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Last night sucked. My sore throat came back with avengence, my sinuses completely clogged and stayed that way (despite the extra squirt of Afrin that I allowed myself), and in short – I couldn’t breathe, so I couldn’t sleep. It was made all the more miserable by the fact that I was experiencing a bit of pain in my right ear (the same ear that I had a bad ear infection in last year and am still suffering the consequences of hearing loss caused by nerve damage). I was literally up from midnight until 5 am, sleeping at most maybe in 10 minutes at a time at most, worrying about permanent hearing loss. I had to blow my nose so many times that I filled up the bathroom trash – so I started throwing those tissues in the toilet. It didn’t take long for that practice to clog the toilet. So there I am at 3 am, sick as a dog, plunger in hand, trying to unclog the toilet.

I got up with JP in the morning to help get Evan off to school (JP isn’t feeling well either). When I came downstairs, I went into our bathroom to blow my nose and heard a noise. My hearing is not that great right now with my stuffy head and possible ear infection(s), so it took awhile for me to figure out that it was the toilet running. It has been running all night (can’t wait to see that water bill). I, the plumbers daughter, could not figure out how to get it to stop, so I shut off the water to the toilet. This means we can’t use the toilet downstairs until it’s fixed. This is particularly annoying for the pregnant woman who has to pee every 15 minutes…

JP leaves to take Evan to daycare; I let Madison out for the second time this morning so she can go potty, let her back in and then head upstairs to use the bathroom up there since it’s our only working one at the moment. I was gone for maybe 5 minutes. Despite my clogged sinuses, I could smell the foulness of poop as soon as I came down the stairs. Despite being let out just 5 minutes before, Madison had decided she needed to relieve herself in our dining room. I was livid. There are definitely days when I seriously regret the decision to add a second dog to our household.

When JP came home I made him take Madison back upstairs with him to bed so I wouldn’t have to deal with her and the constant bell ringing. (That kept me up quite a bit yesterday when I needed to rest). I then decided to hop in the shower in the off chance that I would be able to get an appointment with my ENT this AM (I was supposed to have an appointment yesterday at 4 PM, but that was canceled due to a fire in the building (oh lucky me)). As I’m in the shower, JP comes in and exclaims that Madison just puked in the bed. Lovely. I finish showering and JP pulls the covers off the bed. He’s not too happy with me when I make him take the soiled covers down to the washing machine instead of just throwing them into the blue room. I’m not sure if that’s a guy/girl thing – but even as sick as I am – there is no way I’d ever let a stinky puked on cover sit in a room all day, potentially resulting in a permanent stain and definitely making the entire house reek.

It’s only 9 AM. Can’t wait to see what the rest of the day is like. Double sigh.

That is what I call the little one inside me, inspired by Cara Thrace aka Starbuck, Harbinger of Death. I have never been so sick so many different times in such a short period, and it all started once I got pregnant. You could easily argue that Evan being in daycare is also responsible for the rash of sickness – but I still maintain that my immune system is not able to fight off whatever germs he brings home now that I’m pregnant, and I had no problem with his daycare germs before I was pregnant:

- August (4 weeks pregnant): I come down with the worst ear infection of my life while on “vacation” back east. It results in nerve damage and significant hearing loss in my right ear.

- October (13 weeks pregnant): I come down with a nasty flu bug, and the doctor suspects it may have been H1N1. At that point in time, there was a shortage of the H1N1 vaccine, and even though I was supposed to be in the highest priority group for receiving the vaccine – I couldn’t get my hands on the stuff. I knew of non-high risk people in small towns in Texas that received the vaccine before me – a pregnant woman in one of the larger urban centers in the nation. The logic that dictated the distribution policies of the H1N1 vaccine complete escapes me.

- January (25 weeks pregnant): Evan goes to daycare and comes home with a cold. Two days later, the entire family comes down with the same cold. By this time, I had received the H1N1 and regular flu vaccine – so I am assuming it was just a cold – but what a nasty cold it was. Both JP and I had to stay home from work because of it.

- January (26 weeks pregnant): Evan goes to daycare and comes home with the stomach flu. One day later, both JP and I come down with the stomach flu…although I could easily argue I had it the worst out of all of us.

