Isabel's 15 month check up and other randoms

As you may have read below, we went in for Isabel's 15 month check up a couple of weeks ago. She's still in the "less than 5th percentile" category for weight at 18 lbs, 3 oz. She was in the 55th percentile for height and 99th percentile for head circumference. In other words, she looks like a balloon. The appointment was pretty uneventful except for the interesting conversation with the doctor (see below) and Isabel's vaccinations.

There has been a change in vaccinations since Pierce got his shots at 15-18 months. There used to be three separate injections for DTaP, IPV (polio), and Hib(bacterial infection prevention). Now, there is just one, Pentacel. It's great that the kids don't have to get three separate injections; however, they have to inject more fluid because of the "three vaccines in one" concept. The nurse warned me before she gave Isabel the shot that reactions to this vaccine could be more intense and cause more fussiness and discomfort. For some reason, the 4th dose (given at 15 months) and 5th dose (given at 4-5 years) tend to give kids more trouble than previous doses. This is probably because many kids are walking at 15 months and notice muscle soreness in their legs. "Okay, okay, got it." was my thought, though, and basically dismissed the warning. Our kids have never really had trouble with vaccinations.

The rest of the day went fine, but Isabel woke up with a fever the next morning and was quite fussy. I gave her some ibuprofen, and within 20 minutes, the fever was basically gone and she was much more chipper. She played for a while and then took her morning nap. When she woke up from her nap, she was really fussy and wouldn't let me put her down. Finally, she decided to wiggle free and tried to stand up. She just sobbed and sobbed and could hardly stand. Then, she tried to walk and basically collapsed on the ground. I got scared at this point. Isabel was screaming, and the other kids were puzzled. She tried to walk again and took a couple of steps and fell down again. And started screaming again. I called JD thinking something was really wrong with Isabel. He talked me back off the ledge like he normally does and told me it was probably just the vaccine. I gave her some more ibuprofen, but I had to force it down her throat. She had no appetite and didn't want anything in her mouth. I left a message with the nurses at our doctor's office and just held Isabel in my lap. After about 15 minutes, Isabel decided to walk again, and she was in much better spirits. The ibuprofen kicked in and she was learning how to limp. It was still pretty pitiful looking but at least she was happy and somewhat mobile.

The nurse called back about 30 minutes later and confirmed what we had already figured out. Isabel was having a pretty intense reaction to her Pentacel vaccination. The extra fluid plus the fact that she's slim and doesn't have as much fat to put the fluid in plus that fact that tetanus shots hurt more than most other shots led to a lot of discomfort. Isabel did fine the rest of the day as long as she had ibuprofen. We had to keep the ibuprofen flowing the next day, too, as she still had a fever and leg pain. I love modern medicine and am so thankful for vaccinations from horrible diseases, but I wanted to throw this info. out there so that others might not be so concerned and surprised if their kids react to this vaccine.

As you can see, she's just fine now:

In other happenings, our water heater died this week. Of course, JD was out of town when it happened. One morning I wasn't able to get a hot shower, so I decided to investigate why. I'm not sure what I thought I'd do about it, but I'm glad I was inquisitive. When I went to the utility room in the basement, there was about a half inch of water standing in the back part of the room. Water was dripping from underneath the water heater. I got permission from the owners of our house to call a plumber and made an appointment for that afternoon. For the rest of the morning, I mopped and toweled water and pretended to try to at least stop the leak. To make this long story shorter, the plumber came and told me there was no hope for the water heater. I called the home owners and they gave the plumber permission to install a new water heater.

It snowed here yesterday morning. It wasn't a lot of snow but the kids had fun making and throwing snowballs, and the snow was gone by the afternoon. That is the perfect snow in my opinion.

Pierce went to bed last night complaining that his stomach hurt. I assumed he was trying to delay going to bed. Of course that assumption was aided by him asking for water, getting that water, us telling him that was all the water he was going to get; then he mentioned for the first time that his tummy hurt; then he told us that only more water would make his tummy feel better. He went to bed and seemed to have slept well. When he woke up, he said he needed water to make his tummy feel better. He drank water and then threw up every single drop he drank. Thus, Pierce and I are home from church. He's watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and has kept down dry Cheerios, water and a banana and seems to feel fine. He is grumpy, though, because I wouldn't let him have his chocolate milk. Pierce without chocolate milk in the morning is like me without coffee. You really don't want to see it. It isn't pretty.

I just took this picture, so hopefully his discomfort is short-lived: