We took Mackenzie for her third checkup today (the U3 untersuchung). It was our first visit to Dr. Petra Reitz in Karben since all the other exams had been done at St. Vinzenz Hospital. I rather randomly chose her from the phonebook online since we couldn’t find the name of the pediatrician in Bad Vilbel that Stefan’s colleague had recommended.

When we got to the office there seemed to be a bit of chaos with the receptionists but they put us right into the exam room so Mack wouldn’t be exposed to any germs in the waiting room. They do this with all children under 3 months old.

An assistant weighed and measured her after we’d undressed her. She also gave her some vitamin goo to swallow. Then the doctor came in and took care of the rest. She tested her reflexes and hung her sideways which made us gasp a bit. She listened to her heart and felt around her chest to make sure everything was packed away tightly like it should be. Then we went over to the neighboring office where a sonogram of her hips and kidneys were taken. Everything looked great and her kidneys are already almost 5 cm – 3.5-4.5 is the average. The doctor also noted that she has quite good head control already. As a parent you notice something like that quickly but since you’re not around so many kids, you think you might just be over proud…so it’s nice to have some reinforcement.

Doctors here also use this time as a chance to inform parents about immunizations and we have alreay set an appointment for the end of February for her first round of 2 shots. A lot of people want to say the aren’t necessary…but we don’t want her coming down with diptheria or who knows what just because we were being dumb.