Bumps in the Night

I am less than excited about the impending forecast of snow for the next day or so. I really have to resist the urge to be one of those people that makes a grocery list for at least a week and fills all my cars up with gas as if the world just might come to a stand still. Chris makes fun of those people. I am a closet "one of those people". I did make Chris a small list of things to get after his dentist appointment today.  Here's to hoping I don't add to the list and overwhelm his "list app" on his ipod that he has come to rely on these last several months!  Another reason I am worried about the weather is because we have our weekly ob appointment tomorrow and I am scheduled to have the glucose test and other blood work done.  It doesn't seem to bother Chris that at the time of our appointment we should be ankle-deep in snow!  "We'll be fine. We have four-wheel drive!"  Oh, of course. Well, at least maybe the other ob appointments tomorrow will cancel and we will avoid a three-hour wait like last time.
That's right.  I said three hours!  And Chris had been doing so well after he read what he was like at the doctor's office.  He has definitely, officially had a relapse.  He actually did pretty well for the first hour or so. He took his Nook and accomplished quite a bit of reading.  But after he started stretching and sighing I broached the subject of calling the office's bluff and inform them that we have waited way past the 30 minutes from our scheduled appointment time like the sign says. But, I know all too well they look at you like, "Why did you bother to waddle up here when you know all I will tell you is that your doctor is running behind, like always?"  So, we kept waiting.  We were finally allowed to go past the magic door and wait in the exam room. At this point, Chris got his second wind.  As he pointed out, it's not his fault that he already looked through the NRA magazine last time. He started pacing and fiddling.  Just when I thought he would pull out his ipod or put on another concert, he went a different route. He said, "You know? I don't think we should have more than three kids."  Surprised by his serious tone, I said, "Ok. Why not?"  He replied, "Because.  The statistics show that every one in four babies born these days are Chinese."  He exploded with laughter. I joined in.  So now he is telling jokes.  He thought that particular one was good enough to tell the doctor. I disagreed.  Later on, while I was asking the doctor a really important question, Chris started snickering. I whipped my head around while the doctor was looking at his laptop and asked him why he was laughing at me. He said he was still laughing at his joke.  Whatever keeps him coming to our appointments, right?

We had our second birthing class last night.  And yes, we were able to keep our composure.  But, we never got to floor exercises, either, so there is probably a correlation.  After mulling over all this "birthing" information, I have come to two conclusions; 1) Maybe it would have been best to avoid this class altogether. Then I'd have no idea what was about to hit me and it would be too late and 2) Maybe c-sections aren't so bad?  As Chris put it, this class and the whole upcoming process is frightening and overwhelming.  Trying not to dwell on it.

Now, to "Bumps in the Night."  We are still recovering from sleeping only two or three hours the other night.  Early Monday evening, our little Chandler started growing hives at an alarming rate.  Now, we know he is allergic to peanuts and heart worm medication, but he has not had an episode for almost a year!  Could he have scarfed up a dry roasted peanut I had unknowingly dropped while he was perusing the kitchen floor?  We will never know. We administered benadryl hoping this would take care of it.  But, if his rapid pacing, frantic scratching and heart-wrenching crying was any indication of the night to come, we were in trouble. He made it in his cage only a few hours. His whimpering was unbearable. So, to bed with me. Except he did not want to sleep and that is all he usually does.  Now, I haven't mentioned that Chandler also had a teeth-cleaning surgery late last week which left him feeling less than excellent in the first place.  Anyway, I tried to sleep on the couch with our poor chihuahua so Chris could sleep, but that was also a miserable fail.  Chandler spent most of the night in an awkward seated position atop Chris's pillow, moaning. I couldn't sleep at all.  The next morning, we called the vet and scheduled an appointment right away.  My sister gave up her morning to sleep in to transport "Bumpy",  Joey (we would have another crisis on our hands if we left the brother alone), and me to the vet.  And wouldn't you know it, most the bumps were gone and there was no evidence of the horrible night we had all experienced!  But, when Chandler has a reaction, it is an off and on situation for several days.  Luckily, the vet could feel the remnants and Chandler was given a shot that made him cry like he was being tortured. Then off we went, hoping we would not need to return any time soon.   Needless to say we were very discouraged when we arrived home from our birthing class last night and Chandy looked worse than ever!  We gave him his medicine and attempted to distract him for an hour or so.  Then we tucked him into his bed with the prayer that we all would be able to sleep through the night.  Success!  In fact, I woke Chandler up to check on him. He is doing better and in fact, he is still in bed a I type this!
So, once again, our hope is for a boring, uneventful remainder of the week.

Poor Chandler!