So Grown Up! Hannah's 4yo Eye Check-up

In the past Hannah always sat on my lap for her eye check-ups but this year before I even walked into the office she'd hopped up in the chair on her own.  So grown up!

Last year the doctor asked Hannah to identify pictures but this year she progressed to letters and numbers because my 4yo girl knows those now.  Way to go Hannah!

 

She did very well and her eyes are the same as they were last year which I'm thankful for.  She's a little far sighted which she may need help with correcting in the future but for now she does not require glasses.   Hannah's favourite part of the trip to the eye doctor is the treat she earns at the end of the visit.  That's my chocolate lovin' gal!

 

Buh-Bye Epi-Pen!

Today was Hannah’s appt with the allergist and it went wonderfully!  He listened carefully to what had happened in January and I didn’t feel rushed at all.  That was such a treat as some specialists rush people through and you don’t really feel listened to.  He took time with us and even though he was confident that it wasn’t caused by the nuts he offered to do a test on her and I took him up on his offer.  I knew it would give me peace of mind to know whether or not for sure if it was the peanuts or tree nuts.

Hannah was a trooper through the test and barely flinched.   The doctor explained that he was going to draw on her back and then put 4 drops of liquid that looked like water.  He then gently took her arm and with the corner of a paper package he said that he was going to make it feel like there was a kitty cat walking on her back.  First he walked the kitty cat on her arm and then on her back when he gently scratched each of the droplets.  She was on my lap facing me and he was so gentle that she hardly moved.   Way to go Hannah!

While waiting for the droplets to react (or hopefully not react) he handed Hannah a basket of large stickers for her to look at and play with.  Oh yes, Dr T knows how to entertain pre-schoolers while waiting for time to pass.  

Here you can see how the ‘control’ spots on the right are having small reactions but thankfully the peanut and tree nut tests on the left are completely negative.  Yay!!!  (What you can see on the spots on the left are the peanut and tree nut liquid that he placed on her skin to conduct the tests.  The ones on the right are the controls and they’re red with a raised centre much like the hives she was covered with last month.)

Dr. T is confident that she does not have a peanut allergy and we are welcome to resume eating peanuts, peanut butter and all the other yummy nuts.  I won’t do so right before bed the first time but tomorrow morning for breakfast we’re going to enjoy rice cakes with peanut butter which is a favourite of both of us.

The doctor’s thoughts about what caused the hives is one of two possibilities.  Either it was the eye drops she was taking for her eye infection or, it was the virus that was causing the eye infection in the first place.  He’s not able to test for the virus as it’s now gone so we’re ok with that one.  His other recommendation to be on the safe side is to skip this kind of eye drop antibiotic in the future.  There is an oral version of the antibiotic but it isn’t given to children so she wouldn’t need to be concerned until she was an adult.  That works!  All of this has been recorded in her file and sent to our family doctor too.

One other bit of good news that he shared was that if the hives were due to a virus, the reaction to that is hives, not an anaphylactic reaction so it gave me more peace of mind about the future.

So, all went very, very well!  Dr T said I was welcome to contact him anytime I had a concern.  What a blessing it was to hear that.  I’m hoping not to need to take him up on his offer but it sure was nice of him to say it!

When we walked out of his office and towards the elevator I was near floating!  I hadn’t realized how heavily the concern of a nut allergy was weighing on me until we were in the free and clear!

Thank you Dr T and, thank you Lord for Hannah not having to go through life with such a challenging allergy.  I’ll tell you I sure did learn a lot over the past 6 weeks about what it might be like to face day to day life with a potentially life threatening allergy.  It’s not the ‘marked products’ that are the concern.  It’s all the possibilities of cross contamination just by people going about their everyday lives even when trying to be careful. Sure makes me think!

Praising God for GREAT news today!

Cutest Kiddo in the Doctor’s Office!

Hannah is one consistent kiddo!

Teething = fever = ear infection….again!

Hannah’s 2 bottom molars popped through 2 weeks ago and last weekend we ended up in urgent care as she had another ear infection.  She was given an antibiotic that if I’d trusted my Mommy instinct I would have refused.  The doctor (not our family doc) prescribed Amoxicillin which has proven to be not strong enough for one of her ear infections.  Even though the doc gave her a higher dose over 5 days rather than lower for 10 it still wasn’t enough and by last night I knew a visit to our family doctor was needed today.  She was fighting a fever, a huge tell-tale sign for Hannah and ear infections and said she hurt.  She’s an awesome sleeper and last night I rocked my crying baby girl as the meds took effect and she drifted back to sleep.  Oh how I hate when she’s in pain!

I want to say now that I love our doctor and his nurse!  They are amazing!  This morning we walked past a busy urgent care office with a 1+ hour wait, took the ‘elegator’ upstairs and Kay took us right in!  No waiting, no questioning why I hadn’t called, they just welcomed us and wanted to help Hannah feel better quickly.  Sure enough her ears are still pink and she’s now on a stronger antibiotic.  Ears are not something I’m going to mess with!  As we were leaving I thanked Dr. Fitz and Kay and his response to me was, ‘If we’re here, please don’t go to urgent care.  Come upstairs and we’ll be sure to fit you in.’  What peace that gives to this Mommy’s heart!!

