Those Scary Doctors

We knew it would happen eventually, and the time has arrived. Clare is afraid of the doctor's office. Little by little, we've been seeing that she is much more cognizant of what is going on at the doctor's and dislikes all of it! Yesterday she had her endocrinology appointment. As soon as I laid her on the bed to undress her, she started crying. She cried throughout the entire appointment and stopped crying almost immediately once I dressed her at the end. Now the endocrinologist is probably the least invasive of all Clare's doctors. He weighs her, measures her, and listens to her heart; but, other than that, all he does is ask questions about her growth and development. He does order blood work to check her thyroid and calcium levels, but that's at a separate location at a different time (and since we're going down to Boston next week, Clare's just going to have all her labs drawn there), so Clare has no pain or discomfort at these appointments. She doesn't care - she is done with the doctor's! It probably didn't help that she went to the doctor's the day before as well to get her monthly RSV-antibody shot (which was painful). Yet, even at that appointment, she cried from the moment I undressed her - well before any shot was given. Poor little peanut! I am nervous how she will be at Children's Hospital next week. It's been four months since her open heart surgery, and she has really grown a lot since then! It's great that she has the cognitive awareness of her surroundings and what going to the doctor's entails. However, at the same time, I can't help but wish sometimes that she was still just three months old - when she would receive a shot, cry momentarily, then forget about it almost immediately. Growing up is so hard!