- January (27 weeks pregnant): Evan goes to daycare and comes home with a fever, which turns into a cold, double ear infection and conjunctivitis. Two days later, I come down with a sore throat, fever, achy body, rash, and a head cold. Before I can get better, JP gets sick, too. I’m worried I may have strep throat and ear infections, and am grateful that I just happened to have an appointment with my ENT doc today. He’ll be able to determine the extent of my sickness and if I need to be on antibiotics. As I’m getting ready to leave the house, I just happen to check my cell phone and see I have a voice mail. It’s a receptionist from the doctor’s office saying that there was a fire in the building that morning and that the fire fighters were not allowing them back in the office and that I would need to call tomorrow to reschedule. Just my luck…

The worst is when both JP and I are sick. Not only because neither of us has the energy for Evan…but also because we both handle being sick very differently. I like to be left alone and try not to complain unless I’m really in bad shape (like I was the other weekend with the stomach flu). JP likes to be pampered. He gets very melodramatic when he’s sick, “Oh, I feel so horrible, I feel like I’m dying (moan moan moan)”. Since I’m the type that likes to be left alone, I must confess that I’m the worse nurse for JP when he’s sick. “Take some medicine; go to the doctor then” I usually say in reply to his moans. Not much compassion I’m afraid. I have even less compassion when I am sick myself. I think in times like these we would both benefit from having one of our mothers here with us; they would be able to take care of Evan and the dogs, they would be able to attend to JP’s needs; and I would be able to rest in peace. Sigh.

We took Evan to the weekend clinic last night — one nice thing about living in SF is that our Dr. office is affiliated with CPMC (the hospital Evan was born at) and they have an after hours pediatric clinic.  He was diagnosed with a cold + 2 ear infections + conjunctivitis.  Poor little guy has been running a fever and coughing, etc — I stayed home today to take care of him (he needs drops in the eyes every 2hrs + amoxicilllin, tylenol, etc.).

Today has been tough.  He goes through moments with this where he is absolutely inconsolable — I think maybe has a headache or something on top of all the rest of this.

To make matters worse, though, Rachael just came home from work early.  Now she’s sick too.

For a moment today, I had 2.5 sick and inconsolable people in my family.  I put one and 1/2 of them to bed (Rachael + Baby Girl Lester) and put the other one (Evan) in a bath with me which cheered him up.

I literally cannot believe that we have been sick with 3 different things 3 weeks in a row.  I hope this ends soon and that I don’t get this one too.

This is the current state of counting around our house. Just gotta get that 3 and 4 in there (and start with 1, obviously).

So far I’m not too thrilled with 2010. This is the 3rd weekend in a row where Evan has been sick. He came down with a fever, congested cough, runny nose and conjunctivitis yesterday. Poor thing. He got up a few times during the night last night (which is highly unusual for him)…and he just isn’t himself. Fortunately, he *loves* the medicine that we give him for pain/fever (just over the counter stuff) – he actually begs for more after we give him some. This morning he seems to be a little better and is actually requesting to go outside, so hopefully it will be a short-lived bug. I’m completely out of sick time at work…so I’m not really looking forward to dipping into my vacation time to stay home with him tomorrow…

The other day as I was riding home on BART (SF’s version of the subway), I noticed something that made my heart drop – a big chip on the underside of my engagement ring. I didn’t think it would be possible to chip a diamond without some pretty significant impact (it is the hardest mineral on earth after all) – and as a pregnant woman who spends most of her time sitting behind a computer or in front of the t.v. (with the most active thing I do being to walk the dogs) – I can’t even begin to imagine what I could have possibly done for this ring to chip. All sorts of questions circled in my head: How long has this chip been there? How did it happen? Is my diamond real? Did they switch it out for a fake when we had it reset in a new setting last year? What do I do now? How am I going to break this to JP (no pun intended)? Sigh.

The other thing we haven’t had a chance to mention with all the sickness going on – is that last week during an onslaught of constant storms, I came downstairs one morning to a literal waterfall in the doorway leading from the house to the garage. We had our roof replaced shortly after we moved in, and we had the plumbing in our upstairs bathroom completely redone during the remodel a few years back…so this was a very unexpected and distressing site to see. JP was on the case though – and we’ve had a few contractors out and now know exactly what the problem is (it’s our roof); and fortunately the cost to repair isn’t too bad. Still…

Bad things come in 3’s – hopefully we’re done for 2010.

Evan surprised me with this one after our walk today. He came up to me, started patting his tummy and said:

"Me, Me, Me"

Which I though was pretty impressive. Then he paused and and added:

"Evan"

To make sure I was getting the picture.

But even more impressive, he then he paused again (quite dramatically I might add) and added:

"Self"

This is pure daycare stuff. Rachael and I haven't started teaching him "advanced pronouns" yet..

