Adventures in parenting… take #... hmm, I don’t know

Some days just seem to be more interesting than others and in the grand scheme of life, these probably really aren’t that interesting, but for today, they seem to be. Now keep in mind that at 29 ½ weeks pregnant the interesting-ness (is that a word?) is a bit more exaggerated than usual. Everything takes longer and is a bit more challenging than not being pregnant.

Cooper had a well baby visit yesterday afternoon. So it all started with trying to carry my child up to Community Pediatrics. This usually isn’t a challenge, but for some reason yesterday everyone was in the Baldwin elevators and at least one wheelchair in each… and the elevators aren’t that big. We were on time, but quickly running out of time as I had to let three elevators go without getting on. Now I could have taken the stairs, but carrying my child can be challenging enough without adding stairs to the mix. We made it up to the third floor only to find a long line of people… did everyone make late-day appointments??? Then I of course was handed 10… and I’m not kidding… sheet so paper to fill out. This is the first time I have had to do a current visit survey on Cooper. Does anyone in the house smoke? How much TV does he watch? How many fruits does he eat? What kind of milk does he drink? etc... And then I had to do a developments survey on him. Thankfully (maybe) Cooper was a bit intimidated by his surrounds (not that I want him to be scared of going to the doctor) and he sat very quietly in the chair next to me while I completed his forms. His visit went well. He is 24 pounds and 31 inches long. His pediatrician did suggest trying to get our “self-decided” vegetarian to eat some meat. We try, but he definitely prefers fruit and veggies to meat. He does eat eggs, cheese, and peanut butter. Overall he looked really good. The decision was made to have his hearing tested based on the fact that he has had so many ear infections and lots of fluid behind his ear drum. His left ear did look red… perhaps another ear infection brewing and his lungs sounded like he had the beginnings of an upper respiratory infection… but he doesn’t seem sick… yet. To end our visit he got two shots. Oh, they never get easier. He held my hands so tight and just cried. But he got a sticker and a book out of it, so not too bad and he forgot about his legs by the time I got him dressed. His pediatrician is leaving at the end of the month and we needed to request a new one as we left. Thankfully, I got the one I think I want. We also got a hearing test appointment for this morning.

So this morning our routine was a little off. You would think that I would have this mastered by now… getting out the door on time, but when you think you have everything under control that is when things don’t always go as planned. I was able to shower and get dressed without too much of a problem. Nothing ended up in the toilet. Thankfully today was garbage day and there wasn’t much for Cooper to empty from our bedroom garbage… and there isn’t anything dangerous in there since we know he likes to empty it. For some reason (my heart gets in the way) I brought Cierra out with us. I just feel so guilty when she is left in the kitchen and I know she will be in her kennel all day. They did great together! I was able to get my hair and make-up done while the two of them entertained each other in the bathroom.

Once again, nothing ended up in the toilet. The only problem was Cooper got a Cierra hair on his tongue and started to gag. His gagging got so bad that he tossed his milk from this morning… curdled milk to be exact. Once again, keep in mind that I am very sensitive to smells and vomit. I can gag very easily these days. So as I glanced at the clock I see we need to leave, very soon! I got another outfit for Cooper and wiped him down the best that I could. For the life of me I couldn’t get that smell of curdled milk to go away, but I didn’t have time to bathe him. I even tried to brush his teeth, again. I got Cierra outside one last time and then in her kennel and we were out the door… with stuffed puppy, pacifier (just in case), and snacks (we were missing daycare breakfast). I neglected to remember (since I never park there) that the Mayo ramps early in the morning are HORRIBLE! I was stuck behind probably eight or so cars and had to go all the way to the top (ten floors) and then start back down to park on level six. Then wait again for an elevator with a ton of other people to get to the subway level. We then quickly hurried (waddled) to another elevator… I’m starting to dislike elevators… to get to our floor in another building. We got to the desk about three minutes past our “check-in” time. Oh well.

Thankfully Mommy doesn’t get to claustrophobic anymore as we had to go through two soundproof thick doors… scary. Cooper had a great audiologist that obviously plays a lot with kids. The audiologist was stacking rings and other objects to keep Cooper entertained while a “puppets” on the wall would periodically make noise or the helper behind the glass called his name. The noise would get louder until Cooper responded. This repeated several times… and Coops even started to anticipate the puppets. They then took pictures of his eardrums with an earplug looking thing (a very scientific description). He then was tested with a headset behind his ear that bypassed his middle ear to test the actual nerve. The results… “Abnormal middle ear function”. The fluid is preventing him from hearing at lower decibels. He has a completely normal hearing test if they bypass his middle ear. Soooooo, tomorrow we will see the ENT doc to get an assessment of what next. They initially wanted to wait 6-8 weeks to see if the fluid would clear and repeat the exam, but I shared with his pediatrician that I didn’t want to wait since he has been battling fluid or an ear infection since last July and I didn’t think 6-8 weeks would give us a different result. She agreed. No to mention little one should arrive about that same time and life will be even more interesting. If he needs tubes I would rather do it before she comes so I can focus on him… even though I know it is a simple procedure. We should know tomorrow. If they tell us we need to wait I may become a momma bear protecting her cub… on pregnancy hormones. But I will be positive. I don’t want to put him through a procedure for the sake of doing it. I’d like him to be ear infection free for more than two months and hearing better! No to much to ask, right???

So off to daycare we went. Cooper fell asleep on the way there and was extra cuddly when I took him out of his seat. It was hard to leave him. I don’t like doing drop-offs. He’s my baby.

Until tomorrow….