18 Month Check Up

[brigid]

There was some mix-up with scheduling appointments, so Niko’s designated check ups (12 month, 15 month, 18 month) were a little jumbled. We went to his 18 month checkup today (he’s 19 months old, that’s not too far off) only to find that he was up to date with his vaccines. Because I am the meanest person to ever have a child, he got a flu shot anyway. BWA HA HA.

He’s 33 inches tall and 28 lbs 11 oz, which surprised me because I thought he was 30 pounds by now. He’s in the 50th-75th percentile for height and weight, though, and is still tiny headed (48 cm) but it’s growing as it should.

His next check up is in March, where he’ll get his second dose of Hep A and, I believe, a TB test which is pretty important because we live in an area that has live TB.

The visit ran through what would have been the start of Niko’s nap time. While waiting for the nurse to come in and jab him, he stretched out and lay down on the exam table and looked pitiful and sleepy.

Note to self: Niko needs a second flu vax in 1 month. Bring toy cars for him to hold on to. That might help distract him.

Mirrored from Now Showing!.

Comments

[pinesandmaples]

As a childfree sort, I don't think my support means much; but I like to give parents who combine vaccines with knowledgeable parenting a thumbs up. Thank you for using your brain to make your child and our society safer and healthier.

[brigid]

As someone with a child, I just want to say that I respect and support your desire to be child free and I hate any pressures you feel from society/family otherwise.

Antivax is one of the things that makes me kind of, you know, FURIOUS because OH MY GOD how WILLFULLY IGNORANT/DANGEROUSLY STUPID. I know people who had polio and now have postpolio. I know people who've had to deal with whooping cough and being knocked on their ass for a month+ because of it. I know a lot of people who are immunocompromised. I live in an area with a large (poor) immigrant population, which means a large unvaccinated population, and Whooping Cough and TB and Hep A and other nasties are prevalent in the area. I don't want my kid to get that, and I also don't want to spread that to anyone else.

[pinesandmaples]

...I hate any pressures you feel from society/family otherwise.

Ironically, my family is very opposed to me having children. My mother thinks that any child I have would be unnatural and raised in dreadful sin because the child would have two mothers and no father figure. She's also really upset about what one of us would have to do to get pregnant. (In her world, IVF and fertility treatments are reserved for heterosexual married women who are unable to conceive by other means. Unmarried women, lesbians, and people who are unwilling to try having sex with their legal spouse are not "allowed" to use fertility treatments in her world.) I think she's rude and crazypants. But I am okay with not fighting her on the issue because I'm convinced that I would not be a healthy parent.

Aliyah's mother loves babies more than pretty much anything in the world, and she will never discourage any desire that will keep gramma in babies...but she's not pushy. (She's also got 4 grandbabies already, and another child is getting hitched soon.) It's a very comfortable sort of support from her. (Her father is an Aspie/autie who doesn't realize that the sun rises every day. He believes his children are still in elementary school and treats them as such.)

There are moments when we want a baby girl, but we realize that what we're craving is a doll that can coo at us in a lifelike way. When you want a doll, having a child is really irresponsible. The two are not the same and shouldn't be treated as such.

[brigid]

I have friends who don't want kids for a variety of reasons (one of them both doesn't want to have children (although she WORKS with children and enjoys them and ENJOYS LEAVING THEM AT THE END OF THE DAY) and is not able to bear a child because it will literally kill her) and they get "encouragement" from their parents/in-laws, or questioned by co-workers, or whatever. Note that I SAY "friends" but really it's almost exclusively female friends.

I went through a phase (and for me it WAS a phase, for a lot of people as you're aware it is NOT a phase, please don't take that as dismissive language) where I did not want to have kids in large part because of mental health issues and fears of being a crap parent. I've changed over time and feel much more confident in my ability to raise and nurture a tiny protohuman, but it can be really hard to say "no, I probably won't have kids, because there's a chance I'll go all Andrea Yates on any child I have." :/