It's 31-cent scoop night at Baskin Robbins tonight from 5 to 10 PM. But even if I thought it would be practical to pack up the baby and toddler and head out for some -- and I don't, not when I have perfectly good, and already paid for, ice cream in my very own freezer -- I wouldn't be doing it tonight anyway, because I'm coming down with something.

I'm so glad Andrew has the next two days off as his "weekend" -- if I can just make it another couple of hours until the girls' bedtimes, I will be done. Looking forward to curling up into a small, miserable ball.

I've had a really nasty crick in my neck for at least a week. The sort where when I wake up, I spend the first half hour while getting ready rotating my shoulders and twisting all around in an effort to ease the kink. So far, no luck.

Yesterday morning when I woke up, I noticed that the very very tip of my left thumb was slightly numb. It went away after awhile.

Today when I woke up, I noticed that a slightly larger portion of the tip of my left thumb was slightly numb. Also a tiny amount of numbness on the tip of my left index finger. It's mostly gone away by now.

But. If there's one thing I've learned in the past year (the hard way -- don't ask), it's that tiny signs of health problems must not be ignored.

Ignoring these subtle signs seems like a great way to end up writing a post that begins with the phrase "Now that I only have the use of one arm..."

So, locals, any recommendations on a chiropractor or acupuncturist or someone who could help with what might very well be a pinched nerve?

I am doing so much, so fast, with so little room for error, that I obviously just can't be trusted to add even one more thing to the load.

I'm taking a course of antibiotics right now -- no big deal, easy-cheesy, one pill every 12 hours, with food. I started the treatment Friday night and it's supposed to go for one week, so that's 14 pills.

But apparently I cannot remember to take these pills.

On Monday I forgot to take the morning pill and was about 5 hours late. I took the evening pill super-late, around 11 PM, to try to compensate.

On Tuesday I forgot to take the morning pill and was about 8 hours late. I thought about taking the evening pill at 2 AM (which would have been about a 12-hour span of time), because I knew I'd be up around then nursing the wren, but thought I probably wouldn't remember to take it then, so I took it right before going to bed, although the timing wasn't quite right. Of course, at 2 AM I did remember, so that would have been fine, if I hadn't already taken it.

On Tuesday night I thought about planning to take the Wednesday morning pill at home before leaving, but then I remembered that (1) I was supposed to take it with food, (2) it can make you drowsy and unfit to operate a motor vehicle. So I decided to take a pill to work in my little pill-carrying case and have it here, with food.

So, this morning I smugly settled in to my desk here in downtown Seattle with my English muffin and honey, brought from home to save money, and my office-kitchen-coffee, which might as well be water for all the good it does to my caffeine-deprived headache. (What does Starbucks put in its coffee, anyway, to make it so addictive? It's as though no other coffee has the same effect that Starbucks coffee does. Crack? Black magic? The souls of the innocent?)

Popped open my little pill-carrying case to take the pill -- to discover that last night I did NOT put a pill into it after all, even though I remember doing so!

I'm so incredibly irked at myself! This is just all kinds of lame.

Nikki came over last night to run her "Castle Falkenstein" game downstairs at tatterdamelion's place, and she brought me fresh fruit!!!

And despite all the jokes, it was not "the Fru-it of the De-vil." Instead, it's a bunch of beautifully ripe and sweet and tasty plums, pluots, and a whole pineapple.

Because good fruit (you heard this here first) starts with the letter P. 

Mmmmmmm, fruit.

tatterdamelion fired up his excessively large propane grill and made brats and some fancy spiced onion burgers (also from Nikki), and Jen made some lovely-looking wasabi mayonnaise cole slaw -- I avoided it because of the cabbage. There were also cheap, greasy Lay's potato chips. hypermuffin ran around the yard like crazy and said "goodnight!" to the sun as it went down.

