Year in Review

We spent three hours this morning at Imogene's one year check-up. Poor Imogene received four shots (two vaccines, regular flu and H1N1), plus had her heel pricked for lead/anemia testing. Overall, the appointment went well. It's just such a different experience than when we took Lily for the same thing. Except for some reflux and eczema, Lily was a pretty textbook baby. Then there's sweet Imogene. We spent a good deal of time updating Dr. Baldrate on Imogene's progress through therapy, and her progress on the sleeping. The rest of the time we talked about her eating! Our readers know how much Imogene loves to eat, so you're probably as surprised as we were to find out she only weighs 17 lbs 14 oz, putting her in only the 7th percentile for her age. Height and head circumference she is in the 50th percentile.
(Children are tracked throughout their early years on a growth chart.)
Imogene has consistently fallen down the growth chart, and gained just over one pound since her 9 month appointment. Dr. Baldrate didn't seem extremely alarmed, but would like to see Imogene again in 6 weeks to check her weight. The fact that she definitely likes eating is a plus! We also talked a good bit about how we will introduce dairy and soy into Imogene's diet. She saw a pediatric GI back in March, and he determined that she was sensitive enough to dairy and soy that she'd benefit from it being completely cut out of her diet. As her nursing mother, that meant cutting it out of my diet as well. To see how she'll handle dairy and soy, I've been given the green light to eat dairy and soy. Oh the possibilities that have opened up to mommy's diet! After a week or so of this, we'll see how Imogene's doing, and if she seems to be okay, we'll introduce her to foods with soy in them. Then if THAT seems to work, we'll give her a little soy milk, and maybe then a little soy cheese and soy yogurt. Dr. Baldrate said we'll discuss dairy at her 15 month appointment. So keep your fingers crossed that this goes well.
Now tomorrow morning we're off to see Dr. Madigan, Imogene's ophthalmologist. We feel like her eye is starting to turning in more than before, so mommy, being the worrier that she is, is pretty anxious to get this one over with.
And then NEXT Tuesday we finally see Dr. Morozova, the physiatrist.