Round Three

There's times I like being right (usually most of the time), and then there's times I don't like being right. Today is one of those days. I interrupted a slow work-from-home day to call the regular pediatrician's office for an ear check. Molly was fussy all morning so I knew something was brewing. I got the 1:30 appointment - usually the perfect time, just after the doc's lunch break - but for some reason I got stuck in the waiting room (the "sick kid" waiting room no less) for a while. I finally made it back to the tiny examining room with all three kids. We weren't lucky enough to see a doctor today. Just the nurse practitioner. She's nice, but she's still no doctor. And she was late too. She checked Lily's ears first. Yes, fluid behind the ears, not totally infected yet but headed there. Omnicef. Molly was next - bingo, that poor baby still has a ferocious earache in both ears. They wanted to give her Augmentin but I said NO. That stuff is horrid on the system. So Omnicef for her too. Blood red poop explosion, round two, coming our way! I made it home two hours later. TWO HOURS. Does anyone see why I'm in love with my after-hours clinic? The same appointment at the after-hours clinic would have been a 30-45 minute affair max.

So their 9-month check-up is next week and I know that ear tubes will be topic number one now. As much as I despise the idea of this, the thought of giving them antibiotics (and the accompanying gut rot) every month sounds worse. So I think I'm coming around to the idea of these tubes. And with Claire's summer camps starting really soon I know we're due for some more sicknesses because it seems my kids cannot manufacture a decent immune system response to anything.

One wonders how well Molly (and therefore I) would be sleeping through the night if we hadn't just experienced three, yes, three, back-to-back earaches (Lily's had the same three back-to-back now). Hmmm. And the only amusing part of our doctor's visit today was that once again the babies' weight is the EXACT same - 17 lb, 2 oz. They are nowhere near identical twins yet their weight stays exactly the same at most doctor visits. Their body types are totally different - Lily is long and lean, Molly is short and stumpy - so the equal weight is just distributed differently.

Claire is still feeling under the weather, coughing a lot, with a very low energy level. Maybe I should have had her checked out too. As I say to everyone, I hate the sick kid part, so I have not had a good run here recently.

And now it's dinner time and between work and the doctor's event today I haven't given dinner a thought. Take-out, anyone?