It was a good evening. :-)

Tonight, Andrew is going off to tatterdamelion's "Valeland" game, which is held at John and Lupa's. If this seems like a lot of games, you're right... but we'll have Sunday night "off." :-)

(Update) Andrew is sick, so no game for him. I'm also not doing all that great; I feel like the Thumb of God reached down from the sky and smushed me into the ground. So aawhitewood graciously  agreed to come over and help us wrangle the grrlz... because, of course, just because her two parents are exhausted and weary doesn't mean the hypermuffin will be.

Busy day!

In the morning I was denied at the Puget Sound Blood Center. My blood needed to have at least a 38% iron content, and it was only at 37% -- so close and yet so far! They deferred me until August 1 and instructed me to keep on taking my vitamins.

Not that I particularly enjoy having my arms punctured with sharp needles and having blood withdrawn -- I don't like it at all -- but I'm not needle-phobic, and the medical system needs clean blood. I figure it's my duty, or something.

Then took polytrypos (and the wren) to Best Buy to pick up a new power cable for his computer -- hypermuffin had wrenched the cable out of the back of the computer by force, and he thought the computer itself was damaged, but it turned out to just be the power cable -- whew. Also picked up new ink cartridges for our printer.

Rested at home a bit; then we were off to Nordstrom Rack in downtown Seattle so Andrew could look for new athletic shoes. He didn't find any, unfortunately. After looking through everything they had, he walked a few blocks and was at work. (Currently his schedule is Monday - Friday, 4 - midnight.)

While he was up on the third floor jostling the swarms of people looking at men's shoes, I was down in the basement loading up on women's fashions. There were also swarms of people down there. Is it already time to shop for fall fashions, or back-to-school? Why is everyone buying clothes on a Monday in July?

Anyway, I got seven (count 'em!) articles of clothing for $170, and that's pretty good for Nordstrom-quality clothing that fits well and looks good on me and works with my existing wardrobe. Mwahahahahaha! Pretty I will be.

The wren was conked out in her carseat during my entire shopping expedition. I checked out, carried her and all my stuff back to the car (which I had unfortunately parked extremely way far away by accident), picked up hypermuffin at daycare, and here we are at home.

Whew.

Seven weeks postpartum, and I'm back at my pre-pregnancy weight.

Go ahead and hate me... I'm paying the price for it. The price being nigh-constantly breastfeeding my infant WHILE running around nigh-constantly after my toddler, who is so high-energy that we could power the whole neighborhood on her if we hooked her up to a giant hamster wheel.

So I'm not sure if this is a weight loss program I would recommend to everyone -- only to youngish people with masochistic tendencies and good cardiovascular systems.

Andrew's sick, and staying home for at least a day or two. I stocked up on the usual supplies for him: Kleenex, spicy potato chips, Gatorade, salsa and chips, English muffins, and orange juice.

I hope this one goes away quickly. He has a track record of staying sick for a LONG time.

So, today at 2:15 I was supposed to have my 6-week follow-up doctor visit.

Actually, my original appointment was tomorrow morning, but a week or two ago the doctor's office called me and said they'd accidentally scheduled me with a different doctor, not my own. So we rescheduled it for today.

Hauling the wren, who was asleep in her (very heavy) carseat, I showed up 10 minutes early. Only to be told that this time, they had apparently REscheduled me with a different incorrect doctor.

So, I now have a third appointment for Monday morning. This one is with my actual doctor. In theory.

If I didn't already know that I've healed up just fine, thank you very much, I would be irked. As it is, this is just a formality, and a chance to chat with Dr. Salerno about BAYBEEEEEEZ.

In good news, I tested negative for Strep B this time around (I was positive last time). Translation: I won't need an IV in the back of my hand with a Penicillin drip during this labor.

Hooray! That stupid drip hurt a lot more than it should have. When I complained, the nurse told me that Pencillin usually hurts going in. The implication was that I shouldn't worry about it. That was pretty much impossible to do, because all I wanted were some pain-free moments -- which that stupid drip guaranteed I wouldn't have, for the entire. Nineteen. Hours.

