Ada had her 4 month doctor visit yesterday...all went well (aside from the horrible immunization, whereby Ada reminded us all that she has a good set of lungs on her). I have to say the shots this time around were not as traumatic as her 2 month appointment. They (whoever "they" are) finally decided to make a shot that combines 3 immunizations into 1 shot.
As expected, Ada has gained weight and has grown longer (yes, longer). She is 13 lb 10.5 oz now and 25 3/4 inches long. We had to laugh because she is in the 90-95 percentile for her length! One long baby!
We were pleased to hear that she is right on target developmentally. She spent most of the doctor visit looking around and smiling. The biggest challenge we have right now is keeping her eyes clean - really goopy and gross. Dr. Cochran says it's due to a blocked tear duct. I don't like it.
I took her to work with me this morning (we are in the middle of a crisis advocate training and it was my turn to be there). As usual, she was pretty low-key and the center of attention. Around 11:00 Sam called to inform me that our cockatiel "Baby" is sick and we need to take him to the vet. We noticed a couple weeks ago that he had a little bald-cap on his head and chalked it up to stress from a hard molt and a difficult transition due to Ada (not getting as much attention as he used to). Well, Sam woke up this morning to find the bald spot looking infected and red. He found a local bird expert/vet and got us in. Thank you to Colleen who saved the day and took over my part of the training so I could take care of our other kid (other pet owners get it).
So, we get to the vet to find one woman leaving, her fancy carrier empty and her nose red from crying. Really depressing.
We looked pitiful bringing our bird, not in a fancy carrier, but a make-shift, taped up, amazon.com box that had holes gouged in the side after I attacked it with a screw-driver. I'm feeling bad for the woman with her fancy carrier, then look down at Ada who has gross goop all over her eyes and some of it running down her cheek - and I'm fairly certain she was passing gas. I pretty much decided at that moment that I was failing at life!
The vet (who wasn't the most pleasant woman in the world) told us that either Baby has cancer or was burned. We hope it is the latter. Most of you who have met Baby know that he likes to chew on everything. He likely stuck his beak in a socket or chewed on a cord and electrocuted himself. She said it takes about 2 weeks for the burn to manifest itself, following the bald spot. He gets fancy antibiotics and cream now (sadly, not a fancy carrier). We also have to put him on a diet. I got a stern lesson on how to clip his wings, since she was clearly not pleased with the job I was doing (humiliating). But, you get pets and then have to take care of them - that's the deal.
A big thank you to Audrey, Michael & Hillary who hooked us up with baby safety products - We will now install the outlet plugs, not for Ada who can't crawl yet, but for our bird who is apparently as adventurous as a 9 month old.
Sigh.