Week 23: The Infection

I definitely wanted the title of this post to sound ominous. Because it’s something I have been struggling with for the last couple of weeks. It started with a cold, which isn’t uncommon this time of year or in my area of expertise. Small children spend most of their lives it seems with runny noses, so there’s no reason to think I’m not going to. So I have a cold. I bump up the Vitamin-C, eat a little soup, drink plenty of water and make sure to go to bed early (no problem, since I could totally go to sleep at 7:30 each night) and I figured it would go away on its own. Which it sort of did. Except for the part where I still had a lot of congestion. But that’s the last thing to go, right? Last week, my ear starts hurting. Just a tad. All right, I think, obviously it’s because it’s been windy and the temperature has been up and down and I’ve been running outdoors a lot. So I do what any normal person will do. I ignore it. Even as it gets a teeny tiny bit worse. I complain to Matt about how I don’t feel good , but blame it on the baby. Great parenting at work, right? Then, over the weekend, it really starts to hurt, and I really don’t feel well but I’m not running a temperature (that is something I keep a close watch on). So it’s clearly not an infection because with infections there is fever, correct? Then Sunday evening comes and I have a mini breakdown and admit that my ear is killing me, my head is pounding, and maybe I should call the doctor? To which Matt says, “Um, yeah, why didn’t you call them last week?” Why didn’t I call them last week? I thought about it, but then wondered if it was too soon after the honey incident to do it with a shred of dignity. I wonder if they talk about the crazy nurse line messages I know they must get. And for some reason I felt that an ear infection wasn’t a good enough reason, but eating a spoonful of honey was? Must be pregnancy brain? I called Monday morning when I woke up feeling the weight of the world on the left side of my head, and they wanted me to come in. My plan was initially to go then come back to school and teach my classes, then try to scoot out asap after school to head to bed. But by the time I got there, the pressure was ridiculous, and the lovely doctor who saw me remarked she was surprised that my eardrum had not ruptured, but if it did to call back. Then they put me on an antibiotic that won’t hurt the baby (who is doing great by the way!), and reminded me to drink plenty of water. I came back to school feeling worse and worse and our delightful assistant suggested I find a sub. Which I did, because by the time Kindergarten was done I felt completely out of it. At home, I settled down on the couch and alternatively napped, watched terrible daytime tv, and felt the baby move around (she seems to be moving a lot this week!) Matt came home, fixed me dinner and then I went to bed really early. But the funny part about the infection is that it also affected my ability to get anything done around the apartment. And that was what Matt noticed. Of course not until this morning when he claimed he had nothing to wear and it occurred to me that I had been feeling unwell enough to not do any basic household chores. The infection spreading…. Lesson learned? Rest more, eat healthier, and listen to my body. Also realize that the baby already has a lot going on that affects our lives already. Which might mean doing things like not running 5 miles when I have an ear infection. Or, spending a little more time hanging out with Matt, since we keep forgetting we won’t have this amazing lifestyle in just a few short months!