ChezPerky

Wednesday night, right on cue, Sam started screaming, as per usual. Seth brought him to me, good husband and father that he is, to be fed, but Sam was having none of that. What? MY son wasn’t eating? MY son refusing to nurse? He was flailing around, and desperate, and clearly hungry and he would try to eat, but then would burst out screaming, poor thing. It was the middle of the night, so I knew I had plenty of milk, so that wasn’t the problem. Although laying down normally isn’t an issue, I tried sitting up with him, but that didn’t work either. I tried the other side. I tried another position. Nothing helped. He tried on and off to eat for three hours. My poor baby…so unlike him. I’ve almost never known Sam to refuse to eat, especially when he was so obviously hungry!

Finally, exhausted, he cried himself to sleep in my arms. Good timing, too, because it was time to feed Ellie. We put him back in the crib and I fed Ellie, who had no problems eating (so obviously my milk wasn’t the problem, thank heavens). Eventually, I got up and got ready for the day. When Nanny Extraordinaire arrived for the day, she got the babies ready for bathtime and she started with Sam, who loves the bath. And, sure enough, he got in the bath and giggled and giggled.

Until, that is, she tried to clean around his ears, and then he started to scream bloody murder! Amazingly, as soon as she stopped touching around his ears, he stopped screaming, but if she started again, he started screaming again. Coincidence? I think not!

Something like 90% of children will have an ear infection by age 2. J, at age 4, has never had an ear infection. So I don’t know WHAT to do with an ear infection! So, despite having just missed a day of work due to being sick, and despite the fact that I still felt crappy and was likely to miss most of the rest of of the day anyway, I realized that I should probably at least CALL the pediatrician’s office and let them decide whether Sam should be seen. I figured they’d say to just keep an eye on it for a day or two, but to my surprise, they said to bring him in. I conferred with Jess who confirmed my theory that it was unlikely that they would treat it, even if it turned out that Sam DID have an ear infection, but she said that the doctor’s office still likes to see what’s going on so that they’ve got a baseline in case it doesn’t clear up on its own. This made sense to me, so I made arrangements to take him in.

Of course, when I GOT to the office, Sam was all smiles and giggles, the little rat. I saw Dr. F (Dr. B wasn’t available, and I love Dr. F, so it’s all good). He came into the room and I said, “Wouldn’t you know it, Sam’s all smiley now!”
“Well, that makes things easy for me! Makes you look like a fool, but it’s all good for me,” he joked back at me. “Seriously, what’s going on?”

Dr. F even tugged on his ears with no response other than giggles from Sam. It was infuriating! (I mean, I’m all for Sam not having any problem at all! But could he PLEASE not make me look like the over-reactive first-time mom? I mean… all three triplets had their FIRST COLD last week and I was SO PROUD of myself for not completely freaking out and calling the pediatrician’s office immediately! Actually, Dr. F said he was proud of me for that, too…he said he would have called! Hah!) So anyway, he tried to look in Sam’s ear, but couldn’t see anything, so he disappeared to get a funky looking tool to help clean out the gunk from the ear. While he was gone, I lightly brushed against Sam’s ear and Sam screamed bloody murder and it took several minutes to calm him down! Gah!

Well, to make a long story short (too late, I know!), Sam probably DOES have an ear infection and probably perforated his ear drum. It’s only “probably” because with all the pus between the ear canal and the ear drum, Dr. F couldn’t see down to the ear drum. Yum! In light of the likely perforation, they ARE treating the infection with antibiotics, even though under normal circumstances, they’d leave it alone. Fortunately, Sam LIKES the amoxicillin (it’s really a good thing J never gets sick because he won’t take medicine of any kind and never has). And last night, miracle or miracles: he only woke up to eat ONCE.

Other Milestones!

• Ellie is almost 11 pounds. She still carries the diagnosis “Failure to Thrive” and can’t seem to take in enough feedings to eliminate the calorie fortification. She’s still well below where she should be on the growth chart, but at least she’s finally moving in a positive direction TOWARD the growth chart! I’m so proud of her. I am no longer obsessively taking her weight before and after every feeding, because she pretty consistently gets 4-6 ounces per breastfeeding session. I just spot-check her now.
• Abby has stopped being terribly interested in eating on a strict schedule. She always gets her minimum 6 feedings per day, but first thing in the morning what she wants is to play. She instead loads up on feedings toward the end of the day. If she gets six feedings in by 7pm, she sleeps until around 3am. If she has only had 5 feedings by 7pm, she sleeps until 11pm eats her 6th feeding then and then sleeps until 5am. She knows exactly what she wants, and she gets it. We’ve JUST moved her to 5oz feedings, and she is reluctantly taking it. 4oz wasn’t quite enough, but she probably would prefer 4.5oz feedings. In contrast, both of the other babies are now taking SIX ounce feedings!
• Another Abby milestone… she can now almost sit by herself unassisted. If you sit her up in your lap, she doesn’t wobble much and she can hold herself upright for several minutes without toppling over. She’s the first to do that.
• Sam is very giggly. Though Abby occasionally giggles and Ellie is very smiley and coos a lot, Sam is definitely the giggliest of the bunch. It’s very cute. He’s also the biggest, by far.
• The babies turn six whole months next Wednesday. They have their six month check up with Dr. F that day. It’s the first time one of their well-visits is with someone other than Dr. B. I’m branching out! (Seriously, I adore Dr. F almost as much as I adore Dr. B, so I don’t mind branching out a little… but it is a milestone of sorts for me, because I was pretty determined NOT to branch out!)

