Ariella's 9 Month Doctor's Appointment

We had Ariella's 9 month appointment Saturday. She's 28 1/4 inches (75%), 19lbs 7oz (50-75%), and head circ 17 3/4 (50-75%). The doctor says she's growing perfectly and very proportionally (yay)!

The scary part of the appointment came when the doctor was examining her. She said that her inner labia was entirely fused! Inside I started freaking out. But, the doctor said it was not a big deal, very common problem caused by hormones. She said I would just have to use a cream once a night until it opened, and then use vasoline on it once a night for 2 weeks.

Ariella also had 3 shots, 2 vaccines and the 2nd dose of the flu vaccine. She actually did very well with them, although she's been a bit more fussy than normal for the past couple of days, and I think it's because of the vaccines (poor baby girl). There was no mention of wanting to do any blood work.

The doctor said I should switch Ariella from bottle to sippy cup by 12 months. Also, by 12 months, her BM intake should go down to 12-16oz (not so sure about that). And by 12 months she should be fully on table foods (not so sure about that either). But, overall it was good.

The prescription cream turned out to have a $50 co-pay (yikes), and then at night before I used it, I figured I would read the warnings, side effects, etc. A huge yikes! The first sentence on it was that it can increase the risk of womb cancer and cancer of the ovaries! Other risks include increased risk of heart disease, stroke, blood clots, etc! The medicine is premarin vaginal cream. I did NOT use it yet.

I called the doctor's office today. She said that the side effects listed were probably for the oral form of the medication or for larger doses. She said that an alternative to the medication would be that they could open it in the office by pulling it apart (no thank you). She said that it should NOT be left as it is, that she would develop bladder infections, UTIs, etc. She said that the worst side-effect she's ever had (which has been very rare) is that one baby developed breast buds while on the medication. Our phone connection wasn't that great, so we got cut short. But, I essentially got the info from her that I wanted to ask.

This all seemed pretty consistent with the research that I did online, although online many sites advised just leaving it alone, but the doctor seemed very adamant that it open (maybe because it was fully fused?). So, I guess I'm going to use this cream, unless some magical solutions arises. This is the first time I have really disliked being a parent. I'm so afraid that I'll make a bad decision that will really hurt Ariella. With my family history, I'm very wary of cancer. I wish Tyree would have participated more in this decision, but he has pushed it on me, so I'm just going to have to do the best I can. Hopefully this is the correct decision.