First Doctor Visit.. the ups and downs.

Zahra has always been a healthy child who sits at the 50% on the growth charts. For that we are very blessed!

We did see a doctor twice in Kenya, once for a UTI and another time to check for parasites. It is always advised that you see your family doctor upon return from Canada, but given her good health, we were able to wait until we received her health card.

Zahra's visits with the Doctor in Kenya were quite traumatic. She was absolutely terrified! Despite the fact that he was very nice and gentle, she hated every last second of it. He explained to me that many times the public, or government doctors, often process the orphanage children quickly, with little time spent trying to calm or reassure them. I don't know if this was her experience, or what type of Doctors she had previously seen, but I am sure that because they often go together, they also get each other worked up; when one cries they all figure it is a horrifying experience.

Because of this, I intentionally planned for Zahra to escort me to a Doctor's appointment this summer. She was a little nervous at first, but fine once she realized that it was Mommy being seen. She witnessed that it was a positive visit, and I did the same for a lab visit where I had my blood taken.

This made all the difference in the world! She went in to her doctor appt, happy and even excited! (I do think having a female Doctor made a bit of a difference as well!) Shockingly enough, she willing participated for the entire check up and she even responded to the Doctor when she asked her a question.

It was a great visit... and we walked out with smiles and an armload of blood/stool requisitions for all of our post 'out of country' parasite checks and a full blood analysis for Zahra. Everything from lead levels, to thyroid count was checked off. I knew this meant a lot of blood.

In the waiting room at the Lab, Zahra was bouncing around, so excited to be next. Little did she know, poor thing.

Once we were call in, I sat her on my lap in the lab chair and the ladies went to work. The rubber band tie started the tears, but she braved it with a stiff upper lip, hiding her face in Mommy's chest... until the needle poke.

 It totally sucks to watch kids go through this and not able to make it stop for them. 4 viles into it, 3 to go, and the assistant kept moving the needle, so it finally collapsed and that was the end of the show. They said they probably had enough with what they had in the other viles.

My poor little baby cried and cried, all the way through the hospital and out to the car.

We made a special stop to pick up a treat. I told her she could choose whatever she wanted. Her choice? Grilled cheese and ketchup chips! ?? I distracted her thankfully, and she decided on a freezie.

After returning home, she was happy to share with Daddy and Mister, her story, her stickers, band aid and treat. Tears dried up, she curled up with Muffin and enjoyed a Dora episode.

For adoptive families - there are blood screens that you can ask for that are markers for what current vaccinations your child has had. Rubella for example will be able to judge if your child has had the Measles/Mumps vaccine. Our doctor ordered what was available to us. Over vaccinating is not something I want to do!

Outtakes

That's a whole lot of Kaka I'm gonna be dealing with! Yikes!!