10 weeks – first shots

Z had his 2 month pediatrician appointment this week and he’s nearly doubled his weight since birth. He’s now 11.4 pounds and 24 inches long – actually a little less than average according to percentiles, but pretty impressive to us. He also had to get his first shots. A lot of folks question vaccinations for infants these days (pointing to possible links to autism, etc.), but everyone we know who has done the research has ultimately gone with their pediatrician’s recommendation – so we just went for it. But it wasn’t fun for any of us.

There were six vaccines total – 5 combined in 3 shots, and one oral. Zekey handled the oral one pretty well – took it down in 3 quick gulps. And then, before he had a chance to realize what was going on, three stabs in the thigh. Poor guy opened his mouth in a silent scream, his whole body turned bright red, and then he let out an awful wail. I teared up in sympathy and swept him out of there as fast as I could. (I prefer to think of myself as the person who saved him from the evil shot lady rather than the person who brought him there in the first place.)

Once outside, he cried hard for a few minutes (complete with little breathy gasps and sobs) and then fell into a deep sleep for the next few hours, just like after his bris. He woke up in a pretty good mood so we thought we were in the clear, but he freaked out again when we tried to put him to bed that night. I wanted to avoid putting anymore foreign fluids in his system if we could, but he just was so upset and we thought he might be in pain, so we gave him some baby tylenol and he eventually fell asleep. And he was totally fine the next day. We were all very happy to have that over with. Next shots happen at four months.

In other ten week news, Z has really started reaching for things and occasionally grabbing and pulling. It’s so cute to watch his great focus as he bats the toys on his gymini over and over again – mesmerized by the power of his own hands. It’s amazing really, to be able to witness a person learn and practice a new basic skill like this – I could watch him for hours.

He’s also become much more tolerant of tummy time and can spend close to ten minutes lying on his belly or propped up on the boppy – sucking his hands and occasionally squealing and grunting his fascination (or something) with this new angle. He lifts his head and holds it up for a few seconds every once in awhile, and I think he’ll have a pretty sturdy neck in a matter of weeks.

Finally, since my last post his sleeping patterns have more or less gone back to normal. He actually had his longest sleep yet recently – a close to 7 hour stretch followed by 4 hours. But the next night he was up every hour and a half, so I think it will still be awhile before we get through the whole night. But I have hope.