When you have more than one or two children (we have five), there are LOTS of check-ups and other various appointments to keep up with. Most of the time, I do fairly well keeping everyone up to date. However, I somehow managed to miss the baby's 6 month checkup. No biggie, the 4 month visit was a little behind, so just scheduling a 9 month visit would get us back on track.
His appointment date in April arrived and off he and I went. A small novel's worth of paperwork (why can't the office just accept "No, nothing has changed"?) later, we headed back with the nurse for vital statistics. I remember thinking, 'That's weird. I thought he weighed more than that.'
The appointment went well. He was declared right on track developmentally and a little ahead of the game on the number of teeth (7!). He was updated for vaccinations. She gave me lab orders for a routine CBC. As I was buckling him back into his car seat, I asked, "So, how is his growth curve looking?'
"Oh! I am glad you asked!" she went and printed out the growth charts (height, weight, head circumference). She proceeded to point out that in December he was around the 56% mark for each. However, four months later, he had dropped down to the 5% mark for BOTH height and weight! His head circumference was still holding steady (not to worry - he doesn't LOOK like he has a big head compared to his body!). The growth curve basically plateaued... as in an almost straight line from December/5months to April/9months! He had gained only 2 pounds and grown only half an inch. (This boy weighed in, at birth, at a whopping 9 lbs 14.9 oz! and at 9 months, he has not even doubled his birth weight!)
But! He was developmentally on target and looked happy and healthy. We decided not to stress over it, but to hope for a growth spurt that would, at the very least, keep him at the 5% mark. After all, one of his big brothers was always low on the growth curve, but steady.
I left the office to head over to the lab, just two doors down...
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