No Rest for the Sick

Mark and Ricky took me to the hospital yesterday to get a chest x-ray ordered by my doctor. As a pregnant person who has been very careful in what I eat and consume during pregnancy, I wasn't thrilled about exposing the baby to radiation but it's one of those situations where I don't really have much of a choice. If I have pneumonia or if my oxygen level goes down, the baby suffers.

Well the doctor called me this morning and my x-ray was negative - so that's good - no pneumonia and no blood clot. I'm just extremely sick. So my doctor is going to put me on a stronger antibiotic and extending my Prednisone for a few more days.

Meanwhile, Mark and I were supposed to go to St. Louis to attend a college buddy's wedding this weekend. Kids aren't invited so Ricky was going to spend the weekend with my mother. We were looking forward to a nice roadtrip and a weekend catching up with old friends. Mark told me last night that he didn't think it was a good idea for us to go with me being pregnant and so sick. I think he's right. I think if I weren't pregnant I would have gone and just dealt with it. But since there is a little one to consider I think it's kind of scary to travel while I am so sick.

Mark actually took Ricky to work with him today so I could get some rest. After months of silence, our real estate agent called me to say that a couple is coming to our house tomorrow for a tour in the morning. So rather than take that nap I wanted this afternoon, I will be cleaning. Since I've felt like crap for 3 weeks, I've let a lot of things fall by the wayside. Lots of de-cluttering in the next 24 hours. Better get started!! UGH

Walgreens Pharmacy Screw Up

I have gone to the neighorhood 24-hour Walgreens since we moved to our house 8 years ago. We used their pharmacy all throughout - and never had a problem. Until now.

I am on 5 medications and a few days ago, Mark went to go have them filled and came home with them.

My doctor printed out a "cheat sheet" for me with all 5 meds printed with her prescription directions. I started taking the meds and didn't feel better after the second day so I really looked at them.

My bottle for Prednisone said "Take 2 tablets daily for 5 days" which would mean I would have 10 tablets in the bottle. But I had 20.

I checked my doctor's cheat sheet and she wrote, "Take 2 twice daily for 5 days" which would call for 20 tablets.

I verified the script with my doctor who said that I should be taking 2 tablets in the morning and then 2 at night for a total of 20 tablets for 5 days. She said that the pharmacy screwed up. WALGREENS SUCKS!!!!

It's bad enough they screwed up but what's worse is that I am pregnant. I can't even imagine if they wrote a higher dosage on my bottle!! No wonder why I wasn't feeling any better - I was taking 1 tablet in the morning and then 1 tablet at night when I should have been taking 2 more tablets a day.

I went to the Walgreens pharmacy this morning and complained to the pharmacy manager who apologized and said that the incident would be written up and then he refunded me the money for my prescription.

This is really scary and now I will second guess every prescription I pick up.

Sick of Being Sick

When I was pregnant with Ricky, I was lucky that I was healthy the entire time and avoided getting sick that entire 37 week period.

I'm not so lucky this time.

I didn't work when I was pregnant with Ricky and of course since I work in a public library, I get hacked on all the time and I am exposed to all kinds of people harboring all kinds of viruses and what have you.

I have Asthmatic Bronchitis and it really sucks!!

It started out as a simple cough almost 3 weeks ago and it has gotten so bad that I spent 5 nights last week sitting upright on the couch to sleep. If I laid down on the pillow, I would cough uncontrallably to the point of not breathing.

I have been really good with this pregnancy - no caffeine, no chocolate, no nitrates, etc. and it is killing me that I am on 5 different medications right now. I hate the thought of drugging the baby but I am really sick.

If I don't feel better by tomorrow, the doctor will send me for a chest x-ray. Nice radiation for the baby, eh? She wants to see if I have pneumonia or an embolism.

Mark and I are supposed to drive down to St. Louis for a wedding this weekend. Mark went to college down there and hasn't seen his college buddies in over 3 years. I am taking my 3 hour glucose test saturday morning before we leave. I am so tired of being sick!!

Boy or Girl?

Mark's sister is an ultrasound technician for a group of ob/gyns and she was able to scan me and tell us if Ricky was going to be a boy or girl. She was more than willing to do it for us again.

So the other night when she was working late, Mark drove us all to her hospital for a scan.

This is our miracle baby - the one we waited two and a half years to conceive successfully. I really couldn't care one way or the other whether we had a boy or a girl. I am just happy that it looks like it's going to be healthy. The results from my Alpha-Feta-Protein test came back that the chances of the baby having neural tube defects is 1 in 5,000. So that made us feel good.

Mark has wanted 2 boys as long as I can remember. When we were dating, we would go to furniture stores and he would make comments about the boys bunk bed collections. So even though he didn't say it, I know he was wishing for another boy. Ricky wanted a sister for a long time, but for the last few months he's been saying that he wants a brother.

Well they got what they wanted. It's a BOY!!!

Mark hasn't stopped smiling since the ultrasound. Ricky is really excited too. It was great to see the baby moving around and actually looking more like a baby. He was sucking his thumb and had the hiccups. I'm looking forward to seeing my little baby boy. Now we just have to find a name!

Save the Drama for Your Mama

Yesterday while I was on the phone with my sister, Ricky said he needed to use the bathroom. I told him to go ahead and that I would follow him in there when he was done. He usually calls me. Well he finished and decided to lock the door and pull it shut on his way out.

