Monday, February 8, 2010

February Blahs

Other than miscarrying his twin, I had a picture perfect pregnancy. Zero nausea. Low blood pressure. Nice blood work. No scares. No glucose in the pee tests. No gestational diabetes. No causes for alarm. Stellar screening. Healthy baby's heartbeat during midwifery checkups. My appetite was immaculate: I didn't crave hotdogs, potato chips, ice cream or seven layer cakes, but what I couldn't get enough of was fruit and I ate plenty of it. I felt absolutely amazing. It wasn't until close to my 7th month that I got sick. And it was nothing to do with the baby and everything to do with my own stupidity. I had booked myself a week off in February last year and planned to drive to Quebec to visit my friends who lived in Montreal. Alone. At 27 weeks along. I could barely reach the steering wheel with that burgeoning belly!

When I left early in the morning, I was still in perfect health, pretty much. My trip was delayed by a day, but I still set out. Just what I thought would be a 6-hour drive ended up taking me 9 hours and I became ill half way there. I debated turning the car around, but instead decided to stick it out.

Bad, bad idea. Always, ALWAYS listen to your gut, and in this case, I had no excuse. I even had a little baby in my gut telling me it was the wrong decision. But learn the hard way (once again) I must.


I ended up spending the 3 days at my friend's place in Montreal going through three of their kleenex boxes and lying under their blankets in their master bedroom. It was awful. The drive back was equally horrendous. I finally made a healthy decision to stay overnight halfway back in Kingston because a snowstorm had begun the morning I left. Spent the night in a room at the Holiday Inn developing a fever and then making my way late at night to a local hospital to make sure that my baby was doing okay in utero. He was. My nose, however, looked like it was going to fall off since I'd blown it redder than Rudolph's.

So it should be no surprise that (once again), after a perfect flu-free autumn and christmas holidays watching everyone around us get sick as dogs (and admittedly gloating about it) save for one week back in November when my son had some diarrhea, here it is February again and we are both under the weather! And I don't care about what I'm going through, but it is sheer torture to watch my little laddie cough, sneeze and wheeze and try to wipe his runny nose the moments I'm not swooping in with a kleenex myself. He's so LITTLE. He doesn't understand what's happening, why he's so dopey, why he's so tired and why his "widdle node huwts". We spent 7 hours in the emergency room of a local hospital yesterday because he had problems nursing since his nose was stuffed and he couldn't breathe with my boob in his mouth and I was frantically worried he was becoming dehydrated. Talk about SAD! My sonshine is behind the clouds right now! We both need some Vitamin D, bigtime.


Whoever invented the premise behind Valentine's Day knew what they were doing. Choose the saddest, most blah month of winter to celebrate love because there is nothing else going for February, really. And even Valentine's Day can add to the depression of an already horrible month if you're feeling unloved or don't have that special someone in your life. (Luckily, I am made to feel loved every waking day since my son's birth so I escape the horrors of this Hallmark holiday this year, finally!)


This month always sneaks up on you and attacks as if from behind. It's like Napoleon. It's the shortest month of the year, but it still packs quite a suckerpunch. And generally, I am not one to complain about anything and generally, nothing would move me to do it 'cept the pain of watching my wee son in misery.

February. Blah flu-bug! Call me Scrooge but I only love it during leap years. Right now, quite like my nose every five seconds, this month blows...

Music: Under the Weather, KT Tunstall

16 comments:

Michael said...

It can't rain all the time. Er snow, er blow. Hoping you and yours get well soon!

Oh, and "admittedly gloating about it" always bites you in the arse doesn't it? Cruel universe. :)

nancy said...

yes. it's the motto i live by: what goes around comes around (and bites you in the arse). send out good thoughts and you'll get blessings. gloat about your brother's sneezing spree and the flu fairy will bonk you on your head. she learned me. ;)

JeffScape said...

I kinda like February, myself... it gets itself over quickly. ;)

Hope you and your boy feel better!

Iddy Albatross said...

Never been fond of February myself, although the reasons are quite different. I hope Sonshine feels better soon enough, and he's back to his perky self in no time.

Cheers...

Cam said...

Oh, feel better soon!

I know how much it blows to see your wee little one feeling sick! Dylan suffered through many pulmonary infections as an infant, and it would break my heart every time I could see one coming on!

By the way, your way of comparing February to Napoleon? PRICELESS!

järnebrand said...

Feel better soon! Flu season is bad, I'm at home too, taking care of my seven year old L. He's doing much better today though, it seems. It must be yesterdays ice cream treatment that kicked in... :) Wishing you all the best and you Sonshine too! :) I enjoyed you post. I liked that Napoleon thing too! :) Even though normally I love February, I should say. Peace.

Ciara Brehony said...

Oh, you too? Yes, we got that too. I can't actually remember the last time I was sick. Especially on a week day! I just can't DO that. Too many people depend on me for that! It's just unheard of. A Saturday or Sunday only, on occasion, is allowable. But week days are out. How dare I!

So last week was a disaster all round.

Hope you feel better soon. Nothing worse than watching them not able to breathe properly while nursing. :-(

Brian Miller said...

i hope you both feel better soon! sick is fun no matter the month. i am rather sick of the snow though...here again today so will go into hibernation again for a few days. smile though, it is well on its way and a short month at that. and smile for sonshine.

Anonymous said...

February is a very dull month, I've never understood what the hype about Valentines Day is all about. Perhaps it's the unromantic in me that can't be doing with it. It's just another day. Bah Humbug!!

CJ xx

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Ellen said...

Your photos with the tissue on the lap...I didn't know where the story was going but my heart fell when you wrote about your lost baby.....then the photo of you holding your son...so so so dear...sick or not...loving arms holding each other...get well soon...

Anonymous said...

Best wishes that you and Precious Sonshine feel much better, very soon.

Hugs,

Ti

(Because you'll need to delete my previous comment due to improper use of Sonshine's name) :)

nancy said...

Thanks everyone and nice to "meet" my new visitors/commentors. thanks for all your warm wishes. we are still hitchhiking on the road to recovery, but i think i see an ol' 57 Ford slowing down as i speak...er. write...;) hope to post again soon...

Land of shimp said...

It is so very difficult when the little ones get sick. For one thing, they don't know, "You'll get better, this is temporary. This time next week, you'll be fit as a fiddle, and raring to go. Heck, feeling well will mean that much more since you recently haven't been."

And that's all very, very true, but when you don't have the language skills to understand that yet? Ay yi yi. This, this icky, stuffy, achy reality could be forever!

That's when you need your mommy most :-) I hope you're both feeling well again soon, and I'm sorry you are both under the weather.

February is the month when we're just ready for winter to take a hike, already. Shove off, warm up, and you'd kill for a ripe mango. August is the month when you think you'll never feel a cool breeze again, and you'll just be too warm for the rest of all time.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could swap the feeling in our heads? During a bleak February, we could upload that August frustration with the never ending heat, and feel refreshed. In August we could access that "It's been grim and cold too long" feeling and then romp around, delighting in all the green around us.

Of course we can't, but thankfully, we have our imaginations. Feel better, tell Lochie an August story.

Mimi said...

I love this idea of February as Napoleon. That's fantastic! So your head may be clogged but the part of your brain taxed with constructing language figurations appears to be working fine!

Get better soon, both of you ...