So Much to Say

I don't know even where to begin. Um, well first, the obvious - I'm still pregnant. Despite my best wishes, the baby has not come early.

The aforementioned snow which so tormented me has mostly melted away (thank goodness). In it's wake, I caught the nastiest cold of mankind. I really don't know why my luck is what it is. Last week, I took Ellie to the dr. She was diagnosed with a double ear infection. Well, whatever cold she must have had to produce the ear infection clearly got spread to me.

I woke up sick Tuesday morning and have been feeling miserable ever since. I was in so much pain early Wednesday morning that I went to an urgent care center. They tested for strep, etc and determined it was a cold virus and I would just need to wait it out. And I have done that for the past nearly seven days.

Today I had my regular gyno appointment and my doctor was worried that I am still sick with this cold - coughing, loss of voice, sore throat, etc. So she prescribed me antibiotics just in case, because the last thing I need is to be coughing with a fresh incision from the c-section on Thursday. And the worse news that she gave me was that if I am not better by Thursday, they may decide to postpone the c-section to give me more time to recover. I don't know if I can make it any longer.

Not only have I have been miserable with the cold, my body has swollen to gigantic proportions. I gained 6 pounds in one week and it's all water weight. My ankles are twice their normal size, none of my shoes fit, my calves are just giant balloons. I would take pictures to show you, but I don't ever want to see photographic evidence of these disgusting images. My body has never seemed so gross to me. I felt like a gargantuan mass of water and fat at church yesterday as I waddled around trying to keep up with my primary calling.

So combine the lost voice, the achy ears, throat, the excessive hacking cough with the swelling and overall nastiness that is the final weeks of pregnancy and you have one, very depressed and beaten mother-to-be.

And somewhere during all of this, we had Christmas. Matt was very good to me and replaced the ipod nano I broke last May with a new ipod nano. This one has 4X the capacity of my first one and it's a really pretty blue. I think Matt was pleased with his gift from me of a huge wad of cash to be spent "any way he wants." (This was actually taken directly of his wish list)

Ellie and Annie each got wonderful gifts from Santa, cousins, grandparents, parents, each other and neighbors. By far Ellie's favorite gift was her princess nightgown, which she has worn every day since for several hours a day. I have only been able to force it off of her when we leave the house. Annie's favorite present is probably a book that Ellie gave her about the 10 little monkeys jumping on the bed that lets her make popping sounds when she touches each monkey on the page.

We had Christmas dinner at my cousin, Dave's, house in Manassas, with my cousin Becca and her family joining us as well. It was particularly nice to not have to worry about making dinner since I was so sick. I had every intention to make my favorite dinner rolls from scratch. But in the end, we just bought the frozen dough at the store and make rolls from that. I just couldn't get myself to do anymore than that. But no one seemed to mind and it was wonderful to spend time with family. We played a new game, Fact or Crap, which was fun to learn. Matt won, which is not too surprising.

There were other things that we didn't do this year to celebrate Christmas that I would have liked to do, but unfortunately my sickness and overall exhaustion prevented. We didn't make it out to the White House Christmas tree. I always enjoy seeing the different state trees and the trains that circle the big tree. And I was so excited to get a family picture with the Santa there. We also didn't see the water skiing Santa on Christmas eve, which is something we've done the past two Christmases.

Finally, perhaps my biggest regret is that we didn't prepare and deliver any Christmas goodies to our friends this year. This is something I look forward to every year. I love making yummy goodies and then taking them to our friends and wishing them a Merry Christmas. But there was simply no way I was going to have the energy to bake, prepare and deliver them this year. I am still a little sad about it. I wish my body could do everything I want it to do.

We also set up of the baby's crib and dresser. We have a few more things to do before the room is done, but at least she has a place to sleep and keep her clothes. We made a list of everything that needs to be done by Thursday and, thankfully, it isn't that long or overwhelming, only 14 items. At the top of the list is getting me better. Unfortunately, that is the one thing I feel I have the least control over.

And that's where we stand. I hope and pray that come Thursday, I'll be able to have Matt post a beautiful picture of a brand new baby. Until then I just want to get better, get everything done and sleep.