"Little Wiener Schnitzel"

Now why in the world would the weekly emails refer to our baby as a "little Wiener schnitzel." That is actually a bit disturbing to mama Al!!! Does that disturb anyone else?? YIKES!!!

Peanut's growing rapidly --- see her growth below...
-- She should have gained over 4 oz since last week.

-- She should be about a foot long or in their words "Foot-long Chicago hot dog." You all know that I wouldn't refer to our child as a hot dog, rather a turkey dog! :)

-- Her body is filling out proportionally and starting to plump up! However, I am convinced by the ultrasound pictures that she is already quite "plump."

-- Her taste buds are developing and let's hope she isn't tasting the metallic, copper tastes right now that her mother is b/c it is HORRIBLE!!

-- Her lungs are developing "branches" of the respiratory "tree" as well as cells that produce surfactant! Yeah for surfactant -- right EEP???

-- Her ears are supposed to be fully functional right now which is why when daddy rocks out with his amp and electric guitar, she starts doing flips in my stomach!!

-- Her inner ear is fully developed now too to give her a sense of balance!! Hope she will forgive me for all our workouts at the gym!! Maybe that is why she remains in the breach position -- she doesn't want to be bounced around upside down!

Now, for an update on mama Al! Well, after 7 days straight of horrible ear pain, I finally had to do something about it. I went to an ENT today and he said that I have an external ear infection (basically an ear infection in my outer ear canal) with external lobe cellulitis! Umm... isn't that fun? Long story short, I had started Keflex on Sunday and he started me on some antibiotic ear drops (Floxin otic) today to help combat my issues. The Keflex "should" treat the cellulitis and the lymph node involvement, whereas the Floxin will HOPEFULLY treat my external ear infection and the pain associated with it! I asked the ENT about giving me something to treat the pain and he asked me what I was taking.... My response, "Well, just Tylenol which isn't helping at all!" He said with a VERY hesitant voice, "Well, I guess I could give you something stronger to help you sleep at night for the pain, but I don't think you want to take that being pregnant." I was like, "Oh no, I wasn't talking about anything ORAL, only some pain relieving ear drops (ie. Auralgan). He said, "Oh, I see." (Personal interjection -- I think he thought I was a drug seeker looking for some street drugs the way he said what he did. However, I already had in the back of my mind what I thought might be appropriate therapy before even entering his office. Guess that is the trouble I get myself into "knowing too much." I think I wanted him to read my mind and recognize what the best option might be! Does this sound familiar to any of you other health care professionals, especially pharmacist??) So, he said he didn't like to use those pain drops b/c they could irritate my infection more and that it will heal on its own!! Boo Hoo!! Guess I will have to spend at least another 36-48 hours with this stupid ear pain!! Also, he didn't seem phased by my change in taste buds!! Guess it really only bothers the person that has to eat the food!!! Let's hope it goes away when I get better!!! Or I might just die!!!!!!

Lesson Learned: He said, "Don't stick anything in your ear smaller than your elbow!!" Or, my translation of that ridiculous statement is "Don't use a Q-tip so hard that you break the skin! Q-tips are meant for light cleaning, not "deep" cleaning if you know what I mean!!

Allyson and Princess Peanut