DISCLAIMER:  Do not read this if you are at all squeamish or have recently eaten, or have no interest in reading about embarrassing bodily functions that I would ordinarily know better than to post about, but I'm still recovering from death… 

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The Week before Last:  The Lester clan came down with a nasty cold bug (see previous post).  As bad as that was, we were all relieved that it wasn't the stomach bug that everyone else in Evan's daycare was being sent home for.   Guess those germs hang around for awhile…

Last Thursday (7 am):   Per the usual weekday morning routine, I hop in the shower, get dressed and then go get Evan up to start his day.  When I turn on the lights to his room, I see that he (and his bed) is completely covered in puke.  Evan ends up taking a shower with his dad, I end up stripping the bed and starting laundry.   Is this the stomach bug?  He seems to be ok otherwise…Was it just because he was full and had a coughing fit?  Since Evan seems his normal self and doesn't have a fever, we decide to take our chances sending him to daycare.  

This Past Thursday (2:30 pm):   Daycare called.  Evan just threw up again.   JP heads off from work to get him.  He's definitely sick and not himself now.  Listless, no appetite (who could blame him?).  

Yesterday (AM).   JP stays home with Evan in the morning.  I head of to work and an appointment for my glucose screen.  For those not familiar – all pregnant women have to drink this nasty sickly sweet drink (on an empty stomach) and have their blood drawn an hour later to test for gestational diabetes.  I spend a little time at work and then head home to relieve JP.

Yesterday (1 PM – 6 PM).  I'm watching Evan.  He's moody, clingy, obviously tired but won't go to bed, and cries a lot.  He keeps asking for milk (which he can't have on doctor's orders for clear liquids only).  I wash my hands every 5 minutes because I'm determined not to catch this thing.  So much for determination.  I try my best to get  him to drink pedialite and water.  He finally falls asleep on me for about an hour at the end.

Yesterday (6 PM – 9 PM).   We try to feed Evan some bananas for dinner in hopes that he can keep bland food down.  I remember feeling nauseous myself at just the smell of the bananas. Uh oh.  Next thing I know I am running to the bathroom and violently vomiting everything that I had eaten that afternoon.   My bladder control goes to hell in a hand basket during pregnancy (the slightest sneeze, oops!)…you can imagine what the vomiting did to me.  As if the vomiting itself wasn't bad enough – I felt like a 2 year-old again and had to go take a shower and change clothes .  Next we had to put Evan down for bed.  It was my turn to read to him.  I managed to get through that without getting sick again, thankfully.  I went downstairs to have a little bite to eat (bread would settle my stomach, right?)…but only found a blue-berry muffin.  I made it through 3 bites of that before I had to throw it away because it was too sweet and making me sick again. I went to bed at 8:30.

Yesterday (9 PM on till 7 AM This Morning):  As I lay there in bed, unable to get comfortable, I feel a knot forming in my stomach.  Before long I am running to the bathroom, violently throwing up again.  I very much regretted those 3 bites of muffin.   Finally headed back to bed in hopes that there would be another 3 hours or so before the next episode.  I was wrong.  Between 9 PM and 4 AM this morning – I was up every 10 – 20 minutes vomiting.  It didn't take long to get through the food I had eaten all day, so soon I was starting to vomit up the same sickly sweet drink I had this morning for my glucose screen.  It was bad enough on the way down…nobody should have to suffer through it again on the way up   JP also got little touch of the stomach flu – though not nearly as bad as me – and soon we were battling eachother for the bathroom.  I had to run downstairs to the other bathroom on a few occasions… but when you're pregnant and sick, there is only so much of that you can take.  

By 11 PM I was begging JP to take me to the hospital and to call someone to watch Evan.  I knew I needed fluids (dehydration is bad for me and the little one inside)…but I couldn't even keep the smallest sip of water down.   JP went on the computer to see if any of our friends were up and willing to help – but no dice.  I have never in my life regretted not living closer to family than I did last night.  You can think all you want that having a close-knit group of friends is a good enough substitute for family, but there are certain lines you won't cross with them.  If JP and I lived anywhere close to our parents or siblings – we would not have hesitated one moment to call them last night and have them come over so that I could get to the hospital.

