something gave...

 Daniel and I always joke that I just sit around and eat bon bons all day. 

I tease him that he just sits around and eats bon bons on the weekends.

Last week I wrote about being so busy that something was going to have to give {at the time, the give was housekeeping, groceries, exercise, etc.}. Well then something really did give.

I got sick.

After two nights of sleep training my little one and one night of staying up until 3am to finish a project for a client, I woke up with a sore throat. I could barely swallow. At least I wasn't achy. But I definitely didn't feel well.

By day two with a sore throat, I happened to look in the mirror and noticed a white spot on my uvula. I texted my sister to see if she would advise seeing a doctor {I HATE going to the doctor}. Since I have a baby at home, she suggested I go to the doctor, especially since white spots could indicate strep.

I heeded her advice and scheduled an appointment with my doctor. One great thing about living in a small town is that I got in right away. 

Getting your throat swabbed has to be one of the worst experiences ever. It makes me gag and is almost impossible for me to relax enough to let them do it {my dad told me he once had to get a shot in his uvula!!! I don't think I would be capable of sitting still long enough for someone to stick a needle down my throat}.

The doctor was very friendly and told me I didn't have strep, but I did have an ulcer on my uvula. He said my body was probably just stressed and this was it's way of showing it. He went ahead and prescribed me antibiotics to prevent it from becoming strep. 

When I left the doctors, I noticed that the sheet with my prognosis said "acute pharyngitis." I went home and googled pharyngitis. Basically it is doctor's speak for "sore throat." 

In addition to the meds, I have been trying various home remedies. 

• I leaned my head back and shook salt into my throat...
• I licked a spoon covered in honey with 1/4 tsp of tumeric mixed in {this just turned my toothbrush yellow later that day}...
• I drank broth that I made by simmering an onion and a whole garlic...
• Several times a day I make hot tea with honey and lemon...
• I eat popsicles and ice cream at regular intervals {these are the only things that soothe the pain}...

I will be thankful when this sore throat goes away. In the meantime I am enjoying ice cream and popsicles with every meal and am extremely thankful that Jack has taken to the sleep training and is sleeping through the night now. It is allowing me to catch up on some much needed rest.

I would walk 500 miles...

Remember that challenge I wrote about last month? The one where I said I would *attempt* to walk/run/hike/paddle/swim 500 miles this year? Yeah, well I am off to a rather slow start.

Miserable January weather. An infant at home. Living in the country with nowhere close by to run. A bad cold. All have conspired against me.

I still am going to work towards this goal, but right now, my YTD mileage is a piddly 4.5 miles. Sad. At least I managed to squeeze in a few Cardio Kickboxing and Zumba classes last month. Hopefully February will see me making better headway towards this goal of mine.

In other news, I am already down to my pre-baby weight. So at least I have that going for me.

As for the other goals... I haven't made any headway on them either. Some days I think I am doing good to take a shower and put real clothes on {especially this past week while Jack and I have been sick}.

Firsts

Some firsts are good. Like your first bath or your first ride on a four wheeler. Other firsts are not so fun. Like getting your first tooth or getting sick for the first time.

Jack is currently experiencing his first bout of sickness. Definitely not fun. For him or me. It doesn't help that I am also sick {and probably passed it along to him}.

Since both of us appear to have colds – clear snot and no fevers. I have been letting Jack ride it out. Yesterday {day 3} his little cough worsened so I called our PED and made an appointment to have him looked at. Her first concern was that RSV is going around and she wanted to have labs run on him to make sure the little rattle in his chest wasn't something worse than the common cold.

We live in a small town. Thankfully we have a PED we really love. However, to get labs run, she had to send us to the hospital. 

The hospital, people!!!

It felt so weird to drive over and "admit" my little one to a hospital. The admissions lady asked me if I would be okay with people calling on Jack while he was there... cue silence...  

"I thought I was just here for labs... he isn't stay here, right???"

Thankfully this question was just routine and she put my fears to rest {for then} and sent me upstairs to a nurses station.

I got to the nurse's station, looked around and asked if this is where I go to get lab work done. It was. The nurse proceeded to put us in a hospital room {granted there was no bed, but it was still weird}.

Then I sat there while she went to get another nurse who could help "hold Jack down." While she was gone I started to get nervous. No one had mentioned what they would be doing to him. In my mind I started thinking about lab work I have had done and it generally involves drawing blood. I was worried for my little boy – especially because even if he did have RSV, unless it got really bad, there would be nothing that we could do for him...

So I held Jack and talked to him while we waited. Finally another nurse came in and had me hold Jack while she ran the test. Thankfully it only involved shooting saline up his nose and sucking it out. He did not like this one little bit, but it probably helped to clear his sinuses out. When they were done I nursed him and then we headed home.

Later that day our PED's office called with the lab results. They were negative. They called again this morning to see how he was doing. He slept well last night, but that cough is still bothering him. I will continue to keep an eye on him to make sure he doesn't get any worse.

Just another small town experience. Hopefully we won't be going to the hospital "for real" any time soon ever.

up in the night...

Daniel woke me up around 2:30 this morning because he wasn't feeling so great. Turned out he had a fever. We are not sure what is up with him. He took some Tylenol and the fever came down. He stayed home today and slept all day. Hopefully this is just a quick bug. If he isn't feeling better by tomorrow we will probably run him to the doc.

Meanwhile neither of us slept that much and I am struggling to stay awake for my evening job...

My never-ending cold...

I feel like I have been in a perpetual state of being sick since mid-January. Most recently I thought I was just dealing with allergies, but I think I have a full-blown cold again which is so not fun. I am ready to be well and for the sneezing and watering and itching and coughing to stop for good.

my cold

Sneeze. Blow my nose. Sneeze some more. Sleep some. Watch TV. Sleep some more. Sneeze. This has been the nature of my day.