Another Update!

Last week I had a couple of different doctor’s appointments. See, I’ve been having major trouble with my ears since March. My PCP wouldn’t do anything due to me being preggers, and just dismissed it and told me to take Claritin or Benadryl or something. Well, I’ve BEEN taking Benadryl and it has done absolutely no good. My OB recommended Sudafed, but we bought the Sudafed and then read the insert and I can’t take that due to other medicines I’m on. He recommended seeing an ENT.

Sooooo…last week I finally got in to see Dr. Welch in Claremore. To make a long story short, he basically told me my ear drums have a lot of scarring (duh) from all the ear infections I had as a baby/child/adolescent and that the only thing he suggested (since there isn’t any fluid behind the drum) is an MRI of the brain to rule out an unruptured cerebral aneurism. Oh, great!

He says he has no explanation for the echoing in my left ear and the pain in my right ear. The drums are clear, they are not bulging or erythematous. They did tympanograms on me and a series of hearing tests and both were slightly abnormal. Seriously, both of my ears have given me problems since March and it’s so painful and annoying! I can literally hear my heartbeat and the blood rising in the jugular vein in my neck. It’s kind of disgusting really and a lot of times I don’t know how loudly I am really talking because I can’t discern that because, to tell you the truth, I hear EVERYTHING about 10 times louder in that left ear. I can hear myself breathing. It’s really weird. And my right ear has consistently hurt and given me problems. I see spots. The other night I got kind of worried because I couldn’t see out of my right eye!! It was just all black and spotted. I couldn’t see the words I was typing, so I quit working for a while and went and took a nap. I lose my balance a lot, and have since my ear trouble began, but I just chalked it up to gaining weight and just being naturally unbalanced because of the pregnancy. I’ve been really dizzy at times, too, even stumbling into walls and almost falling backward on a few occasions. I’m not normally a clumsy person but I have been since March!! LOL. And like I said, I really wasn’t TOO concerned because I know you can get dizzy when you’re pregnant.

So Tuesday I see my OB again. I swear, it feels like for the last 6 months I have done nothing but run to doctors. Anyway, we see the OB again Tuesday and I’m supposed to ask him if I should wait until Molly is born to have this MRI done, or what. I’m pretty sure he’ll want me to wait (and I hope to heck he DOES want me to wait…I’m really scared to have an MRI done) but I’m also afraid because what if I have an aneurysm during childbirth???!!! All that pushing and straining just CAN’T be good for the veins in your head, right?? So. Now I’ve got something ELSE to worry about.

Anyway.

After we left the ENT’s office we went to Choteau to eat at the Dutch Pantry. This is the second time we’ve been there in the last 2 weeks. Yum, it is sooooo good. It’s down home cookin’ and it’s all you can eat. For me, that really isn’t a bargain since I can’t really pig out, but oh Lord it is such good food! Amish women make all of it, too, and that place is ALWAYS busy. They’re really friendly people, and they have a very clean town, from what we have seen of it, anyway.

After we ate lunch we ventured to the Amish Cheese House. We bought a loaf of homemade wheat bread, a handmade candle, homemade jellies and jams. We’d taken along an ice chest with us so that Todd could get some lunch meats and cheeses to pack to work. Here are some pictures of him making his selections…

…I know, I know, I got a little camera happy!


From the Cheese House we ventured over to South Grand Lake and the Spavinaw area to look at the water. We climbed a HUGE flight of stairs and wound up overlooking the dam there. Here we are at the very top…

We were going to go to Dairy Queen in Grove but we were both still STUFFED from our lunch at The Dutch Pantry! Also, we were going to go by and see Dr. Teresa in Fairland but I called and her secretary said she wasn’t there. I found out later that she had taken the afternoon off to go home to can peaches and make yummies like peach jam, peach butter and peach jelly! She told me tonight how INDUSTRIOUS she has been all weekend. Girl, YOU ARE MY HERO!!! The most industrious thing I’ve done all weekend is load the dishwasher! Hahahaha

Saturday and Sunday, I didn’t leave the house. I worked a lot Saturday, but Sunday I just took it easy and napped with the doggies on the couch! Felt gooooood! Todd brought home Chinese food for dinner, so I didn’t even have to cook! J What an awesome hubby I have. I’m so thankful for him.

You know, I really try not to do a lot of griping on this blog because it’s my kid’s blog. But I’m about tired of the negative feedback/comments we’ve been getting on the name we have chosen for our baby! Seriously, folks: IT AIN’T YOUR KID!! Go have your own kid or grandkid and name it whatever you want, but don’t announce to me or my husband that you don’t like the name that WE have picked out for OUR BABY! This is really ticking me off lately. Maybe it’s hormones, but good grief!

