Tuesday, April 07, 2009

I'm Not Such A Bad Mother After All

I am in a fog right now. Colton woke up twice over night, badly congested. So I turned on his humidifier and used the snot sucker, which he tried to grab out of my hand and put in his mouth. Ew. Then I rocked him back to sleep and crawled into bed, praying that he would stay asleep until it was time for me to get up.

I saw this coming. Gregg caught something last week, then I began having a sore throat. I knew it was only a matter of time until our sickness got passed onto our offspring. Colton had a pretty cranky morning. After changing his second poopy diaper of the day and having him scream throughout the changing, I got him down for his nap. Thankfully, he's been sleeping peacefully since about 11:45.

It didn't help that last night we took him to the pediatrician (a.k.a. "the owie place") for his 6 month-even though he's almost 8 months-visit and he got three shots. Overall, the appointment went very well. Colton is in the 90th percentile for weight and 75th for height. He tipped the scales at 21 lbs. and is 27" in length.

We were given the requisite "How To Not Kill Your Child" pamphlet and a book about what to expect during baby's first year. Or as I see it, "The Do's and Don'ts of Motherhood"- reading that is both useful and anxiety producing, as I ponder whether I've done irreversible psychological harm to my kid by not getting down on the floor with him every day to play.

I discussed Colton's daily mealtime schedule with the doctor and she didn't have any concerns, other than my giving him meat before 9 months. She said that if he's tolerating it well (i.e. not constipated), meat is okay once a day at this stage. She told us that he appears to be growing and developing as he should, instead of "you have a freakishly large baby", which is always a relief to hear.

After she left the room, the nurse came in to administer the shots. Colton screamed of course, but he was over the trauma by the time I picked him up off of the exam table. He had fun ripping the table's paper cover to shreds while Gregg dressed him in his pajamas. On the way out, we were given free samples of Similac (yay!) and scheduled another visit for the beginning of June.

It was great to be reassured that I'm doing something right and that my son is thriving because of the choices I've made. This mothering thing sure isn't easy, but it's nice to know I'm not totally failing at it.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Of course you're not a bad mother! :-)

I hope Colton starts feeling better soon.

Sarah said...

It's nice to be reassured that you're doing a great job raising your child. And yeah for the free formula, that's always nice, huh?