Esther has been on a slow growth trajectory since she was a few months old. I haven’t minded it much. She is much easier to carry around and she is wearing out her 3 month clothes. Plus, I have always loved little babies. I find them much cuter than the fatties on the maternity unit. Although I have enjoyed it, I have refrained from blogging about my good fortune. In the back of every RN mother’s mind is the fear that her adorable, petite baby is actually scrawny and malnourished. I knew in my heart that this wasn’t the case – all my nurse friends and even a neonatal dietician acquaintance told me she looked fine. I hate eating crow, though, so I figured I would get a final verdict from her pediatrician.
Esther’s first 4 month appointment was canceled by snow so she had a 4 1/2 month one on Monday. Her stats: 12 lb 7 oz (5.64kg), 24.5 inches (62.25 cm) and 44.5 cm head circumference. In percentiles this makes her 25% for weight (ie 75% of babies her age are bigger than her), 50% for height and >95% for head circumference. It is really off the curve entirely. Luckily Julius and I both have large heads to account for this. I measured ours that night and his was 1 cm larger than average. Mine was 3 cm larger than an average woman’s head and I looked like a bit of a bobble head in my baby photos. I will put most of the blame on myself.
Happily, Esther’s doctor agreed with the public opinion and thought she looked proportional and was growing fine. She was worried that I was worried but I assured her that I wasn’t worried if she wasn’t worried. So, no one is worried. She said she was hitting her milestones and was very adorable. I suspect she says all her patients are adorable but I will assume with Esther she really means it. Thanks to my mom’s copious notetaking in my baby book I learned that I had almost the same growth trajectory in my first year. I hope Esther can be the baby that wears every outfit she got at every shower numerous times. She is not lacking in clothes and it would be a shame for her to not get plenty of time in all of them.
