Dr. office visits

Ok, any of you that have kids can probably relate to my recent adventure (today).  Katelyn got tubes put in her ears last December so we have follow ups every 6 months and it was time for one.  The original appt. was for tomorrow, but yesturday she had a really bad ear ache and I looked in her ear and it was flaming red and very swollen.  I called the ENT's office and asked if by chance she could get in a day sooner since she was having a bad ear ache.  They got her in at 1:50 (just giving me one hour to get home for Lyndee coming home from school).  I thought that if I arrived early (for me it just turns out to be on time), then we could get in and out and be home before 2:55. 

Katelyn is 4, so I depend a lot on her to get herself ready and in the car.  I had an extra 19 month old today and so I had to get the two kids in the car with their shoes on and get them buckled up.  I told Katelyn to get her shoes on and to get in the car.  Well, we were almost there and I looked back and Katelyn did not have her shoes on at all, and no shoes in the car....no socks either.  I asked Katelyn about this and she said she had told me to find her shoes for her.....WHAT???  I hear this a lot....the blaming on me and it is never their fault that they forget something that I tell my kids to get. 

So ok, I thought 3 kids in a double stroller will work.  I've got a sit and stand and Kate can just stand and it won't take long anyway.  Anyone who has 3 or more little kids know's the responses that you get when you overload your stoller. 

When we first check in I ask how long it will be, noticing that there is no one else in the waiting room.  The receptionist replies, "not long".  20 minutes in the waiting room trying to keep all the kids in the stroller.....successful! 
Kate's name gets called back and we go to the room.  I ask the nurse how long it will be and she says "not long".  10 minutes later Katelyn starts holding herself and getting very fidgety trying to hold it in. 
Kate:  "I really got to go potty, Mom"  
Mom:  "Can't you wait until we see the doctor, you always hold it in"
Kate:  "I can't, I got to go now"
Mom:  Walks outside the room and makes sure the doctor isn't close by and then pulls the long stroller out of a skinny hallway, out of the offices, and into public bathrooms.  Remember, Kate dosen't have shoes and it makes me very nervous with all the germs around.  The toilet was so old and disgusting that I had to force Kate to sit and go after all the work to get there.

We make it back to the room, no doctor in site and I let the nurse know that we are back.  

15 minutes later....kids getting restless.....babies in the stroller still (almost strapped in for an hour) and all my tricks and treats are out of my purse.  I go out and ask the nurse again how much longer it will be.  She promises me that we are next.  I'm thinking......we were the only one in the waiting room and all the other rooms are empty around us, where is the doctor?? 

This time going back to the room I do what any mom would do when it is getting too long, I leave the door open so the staff can hear my restless kids and hear them fighting over the same books they have been fighting over for an hour!!!  Brooklyn was starting to get loud---oops----the door was open.  It sure didn't take long for the doctor to come in now.

I don't think that it took more than 2 minutes for her to look into Kate's ear's, tell me that they looked great, maybe they just had some fluid in them from a runny nose and to come back in 6 months.  That was it!  65 minute wait for 2 minute visit!  Errrrrrrr!!!

In the meantime, Lyndee was going to be home from school, so Lynar came home from work as a late lunch to get Lyndee.   Thank goodness Lynar wasn't too busy! 

Katelyn's ear was still red when she woke up this morning.  I treated her (I'll explain in a later post) for a virus, and by this afternoon her ear was great!  It could have been a coincidence though...., but Awesome!!! 

Don't you love to just wait and wait after you are told, "not long" and then the visit is less than 5 minutes???