First Check-Up

Evey was 4 days old when we ventured out of our house for the first time. Destination: COMMONWEALTH PEDIATRICS.

Dr. Poole was able to visit her twice - each day we were in the hospital and wanted to do another check-up after we'd been home for a couple of days. So Monday morning, we loaded Evey into her carseat for the second time and made our way to the office.

When we got there, we signed in and I set to work filling out paperwork. They needed all kinds of information about her birth, my pregnancy, mine and Christopher's medical history. I love filling out paperwork, so I didn't mind. I'd barely gotten through the first page when they called for us.

When the nurse said "Evey Davis," I actually laughed out loud. It sounded so weird (the good kind of weird). I guess I'd never thought about the fact that we were at the doctor for her, so they'd be calling her name.

We went back to her room and they had us strip her down, diaper and everything to check her weight. The room we were in had an balance scale, so they brought in a more accurate digital scale to weigh her on. Babies always lose weight after they're born, so she was down to 7lbs 1.5oz.

 

 

When Dr. Poole came in, she did a full exam. She checked her heart and lungs, ears, eyes, nose and mouth. She checked her hips and joints to make sure they worked the way they were supposed to. She said she had really good color and wasn't worried about jaunice at all. She did want to do a heel prick - just to make sure her bilirubens were where they should be, but we had a perfectly healthy little girl.

Evey was starting to get fussy, and even though she ate before we left the house, Dr. Poole said we could take as long as we needed to and feed her in our room. This was my first time trying to feed her withouth the oh-so-handy boppy pillow and it was a semi-successful attempt. In any case, it got Evey to quit screaming - so that was a perk! When she was done, we made our way to the lab so she could have her blood drawn. When we got there and got her checked in, they have me a little blue heating pad to tape on her foot to get the blood flowing well. They called us back, and I was not looking forward to seeing my little girl get poked and prodded. She's too young to have to get shots.

It's a good thing Evey is my little trooper.  Of course, she cried - that's to be expected, but I think I cried more than she did as I held her down. I think that might be the hardest part about being a new mom. It was definitely a good lesson for both of us in how unfair life is. They wrapped her little foot up in a tiny ace bandage with a cotton ball to stop the bleeding and said we could remove it when we got home.

When we were done, we went over to my OB's office to ask a few questions (and to show off our girl). It was so fun to share her with the nurses we'd been seeing more and more for the past 9 months, but the walk through Central Baptist wore both of us out. When we got home, Evey and I did some skin-to-skin time together and had a nice cozy nap. Skin-to-skin is almost as good as nursing. I definitely love that bonding time wiht my girl and it's so relaxing.