I took Mirei to the pediatrician for her 12 month wellness exam on February 3rd. As expected, Mirei is healthy and right on track for her age. The doctor was impressed at how well she was able to walk everywhere — no surprise, since she’s been walking since 9 months old and had had 3 months to master it!
Mirei’s growth is definitely starting to taper off as Mio’s did at this age. At twelve months old, she weighs 23 lbs 9 oz, which is still in the 91st percentile for weight-for-age.
Mirei apparently measured 29.5 inches tall, which seems off because it’s no different from her last measurement a few months ago — maybe it was an inaccurate measurement, but that puts her in the 58th percentile for height-for-age.
Her head size was recorded at 18.2 inches around, which is in the 82nd growth percentile based on head circumference-for-age.
This doctor’s visit was a bit rough… We went through the routine checkup and the usual vaccinations, all familiar to me from having gone through it with Mio. But then they told me to go to the lab to get Mirei’s blood drawn to test for anemia and lead. I was confused because I’d never heard of this test before, and asked my pediatrician to clarify, and she just briskly explained that it was a hemoglobin blood test to make sure she doesn’t have anemia as well as to check the lead levels in her blood, and then rushed out the door to her next patient. It sounded like it was a new standard requirement, so I followed her directive and went on to the lab to get Mirei’s blood drawn. It was the most traumatizing experience, both for my daughter and I — I was sitting down holding her while the lab tech repeatedly poked the needle in her arm and kept moving it around to find her veins. She tried both arms for what seemed like forever, while Mirei screamed and cried, and in the end was unsuccessful in finding her veins and drawing blood for the test. She had another lab tech come over and attempt it too, but they didn’t have any luck either. Finally, they told me to come back another day and try to hydrate her more with water ahead of time (even though she was plenty hydrated that day), but I have been incredibly reluctant to go back, because I dread having to put Mirei through that again. I know kids cry when getting poked by needles when they get vaccinated, but at least vaccinations are quick and pretty easy. It just seems kind of cruel to subject a baby to a blood draw when it seems really difficult to find their tiny veins! I’m also wondering how necessary it is to do, since my first daughter Mio never had to have this test (though we were in California at the time she turned one, and now live in Virginia). I wonder if I just ended up with really lousy lab techs? It was just so hard to watch!
Anyway, hopefully the next visit will go smoother… we’re so thankful that Mirei is healthy and doing so great in terms of her growth!