Is there a Doctor in the House?

It’s been a while since I’ve done a guest baby blog, but I’m back, I already know you all missed me.  Over the weekend, Addy turned 6 months old, of course she thinks she’s grown now, but that’s not what this blog is about.  Today Addy had her 6 month checkup and got her ears pierced.  For some reason, every time I think of getting ears pierced I think of the episode of the Cosby Show when Theo got his ear pierced and it got infected.  Hope my Addy is not like him.  Well here is how it really went down.

First of all, gender roles are VERY present in a pediatrician’s office.  By this I mean I was the ONLY guy in there that was not employed by Texas Children’s Hospital.   As if that wasn’t enough, the nurse calls for us and as I grab our stuff to head to the back, she politely asks “Oh, where’s mom, the moms usually mark the ears?”, so I replied “She’s at work, so the role of mom & dad will be played by me today.”  Maybe I read to much into it, but I don’t think so.  Are dads really not capable of being a parent?  I mean I used to joke when Addy was about 6 weeks old, that I’m not qualified to be left alone with her, but I keep her everyday while mom is away….I think I got it down now (even though I forgot to feed myself before we left for the doctor’s office).   I wasn’t offended by the nurse’s comments, because like I said, there were no other guys in the waiting area with their kids, but don’t make it sound like I’m not capable of successfully taking my kid to see the doctor.

Now that I’m done ranting about being the BEST DAD EVER, here is how the actual visit went.  The nurse told me to mark her ears, which was followed by me giving her a blank stare, so she did one ear to show me.  I erased her mark because I felt it was little high, but Addy wouldn’t cooperate…at all.  She wanted to see the marker and did not want to be held down.  So once the doctor came in, I still hadn’t marked her, so he called in a nurse to help.  She marked while I held her down…if any of you have ever met Addy, you know she does NOT like to be held down against her own will, so she fought it.  We got her marked up, then the doc was concerned that she’d wipe off the markers, so decided to do the piercing first.  The first stud they tried was too little for the gun or something because it didn’t stay, so we went up a size and tried it again.  So I had to hold her down yet again, then we did the right ear, SUCCESS!  Now the problem came into play on the left ear because I had marked it, then the nurse had marked it, so he was having a bit of trouble spotting the correct mark.  At this point, I was holding Addy’s’ body, a nurse was holding her head, the doctor was holding her ear, then he called in another nurse to hold a light.  Yup, all that for a feisty 6 month old girl.  It felt like we were trying to subdue a rowdy prisoner or something, but then we got the other earring in.  She cried a cry that I’ve NEVER heard before, but it was hard to tell if it was from pain or the fact that she was PISSED from being held down or if it was a combination of all of the above plus the fact that she was sleepy.  2-3 minutes later, she was sleep on my chest as we had to wait about 5 mins for the next nurse to come in and give Addy what she actually came to the doctor for….her shots.   She got 2 shots, an oral vaccine, and a flu shot, which woke her up of course, which also pissed her off to a new extreme.  Then I got her dressed and by that time she was somewhat calm, so I carried her out the office until we got to the car to put her in her seat.

I’m not going to lie, I almost called it all off when the doctor messed up the first try.  I couldn’t take it…she was crying so hard.  I almost shed a tear with her, but of course, I’m the tough dad.  Overall, I know she’s exhausted, because she was sleep before we got out the parking lot.  I told her being pretty is painful, but I don’t think she understood me.  She’s still out as I type this blog, so we’ll see how she feels when she wakes up.

Thanks for tuning in…..

BROWNLEE

PS:  Here is the first picture of her with holes in her ears!

She's wore out!

 

Cry Baby

today we had our 33 week appointment.  of course everything is on track.  measuring right at 33 weeks.  the nurse was a little worried at first cause the heartbeat was at 119, but she figured the baby was sleeping, so she put the doppler close to my stomach.  apparently the sound of their heartbeat wakes them up…until they figure out they already know that sound and go back to sleep.  sure enough it worked and Monkey Pie woke up with a heartrate of 143.  seems like me and brownlee got the same visual or an annoyed little Bre rolling their eyes and going back to sleep.

doctor explained that our next appointment is feb 1 and we get the ultrasround to measure the baby and then i have to start internal exams on a weekly basis until baby comes.  from what i know, the internal exams are just to measure dilation and if the baby is in the right position and all that jazz.  i’m pretty excited about the ultrasound cause we haven’t seen a pic since week 20. i mean i know for sure that he’s a busy body cause i see the effects of my stomach moving, but i still want to see.  and i’m really wondering how big the doctor thinks the baby will be.

in case its on the smaller side, i did buy the newborn size onesies and diapers.  i’m kinda pissed right now cause our printer is out of ink, even though i got it filled a couple weeks ago but apparently it didn’t work right, so i wasn’t able to print up the onesies that i wanted to.  luckily Hobby Lobby is chock full of crap to make your own shirts.  once kiddo gets here i’m sure i’ll do up some personalized ones (or make T do them).  anyway, until i get the ink, i did get a cute iron on and made this one.

i’ve been feeling pretty good since i’ve been on the iron pills. i think they really help with my energy level and i haven’t gotten dizzy or anything.  the only problem is that i take them at night and wake up dying of thirst. the doctor wasn’t too concerned and just told me to take the iron during the day and my prenatal at night.  i only got like 45 days left anyway.

and last night i had a particularly embarrassing moment last night where do to frustration i burst into tears.  normally i’m alone during these times, but i think i kinda freaked Brownlee out a little bit cause i’m not a crier and all he could do was tell me to stop and pat me on the back.

we have our  newborn care class monday which i think will be pretty beneficial, cause i dont know how to do anything.  i’m starting to debate whether or not we are going to do the labor class.  the doctor said it would be cool, but i dont know if its something we can just read in a book or watch online.  i’m worried that when it’s go time we’ll both forget every single thing we learned.  mainly i want to know WHEN to go to the hospital and i’m sure the doctor will let me know during any of the 4 or 5 times i have to see her in february.  i’ll think on it some more and see (and no it being on SuperBowl Sunday is not a factor).

the doctor’s getting excited.  brownlee’s getting excited.  my coworkers are getting excited.  i know family and friends have been excited.  im increasingly just not ready. i thought the baby shower would do the trick. WRONG.  i thought the diapers and onesies would help.  WRONG.  i even read the scary breastfeeding chapter of What To Expect The First Year thinking that would get me over the hump.  WRONG.  someone else have it for me.  thanks!