Feelin the pain

So yesterday was to be my first early morning shift since returning to work a week ago. Well, notice the key phrase: "was to be." It was not. Before dinner Sunday night I started having these awful pains in my stomach area...just below my sternum. I chalked it up to the fact that I had been riding on the tractor over our lumpy, bumpy yard for an hour and had jiggled everything out of place. Ok, so it was either that or gas I thought! So I popped some gas-x and tried to get some sleep after putting the kiddos down around 9:30 or so. I woke at 12:30 a.m. to feed Mackenzie and couldn't go back to sleep afterwards. I was still having the sharp pains every so often and now I was freezing too. I cranked the heat up to like 71 and hopped back in bed. I tried pulling my knees up to my chest to try to fix the pain, but nothing seemed to help. I dozed off and on until about 3:30 when Mackenzie wanted to eat again. She's a hungry little bugger in the middle of the night. So this time I was all achy and freezing, but I was also exhausted so rather than take my temperature I headed straight back to bed after feeing her. Unfortunately I didn't do a lot of sleeping and around 4:15 a.m. with a new found stomach ache and feeling I was going to puke I got out of bed and headed for the bathroom. I spent the next hour in there leaning over the toilet waiting for the inevitable puking I thought was sure to come. I sipped on some Sprite and laid on a towel on the floor with Jake who was so kind to come lay next to my belly and purr like he was some kind of vibrating heating pad! When I finally found the thermometer I took my temp which was 99.9. Ick. That's a fever in my book. Around 5:30 I sent my boss a text message telling him I was not coming to work. At 6:15 I called the babysitter and told her the same. Around that time a blurry-eyed Jeremiah awoke and came stumbling down the hall. He peered into the bathroom. "What's going on?" he inquired. "I'm dying." I said. "I have a fever and I feel like I'm going to puke. I'm not going to work." He, obviously not thinking I was actually going to die, turned and went back down the hall to bed. Soon after, Mackenzie was hungry yet again so I went and retrieved her from her bed and brought her in the bathroom with me to feed her...you can never be too far from the bathroom when you aren't feeling well right? I called the ask-a-nurse line to make sure it was ok for me to nurse Mackenzie when I had a fever and they gave me the green light.

So the morning and early afternoon were spent laying on the couch with Mackenzie in her bouncy seat next to me. I put up a gate to keep Brady in the living room and left him to tear the place apart. I dozed off and on until it was time to make his lunch and put him down for a nap. Then I crashed. It was pretty much like that all day. When Jeremiah came home I went outside with him and Brady for a few minutes to get some fresh air. My temperature had returned to normal after a few doses of Tylenol although I was still freezing. I took a hot bath which was so nice. I seriously can't remember the last time I did that. It's been at least a year and a half. Maybe more. Jeremiah ordered pizza for dinner since he didn't feel like cooking and the thought of doing so made me feel queezy. I managed to eat a couple breadsticks and then, feeling a little better, I ate a piece of pizza too.

I went to bed early - by my standards anyway ... it was around 10:30. I slept pretty good after Jeremiah quit interrupting me! He was on the internet looking at something when I first went to lay down and he came in like three times to show me stuff. I hardly remember what it was, I just remember the last time he came in he brought me a blanket and then told me he was going to leave me alone finally! I was out by the time he closed the door and I didn't even hear him when he came in sometime later to go to bed.

This morning I felt a lot better. I had a stiff neck and a headache, but some ibuprofen helped clear that up pretty quickly. Brady was in quite a mood this morning. His Parents as Teachers educator came over and he put on quite a show for her, kicking blocks and throwing play-dough and biting the heck out of me. I have two new bite bruises to show off now. He spent much of the time she was here in time out in his room. After she left he continued his craziness and decided to throw a fit when I tried to take away a dime he had found after he tried to put it in his mouth. I reached to get it out of his hand and he lurched forward trying to bend down and curl up in a ball. Here's the problem: he was standing right in front of his Curious George stool and on the way down he hit it right on his eye. It made a really gross thump sound and he immediately forgot about the dime and started bawling. I snatched the dime as I pulled him onto my lap. He's going to have a good shiner from the impact. Somehow it caused a rug-burn type mark right next to his left eye. It's wierd.

After that it was time to feed Mackenzie and then Brady and then he went down for his nap. That's where he is now. I should be napping too, but as you can clearly see I am not. Mackenzie is set to eat in another 40 minutes so I guess I'll just stay awake now. The sharp pains in my stomach have nearly gone away completely. I have felt them only a few times today. It really kind of feels like the pain I had last year when I had all those gall stones. I guess without a gall bladder you can still get the stones so maybe that's what the pain is from. Who knows. If it keeps up I guess I'll have to call the doctor. For now I guess I'm going to try to do some dishes and laundry and take all the recyclable stuff to the garage. We are so lazy...our recycle buckets are in our garage which is connected to our kitchen and we still make piles of stuff in the kitchen rather than taking them out and putting them where they belong. There are empty milk cartons, juice jugs, newspapers and soda cans cluttering up my counter. Once a packrat/slob always a packrat/slob I guess. I need a maid. Although with gas the price it is that's never going to happen.

So here are my random final good and bad thoughts before I sign off...
GOOD: We got our stimulous check from the government over the weekend.
BAD: We're going to spend our stimulous check from the government on gasoline. It cost Jeremiah like $75 to fill up his truck yesterday.
GOOD: I found one of my best friends from high school, Missy, on Facebook this weekend and she lives here in KC! - gotta love the internet. She has a 10-month-old little girl named Sophie. We're going to plan a playdate for sometime soon.
BAD: I just realized I've been out of high school for 11 years. Ugh. I'm almost 30. That sucks.
GOOD: I have the two most beautiful children in the entire universe (at least I think so!).
BAD: One of them bites me.
GOOD: In this economy I'm lucky to have a job.
BAD: I have a job!
GOOD: I got my son to eat carrots today (baby food ones which I called, "carrot sauce." At least he at them)
BAD: My son won't eat real vegetables!