Update on us

After our last ENT appointment our doctor put Matthew on Children's Zyrtek in hopes that it would get rid of some of the fluid in his ears that isn't draining. The side effects are either a very drowsy child or a wild and crazy one. We got both! The medicine would knock him out cold within twenty minutes and he would sleep hard for about five to six hours. Then he would wake up and be crazy! He would yell our names, jump on his bed, chase the dogs, feed the dogs, get out his books and toys all at 4:00 a.m. Not too fun for either of us. He would stay like this until nap at daycare where he would then pass out for three hours and have to be woken up. We decided this wasn't the medicine for us, so we were switched for children's Clarinex this time. It seems to be working a little better. He will still wake up, but not until 5:30 and will often go back to sleep until my alarm goes off at 6:30. He is still very wild at daycare until he passes out at nap. We go back next month to see if any of it is working for his ears.

I went to the doctor last week and everything is going great. The baby's heart rate is strong at 156 and he is very active, which I like. I continue to feel excellent and have adjusted to going back to work nicely. The heat at the beginning of the year caused some swelling in my legs and feet, but now that the weather is less humid and cooler everything is fine. The doctors are still going back and forth as to when I am actually due so we have not scheduled my C-section yet. Hopefully at my next appointment we will have a definite date. Three out of four evaluations say I am due January 25th (so a C-section date would be January 18th), and one of the evaluations gave us a February 2nd due date (meaning a January 25th c-section). Of course we could have a date scheduled and my water could break early anyway and then we would just go ahead from there with the procedure. Just can't predict it!

Ryan and I got the nursery all set up last weekend too. All the clothes are washed, hung up or folded and ready for the arrival. We only have to raise the crib mattress and get the bedding ready. Matthew is starting to understand what is happening now that I am showing more and he is out of the nursery. Seeing all the baby clothes and infant toys helps. We have narrowed the names down to Bradley, Scott and Jack and are working towards a decision. Hopefully sooner than later!

It's a...

We had our ultrasound today and we are having another boy! We couldn't be happier. We just wanted to make sure that everything was developing correctly and it is. His brain, spine, heart, kidneys, arms and legs look great and the heart rate was 154. He weighs about 12 ounces now. We couldn't get a good measurement on his length because he was pretty curled up in a ball. Ryan and I quickly saw the "boy" parts before the ultrasound tech told us what we were looking at (the same experience we had with Matthew). We tried to get a good 3D shot of his face, but every time she tried, he would cover his face with his hands.

Now we have the hard task of coming up with a name that we can both decide on. Matthew is saying "brother" now and also working on saying the names we are thinking of. If it was going to be a girl, he had Ali (for Allison) down pat. For some reason though I think he will still call his brother Ali!

Ear Update

Ryan and I took Matthew to the ENT late last week for a two month check-up. He still has fluid on his eardrum, especially on the right side. We are trying him on children's Zyrtek for now to see if that will help to reduce or eliminate the fluid on the eardrum. I take him back in November (or sooner if he gets an infection) to see the progress. If he continues to collect fluid then we will have to go with a second set of tubes. The doctor put it this way, what he hears is similar to hearing under water. He can hear noise and pitches, but can't really understand the actual word, making it hard for him to learn new words. What he hears when he talks is right to him even though it might not sound right to us. So it is a two month waiting game again to see what will happen next.

I am now 20 weeks along today and tomorrow is our big ultrasound. We are hoping that this baby will cooperate like Matthew did and we can easily tell the gender. I still have no clue or ideas as to what we are having. Tomorrow is also the first day of the new school year and I am very eager to get it started! I want to meet my new class, many of whom are new to the school through the recent redistricting. This also marks the 80th year my building has been open. It is the oldest building in the district. Our new school opens next summer.