By 2 AM I was still vomiting, and once again begging JP to take me to the hospital.  I had emptied the contents of my stomach, and was often dry-heaving with a little bile only…but the uncontrollable retching just wouldn't stop.   And the pain from the forceful retching was making my stomach feel even worse (not to mention what it was probably doing to my little girl inside!).  But I knew that getting Evan up and dragging the family to the hospital was not likely going to happen, so at JP's request I just tried to sleep it off again.   Fortunately this time, I was able to keep a small amount of water down.  Unfortunately, my body decided that it wasn't enough to just expel  things through vomiting – and soon I began suffering from the Big D

I continued to wake up every 30-45 minutes w/ Big D and vomiting (fun fun!) for the rest of the night.  By 7 AM, the vomiting finally stopped (though I haven't had the courage to even look at food yet).   Am still suffering with the other consequences of this bug though…

This morning (7 AM – now).  Evan woke up shortly after 7.  JP got up with him since I barely slept at all last night.  I was able to sleep for longer stretches without having to go to the bathroom, and was able to hold down more water…so that was good.  Evan and JP went down for a nap at 10:30 and I got up shortly thereafter.   I heard the dogs barking and figured they needed to go out.  I came downstairs to find that Tucker had gotten into the garbage and it was EVERYWHERE in our kitchen.  I couldn't stand the site of the food, etc (was already getting nauseous again), so I woke JP up to help clean.  He went back to bed and and I started mopping the floor.  As I was mopping I had a complete breakdown and was crying uncontrollably.  After the night I had, I couldn't handle this.  I was very weak and I just wanted my mother to be there and tell me that everything was going to be alright (while she cleaned up the mess and I laid down on the couch sipping water).

I have no idea how I am going to be able to manage Evan today.  I have to sit down (out of weakness/dizziness) within about 5 minutes of exerting any energy at all.  My head is pounding, my stomach is sore, my bottom is sore, the house is a mess (and probably doesn't smell all that great…though I've been trying to be good about the Lysol deodorizer).   JP's also sick, so we're kind of stuck.  Not the start to the weekend we had wanted

So last week’s sickness was nothing compared to what we’ve got going on here right now.

Evan was sent home sick from daycare on Thursday because he was throwing up and had diarhea.  I picked him up and brought him home and took care of him.  Aside from the symptoms, he was in pretty good spirits — playing, acting like his normal self, etc.  Three other kids were sent home last week with this, and it was diagnosed as a ’stomach flu’.

Yesterday, he was *not* himself.  Lethargic, clingy.  Called the Dr — keep an eye on him.  So we just watched Yo Gabba Gabba together all morning until Rachael could get home in the afternoon.  Oh and also he threw up all over me and himself.  Can’t forget that little nugget..

As the day went on, Evan continued to be sick, cranky, etc, for Rachael.  But worst of all, once we put Evan down for the night, Rachael started coming down with symptoms.  Then I started coming down with symptoms.

I don’t think Rachael or I slept more than a few hours last night.  Fortunately, our house has more than 1 bathroom, so I was able to head downstairs when Rachael was sick upstairs.  Good times.

Rachael is sleeping now, and I’m watching Evan this morning.  He seems to be pulling out of it (he’s keeping down his milk, which he insisted on having against Daddy’s better judgement) and he’s playing and seems to be getting back to his old self.

These are the times I think we wish we lived closer to family.  So we could make them endure some of this with us..

On Monday the Lester clan (myself included) came down with a nasty bug.   I've already been vaccinated against H1N1 and the seasonal flu…so I guess it wasn't anything more than the common cold, but it kept all of us home for several days this week.  

Evan was the first to show the symptoms.  He'd been having a runny nose all weekend – but that seems to be the norm these days – and we're never quite sure if it is cold or teething related.  We should have known something was up on Monday morning when he became a complete "demon child" in the morning when I was trying to feed him.  He kept throwing everything I tried to give to him – the milk, the food, the binkie – and had a complete meltdown.  He was sobbing uncontrollably.  I was at my wits end, but JP did a great job consoling him.  We sent him off to school that day – but by the late afternoon we received a call that he had a fever and needed to be picked up.

He was so listless (and burning hot) when I arrived to get him, poor thing.   Fortunately, he's a big fan of the fever-reducing/pain reliever medicine – "more, more"  he always says.   Within 30 minutes he was closer to being his old self (albeit a sick self).   By the end of the evening – JP and I both came down with whatever Evan had.   After a miserable night sleep, the whole clan stayed home on Tuesday to nurse our sore throat, stuff/aching head, etc.   Evan was the only one that continued to have a fever (which made me worry about an ear infection).  He was still running a fever on Wednesday, I was feeling a little better (plus I had a doctor's appointment downtown in the afternoon)…so JP stayed home with him while I went to work.

Going to work completely drained me, and by the end of the day I felt as though I had been run over by a truck.   Needless to say, I ended up staying home on Thursday – but Evan was finally well enough to return to daycare…where he was reportedly "full of energy" that day – proof that he was back to his old self.   

We all welcomed the coming of Friday and the long 3-day weekend.  Too bad we have so many errands to run