When you have a child enter your life, it has been my experience that the naming (oh, and the shopping!) are a few of the funnest parts of the whole experience. Great care and a lot of thought goes into naming your children. After all, parents choose names they like, names that make THEM happy and names that make THEM smile. Some parents choose more common names, and hey, that’s great if that is what they want to do. And some names, like our selection of Molly Piper, are based solely on the facts that we know absolutely no one else with this name, and that the name (to us, anyway) makes us happy when we say it. WE think it has a nice ring to it. WE didn’t want to name our kid after someone else in our family, though for many parents this is what they choose to do and hey, that’s great for them…

When I think of the name Molly Piper, I think of this cute little redheaded girl (red on the head like her daddy!), a little ornery (like her mommy), a little daredevil (again, like mommy) but sweet and VERY down to Earth (like her daddy). I think of blue eyes, like Todd’s gray-blue eyes, fair skin (like both Todd and I have) and just a very outgoing girl (again, like mommy!). There are a LOT of other names I adore but Todd vetoed most all of them. Meredith, Audrey, Isabelle. Nope, nope and nope, said Todd. And don’t even get me started on the time we had choosing a boy’s name! I promise, if we end up delivering a boy instead of a girl (hey, you never know, it could ALWAYS happen to us and HAS in fact happened to a lot of people we know) then we are stumped because I don’t think we ever solidly agreed on a boy’s name. I guess that’s okay, though. We still have 12 weeks and then 2 days in the hospital to decide that, should it happen…

Anyway, my gripe of the day: If you don’t like my kid’s name, KEEP IT TO YOURSELF. I wouldn’t dream of telling someone some of the things we’ve been told about Molly’s name. I think it’s just plain rude and pretty tacky. Like I said, you name your brat what you want and I’ll name my little brat what **I** want. Capishe??


Something I am really beginning to get excited about is Molly’s baby shower. I’m going to be kind of embarrassed, everybody looking at me while I open gifts and stuff, but I’m still really excited about it. People keep asking what we need and the answer is NOTHING! We have absolutely EVERYTHING we need already. It just has to be put together and set up but there is really nothing that we are in need of. My friend Traci, whose little Ainsley just turned 3 months old, she has this brilliant organization system going on in the baby’s closet and I’m totally going to be a copy cat and do the same thing. In fact, I’m hoping to hit Target or Babies R Us sometime this week to buy the stuff so I can start working on Molly’s closet. Right now, it’s a disaster! It’s piled high with baby clothes, toys, bedding, baby gear, and what’s been started of our Christmas shopping for our families. I still have two huge bags of baby clothes my friend Rhonda gave me that I need to go through and sort out. I promise, we are in need of NOTHING, and what we do need is pretty much just a long-range baby monitor, a big cushy glider rocker with an ottoman and a breast pump. LOL. But, these are all things we are buying ourselves, and I’m not even thinking about getting a pump until the baby has been home a week or so and I’m sure I can breastfeed. I don’t want to throw away good money (and they can get pretty expensive!) if I am unable to breastfeed and I don’t feel comfortable at this point renting one from the hospital. And the monitor is something we feel we need to pick out ourselves because Todd wants one with a long range on it, and we want a monitor with 2 listeners (I forgot what that part’s called) and I would even like to find one with a waterproof listener so it can go in the shower with me. And the rocker? That’s a big ticket item and I’m kind of picky about the style because I want a nice one with padded arm rests and pockets on the side to hold stuff.

This is going to be another busy week for me. I need to get the items for Molly’s closet, first and foremost. Tuesday we have another doctor’s appointment and I also have to take my glucose tolerance test for gestational diabetes. After that test, we have our first Childbirthing class (lamaze, labor & delivery, whatever it’s called!) and I’m excited about that. On Wednesday, I have a La Leche League meeting in Owasso and HOPEFULLY I’ll be able to go get this Pottery Barn book case for Molly Piper's room...

I don't know, though. It's so big I'd probably have to drive Todd's truck and I've never driven it because it's so big and I'm scared I'll smack into something backing out or whatever!!! But I don't know if this dollhouse book shelf will fit in the Toyota or not, unless it's in pieces. Todd works on Wednesday so he can't go with me, and Friday (his next day off) he's got plans of his own and more than likely won't want to go all the way to Tulsa to fetch a book case. I'm sure he WOULD, but I know he's got stuff to do and I don't want to take him away from that. Saturday, we're going to a party of some friends of ours, and I can't wait! I have to think of a dish to make and bring and buy the groceries for that this week.

I'm also supposed to be starting class on August 18 but haven't decided what to do about that yet. I don't handle stress very well at all and I'm afraid if I do go back to school this semester I'll be flipping out before too long, what with working AND preparing for baby AND studying. Just thinking about all that together makes me tired!

Soooo...I think I'll call it a night. Good night! :)