So, I planned to get up early again last week and I failed. Last Sunday night I stayed up until midnight finishing the roster for the Engaged Encounter weekend that was coming up. So I set my alarm for 6am but Athena was awake and wanting to nurse and just rather cranky. Monday night I stayed up late again, clipping Sunday's coupons and filing them. And, honestly, I don't even know what happened the next two nights. I spent most of every day clearing all the junk out of the house, separating it, and pricing it for Friday's yard sale. I finally got it all done Wednesday night. A pretty busy couple of days was approaching but I had a plan to get everything done:
Thursday morning: take stuff to Pamela's for the yard sale
Thursday afternoon: clean house
Friday morning: go to old navy for 50% off stuff and save and drop a few more things off at Pamela's
Friday afternoon: make list of groceries for Athena's birthday BBQ and make cupcakes
Friday night: drop kids off with sitter, pick Stacey up, have dinner with some friends, go to the Conan O'Brien show (so excited!), possibly have a few drinks with friends, pick kids up, go home.
Saturday morning: Doula meeting way up north, run a few errands while in town, get groceries for BBQ, go home and celebrate Athena's first birthday with family.
So here's what really happened:
Thursday morning: dropped kids off at Granny's. My grandma just had knee surgery a week or so ago and my mom was over there helping her with things while she recovered. I took my stuff to Pamela's and came right back. That part of the plan worked great.
While I was out, the lady from the furniture store called to let me know that the bunk bed we wanted to purchase had come in and was ready for us. Dang! I knew this was the last day we would be able to get the bed until next week and really wanted to set it up. So I called Stacey and we set a plan for him to come home early on the bus and then take the van to the store while I stayed back with the kids.
This is where everything derailed. At around 5pm, I was watching some mindless TV and waiting for Stacey to get home until I thought I should probably get up and put all the seats down in the van so it would be ready to go. I stood up and immediately felt sick to my stomach. I laid back down on the floor for a minute, thinking I had just stood up too fast. So I tried to get up again. Same result. I pretty much just laid there hoping whatever it was, was temporary. I kinda crawled up the stairs and made my way to van, and mustered up enough energy to get the seats down. I then went back to lying on the floor for another hour and a half while Stacey went off to the store.
By the time Stacey got home I was feeling a little bit better. I got up and made the kids a very late dinner and helped Stacey put the bunk bed together. So cute! I then cleaned the entire kitchen and went to bed. Stacey and I had decided that it might be time to start weaning Athena, at least at night. Her frequent night nursing was really starting to wear me out. So Stacey took Athena to the guest room to sleep with him while I went to bed in our room. The theory is that when she wakes up, Stacey will comfort her back to sleep, instead of my breasts doing all the work.
When I walked into our room to go to bed, I suddenly felt sick again. I was hot from cleaning up the kitchen but I was also shaking. I started to read a book but couldn't keep my head up any longer. Suddenly I felt like my left breast was engorged. I thought, "Now this isn't supposed to happen yet. I've only just left Athena a couple of hours ago". I tried to fall asleep but I was shaking and sweating. I don't really know how many times I fell in and out of sleep but I heard the baby crying and thought I should go down to her as it would help the pain to nurse her. I walked down the stairs, shaking the whole way and realized I now had a whole new pain: a headache. I got into bed with Stacey and Athena and started nursing. Oh my word. I cannot articulate the pain. My entire body was aching and shaking but I recognized the true epicenter was my chest and my head. I was now convinced of two things: I had mastitis and I wanted to die (just a tad dramatic I know). And there was nothing I could do about it until the clinic opened. Even though I have never had it before, I have been a doula and a childbirth educator long enough to know what it is and what the symptoms are.
Stacey got up at some point and started getting ready for work I think. It's all a blur. I know he came and got Athena at some pint and said something about catching the 6:30 bus. And I yelled out, "Are you crazy??!! I can barely move!! I'm sick!!" And then I fell asleep for another 45 minutes. Stacey looked up the clinic hours for me and I went in at 8am. I was home by 8:30am with a diagnosis and a prescription. I finished the room assignments for the Engaged Encounter weekend. We all got in the car, went to the pharmacy, the post office, Starbucks (heck yes I still go to Starbucks when I feel like death), and then we dropped Stacey off at work. I actually felt okay when I wasn't moving. We then went up to the retreat center to drop off the final roster and the room assignment sheet. And then we went home. I tried my best to just sit in one place while I waited for my mom to come over. I made the kids cereal for lunch. They were pretty stoked about that. My mom showed up at about 1pm and I went to bed. I couldn't really sleep but just being able to lie perfectly still with a heat pad was very helpful. Oddly, the pain that was really bugging me then were my legs. I think it was from dehydration and shaking all night. So I kept the heating pad on them to try to get the blood circulating. At 3ish, I returned some phone calls and started getting ready for dinner.
The rest of the evening was awesome, in spite of the pain in the entire left side of my body. My fever and headache were gone and I stayed hydrated so I wasn't in terrible shape. I was pretty tired from having not slept all that much the night before. Conan was awesome. The entire show was very well done. Hilarious! We did go to a bar for about a half hour afterward but I was beat so we headed home. I slept pretty great that night. Athena and I slept in our room alone so we could have more space and I could be more comfortable.
The next morning, I was off to a meeting of the Inland Northwest Doula Network. Of course that went on longer then I really wanted it to so I didn't get home until 2pm. Luckily, I had already enlisted my mom's help. She made Athena's birthday cupcakes and she came over early with my dad to help me with last minute details. Shannon had a soccer game in Spokane so Stacey took him to that. We didn't know the time of the game when I scheduled the BBQ.
The rest of the afternoon was a great time and it all worked out. Thank God for my parents. This was the first time, in my three years of being a stay at home mom, that I have been sick enough to keep Stacey home and be completely out of commission. I just can't believe how much I have been set back just from a day and a half of illness. I'm convinced that moms should simply not get sick. Or we should be able to call in a temp when we do. That would be awesome.
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