And now, the reason why I titled the post as I did.  When Hannah found out we were going to see Dr. Fitz today she excitedly said, ‘Wear tutu to Dr. Fitz Mommy!’  And so she did….

I have a feeling she was the cutest patient he had today and I think it’s a safe bet to guess she was his only patient wearing a tutu! 

While we waited for her prescription to be filled we walked down the street and enjoyed a treat at Tim Horton’s.  It was fun to see how many people Hannah made smile today!!

Unfortunately tonight was another rough one for Hannah as she was in pain again even though Ange had given her Advil when she woke up because she’d been crying in her sleep and woke up inconsolable.    As we were eating supper at Mom and Dad’s she was saying her teeth were hurting and at one point literally shook with the pain.   Poor sweetie!  Topped her up with Tylenol, we settled in for some cuddles and soon she was feeling a little better.  I’m hoping that if her teeth are sore that it might be her 2 upper molars trying to make their way through.  No sign of them yet as I felt around her gums tonight.  Once those last 2 molars are here she’ll have all her teeth and I must admit, that’s one of the few phases of her precious little life that I will be glad is behind us!

And, to leave this post on a better note, one more picture of my tutu cute little girl!!

First Doctor's Appt.

Hannah had her first doctor's appt. on Tuesday and she did great!! When Dr. Fitz walked in to see her he exclaimed how happy he was that she was finally here and she greeted him with a big gummy grin!

We talked about what I'm feeding her (currently formula, rice pablum, mixed fruit, bananas, and egg whites. Veggies were added later that day and more things each day. Peas and carrots were met with disapproval but sweet potatoes rock! (Thanks Deb!) Going to try the peas and carrots again tomorrow and see if they fare any better the 2nd time.) She has started eating in her high chair and quite enjoys herself up there! She seems dwarfed by the size of it but it happy as a clam and sometimes mommy is even able to get a few dishes done or bottles made while she plays before or after a meal.

I'm currently mixing her Chinese formula with a little bit of Canadian and slowly transitioning her to the Canadian brand. Dr, Fitz thought that was good so I'll keep doing it. So far, no complaints from my little love about the changes and truly, she's the one who matters! :o)

He weighed her and at 8 1/2 months she is currently 16lbs. 7.5 oz which is about 50th% on the Asian charts. As we thought, my little sweetie is long, measuring 28 1/2 inches and coming in around the 90th% on the Asian charts!! She was in the 90th% for height when I received updated info on her at 6 1/2 months so she's continuing the trend. Looks like she may be tall. Neat!! Her little legs are quite long and she fills out her 9mos sleepers well! Check out those beautiful long fingers too!

Her immunizations records were well kept and Dr. Fitz contacted a paediatrician who handles a lot of China adoptions and he said normally they just continue the immunizations on from there if they appear to be accurate so that's what we decided to do too. Unfortunately for Hannah that meant 2 boosters on Tuesday. Poor little lamb!! He apologized before giving them to her but she still cried....and mommy did too! It broke my heart to hear her cry but she soon calmed and quickly fell asleep in her car seat.

We booked her next appt. in 2 months so that the doctor could track her growth. We then headed downstairs to pick up containers for urine and poop samples. Welcome to motherhood!!

After stopping at home to grab some infant Tylenol we visited Grandma Perkins at the library for a quick bit while Hannah ate her lunch. She was none the worse for those 2 needles but I still hurt for her.

Fast forward to that night and she had a really rough go for about an hour and a half. Not sure if it was the needles or not but the cries of hurt were enough to break mommy's heart! After more Tylenol, rocking, walking, talking, calming, patting and singing she eventually settled and slept until 10 the next morning! Each night Hannah starts in her crib and wakes a couple of times but normally by about midnight she settles for the night, not making a peep.

We're doing as many have suggested and getting lots of sunlight during the day. She naps with the blinds open and we get out a little bit each day so it will just take time for our sleeping to fully adjust but truly, other than the fact that we're getting up at 10am we're both doing great and truly kicking jet lag in the butt!

The little ladybug blanket she's snuggled up with above has very quickly become her favourite. She doesn't mind others but as soon as I cover her with this one she snuggles in, grabs it and a sweet, sweet smile crosses her face. If her passport is ready by Christmas we'll have to hop across the border and pick up a couple at tar-jay. If not, we'll talk to Auntie M3 and I'm sure she'll be happy to help us out. ;o)

Back to the important stuff....we were successful getting the poop samples that evening but mommy was pretty challenged by those little bags to collect the pee. I tried 3 different ones and each time she ended up with a wet diaper and an empty bag. Heh!

Today as we were playing I had her diaper off and she peed on the change table. I was so happy and quickly got some into her little container and we dropped it off this afternoon. Hannah thought mommy was pretty silly when she was excited that she'd peed on the change table!

As I'm sure you can tell I'm loving, loving, LOVING being a mom and Hannah is the light of my life! I'm trying to get her to bed earlier but am the first to admit that part of the problem is that I hate to put her down each night. I'm working on it and slowly she's getting to bed earlier but I tell you, seeing her precious little face each morning still brings a wave of tears almost every day!

I am so blessed and cannot thank God enough for brining Hannah and I together. Wow.....WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!