Nothing better than the flu... Right before Christmas

If you are coming to the blog to see adorable pictures of Ella doing adorable baby things, just hit the little X in the upper right hand corner. There will be no pictures, there will be no snippets of all the wonderful, Susie-Homemaker Christmas things I have been doing to prepare for the jolly one's arrival. There will be no mentions of homemade wrapping paper, Christmas cards or matching pajamas for my family of 5.

It's not that I am not into Christmas, it is just that since Sunday, I have been running a fever. When I get sick, I tend to just push through it. I don't like to be sick, I don't like to spend time away from my routine. I like getting up, making coffee, vacuuming, feeding the baby, going to work, cuddling with the kids and enjoying my glass of wine once the monsters are tucked in. When I feel sick, I take some Tylenol and just keep going. That works well until you wake up, realize you have been running a fever of 103 - 104 for 2 straight days, you appear to be delusional and no amount of Tylenol is making it better. Then, you decide to go to the doctor.

BUT, I can't ever make these decisions during normal business hours, so I have to go to urgent care. Urgent care must not deal with fevers of the 104.4 variety very often (or I was that scary looking) so they refused to give me Tamiflu and forced me to the ER.

I was thankful for my friend Erin who had the duty of schlepping me to the hospital (Mike was at home dealing with another sick child and the 2 well ones). Finding out if you have the flu is the most unpleasant experience ever. With all the advances in medicine, I find it hard to believe that the only way you can find out if I have the flu is to stick a giant q tip up my nose, down my throat and leave it there for 10 seconds.  AWFUL. Best part, once it is confirmed you have it, you have to do the test again for the states records. I did have the flu, I was prescribed Tamiflu and sent on my way.

Since I got home from the hospital, I have done nothing but lay in my bed, convince myself I am dying and be miserable.  I have also thought about all the Christmas things we won't do this year and I have been praying that I feel well enough by Christmas morning to at least kiss my own children (on the hand, of course, this flu bug can last for 2 weeks or some nonsense like that) and hand out the gifts that I rushed around for the day before the flu took over my life.

Ryan also has the flu. He got Tamiflu at urgent care. They only force grown women wearing 2 sweatshirts, a hat and appearing to be homeless to the ER. He was at home all snug while I was getting my sinuses swabbed. Only problem with Ryan having the flu?  He's allergic to Tamiflu.  Something we didn't know until his nanny noticed his eye was swollen shut. Called the dr. and sure enough, it's a sign of an allergic reaction to Tamiflu.  Of course it is. The medicine was expensive, why wouldn't we have to stop taking it after 2 doses!

Today is day 5 for me and day 3 for Ryan of being sick. I am ready for my life back.

The other thing that really sucks about being sick. No one wants to be near me.  The only person that wants to be near me is my adorable daughter and due to her fragile little immune system, I haven't even been in the same room with her in 5 days.  I snuck a peek at her today and I swear she has grown 2 feet and gained 5 lbs in the last 5 days. She'll be pulling up on her own by the time I am done with my influenza quarantine.

So, there you have it. I have been stuck in my room, dreaming all sorts of crazy, fever induced dreams. Mike has been Mr. Mom, Erin took me to the ER, my mom has been sick but managed to make it to the house the one time Ryan decides to puke all over the couch and won the fun job of cleaning that mess up and my mother in law is taking care of my sister in law who is recovering from surgery (was supposed to be my job, but the dr. thought it was best if the flu patient didn't take care of the surgery patient). If Ryan wasn't keeping track of the days till Christmas on some Advent like ring thing he made himself (because Mom forgot to buy him a real Advent calendar this year - Mom of the year I sure am!) I would move Christmas back a week so we could could actually enjoy it!

I am going to get some sleep and in the AM salvage what I can to make Christmas grand still. I had big hopes for this year, being Ella's first Christmas and all... there's always her birthday..

I feel like I have to leave the blog with a picture but dont' have anything real original tonight, so here is yet another Christmas picture. I promise Ella has more than 1 outfit in her closet...