I took Noah for his 15-month checkup Friday.
We went through the usual drill: weight (though he got to use the grown-up scale this time, not the baby scale), height, head measurement. I whipped off all his clothes except his diaper, and he giggled like crazy as I tickled him all over.
When our doctor came in and got settled, he asked, as he always does, "Any concerns you have that you want to talk about?"
"Yes," I said. "I feel like he's not growing."
"He's been in the same size clothes and shoes for almost 5 months, and I just feel like he's so little," I said.
"Well, let's chart his growth here and see what we find," Dr. Baker said amiably. (I'm sure he hears this concern at least a few times a week, if not once a day or more.)
So we charted his growth. Yup, he's still in the 10th percentile for his weight, Dr. Baker said. And, yup, he's --
Dr. Baker stopped.
"Hmm," he said. "Looks like he's the same height he was three months ago."
I almost yelled, "AHA!! I TOLD you something wasn't right!"
We went through the rest of his checkup, and then a second nurse came in and remeasured him. I made sure we stretched him out this time, and I saw the nurse cheat a bit and mark the line about a half-inch away from his heel.
And the verdict was .........
Exactly the same height as the last time.
So now we go back in six weeks and see if he's grown at all by then. If not -- or if his growth isn't acceptable, whatever that means -- then we do bloodwork to check his growth hormone.
I haven't yet Googled any words associated with this. I just don't want to know yet.
For now, I'm going with this excuse: Since he had so many parts taken out of his belly during his surgery last year, maybe that counts for, like, the other inch or so that he's lacking now.
Anybody else have to deal with this? Any advice or words of warning?
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