Okay…what’s with all the bugs and viruses around here this winter, I’d like to know. I feel like the kiddo and I haven’t been healthy for a combined five minutes in months. Last week and this past weekend, the little guy was sick. High fever, congestion, hacking cough. He’s never been one for fevers, and certainly never as high as this past weekend (104!), so it was a little freaky for us. Calling the on-call doctor at night several times. Worrying. Feeling as clueless as if he was a newborn. I guess we’re just lucky that he never really got fevers as a very little one. And now he’s got his first ear infection. Hurrah.
We kept him home from preschool on Friday and Monday. Today’s his first day back at school. (And I hope he isn’t getting the shakes too bad from the Netflix Streaming detox he must be going through after so many days on the couch.) As glad as I am to be a freelancer and so have the flexibility to stay home with the guy whenever he’s sick, I’ve got to admit the loss of two writing days hurt. A lot. The baby is due in three months, and after she’s born it’s going to be many, many months–probably close to a year–before I get any real, solid writing time again. (Yes, it’s worth it. No doubt. Please don’t misread me here.) I’m working on revising Draft Seven of Adverse Possession right now, and I SO SO SO want to finish this draft before the baby is born. Because the time when the guy is in preschool has to be divided between paying editorial work and work on the book, I don’t get a hell of a lot of writing time as it is. So to give up two days…
So today was the day. I was going to get to work all day. Pretty exciting. I had a lot of plans. And then yesterday I got sick too. Like, really sick. Body aches, fever, a cough so bad I’ve pulled a few abdominal muscles that were taxed just a wee bit too hard by the combined force of the coughing fits and keeping the baby in my body. I dropped the kid off at preschool this morning, came home, and crawled into bed for a three-hour nap. I don’t nap. I can’t nap. Napping makes me feel like shit. Except today. It felt great. I wish I was still asleep. Which is how I know I’m sick as hell. But that book is nagging at me. So as soon as I’m finished here, I’m going to bring the laptop and the manuscript and my great piles of index cards into bed with me and see if my brain is worth half a damn today.
(Today was actually going to be a post about the knitting I’ve done for the baby, but that would require photos and much more time than I’ve got, since I just slept three writing hours away. Tomorrow, okay? Okay.)
This is nothing but a comment to whine and moan and commiserate. I don’t even have a kid to bring home germs from preschool and I keep getting sick this Winter. It totally sucks. It’s the head and chest congestion and fever and the kind of hacking cough that requires me to lean over and support myself with my hands on my thighs to have the strength to cough up the phlegm. TMI? Too gross? Sorry. My most recent bout started last Friday and last night at precisely 8:15pm was the first time in 5 days that I didn’t feel like shit. I know it was 8:15pm precisely b/c I was suddenly so aware that I finally didn’t feel like shit that I looked at the clock to see what time it was.
Blah, blah, whine, moan, complain. Thanks for listening. I look forward to seeing adorable baby knitting when you get the chance to post it.
Everyone in our house has been sick constantly since school started last fall. I am pretty sure that we all had H1N1 in September. It seems like it has been a really bad fall/winter virus-wise. How many hours is Thumper in school every week? I work at a preschool and the kids come 2 days a week . 2 hours each day for 3 year olds, 2 1/2 for 4 year olds. None of our parents could pull off a 3 hour nap.
Just got back in town. … can I bring soup or anything?
Cari, that sounds like H1N1 – I had the same symptoms in November. Get well soon (and kiddo too, of course!).