Yesterday morning we went in for Collin's routine 9 month well visit. It was supposed to be a nice, easy visit with no pokes (as in no vaccines). Unfortunately, that wasn't the case at all.
Collin now weighs 12 pounds 15 ounces (1%) and is 24 1/2 inches long (less than 1%). His noggin is much higher on the charts, just like his big sister, at 70%. Dr Beebe was happy enough with his weight as it is holding the curve, but his length has dropped a decent amount over the last two visits, with him only growing 1/2 inch in the last three months, while the average is 1/2 inch per month. So, we got the distinct privilege of being referred for further testing. The rest of his checkup was great. She is very happy with his development, thoroughly impressed with his eating habits (and she even approved of the McDonalds hamburger), and completely healthy other than his top two teeth trying to come through and causing him some fussiness and sleep issues.
Once the exam itself was over she sent in the nurses to try to draw blood. Kendi and I held him down while Teri tried her best, but she just couldn't quite hit the vein. After a good thorough try she threw in the towel and suggested we head to the hospital. So, we came home and switched carseats around so Grandma could go get Sophia from preschool and headed over to pick up Brad for some moral support at the hospital. The lab tech took a good look, but decided it would be best to call in the Life Flight nurse to give it a try as they are highly trained in difficult draws. The nurse they sent down was amazing and a dad himself so that was a relief. The best vein he could find ended up being in Collin's hand and the draw was a bit traumatic as we had to swaddle him and hold him down once again and the blood was extremely slow to come out. The nurse was pumping his little hand up and down just to get a syringe full. He apologized that it would probably bruise as the vein blew a little, but he did his best. From there we went to radiology for a chest x-ray, which was much less eventful as I just had to hold him still while he lay there for two quick views.
After all of that Collin was quite exhausted and promptly zonked. Brad and I were starving so we headed out to eat and Collin slept soundly through the whole meal. We dropped Brad off at work and headed back home. Just as I was pulling into my driveway the office called back to let me know that, unfortunately, the blood had clotted and we needed to go back downtown for another draw. I'd love to say I kept my composure, but that would be lying. I knew it wasn't the nurse's fault, but I think I told her "you can't be serious" at least a half dozen times. After hanging up and letting out some tears of my own, I let my mom know that I would be heading back downtown. I decided it could wait an hour so I let Collin have some down time while I relaxed and enjoyed our new fence that got finished while we were gone. As a side note, Sophia is loving having the yard fenced in and so far her favorite thing to do is have Herky chase her all around outside.
So, back down to the hospital we went. This time I checked in and informed them that I would like them to immediately call Life Flight as I wouldn't let anyone else attempt a blood draw. Unfortunately, there was some confusion on exactly which labs needed redrawn so we waited 45 minutes before we were seen. We got the same nurse from before and he brought along an associate. After a quick check of his little arms they decided the best bet would be to get one of the nice, thick veins in Collin's scalp. They were big enough they were almost guaranteed not to miss, and they would bleed quicker, thus avoiding the clotting issue. Once again, Collin was swaddled up and held down, but this time the stick was perfect and he was done in less than a minute. They took two full syringes from him to make sure we got a good sample. The second he was back in my arms he was fine this time around, thankfully.
So, our "easy, no poke" visit turned into quite the ordeal. My gut tells me that he is just fine or that its something minor like a thyroid issue, but I'd much rather have the testing done to make sure. Our pediatrician, Dr Beebe, also feels things are most likely fine, but it never hurts to double check. So, send up a couple quick prayers that its nothing and I'll be sure to spread the word as soon as we hear anything, which will hopefully happen by the end of the week.
UPDATE: Hallelujah, Collin's chest x-ray looked great and all but one blood test has come back as completely normal. We are still waiting on the test for Celiac Disease, which can take about a week, but otherwise things look good. We are going to keep our referral in to see an endocrinologist to see if they think we need testing for growth hormone, but our pediatrician reiterated today that he is most likely just a little guy!
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