15 Month Check-Up

Friday was Mia's 15 month check-up with Dr. White...wow! Ryan and Liz took her, and I took some time off from work to play with Lily; it's busy season, but I thought we could both use some one-on-one time. Ryan had actually just taken Mia on Tuesday to see Dr. White because of her diaper rash. It was AWFUL. I have never seen a diaper rash like this before. There were big red raised bumps that would start bleeding; Mia would scream and kick anytime you needed to change her. We felt so badly for her. On Tuesday, Dr. White gave her a prescription cream to use to try to make it better. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to help much by her appointment time on Friday; also, she had started to have a really runny nose, and her diarrhea was still continuing (it's been going on a week now). I apologize if that's too much information to share, but I thought you should know the whole story.

They said Mia did well for most of her appointment. She weighed in at 22 pounds, 5 ounces (40th percentile) which is a few ounces less than on Tuesday; that's not surprising since she seems to have lost her appetite. She is 30 inches tall (also 40th percentile), and her head is 18 inches (50th percentile). She's apparently an "average" girl but only in regards to physical size! They told me that Mia gave Dr. White her patented staredown throughout the appointment. She wouldn't turn her head away from Dr. White, but would only glance away momentarily. Dr. White said her tubes are doing their job perfectly; there's no fluid which is great. Of course, we can tell that because the difference in her speech skills over this last month is incredible.

Ryan said Mia even did well while Dr. White examined the diaper rash. Dr. White decided that since the cream didn't seem to be helping and Mia had developed a terrible runny nose, a virus is actually the culprit of the diarrhea which causes the diaper rash. Of course, if it's a virus, there's not much we can do but let it run its course. She suggested we cut all sugary fruits out of Mia's diet until it clears up because those can irritate the rash. This is unfortunate because this makes up a large part of Mia's diet, but of course we're going to follow this recommendation. She also said if the diarrhea didn't stop soon, she would suggest we switch from regular milk to soy milk because this could be temporary lactose intolerance. I'm really hoping it doesn't come to that. She said to put Neosporin on the rash but not on the open wound areas and to keep the diaper rash cream on. I'm telling you, it's bad. We started all the recommendations immediately, and we saw a little bit of improvement today. Here's hoping this continues.

Other than the diaper rash, Mia is doing great. Now that the tubes are in, her speech is getting better everyday. On the list of "normal development" things that "you might see your child doing between the ages of 15 and 18 month" the first thing listed is "avidly explores everything." This perfectly describes our sweet Mia! She wants to check everything out and discover everything in her world. She loves music and books, and she is learning to play with Lily very well. She is such a precious little angel. We are madly in love with her and so thankful that she is in our lives!