Adventures in Parenting

I swear, there is never a dull moment in the life of a mom. Most of the time it's great, but there are moments that I long for a worry-free day. Tuesday afternoon, I woke up a little later than usual (because I set the alarm for 2:45 a.m instead of p.m.) so I was rushed trying to get to the sitters house to get Jacob as he got off of the bus. Term.in.ix was scheduled to come between 5-7 pm and I wanted to make sure I was back from getting all 3 kids and have time to pick up the house a bit. I just got dressed, ran a brush through my hair, threw on a little mascara, brushed my teeth and left. So I was looking hot. I get Jacob, and go into town to get the other 2 kids from daycare. I go to Clara's room and don't see her. Her teachers then tell me that she's been crying non-stop since nap time. It was 3:50 and they lay down for naps about 1p.m. WTF?!? Usually, they are all too happy to call and tell me I need to come get my kid if something like that happens. They tell me she's been complaining about her cheek hurting. She was fine over the weekend. Absolutely no complaints of pain, so whatever is going on came on quick. And she looks like hell. Her poor little eyes were blood-shot and her hair a mess. I'm a bit put-off because, hello, there is obviously something wrong. I get home, and the bug guy knocks on the door 5 minutes later. Thank goodness he was early, because I've now figured out that it is Clara's ear that is bothering her and I need to get her to the doctor's office before their walk-in clinic closes at 6:00. It's now 4:45. I call Husband and tell him I need him to meet me at the doctor's office because I can't do 3 kids again (tried it once, and it didn't work). In the meantime, Clara has been crying, constantly. Isaiah is used to having Mommy-time right after we get home and he's not happy about being loaded back in his car seat, so he's crying. Jacob is fed up with all the crying and is hollering, too. We get to the office, and no husband in sight. We go back to the room where they weigh and do vitals, but Clara refuses to stand on the scale, Isaiah has thrown himself on the floor crying and Jacob is opening cabinets and drawers. And here I am, trying to keep Isaiah from crawling out the door, trying to keep Jacob out of stuff and bribing Clara with a toy if she could please just stand on the scale. And she's doing the jello legs thing when I try to pick her up and stand her on the scale. It could have been an episode of a sitcom- Harried mother trying and failing, miserably, at controlling her children as they destroy the doctors office. Thank God, at that time husband gets there and takes the boys home. Whew. Everyone was breathing a little easier. The doc looks in her ears and one is clear, but the one that hurts is so full of wax that she can't see the eardrum. Oddly enough, Clara has now stopped crying. Doc tries to clean out the wax (and I try not to be offended when she suggests stuff for me to use to clean out her ears. I never use q-tips and we clean her ears at bathtime. How am I supposed to know there's all sorts of wax in there) but is unsuccessful and she goes ahead and prescribes antibiotics. Clara sat perfectly still as she tried to dig out ear wax, but refused to stand on the scale. Go figure. By the time we get home with her meds, Clara seems fine. She whimpers here and there but the incessant crying has stopped. To make the night even better, I'm talking on the phone, relaying the events of the evening to my sister, and Isaiah starts fussing, so I go in the kitchen to get him a sippy cup. Then I hear someone tumble down our stairs and then hear Clara crying. Those damn stairs scare the crap out of me. I didn't see it, but I freak out, hang up on my sister and check on Clara. She didn't tumble like I had imagined, but had just slipped onto her back and slid down. So her back is covered in bruises. And I'm hoping I don't have to take her back to the doctor again anytime soon because they'll think we beat her. We get the kids to bed and hope the worst is over. The next morning as I'm pulling Clara's hair into a ponytail, I notice all sorts of wax, blood and dried stuff all over her ear. Crap, crap, crap. I go upstairs, and there's a small spot of blood, fluid and wax on her pillow. Her eardrum burst. She tells me her ear doesn't hurt anymore, but it's clogged and she can't hear out of it. There must be some genetic thing in my family because my sister's eardrum ruptured a couple times as a kid, and my grandfather's did, too. I had just really hoped to avoid that. So, again, I call the office just to see if I need to do anything and they order some type of drops for me to put in her ear. I tried to pick them up yesterday and the pharmacy didn't carry the drops and so they would order them, and they'd be in today. Well, today they called and said they still haven't been able to get them. I just wonder what in the world they are that this huge chain drugstore doesn't have them. But, Clara seems to be fine and she says her ears aren't as clogged anymore. Sister (a MD herself) and I speculate that at the office, all the pressure in Clara's ear made just a tiny hole, and all the gunk in that ear was the infection leaking out, and it burst more overnight. It's just odd that the uninfected ear didn't have so much wax. I'm a bit tired after the last couple days, if you can imagine.