January 25. More ear pain!

Gerard weight PM 4 lbs. 6 oz.

Sorry I don't have a photo today. Today has been one of those days I just as soon write off. I woke up with severe ear pain, so of course...back to the doctor. My doctor said it looked worse, so he sent me to an ENT (Ear, Nose Throat) specialist. Lucky, we got an apt. for 3 PM. After we drove home (30 minutes) we had a message stating to get to the specialist's office ASAP. It was 10:30. Michael had a whopper of a schedule that got really messed up (sorry Michael). So back to the other side of town we drove. The good thing about this specialist is that he's located in the hospital on the second floor. After waiting for 90 minutes, I had an evaluation by the audiologist, which revealed that I can't hear out of my right ear. (I'd been saying that all week). But her big test proved that to be true. My left ear is remarkably "perfect" and good thing, since I need at least one ear to hear! OK, this is the bad part. I met with the specialist, who my doctor had de-briefed ahead of time, and he was wonderfully sympathetic to my situation with the baby, being sick, bla, bla, bla. He then said it was good - my ear was plugged with infection (surprise?) and he would insert a needle into my ear drum to drain the fluid faster and it would make me feel much better sooner. What the heck? A needle in my ear? That's going to hurt, right? Well...yes...it hurt. It hurt really bad, and the fluid sounded like the loudest bubbling scream I've ever heard. And my ear still hurts. We talked about my returning in a week to make sure things are better, but it can take up to 4 weeks to completely get better. All that and I'm on the "cadillac" of antibiotics, which isn't really helping all that much. Of course I had to ask how I could possibly have this ear infection business since I don't ever recall having anything like this before. Guess what? It's common in women who have had babies and have held onto a lot of fluid (that would be me with the pre-eclampsia). The fluid builds up and doesn't have anyplace to go, creating pressure. Again - why isn't this commonly known information? Whatever! To top it off, today when I got home I had a lovely reminder from the same hospital that my annual mammogram is due. Isn't that just ducky?

Now for the good stuff. Gerard stuff. Since I was in the hospital already, I just headed over to the NICU to pump (I was way, way overdue with all the running around). They wanted to charge me for another kit! I was a bit surprised by that, so we compromised with a 'recycled' kit. Learned my lesson - I'm keeping a kit there in the room from now on. So Gerard got his feeding along with me getting to hold him and giving latching practice a try again. He did better today! He's doing really well the first 10 minutes, then gets tired. He's also doing well with his feedings, and is even spitting up a little bit. Of course, I had the pleasure of changing his diaper again... He looked good today, but slept through most everything. His photo from yesterday makes him look full and double-chinned, but that's just him tucking his neck down. He still looks a little bit scrawny - but his weight is up again!


Tomorrow night is "date night" which we haven't had in a long time. Dinner at Rickenbacker's to officially celebrate my birthday, a trip to the NICU for feeding Gerard, and then a late 9:30 Sundance film. Doesn't that sound like fun? I can hardly wait! I'm just glad today is over and tomorrow is another day-