Exit Medical Exam

As part of applying for Kien's visa, he has to have an exit medical exam. In Russia, a Russian doctor came to our hotel room to do this. It was very unusual and informal. This time, we went to the International SOS Clinic and had an appointment with a doctor, just like as if we were at home.

This time, we tried out the Kozy carrier instead - which I liked much better. :)

First, a nurse took all his measurements. He had to get naked and lie on his back for his height and then on the scale for his weight. He was NOT pleased about this!

He is 15.5 lbs and 27.5 inches long.

Then we met with the doctor. Kien became quite the noisy little guy!! Most of the time, he was making lots of noise, but not actually crying. Eventually, the tears started -- but it was time for his exam. So as soon as it was done, we gave him a bottle, and that made him very happy.

The doctor spent a long time talking to us and was very helpful! She said he's currently eating like a 6-7 month old. So she said we need to start giving him 3 meals per day, although he may not eat much at first. Technically, you're supposed to introduce one food item at a time. But he's way behind on this, and she said that at his age, allergies are less of a concern. Plus, they don't really sell any single-food baby foods here! So that makes it quite complicated. She said the rice cereal he had in the orphanage may have actually been congee instead, which would explain why he isn't wanting to eat the rice cereal we've been trying to give him. It's not the same. And she repeated what we had already learned....that the formula he's been on is mostly sugar. We've heard that babies have trouble transitioning off of it and sometimes will then only drink milk with sugar. Yikes!!! So after hearing this yesterday through another family, we went ahead and bought something similar to Enfamil and started combining that with the formula he's used to. And he is drinking it just fine!!! :) Hooray!!! So hopefully it will be easy to transition that out completely!

She also said that yes, he should be taking 2 naps per day. He probably just skipped the first one yesterday due to the transition. He actually fell asleep in my arms drinking his bottle while we talked to her, and she said that even if he just sleeps for 30 minutes in my arms there at his appointment, that counts as his nap.

We also talked about food safety for us and Kevin in Hanoi. And the bottom line was that you can never be fully safe. People get sick even when eating in fancy hotels. She said that sanitation standards just aren't the same here, so you could get sick because a waitress didn't have clean hands. That's really encouraging!! Not.

After the exam was over, a woman with our agency walked with us to a photo shop where we had Kien's visa pictures taken. Then we were done, and we walked back to the hotel alone.