East Cleveland, Yo!

From now on I'm voicing all my complaints right here. There's apparently some freaky prayer answering vibes stemming from this blog. And I'm not questioning it.

E peacefully succumbed to sleep all three times today. Morning nap - out like a light. Afternoon nap - not a whimper. Bedtime - passed out being carried into the bedroom; promptly rolled on her side and stuck a thumb in her mouth as soon as she hit the sheets.

Of course, this could have a lot to do with her wearing herself out quite a bit today, but I'm not really going to question it. I'll just have to piss her off to the point of no return more often . . .

This afternoon we loaded up in the car with my perpetually late and indecisive mother (Her: "What time is the appointment?" Me: "1:30, I'm leaving at 12:30." Her: "Oh, 12:30 . . . I don't know if I'll make it." Me: "It's 10:30, why wouldn't you make it here by then?" Her: "Well, I have to get ready. And feed the dogs." Me: "Uh-huh, and how does that take two hours?" Her: "If you don't want me to come then just say so." Me: *sigh*). She was exceptionally quiet, sulking cause I told her to get moving and make up her damn mind. She still came, but did her darnedest to make the day miserable. We were headed to Cleveland Clinic, to get an ultrasound on a birthmark on E's lower back. Apparently this particular placement of a birthmark has a 1 in 1000 chance of being an indicator of the spinal cord either not properly developing or fusing in the wrong place.

It was "Don't Have a Clue How to Drive Day". I almost got hit three times, once while cruising at 70 down 480. It was a blast. And then we got lost. Assured by mother dearest that she knew exactly where we were going, but still armed with my Mapquest directions, we found ourselves on E 55th, wondering where we were supposed to turn next. But, I found it, despite numerous protests, by you know who, that we should pull over and ask "that guy there" where to go. Of course, she got mad at me each time I just kept driving. Obviously pulling over to ask the crackheads on the street who were obviously involved in something to do with money exchanging hands was the perfect solution. (How on earth have I survived to adulthood? Seriously, how?)

So, I found it. And parked in the parking garage. Not behind the random apartment building as suggested.

I carried E into the hospital, while being nagged for not using the stroller ("Seriously, woman, who is carrying the child? Not you, so shut it!"). We mazed our way down to Pediatrics and checked in. After waiting a bit, the ultrasound tech came and took us to the room. E had to be nekkid (which she loved) and lying on her stomach (which she hated). Actually, she was fine for the first 20 minutes or so.

The tech went to work, doing her thing. And you know who started with the questions. Like a 5 year old. "What are you doing?" "Why?" "Why?" The tech was awesome though and told her she "wasn't going to be answering her because she really needed to concentrate and couldn't lose count". Which, of course, pissed my mom off. How dare they do their job and not talk to her!

She (the tech) did explain that normally this procedure is done very early, usually within the first few weeks, because what they are looking for is behind the spine and as the spine fuses, it's harder and harder to see. Makes perfect sense. You'd think. Because it was so difficult to see, another tech and the doctor were brought in to also look, so they wouldn't miss anything. E made it through the first one, and then started crying. She cried through the rest of it, mad cause she was on her belly. She survived though. No harm done. Meanwhile, whenever we were alone in the room, my mom was going off about how these people must not know anything if they had to keep calling more people in. *sigh* Yeah, that. Cause we don't really want them to make sure nothing is wrong.

Anyways, E is fine. Perfect spinal cord. Her pediatrician is clearly not that great though, since it took her this long to decide to get this checked out. I'm losing faith in this lady.

I knew there would be a point when I would crack and all this buddy-buddy time with my mom would hit overload. Today was it. I'm packing my bags and taking E on vacation. We're going to stay in a beach house on Tybee for a few weeks. (yeah, suuuure, I wish - one of these days I suppose we'll get out of here).