48(ish) Hours

(I’ve posted several new posts; scroll down to see the rest.)

Tuesday afternoon – 28 week OBYN appointment. I had to do the Glucola test, which involves drinking 10 oz of a disgusting beverage in less than 5 minutes and then having my blood sugar tested an hour later. Anyone remember these Hug beverages from when they were little? That’s what it tastes like.

Also at this appointment I received a shot in my arm, a shot in my backside and had three vials of blood drawn. Man was it ever a good time. And then Baby Girl decided that she did not want the doctor to hear her heartbeat thankyouverymuch. I wasn’t too worried because I knew she’d been asleep, but it was a little concerning the more time passed. Finally the doctor woke her up, which she was not happy about, and then I could feel her moving away from where the Doppler was pressed on my belly. It was an odd sensation, but pretty funny at the same time. (We did finally get her heartbeat and all is well.)

Tuesday night – dinner time. L.J. wasn’t quite himself and wasn’t eating dinner. Granted he hasn’t eaten dinner voluntarily in the past 10 days, but this seemed a bit more than that. Then he crawled into Mike’s lap and started smacking his lips. Uh oh – here comes the vomit! Fortunately, he didn’t end up throwing up. But he did have a fever and was feeling a bit miserable. Mike took this as an opportunity to dress L.J. up in his Mets shirt and let him stay up late to watch Game 1 of the World Series.

If the Mets win the World Series I’m sure this photo will be brought out many times in the future to recount how L.J.’s love affair with the New York Mets started. I haven’t decided if I will remind him that L.J. mostly ignored the game in favor of Peppa Pig on his iPad. He was, however, quite pleased at the extra attention and delayed bedtime and insisted on wearing his Mets shirt both to bed and to school the next day. Much to Mike’s delight, he’s taken to yelling “Go Mets!” anytime the team is mentioned.

Family selfie! Don’t mind my comfy 2XL sweatshirt that makes me look like I’m carrying quads.

Tuesday Overnight – L.J. appeared at our bed at 2:22 a.m. feeling like someone just pulled him out of an oven. Into our bed he went, and after searching for the thermometer, getting Motrin and trying to figure out why the thermometer wasn’t registering a fever – Mike and I were wide awake. I really didn’t fall back asleep for the rest of the night. Between Baby Girl, a painful backache and L.J.’s head wedged in between my shoulder blades…whew, not restful. I finally gave up when Mike got up to shower and moved to his side of the bed. Rolled over, got comfy, opened my eyes to peer at L.J. and saw two little feet three inches from my face. Gave up.

Wednesday Morning – L.J.’s ear check. Behavior was definitely better than last time, but not perfect. I was so pleased with how well he cooperated with the first hearing test! Look at my smart son! Then he lost interest and loudly declared in the sound booth, “I’m done!” Mama pride knocked down a notch.

Finally make it to work, settle in and my phone rings. It’s the OBGYN. You know it’s not good news if they’re calling you the morning after your appointment. I failed the Glucola test, which means I have to go back for an even-more-fun 3-hr fasting test. A pregnant woman fasting – because that’s an awesome idea. Clear a wide berth because I’ll probably be grumpy as hell and then eat an entire buffet afterwards. I also failed the anemia scan pretty soundly, which means I get to add iron pills to my preggo pharmacy. #winning.

Wednesday 3:05 p.m. – Just jumped on an hour-long client call when my phone rings again and it’s L.J.’s school. Crap. That can only mean one thing. Sure enough, he has a 104 fever and needs picked up immediately. I have about 90 seconds before my portion of the meeting starts, so I dial Mike and tell him to go get L.J. So glad I gave him a heads up to be prepared for such a call! Call drags on and on – typical call, but I’m anxious to call the pediatrician to ask what one does with a fever of 104. New experience for our family.

Call ends, nurse says wait it out unless it’s 105 or higher and then Mike calls to say L.J.’s temperature is now reading 96. What?! Something’s not right. Hit up WalMart on the way home for a new, name-brand ear thermometer. Cha-ching. Get home and take L.J.’s temp – normal. 98.4. Take our temperatures for a control group – normal. We immediately dial our mothers to inquire if this makes sense or not. Apparently Motrin can work really fast, who knew.

Rest of the night is calm, save for the raging case of heartburn I got after two bites of dinner. I hope Sister Bear comes out with enough hair for a bow. Mike jokes that right now I get heartburn from drinking water and he’s not too far off.  

Thursday was uneventful, until we got home and L.J. had a temperature of 102. Once again, Motrin made short work of the fever. What on earth was going on??

Our gut instinct was that it was time to go see the doctor. I took him in on Saturday morning, and he was perky, smiley and active. Quite the opposite of the other clearly sick children in the waiting room. Once we got back to see the doctor, we finally got our answer: bronchitis.

What?! Isn’t bronchitis like having the worst cold ever? With commercial-worthy symptoms? (Yes, if you’re wondering.) But apparently it sometimes presents completely differently in young children and is also running rampant in Atlanta right now. The doctor said he’s seen tons of cases in the past two weeks. Fortunately it’s not contagious* and hopefully L.J. will be right as rain after a short course of antibiotics. 

Side note: I met another mom in the waiting room and she seemed quite relieved to not have the only not-sick-acting child in the waiting room. She noticed my large belly, active son and the fact that I was there by myself and told me I was a rockstar. Made my whole day!

*Bronchitis is often very contagious, but the doctor said it was so far down in his lungs that he (and other kids his age) haven’t yet developed enough strength to cough up the contagious particles.