It's cold and flu season early here now so we were a little paranoid about the clinic and all the flu germs. Since it's a Pediatric clinic I'd estimate that 99% of the kids there are there because they're sick. Our clinic puts all the sick kids in face masks and shuffles them into rooms quickly so the waiting room is non-contagious kids which we of course appreciate. To me the only thing that's worse than a sick baby is two sick babies! The clinic was running behind about twenty minutes so Royce and I bounced around the lobby with the babies on our hips and tried to distract them with the enormous fish tank. Finally a room!
Adia was terrified by the male nurse that weighed her in (she must have a sixth sense)and screamed on the scale - very unlikely for her but we were warned at our six months check up that the girls would develop "stranger anxiety" as part of the 6-9 month milestones. Adia was 17lbs 8oz and Rasa was 18lbs 5oz. This is the biggest gap in weight they've ever had. They've always been within 4oz of each other but we guess that's because Adia NEVER stops moving. They're still 1/2 inch of each other in height but that 1/2 inch is the difference between the 25% and 50%. Adia dropped down to the 25% for both height and weight and Rasa maintains the 50%. We're instructed to up the solids for Adia since she's burning so many calories and she's happy to oblige.
Dr. Manney came in and examined both girls and we talked about any concerns we had. We were happy to hear that they're right on track with milestones of that with normal 9 months olds even though the girls are 7.5 months corrected age (they were 6 week premies so their development is based on their age as if they would have been born on their due date up until they are 2 years old). Adia has taken her first steps almost a month ago and can creep across the floor as fast as Lucy can run. Rasa's not as mobile but she gets her knees up and can hold her body up on her arms. She can sit for hours and has excellent verbal and fine motor skills. We said our goodbyes, Dr. Manney tells us the girls look great and are doing excellent and we waited for the nurse to come in for the finger prick blood draws. Both girls did great and didn't cry a tear over that. It went quickly and we were told to wait 7 minutes for hemoglobin results.
Fifteen minutes later Dr. Manny came back in. Whenever you say goodbye to the doc and they come back you know it's not because they just want to see you again. He tells us normal iron levels for 9 month old babies is between 10 and 13. Adia has an 8 and Rasa a 4! Both considered severe anemia. Apparently this is very common with premature babies because they get all of their iron reserves at the end of the third trimester - which the girls never had. Dr. Manny wants to re-run the hemoglobin tests through the veins in the arms because those show the most accurate results and he also wants to send specimens off to Children's Hospital to make sure the hemoglobin counts are actually low iron and not something else but he's not concerned. Adia's worst fears relived - here comes that male nurse again!! Forty-five minutes on each daughter to get the blood draws (I will spare you the traumatizing and gory details involved with collecting blood for teeny tiny baby arms where veins are not visible!). Dr. Manney comes back after it's all over and apologizes because he's been listening outside the door feeling horrible (in his words) because all he could hear were the girls screaming!
We leave the clinic almost three hours after arriving - the girls are clutching onto us like koala bears and almost completely asleep from overload as we walk through the lobby. Nap time was missed, dinner was missed and all faith in mankind lost!
We're expecting results today but in the meantime having to supplement the girls with iron drops mixed in their three solid meals a day.
(The picture above was taken right after the finger pricks but before we subjected them to the other tortures and yes I feel horrible "mom guilt" seeing the smile on Rasa's face in the picture because I know what happens next!)
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