Thursday, April 12, 2007

56 is the Magic Number

Son #1 and Son #2 had their physical exams today so the pediatrician can sign their summer camp medical forms. Son #2 will be 10 in June. He weighs 65 lbs, and is 56.75 inches tall. This puts him in the 25th percentile for height and weight, but in my observations, he seems to be just about average sized compared to his peers.

Son #1, however, is a different story. He'll be 12 in June and he is 56.25 inches - just a smidge shorter than his younger brother. He weighs 56 pounds. Can you imagine being as tall as you are heavy? Let's just say that if that was my ratio, I'd be 11 feet tall (and shrinking, because of the Weight Watchers).

Son #1 has always been on the small side. 50th percentile for height/weight as an infant, but by preschool he was in the 10th percentile - or worse. For quite a while, he completely dropped off the growth chart but was still following the same curve so no one (doctors) was particularly worried. The doctor he went to last year suggested that if his growth was still slow at this year's check up, further testing might be needed. We've since switched doctors - no complaints about the other doc, but I wasn't wild about his office staff. Dear Hubby has a friend who a pediatrician and we switched to the friend's practice. I warned Dr. B. that I was a tough customer and he still wanted our business anyway. Gotta give him props for that.

Anyway, Son #1 is no longer following the growth curve at all so Dr. B. referred us to a pediatric endocrinologist (our appointment is April 23). He also sent us today for a bone-age x-ray which will help the endocrinologist assess Son #1's physical age versus his chronological age. Dr. B. suggests that Son #1 might have a growth hormone deficiency. We'll see.

4 comments:

Nadine said...

Finding a good doctor that you trust with your kids is not a easy task. Hope all goes well.

BTW - Good job on staying the minus side of the scale.

tracey.becker1@gmail.com said...

sigh... it's always something, isn't it? I hope you guys figure out what's up (if anything).

And I'm happy for your weight loss!! You must be excited!

~d said...

OMIgod! How do you work out the weight=height ratio thing. I wonder how tall I'd be?! Perhaps I would rather not know.
GOOD for you and WW! HOORAY! I joined the gym. I figured 2 months left of school-roughly, so I can go 3 times a week with no hassles.
HOORAY FOR YOU!!!
(btw, I told th abt your kitty. I am sorry, elle*)

Elle*Bee said...

pmcvmkThanks, nadine and tracey. I'm trying to stick with the diet, but it's hard at times.

~d, I just came up with that ratio. His height in inches equals his number in pounds so I took my number in pounds and calculated how tall I'd be if my height in inches = my weight in pounds. Let's say I was 120 lbs (I wish!). In that case, if my height was 120 inches, I'd be 10 feet tall. Congrats on the gym!