Compartments

Ancient History

Follow Me?

Instagram

Mr. Baby has a tragic case of Butt Ear

Today has been an exercise in keeping it together. I am truly at the end of my rope in many ways. I feel a meltdown coming on. It’s not just me. We are all tired, grumpy, weepy, and worn out.

My mom, who has been here for almost 4 weeks, is sick. She has strep throat, which she caught from Aidan and Tommy who both had it last weekend. She hasn’t been feeling well, so we found an urgent care walk-in type of place for her to visit. They did a rapid strep test. She’s resting now and taking antibiotics. I hope it doesn’t spread to anyone else and I hope she feels better soon.

I had an appointment today, which featured the most irritating ultrasound I’ve ever had. Not the worst. Those would be the dead-baby ultrasounds.

Today’s ultrasound featured a new-to-the-practice tech who pointed out the breech-tastic position of the baby one moment, and the next moved the probe to the very bottom of my right lower underbelly and found:

An ear.

“Oh, how cute! Look at that ear!” she gushed.

Confidence? Not inspired.

She also talked about my upcoming c-section and then proceeded to measure my cervix. If you’ve ever had an ultrasound in late, late, late pregnancy, the cervix is extremely hard to see without digging the probe practically under the pubic bone. It’s quite painful. I was yowling on the table. And for what? It DOESN’T MATTER how long my cervix is, at all.

By the way, it’s crazy long. I looked it up and the length for my stage of pregnancy is off-the-charts. If I wasn’t going to have a c-section, I could look forward to labor around the New Year with the length she supposedly measured.

The fluid measurement she got was exactly the same as Monday’s. At least something is consistent.

She didn’t wipe off the belly goo or give me any pictures—common courtesies, no?

I really wanted a picture of the Butt Ear for my wallet.

11 comments to Mr. Baby has a tragic case of Butt Ear

  • Oh, mama. Sweet, sweet Gretchen. What a crappy visit. What a crappy moment in time. I’m sure you are clinging the tiny bit of good news that at least the fluid level hasn’t dropped. Not much comfort as you crunch on Sonic ice on your Bedrest Island.

    Butt Ear will make a good story for years to come . . .

    *hugs*

  • Louise

    For my second baby, we went to a student ultrasound tech – she needed the lab hours, we wanted a free ultrasound. Amazingly enough, she was more efficient and knowledgeable than the professional we had for the first baby. And I’m pretty sure she knew that ears were not located on MOST babies’ behinds.

  • Sometimes medical professionals leave something to be desired. When I was in unmedicated active labor with my second (maybe transition? Who knows, baby was malpositioned and I ended up with a C after 25 hours of labor) a med student came in to get my history. Well, I suppose they need to learn somehow. So, she asked questions and then a contraction hit. And she kept asking questions. Finally my doula said, “she can’t hear you. why are you asking questions to a woman in unmedicated labor during a contraction? Are you sure you want to be an OB?” Or something like that.

    Best wishes for the health of everyone, and for your sanity.
    .-= Kimberly´s last blog ..The haircut =-.

  • Sorry it was such a frustrating appointment. I will say, though, that I also LOVE when I find an ear by ultrasound. It happens to me so rarely that I’m always excited when I see it. Although I definitely would have given you a picture of it. And she should totally have at least wiped off your belly. And as for measuring the cervix, maybe she was just trying to be thorough? Sonographers like to always see all the same things. Although I know I wouldn’t have tried if it was going to be so uncomfortable. Sorry… I”ll pray for added patience.
    .-= Aubrey´s last blog ..For Gramma =-.

  • Julie

    Um, yeah. I’m wondering how a butt and an ear can be in the same place. Did I miss something?

    Wishing you a safe, quick delivery and a sufficient quantity of good stuff (of your choosing) for the recovery. 🙂

  • I’m sorry, Gretchen. You must be going out of your mind.

    Maybe you should have the tech check for that next time she’s down there.

  • Oh, I wish I could do something for you! How miserable for your mom to be sick, and for you…the novice technician is just the icing on the meltdown cake.

    THe words from my doctor on Monday:
    “You’re not having this baby any time soon.” Obviously I still have four weeks, but really. Did she need to rub it in?

    Hugs to you, my friend.
    .-= Stephanie´s last blog ..When She Jumps =-.

  • 🙁 So so so sorry about your mom and the continued frustration you are experiencing! Here’s to seeing that baby sometime soon…

  • Maria

    I wish your mom to get well very soon and all of your family to be healthy! May be it’s ok to have a meltdown, just let it out and move on. //It was around 40C or over for 2 months where we live and no airconditioning and mostly high-rise concrete buildings:) and then forests and peatlands started burning and the city was so full of smog and the air so full of dangerous chemicals that we moved to the village where it just smelled of smoke, but no smog. And it seemed like it will never end… But I always tell myself ‘when there is a beginning, there’s an end’. Now it’s cooler, no smog (just acid rain:)). And the good that has come out of it – we did go to the village, interacted upclose with nature, visited my aunt and uncle etc. But in the end, when we came back from the village, I did have a meltdown together with my daughter:) and I only had to wait out 3 more days of heat and bits of smog until the rains came. But it was good for me.// The baby will come, and all will be great! And you get to have spent so much time with your mom.

  • There always seems to be a complete collapse of everything that is “normal” – everything falls apart gloriously… and then babies arrive. So I am sorry for your torrid time… but I see it as one giant step closer!!! Lots of love… you will be fine, just maybe not today!!!! Lots of love!!!
    .-= se7en´s last blog ..Sunday Snippet- The Egyptians in Bible Times… A GiveAway… =-.

  • Yikes. I can’t believe you couldn’t even come away with a picture of the butt ear and WITH a goopy belly. The smell of that goopy stuff makes me nauseas…why is it squigglying me? I’m totally spelling nauseas right…
    .-= beth – total mom haircut´s last blog ..Heading West =-.

Leave a Reply to Stephanie Cancel reply

You can use these HTML tags

<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>