THIS time, however, no drip. Oh yeah. Life is sweet. 

We're back from Children's Hospital, and everything went well.

Update:

My dreckiness has migrated from a double ear infection (now cleared up) into sinusitis. I have another round of antibiotics, oh joy.

Ah well, better to start that now than to have suffered through the whole weekend without medication.

On a happier note, Andrew brought home a piece of cake from work. It was a big hit!
http://leukothea.smugmug.com/gallery/2303200#130109654

Because so many of you care more than I thought you would... (thanks, by the way!)

I feel like a new person now that I've had 24 hours of Amoxicillin. The horrible ear pressure is gone and I can hear again. Hooray! Of course I still have laryngitis, a nasty cough, and lots of congestion and drip... YUCK... but it's all manageable.

Andrew does NOT have ear infections. He was prescribed Robitussin with Codeine to help his punishing cough. This cough racks his whole body. Very distressing to watch, and must be even worse to experience.

It took Vivian 12 hours of Amoxicillin treatment to show improvement. But after noon today, she started acting almost normal again! Instead of crying and whimpering and refusing to play, she is now coloring with her crayons, running around the basement, bouncing balls, running around the attic, eating her dinner, reading books, and giving us adorable little smiles and coos once more.

We have two humidifiers now: one for Vivian's room and one for ours, to help with the coughs, nosebleeds, etc. And we are resting as much as we can, considering that Vivian is almost back to her normal energy levels. We will have our ears checked after a reasonable amount of time to make sure the antibiotics got it all. Lingering inner ear fluid can be bad, even leading to delays in language development.

On the bright side, I now know all the symptoms of ear infections, so I will be much more likely to detect any future ones.

I promise that tomorrow I'll write about something more interesting than health stuff. :-P

Guess who else besides Vivian has two ear infections -- and a "rip-roaring" pair of them, according to the ER doctor?

Me.

Yes, that's right, I went to the Emergency Room for the first time in my life. I felt silly, because I knew what the problem was -- severe head congestion and shooting pains in the ears are not that difficult to diagnose. And I knew there was nothing to do for it except antibiotics. And I already had an appointment for tomorrow afternoon. So all I had to do was wait until tomorrow afternoon at 1:50 and I could get seen and prescribed for then.

But the pain was so bad that I was afraid my eardrums were about to burst. Really, I really was. I didn't whimper or pray where other people could hear me, but I did whimper and pray while sitting in a steamy bathroom hoping to steam the gunk out of my head, or while fruitlessly trying to nap. It really felt like my head was about to explode.

I haven't felt pain like that since I got my wisdom teeth out . (The immediate aftermath of labor was dulled by the epidural, and I don't really remember much in the way of pain, because I was too busy looking at Vivian.)

End result: I asked a friend to take me to the ER.

So, yeah, I have Acute Bilateral Otitis Media, and an Upper Respiratory Infection, and the paperwork to prove it.

And I also have two sweet little prescriptions for miraculous wonder drugs that are safe to take during pregnancy and that will kill the nasty ear bacteria DEAD DEAD DEAD, and also ease the pain so I can sleep and heal.

Thank God for invasive Western medicine. And for friends who are willing to take three or four hours and drive other friends to the ER and then to the 24-hour pharmacy.

The croup is on the wane. But the Ear Infections have burst upon the scene! Well, not "burst," because using the word "burst" too close to the word "ear" just isn't a good idea. How about I rephrase that -- The Time of the Ear Infections is at Hand! Repent! Repent!

Vivian was much worse this morning, so we took her to the "first come, first served" drop-in doctor hours at Ballard Pediatric at 8. And we are glad we did, because she has two ear infections, poor little thing. The Amoxicillin should clear up the infection in a few days, and then we will have our little girl back.

