Did you know...?

So did you know you aren't supposed to use Q-tips to clean your ears? I'm finding out that pretty much every one knew that but me! Guess how I found out? A trip to the urgent care facility yesterday! The story:

During third tri I started getting lots of drainage in my ears. It was so bad. I would be sleeping and could hear and feel water-like stuff go from one canal to the next. It kept me up at night and drove me nuts during the day. I would get these random moments of clear hearing and it was great. Like all weird things pregnancy wise, I figured once I delivered, it'd go away. And for the most part it did. Except some days, I would get these weird moments of clear hearing that would tell me I wasn't hearing well; but I wasn't uncomfortable, so I let it be. Well this past week my hearing got worse. And I had a lot of pressure on my ears, especially my right ear. All this time over the months I've been trying to keep them super clean by "clearing out the drainage" with Q-tips. So stupid.

Well Friday I was teaching and I could not hear my students talk. Like at all. They'd ask what a word meant, I gave ridiculous and weird translations. They thought I was crazier than ever. I googled like crazy for natural remedies and it said I could drop hydrogen peroxide in to clear them. So I stopped at Target on the way home and bought that and droppers. When I got home I did it and I was deaf. Instantly I couldn't hear a thing. Trevor would talk to me and I would say "What?!?". We were like a couple of 90 year olds. Trevor yelling, me not hearing, Jack being creeped out. I proceeded to freak the f out. I was panicking hard core. Trev called into work because without my hearing, I was dizzy and in no shape to drive and I called my doctor's. They were closed. Awesome. So, off to the urgent care room. There was no way I was waiting until Monday afternoon. We get there and the doctor confirms my ears are plugged up and need to be irrigated.

I'll save the nasty details in case you're eating while reading this but they took a huge syringe with warm water and hydrogen peroxide and shot it into my ears over and over and over and let them drain into a container. So so so so so gross. I had pretty much compacted a years worth of wax with the Q-tips. When they were almost done I got seriously dizzy and had to lay down. I felt drunk or like when you're little and spin a bunch and stop and the ground moves. I pulled out some of my college hangover tricks and put one foot off the bed and on the floor flat. It was rough. But! The plus is now I am hearing in HD clarity. Like I can hear an ant walking on a piece of grass! It's a little creepy after not hearing well for so many months.

So the moral of the story is to not use Qtips. The staff there said this happens all of the time and they don't use them and said no one should either! Well it was a nasty enough experience to make it so Trev and I will never use them again. It felt really weird getting out of the shower and just cleaning with the towel but I will never go through that again.

Afterwards we went to HFWB to meet our friends', Heather and Seth, new baby girl, Avery Rozz Stern. I can't link on mobile, but she has an awesome blog called Confessions of a Wannabe. She (Avery) is such a peanut and looks just like her mama. I wish I would have remembered to take a picture! Jack loved her and was a trooper through such an eventful evening (after he had been out to lunch with Daddy and Grandma and visited Grandma's work). We are certainly blessed with an easy going and happy baby.

Today we scrubbed the house (spring calls for baseboards, doors and all those nooks and crannies being cleaned). Thank goodness we have a Dyson since we have a zoo (read: two adults, a baby led weaning baby, two puffy Persians and a black lab/border collie).

So was that nasty enough for you? Earwax impaction, labor, and a dirty list of chores? Sorry I'm blogging more ;)