8 Weeks: Doctor's Appointment

It's been exactly two months, today, since August was born. And fittingly, we had our two-month checkup at the doctor's. We were both worried about it because he was to have his first vaccines, and we had heard/read that it can be traumatic for babies and parents alike.

It was traumatic at the time... he didn't like having three big needles jabbed into his legs, poor kid. Turned instantly red, the whole baby. Mary was upset, and so was I. We were prepared for fussing and crying all afternoon, but after a quick feeding session at the doctor, and a nap in the Baby Bjorn on the way home, he's completely over it. For now. There is the possibility of fever setting in later, so... we'll watch out for that.

I like going to the doctor because we get good, spreadsheetable data. I've been keeping track of height and length. Our baby keeps getting more and more average. One thing I don't understand: he's at "about" the 50th percentile for both weight and length, but he's at "about" the 25th percentile for ratio of weight to length... so he's taller/longer than average, for his weight, even though he's average length and average weight. Must be a rounding thing, or an approximation thing.

One thing is clear from the data: he's putting on weight faster than he's growing in length.



Weight is represented by the red diamonds, and tracked along the left-hand vertical axis (from around 8.5 lbs to 11.4 lbs). Length is represented by the blue dots, and tracked on the right-hand vertical axis (from 21" to 23.25").