Our appointment was for 8:50am. Traffic was worse than usual, but we got there on time, got called into the room, then waited… and waited… and waited. Of course, now that Aurora’s a year old, she is just go go go non-stop, and waiting in a small room filled with strange things to sit on, fall off of, bump her head on, and get into was a little rough. Especially for me, knowing that what we were waiting for was not going to be pleasant.
At about 9:30am, Dr. Sood finally came in to poke, prod and interrogate. Aurora measured 28-1/2 inches long and is still not quite 20 lbs (19 lbs 4 oz), which puts her in the 25-30th percentile. She gave me a talk about nutrition, how much milk she needs etc… but honestly, Aurora’s perfectly healthy and she eats as much as she wants. She’s just on the petite side!Three shots later (MMR, Hep A, and chickenpox), and we were on our way to the lab to draw blood from that tiny little finger. Amazingly, Aurora did great at daycare and was completely normal tonight.
Over the weekend there was one more special event that I wanted to wait and blog about once we had her most recent stats. We hung the growth chart and marked Aurora’s 1-year height.
We measured her standing height at 27-1/2 inches, so I guess lying down at the doctor’s office gave her an extra inch. According to our chart, Aurora is now taller than a penguin!
10 comments:
Taller than a penguin?? We Cheezheads are impressed.
I'm impressed, too! I wonder when you'll be taller than a Golden Retriever?
As a wildlife researcher, I can say she was taller than some penguins at birth, so I am wondering which species the chart is referring to... ;o) Though I still can't believe how big she is!
I'm so glad the drama of the doc's office didn't affect her day too much.
Yes, what penguin species is the chart referring to? Emperor penguins are the tallest, about 3 feet, right Katie?
King penguins, like the ones we saw in the Falkland Islands, are the second largest, about 2 ft. high. Most other penguins are about 1-1.5 ft. tall like adeles, chinstrap, gentoo, etc. The little blue penguins in New Zealand & Australia are the smallest.
I think Aurora is taller than a duck, LOL! How does she compare with a koala bear?
that's the cutest petite penguin. love, susanna
That's how much Avery weighed at her 1 year appointment and we didn't get a lecture, so maybe it depends on the doctor. I think they both look perfectly healthy. That's yet another reason why I don't like the whole percentile thing...
I think what the growth chart actually says is that at 2 feet tall she's "tall enough to play with the penguins" so I suppose it's a little more vague! I thought Katie and Robin would like that though!!!
Last time we visited the doctor we ended up seeing another pediatrician who we liked a lot better. She's going to be on maternity leave all summer, but I think we'll use her once she returns.
I love that she is taller than a penquin. That is awesome!
I can't believe the doctor gave you a lecture on nutrition. Anyone can see how healthy Aurora is. And you only have to be with her for 5 minutes and you realize how alert and active she is. Those charts are only supposed to be guidelines. Individuals vary by great amounts. I've been under average (according to the charts) on white blood cells for years. And I'm very healthy. The doctor can't find anything wrong with me.
Another nurse thought I was jaundiced because I have a green tinge to my eyes--I've had that since the color in my eyes stabilized--that's the color of my eyes. I think sometimes we have to use our own common sense over what the medical people tell us. There's nothing wrong with Aurora. She's just small. She may grow out of that or not. I have heard cases of very tall people who were very small as children. Anyway it doesn't matter. She is a bright, beautiful, healthy, energetic little toddler.
I agree! Aurora actually started out in the 75th percentile at about 2 weeks old (nice healthy weight gainer that she was), then around 6 months was in the 50th, so I think she was concerned that her growth was slowing down... but you're absolutely right, the percentiles are averages based on other babies, and many babies probably start out tiny and gain more rapidly as they get older. Not many kiddos are running around like Aurora at 1-year old either, every baby's different... I'm sure Dr. Sood was just doing what she does with everbody, but this time it annoyed me.
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