Nine-month wellness check

Hey baby love,

Early yesterday morning we went to the doctor's office for your nine-month wellness check. Here are your new specs:

Height: 73.7cm (29"), which puts you in the 90th percentile.
Weight: 8kg, which puts you in the 50th percentile.

You are still tall, slim, and strong as a bull. You got vaccinated for Polio and Hepatitis B. The nurse also punctured your heel to draw blood for routine testing.

We had more pleasant plans for the afternoon: Go for a run all the way to the other side of town, and walk back half way to have lunch at Whole Foods. Watch the birds and the people in the outside seating area as you dip your feet in the stream. When done, walk back home. You love sitting there with your feet in the water, rubbing against the little stones. You lean forward, reach your hand in, pick one stone after another, and bring each to your mouth. And each time I say "No Zoe. Yuck. Yuck."

Right when we finished running and started strolling back, your doctor called, worried. Your test results were not good. Multiple numbers were low, indicating a serious problem. She said she wanted to re-run the test using traditional methods, because the heel puncture sometimes messed up the sample. This needed to be done today, and we were quite a ways from home. By the time you read this, I will be old and frail, and it will be hard to believe, but know that your mom runs like a gazelle. I had one goal - to get you in the car and to the laboratory. So I texted Papa and started running back home. We drove to the nearest lab, with a single employee attending the desk AND doing the blood work. She switched to Texan accent for the right patient.

My little Zoe so tiny and helpless. You set on my lap in the special chair. I crossed my legs around yours to restrain you from kicking, and gave you a bear hug to control your upper body. The nurse made a tourniquet around your tiny arm to pop the vein out, and pushed in the unexpected needle. It hurt. No blood came out so she started moving the needle inside your arm to find the right spot. It hurt us all to watch, and finally the tube started filling.

Now the waiting started. The doctor ordered express results and asked the lab to notify her on her cell phone, lest the results came out after she left the office. We went to Whole Foods. I made a little food box for us to share, with items you like to eat - berries, pineapples, cheese, green beans. We also had a slice of bread, which we shared with the birds. It made me happy to see you devour the blackberries, juice dripping down your chin. You smiled and talked to passers by as if they were old friends. Papa and I talked on the phone. It was hard to believe that an energy monster like you could be seriously sick.

Two hours passed. Doctor's office called. Your test results came back normal. I went back into the store and got a beer.