Two months

Andrew is now two months old. Holly and I took him in for is 2-month appointment yesterday. The nurse weighed him (13 lbs.) and measured his body length and head circumference - he's growing like he should be. This morning I had to adjust the straps in his car seat to make room for my growing son.

Andrew is sleeping through the night now. Holly and I put him in his crib around 9 PM and he wakes up when I get up at 5 AM. I give him a bottle and we spend some father-and-son time before I go downstairs for my coffee. Andrew recently started smiling responsively, so now I start my day with a great big baby smile!

 

As you can see from the immunization schedule above, Andrew received several vaccines yesterday. The abbreviations are:

• HepB: hepatitis B vaccine
• DTaP: diphtheria,tetanus, and acellular pertussis
• RV: rotavirus vaccine
• Hib: Haemophilus influenzae type B
• PCV: pneumococcal conjugate vaccine
• IPV: inactivated polio vaccine

Aside from the rotavirus vaccine, which is administered orally, all of the other vaccines are administered by intramuscular (IM) injection (IPV can be administered either intramuscularly or subcutaneously). Fortunately, the clinic used Pentacel^®, which is a five (penta) component combination vaccine that includes diphtheria, tetanus, acellular pertussis, inactivated polio vaccine, and Haemophilus influenzae type B vaccine. So Andrew had a total of three shots.

The nurse first gave the oral rotavirus vaccine to Andrew and then gave all three injections in quick succession. Andrew didn't seem to notice the first shot, but by the third shot he was crying. I picked him up, held him in my arms, gave him a bottle, and he immediately settled down. It was all over in about thirty seconds. He napped while I carried him home and, other that some apparent soreness in the muscles of this thighs where the shots were given, he was back to his normal self.

 

Comfort Measures for Infants

 

I've spent the day doing my laundry, making gumbo, and writing this blog entry while Andrew and Holly visited her parents. As I mentioned in a previous post in May, my mother-in-law was diagnosed with a very aggressive type of brain tumor. Over the last four months she has had surgery, chemo, and radiation. This week she had a follow-up MRI and found out that the tumor is growing. Seeing Mary hold Andrew on her lap is bittersweet; the joy of seeing her first grandchild and the sorrow of not knowing if she will see his first birthday.

 

 

 

 

References:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2012). Epidemiology and Prevention of Vaccine-Preventable Diseases. (12th Ed.). http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/pinkbook/index.html.

Harrington, J. W., Logan, S., Harwell, C., Gardner, J., Swingle, J., McGuire, E., et al. (2012). Effective analgesia using physical interventions for infant immunizations. Pediatrics, 129(5), 815-822. http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2012/04/11/peds.2011-1607