I was upset, but not so much because he is only 3 and didn't fully realize the possible consequences of his actions. When I told him that because of this I couldn't go to work, he smiled really big. Uh oh - hope he doesn't pull this again on days when he wants me stay home.

We have a key - more like a wire to open these doors. I tried it on our den door and it worked, but for some reason, I couldn't get the bathroom door open. Of course. I couldn't unscrew the hinges because they were in the inside.

This created a few problems for me - this happened at 1pm and I had to be at work by 4pm. My contacts, glasses, makeup, toothbrush and toothpaste were all in the bathroom. While it wouldn't be such a big deal to show up without makeup for one day (not thrilled to do so but oh well), there was no way in hell I could drive to work blind as a bat. I would have to take a cab to the library! So I called my boss and found a substitute - thankfully.

I tried to open the door for over 3 hours. No luck. Thank goodness we have a second bathroom in the basement - with my little bladder I would have died without a toilet.

When Mark came home from work it took him less than 5 seconds to get that bathroom door open - laughing at me the whole time. Of course. Lesson learned: Keep duplicates of my toiletries outside of the bathroom in case this happens again and learn how to unlock that bathroom door!

A Public Disturbance By Yours Truly

Yesterday, Mark and I took Ricky to the Bristol Renaissance Faire - just over the Illinois and Wisconsin border - as his reward for potty training. It was a nice day - great weather and the three of us were just excited to have a family day.

Let me start off by saying that I am always courteous to others - including strangers. I am the type of driver who lets people in front of me (as long as they use their turn signal) when driving, or lets the pregnant or elderly woman use the next available bathroom stall. As a librarian, I've been trained to be nice to people I don't know - but also to confront people when they're doing things they shouldn't be doing.

So Ricky and Mark were in line for the Ship Swings - which are these three wooden ships that swing. I was standing by the fence - just a few feet away from them, camera ready.

The line probably has about 16 groups waiting in line. Suddenly, the parade comes by - complete with the king and queen and their loyal subjects. All the people in line turn their heads to watch - but they are STILL in line.

Ricky and Mark were the 5th in line at the time, and this man who looked like Neuman from Seinfeld and his 5 year old daughter come up to the front of the line (next to where I was standing) and he said, "Can't tell where the line starts!!" - Clearly grasping the opportunity that the majority of the people in line have their heads turned the opposite direction. So he stood at the front of the line on the side with his daughter and didn't look like he was going anywhere. So I went up to him - about 8 inches away from his face and said, "Sir, the line starts back THERE" pointing to the back of the line. He totally pretended not to hear me.

Ok, if you want to play that way -

So he keeps standing there while the people in line go in the ride. Twice, I made motions for Mark to MOVE UP and he shrugged at me - clearly unaware of the man line-jumping. Sure enough, the man and his daughter make their move - and who do they cut in front of? Mark and Ricky.

The ship swing they were waiting for was right in front of me so of course I had to say something. I told him that it wasn't cool to line-jump and asked him if he felt good about setting an example for his daughter - letting her see that line-jumping is cool? He was very defensive and said that my husband should have spoken up, or moved up. I told him that I did tell him where the line was and that he pretended not to hear me. Any decent person would admit fault but this man raised his voice to the point of yelling at me. (for what?) I didn't swear because of the kids, but he was such an idiot that I left the conversation and said to him twice, "You're a loser." That actually hurt his feelings - I could tell from his face.

He looked at my belly and then told Mark that he and Ricky could take his ship. My husband said no, it was ok, but the man said that I was "freaking out" and insisted.

I guess I probably wouldn't have cared so much, but we had already waited 15 minutes in the heat for this ride - and I am pregnant and hormonal and didn't want to wait any longer than necessary - and this guy would cause me wait longer than I needed to.

After the ride, Mark told me he really didn't mind if the guy cut or not. I couldn't believe my ears because this is the same man who curses in the car when people try to merge in front of him. I have witnessed him intentionally tail-gating the car in front of him so the car merging can't get in front of us.

I guess I can't believe this guy would cut in line in front of so many little kids and their parents and not even care. It just goes to show that there are people out there who are so rude and inconsiderate of others and only care for themselves. I guess I run into so many nice people at the stores and the park on a daily basis that I have come to expect people to be nice in general.

So would you have said something to this guy - or would you have been silent and let him cut in front of so many people? Most of the people I have told this story to have told me that they would have stayed silent. Are you fricking kidding me?

He Spelled What?!

My sister was in town this week and we had the chance to play a game of Super Scrabble while Ricky took his afternoon nap. He eventually woke up and sat on my lap to see what we were playing. He asked several times if he could play too and we kept telling him that he can when he learns how to spell. Mind you, he is 3 and a half years old.

Suddenly he said, "Mommy, I can play Scrabble because I know how to spell! I can spell BRA. It's spelled B-R-A and you put boobies in them!! See, I'm a big boy and I can play Scrabble!!!"

My sister and I were shocked and laughed our butts off. I asked my husband and all our babysitters if they taught him that, and nobody is owning up to the deed. I am happy he can spell something, but not happy he is spelling that word. He starts pre-school on September 2nd and I can see the letters coming home from his teacher already. God help me!