I'm still horribly sick as well, but feeling so much better now that Vivian has some medicine, even though the state of my own health has not changed. Isn't that funny?

Well, we know what Vivian has: the croup.

Basically, this is a viral infection of the upper respiratory tract. It has a specific name (as opposed to all other viral infections, which are mostly called "viral infections," I guess) because the location of the infection can make breathing difficult, which is why it needs careful watching. Bad signs include gasping for air, turning blue, and whatnot.

One distinctive feature of the croup is the scary "barking seal" sound that a croupy cough has. Anyone remember the 80s song "Owner of a Lonely Heart"? Remember the electric guitar solo for the bridge? Well, there are 6 notes leading up to the bridge of the song that were modified somehow, probably on an electronic keyboard (sometimes I do miss the 80s). Vivian's croupy cough reminds me so strongly of those six notes -- it is not a normal cough, it has been modified somehow to have much more abrasive, harsh qualities. The first time I heard her make it, I thought "What the HECK is that??" A call to the doctor and a referral to The Baby Book educated me all about the croup.

Poor little thing.

The bad news is that since this is viral, antibiotics would do zero to knock it out. If breathing really does become an issue, I'll whisk her to the ER, where intubation would prevent her from suffocating, and a steroid treatment would ease the inflammation. But Vivian's case is pretty mild, and I don't see her turning blue or struggling to breathe.

So all we can do is keep her calm (anxiety can worsen it), put her in a steamy bathroom so the hot mist can help ease her throat, feed her lots of liquids and Jello, and wait for her to fight it off.

Me, I'm doing a lot better than yesterday.

Well, the word "February" comes from the same root as "fever," and Vivian is proving why. She's been burning up half of yesterday and all of today.

The doctor said to give her children's Tylenol and monitor her temperature; it went down from a scary 104.5 to a moderate 101.6. (Children burn hotter than adults and their brains don't fry in their little skulls; still, the doctor wanted it down from the 105 range, which is rather severe.)

She stopped whimpering and lying there lethargically, and was able to get up and run around and clap her hands and laugh and interact. We colored and watched "The Wiggles" and she even had a little bit of food at dinner. I made sure she's not dehydrated.

I have a list of symptoms and instructions and timetables. I am going to restock the children's Tylenol and the Pedialyte. And I'm sure that in a day or two she will be back to normal.

Still, it's worrying while it's happening, especially since last night, I was unwise enough to consult the big list of ailments at the back of one of my parenting reference books. The list of ailments seemed to be composed almost exclusively of horrible things like encephalitis and meningitis, which start with a fever and end with death, with very few intervening symptoms. :-P 

Reading Dr. Sear's "The Baby Book" section on fevers -- when to worry and when not to worry -- was much more helpful than reading the list of all the horrible things that could end up KILLING my little girl with little or no warning. :-P  Why do I even own that book???

My belly button has been an "outie" for a few months now, which has been very disconcerting, since I've always been an "innie" and proud of it. But there's just so much bulk behind my belly button that it couldn't withstand the pressure. Something had to give!

I hope it reverts to normal after the baby comes.

Still feeling great. My skin is clear and glowing with health; my hair is way shinier than it's ever been; and while my stomach has grown outwards to quite a degree, I think the rest of me may have lost a little weight -- my upper arms seem thinner. Maybe that's just in comparison with my huge stomach.

I'm so, so, SO lucky to have had such a healthy and uneventful pregnancy!

Next doctor's appointment is Wednesday.

I would post a "Week 38" entry, except I can't find the entry for that week in the chat boards from BabyZone.com, which is where I've been taking them from. Maybe there's no entry for week 38. You know -- "Well, you're now considered full-term, so you're on your own sister!"

I had indigestion yesterday and was complaining about it. Andrew looked at me with terror. "What kind of pain is it?" he asked fearfully. Reassured him that it was just indigestion, not weird labor-type pains.

I still think the baby will be late. I was a week late, and first babies are often late. But -- who can predict?