she is suggesting her behavior is not related to her ear infection or her adoption but some personality trait? Hmmm...Ready to go home pumpkin?