Kieran saw his Pediatrician today to get checked out for this cough he’s had for 3+ weeks and to have his 9-month Well-Baby visit.

Kieran’s stats from his 9-month checkup:

• Age: 9 months, 2 days
• Weight: 19.6lb (was 18lb @ 6mo)
• Length: 27.75″  (up from 26.75″)
• Head Circumference: 46.5cm  (up from 45cm)

• He’s dropped to the 35th percentile for height/weight from the 50th, and his body is starting to catch up to his huge head: he’s down to the 82nd percentile!

I was surprised that Kieran had actually dropped in the height/weight percentiles.  He seems so much bigger to us in the last 3 months, way more than just a pound and a half!  Granted, he is moving around more than he used to, but as he’s not crawling or cruising yet, I don’t think the increased activity is enough to slim him down any.  (If anything, I think the whole 1.6 pounds went to his belly and thighs!  He has the absolute most MUNCHABLE thighs now.)

Dr. Hodapp was his usual self, practically backing out of the exam room as soon as he walked in.  (Paul and I had a chat – I’m strongly considering changing Pediatricians…)  But in the few minutes we talked, Dr. Hodapp pronounced Kieran just perfect.  He’s not concerned at all with the slow-down in growth, as obviously Kieran is thriving.  Kieran’s developmental gains are doing great, since he babbles to everyone (Mama, Daddy, Teachers, Doggy, Kitty, Baby in the Mirror…) and is happily pulling himself up on everything.  Dr. Hodapp confirmed my suspicions that Kieran probably won’t bother to crawl – since he’s showing no desire to do it now and is moving towards cruising on the stuff he pulls himself up on.  I was told to focus Kieran’s nutrition on solids, using formula to “top him up” after a meal of solids.  (Ugh, that’s a whole ‘nother post I wanna make… I’m so frustrated with conflicting information about solids/formula at this age.)  Kieran’s tubes look great, which was a relief. (Kieran’s been patting at his left ear for a few days now.)  Dr. Hodapp thinks it’s teething.  I’m inclined to agree, as the drool has started up again and Kieran has been chewing on his hand more recently.

As far as Kieran’s never-ending wet, productive cough: IT’S A COLD.  I really didn’t want to accept that.  I pushed, and re-iterated that he’s had this wet, productive, body-wracking, eye-bugging, baby-exhausting cough for three weeks now.  It’s worse at night, but still very much there during the day, so much so that Kieran hasn’t wanted to eat for a couple of days now.  But, I have to admit also that he hasn’t been running a temperature, and the accompanying sinus involvement has been on-and-off, and all-around not as bad as previous colds.  I wasn’t looking for meds, but I really wanted some reassurance that this truly is just a cold (or 2-3 colds back-to-back) and not something to worry about.  I asked about possible allergies too.

Dr. Hodapp listened to Kieran’s breathing, and had them check his oxygen saturation.  Both were good – lungs are clear, and his O2 was at 96-97.  Dr. Hodapp encouraged me to bring Kieran back in a week or two if the cough is still there.  (I made an appointment for my next furlough day at work, with every hope and intention of canceling it the day before.)  I mentioned the fact that we were unable to ever get in to see anyone at this office while Kieran had his ear infections – basically I got told that we had the misfortune of having a sick kid during the “bad” season.  Meh.  Again, more reason that I wanna consider changing Pediatricians. But for now, Kieran just has a cold and we’re to keep doing what we’re doing: nose sucking and humidifying his room at night.  No need for meds.  If he has this exact thing next Spring, it could possibly be allergy-related, but Dr. Hodapp said that babies Kieran’s age just don’t have seasonal allergies like that.

I’m glad we were able to get Kieran checked out.  I feel a lot better with confirmation that there isn’t something terribly wrong.  So now we can focus on enjoying this weekend with Grampa John and Great Grandma Cat.  We’re going to take pictures in Kieran’s Dodger outfit to celebrate the start of Baseball season and just do our level best to enjoy the lovely warm weather we’re having.