Sonya's 4 Year Check Up

YES, her birthday was a month ago, cut me some slack will ya?

I had to call at the beginning of the month to schedule this appointment or I knew it would never get done. Two days prior to it I had taken her to the pediatric dentist. Our regular family dentist (who's been seeing my husband since he was Robbie's age) recommended she see a specialist due to the severity of her tooth issues and her possible inability to cope with dental work. The pediatric dentist was very nice, and overall she did well, but the work that needed to be done was too extensive for that office. They recommended we get her seen by a dental surgeon, who would do all her work while she was put completely under.

Jim hears about this and freaks out. He had me ask the pediatrician about the risks of putting a child that young under for dental work. I'm really glad I scheduled the dentist/doctor appointments so close together so I could discuss these issues with her regular doctor.

Knowing Sonya might be a bit stressed out in the latter half of the day, and also knowing my mom was going home that night, I took her to the gym with me that morning. She LOVES the kid's club and I thought it might be nice for her to get out a bit before boring things like doctor's appointments. (In all fairness NOTHING is ever boring when I have her with me).

After a good workout and some kids club quality time for her, I decide there's not enough time in between to go home. I call my mom and ask if she would mind if I took my daughter out to a meal and then head straight over to the appointment. She was fine with it, so we drove to that side of town and had lunch at a coffee shop type restaurant. We colored and looked for hidden pictures, had some funny face pancakes and had a generally good time. At the end of every kids meal apparently the lucky young patron gets their signature "cookie on a stick". I think you can guess how that ended. I'll give you a hint, in the car the cookie DID NOT stay on the stick and you can guess who was unhappy about it.

The pancake had whipped creme and mini chocolate chips, most of which had melted from the heat of the food. The "cookie on a stick" was chocolate. I don't have to draw you a picture of what Sonya's shirt and face looked like afterwards, not to mention her poor teeth. I went into my gym bag and found a travel toothbrush I had never used, and in her goody bag from the dentist was a small tube of crest. YESSSS! Can you say, "Impromptu manic toothbrushing in the car"?

We get to the appointment and they test her hearing and vision. She had to stand on a line and read a chart with one eye covered. They bust out these "picture cards" and start pointing and asking Sonya what it's a picture of. She stands there confused for a minute and I suggest they use the letter cards. The medical assistant says, amazed, "OH she knows her letters?"

ummmm NO I just suggested it because I like to publicly humiliate my children and make them look retarded in public. YES she knows her damn letters!

So the lady replaces the card and asks Sonya "What is this letter?"

"OH this is letter VEEEEE" she says loudly.

LOL

I talk to the Ped about her "going under" and he assures me it's very safe and recommended we proceed with whatever dental work she needs done. We finish up the appointment and he lets me know she's in need of booster shots. Ok, I'm thinking, not a huge deal. He prints out this piece of paper and starts going over the list. Shot after shot after shot after.....

FIVE SHOTS????

"Oh, and I've ordered her Iron test four times and it's expired each time. I'll order it again"

*bows head*

So this poor baby had to have FIVE booster shots (including tetanus which hurts like a BIOTCH) and at the end of her pain/cryfest they stuck the nasal flu vaccine up her nose. Nice.

OH but the day wasn't over yet! We walked to the lab and I'm thinking to myself "This poor child has been through it today. If the lab is full and crowded I'll just come back next week."

The lab was practically empty.

Her number gets called and they prick her middle finger. She is sad for a moment and the lady (who was completely taken with how cute she was) tells her to look away. This child proceeds to look AROUND the lady's arm to watch her blood fill up the little vials and says loudly "I think it's working!"

She was SO INTERESTED in watching those little tube fill up i was amazed. Her middle finger starts slowing down and finally closes up mid-way through the second tube. They had to prick her INDEX finger and try again. That one bled for them just fine, and sonya watched in wonder as her blood made the tube look like a little growing red line. They bandaged her up and we were finally leaving that god-forsaken medical building.

The next few days were fun indeed. /sarcasm

It's nothing really terrible, she's just being a bit more whiny and stubborn than usual. Given the amount of crap she had to deal with, and the after-effect to her system, it's understandable. But dammitall if she doesn't still frurstrate the hell out of me sometimes.

Her upper left arm is still red and swollen from the tetnus shot. She's letting me put cold compresses on it, but her brother had already grabbed her twice by that arm yesterday.

*sigh*

Ok I ran out of blog time b/c the baby WAS supposed to be sleeping and didn't. I discovered a cat snuck into his room and was meowing at the door to get out. I couldn't sleep through that either.

:(