One day at a time, sometimes as a hermit

Ok, so basically since my last post we have been sick around our house.  Thus we have been hermits, and it has been a long road to today.  I'm hoping we really turn a corner and can come out of our hovel by Monday.  Here's how the week of sickness went:

It all started on Tuesday

I worked on Tuesday but had a scratchy throat and the start of a bad cough.  But I made it through the day, picked Lily up from the sitter and got home.  When Chase got home, I handed Lily off and got into bed, where I had a horrible night's sleep.  

Wednesday

Chase stayed home from work to take care of Lily.  Can I just say that I married well?  After having a fever of 100 in the night, I was feeling a little better during the day, but Chase still took me to my prenatal appointment, and too me back home to rest afterward.  

Thursday

Chase stayed home from work again to take care of both Lily and I, because I was miserable.  I'd had another horrible night, and I ached everywhere.  I ended up back at the doctor (this time my mom took me because she was headed into town anyway - bless her!) for strep and influenza tests.  The news was not good:  Influenza A. 

Shouldn't we be past flu season?  And shouldn't a pregnant woman not get it when she's within weeks of delivery?  *sigh*  I started on Tamiflu.  Mom took Lily for the afternoon so Chase could get some work done from home, and I could rest.  

Friday

Chase stayed home from work again to take care of me and Lily, and I was starting to feel a bit better - the aches were going away and things were settling into more of a really bad cold kind of deal.  MUCH preferable to the aches and chills and hot flashes of the flu!

Unfortunately, Lily woke up from a super long nap absolutely soaked in sweat and with a temp of 101.  *darn*  I literally quarantined myself between the bedroom and the den and didn't hardly see Lily for 2 days so that this wouldn't happen.  I sat in the den and cried the night before while Chase put her to bed because I just missed her!  *darn*  

It was too late to get her into the clinic to be checked for the flu, so we did what any self-respecting family of 3 (almost 4) would do:  movie night and snuggles!  Special thanks to Grandma Becky for providing the movie, Lily's new favorite:  Frozen!

Saturday

We went to the clinic and were thrilled to learn that Lily does NOT have the flu, but probably just a virus.  And because I've been fever and ache free for about 36 hours, I'm probably not contagious anymore (at least for the flu).  Hurray!  So we've been hunkered down here since Wednesday and will probably stay here for a bit longer so as not to share anything with anyone.

Special thanks to our friends and family who have been so good to bring food and entertainment, or just provide encouragement.  I have learned a few things through this whole experience.

What I've learned

1. Being sick with the real flu (I've had it twice in my life) is as bad as labor and delivery.  You absolutely think you're going to die, and there is no reprieve.
2. Labor and delivery is actually preferable because you get breaks every 90 seconds, and you end up with a fantastic outcome - a child.
3. I do not ever want to face labor and delivery while being sick with the flu.  That would be TERRIBLE.  I think I really would die.
4. You use WAY more muscles to cough and blow your nose than you think you do.  (Did you know that you use back muscles to blow your nose and cough?  Well, you do.  Trust me.)
5. It is possible to go through an entire box of kleenexes by yourself in a single day and not end up with a sore nose.  The key is to get good kleenexes.  We prefer Puffs with lotion at our house.  We should have bought stock in the company before this all hit...
6. Frozen really is all it's cracked up to be.  See it if you haven't.
7. Inhibitions about too much screen time are overrated when you have a sick toddler, when you're recovering from the flu and (very) pregnant, and when your husband has been carrying the family for 5 days.  Watch movies together and don't feel guilty.  You will not watch like this when you're all better!
8. Marry well.  That "for better or for worse" line can mean really bad, hard things like family struggles, deaths, or any number of major events; or it can mean just minor bad, hard things like being sick with the flu, but that's part of the "worse" and I'm telling you, marry well.  It will make all the difference in every circumstance.
9. Take it one day at a time.  Who knows what tomorrow will bring...