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Wednesday night, right on cue, Sam started screaming, as per usual. Seth brought him to me, good husband and father that he is, to be fed, but Sam was having none of that. What? MY son wasn't eating? MY son refusing to nurse? He was flailing around, and desperate, and clearly hungry and he would try to eat, but then would burst out screaming, poor thing. It was the middle of the night, so I knew I had plenty of milk, so that wasn't the problem. Although laying down normally isn't an issue, I tried sitting up with him, but that didn't work either. I tried the other side. I tried another position. Nothing helped. He tried on and off to eat for three hours. My poor baby…so unlike him. I've almost never known Sam to refuse to eat, especially when he was so obviously hungry!

Finally, exhausted, he cried himself to sleep in my arms. Good timing, too, because it was time to feed Ellie. We put him back in the crib and I fed Ellie, who had no problems eating (so obviously my milk wasn't the problem, thank heavens). Eventually, I got up and got ready for the day. When Nanny Extraordinaire arrived for the day, she got the babies ready for bathtime and she started with Sam, who loves the bath. And, sure enough, he got in the bath and giggled and giggled.

Until, that is, she tried to clean around his ears, and then he started to scream bloody murder! Amazingly, as soon as she stopped touching around his ears, he stopped screaming, but if she started again, he started screaming again. Coincidence? I think not!

Something like 90% of children will have an ear infection by age 2. J, at age 4, has never had an ear infection. So I don't know WHAT to do with an ear infection! So, despite having just missed a day of work due to being sick, and despite the fact that I still felt crappy and was likely to miss most of the rest of of the day anyway, I realized that I should probably at least CALL the pediatrician's office and let them decide whether Sam should be seen. I figured they'd say to just keep an eye on it for a day or two, but to my surprise, they said to bring him in. I conferred with Jess who confirmed my theory that it was unlikely that they would treat it, even if it turned out that Sam DID have an ear infection, but she said that the doctor's office still likes to see what's going on so that they've got a baseline in case it doesn't clear up on its own. This made sense to me, so I made arrangements to take him in.

Of course, when I GOT to the office, Sam was all smiles and giggles, the little rat. I saw Dr. F (Dr. B wasn't available, and I love Dr. F, so it's all good). He came into the room and I said, "Wouldn't you know it, Sam's all smiley now!"
"Well, that makes things easy for me! Makes you look like a fool, but it's all good for me," he joked back at me. "Seriously, what's going on?"

Dr. F even tugged on his ears with no response other than giggles from Sam. It was infuriating! (I mean, I'm all for Sam not having any problem at all! But could he PLEASE not make me look like the over-reactive first-time mom? I mean… all three triplets had their FIRST COLD last week and I was SO PROUD of myself for not completely freaking out and calling the pediatrician's office immediately! Actually, Dr. F said he was proud of me for that, too…he said he would have called! Hah!) So anyway, he tried to look in Sam's ear, but couldn't see anything, so he disappeared to get a funky looking tool to help clean out the gunk from the ear. While he was gone, I lightly brushed against Sam's ear and Sam screamed bloody murder and it took several minutes to calm him down! Gah!

Well, to make a long story short (too late, I know!), Sam probably DOES have an ear infection and probably perforated his ear drum. It's only "probably" because with all the pus between the ear canal and the ear drum, Dr. F couldn't see down to the ear drum. Yum! In light of the likely perforation, they ARE treating the infection with antibiotics, even though under normal circumstances, they'd leave it alone. Fortunately, Sam LIKES the amoxicillin (it's really a good thing J never gets sick because he won't take medicine of any kind and never has). And last night, miracle or miracles: he only woke up to eat ONCE.

Other Milestones!

• Ellie is almost 11 pounds. She still carries the diagnosis "Failure to Thrive" and can't seem to take in enough feedings to eliminate the calorie fortification. She's still well below where she should be on the growth chart, but at least she's finally moving in a positive direction TOWARD the growth chart! I'm so proud of her. I am no longer obsessively taking her weight before and after every feeding, because she pretty consistently gets 4-6 ounces per breastfeeding session. I just spot-check her now.
• Abby has stopped being terribly interested in eating on a strict schedule. She always gets her minimum 6 feedings per day, but first thing in the morning what she wants is to play. She instead loads up on feedings toward the end of the day. If she gets six feedings in by 7pm, she sleeps until around 3am. If she has only had 5 feedings by 7pm, she sleeps until 11pm eats her 6th feeding then and then sleeps until 5am. She knows exactly what she wants, and she gets it. We've JUST moved her to 5oz feedings, and she is reluctantly taking it. 4oz wasn't quite enough, but she probably would prefer 4.5oz feedings. In contrast, both of the other babies are now taking SIX ounce feedings!
• Another Abby milestone… she can now almost sit by herself unassisted. If you sit her up in your lap, she doesn't wobble much and she can hold herself upright for several minutes without toppling over. She's the first to do that.
• Sam is very giggly. Though Abby occasionally giggles and Ellie is very smiley and coos a lot, Sam is definitely the giggliest of the bunch. It's very cute. He's also the biggest, by far.
• The babies turn six whole months next Wednesday. They have their six month check up with Dr. F that day. It's the first time one of their well-visits is with someone other than Dr. B. I'm branching out! (Seriously, I adore Dr. F almost as much as I adore Dr. B, so I don't mind branching out a little… but it is a milestone of sorts for me, because I was pretty determined NOT to branch out!)

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