Cyberchondria

Jack had his two month check-up today. Well the two-month check-up to make up for the one that we missed. He weighed in at 15 lbs, 1 oz. That's exactly one pound more than a week ago. He's definitely off his growth curve . . . he's in the 99th percentile. The nurse said he looks like a 6 month old. At this rate, he'll weigh 4000 lbs by the time he's 10.

I thought he had been doing really well with head control and sitting up, but I guess he's a little behind. Who has time for tummy time with 134 campers to look after? I guess he's supposed to be getting an hour a day. I thought he was supposed to be getting 15 minutes. Whoops. So, in his lifetime, he's never had a single day of enough tummy time. I'm hoping that next week we can start to become regular about these things. What I'm trying to say is that I'm hoping that beginning next week, we'll become better parents.

It's amazing how much faster I can type when I don't have a baby in one hand!

I was a little worried (and still kind of am) about Jack's hearing. Last night I was burning a candle and the wax caught on fire and set off the smoke detectors. When one goes off, they all do, so I ran down to his room to get him because I was sure the noise would scare him (after putting out the fire, that is). I had just put him down about 2 mintues earlier and he was awake, so I was sure he would have been wakened by the screeching alarms. But he was laying there, sucking on his pacifier with his eyes closed.

So, I did what any responsible parent would do . . . I googled "infant hearing loss" and read about all kinds of worse case scenarios for about an hour. However, the nurse didn't seem to think there was anything wrong, but you know I'm going to be making loud noises for the next few days to see if he reacts.

Speaking of googling things, my sister saw a report on the Today Show about something called "cyberchondria" and said it made her think of me. Matt Lauer defines it as "people turning to the internet for answers instead of turning to their doctors." If you'll remember the internet ban of 2006 instituted by my husband in our household during the first trimester of my pregnancy, you'll know that I could be one of those people. In fact, the first thing I did after I got of the phone with my sister was google "cyberchondria." You know what? Doctors aren't as available (not to mention as cheap) as the internet.

I do a lot of research on things. I like to consider myself well-informed. I hate it when people say, "You're so lucky to have such an easy baby." I know that there is some element of luck that comes from a combination of your circumstances and your baby's temperment but I really do think that all of the research and reading I did about taking care of an infant had at least a little to do with it. I feel like I know what I'm doing a lot more than I would if I hadn't read much at all. Maybe I overdid it at times, and I know that nothing beats experience and common sense, but I really feel like I do better than I would have without it.

Speaking of being well-informed . . . I had read that there was some concern over plastic baby bottles and the chemicals in them leaching out into the breastmilk or formula that was being fed to babies. I had read somewhere (though I can't remember where) that this issue was resolved and there was no danger. I was misinformed. Lissa called tonight to let me know that she heard a report about the danger of plastic bottles, including the avent ones that I use. It's interesting that the cheaper plastic bottles are actually the safest. Needless to say, I'm shopping around for glass bottles. Too bad I just bought three new Avent ones.