Owww

So after bragging in Monday's post about how much I was able to get done after work that day... I was forced to take a two hour nap after work on both Tuesday and Wednesday. And woke up feeling, yep, dazed and confused. Seriously, I didn't even sleep this long during my first trimester naps.

Then I started getting a wee bit frustrated. Why am I still so tired? I'm normally a high energy person. And still, seventeen weeks and change, with the naps?

Well, during a presentation today by the 12th graders of how they want to change the US healthcare system (I was one of three judges on a panel), I noticed I was insatiably thirsty. Even by pregnant standards. Bad sign.

So I came home after work and lay down... and woke up with an aching throat.

I am unreasonably annoyed at the child that was being, frankly, bratty, and coughed in my face when I was trying to swab her throat for strep test a few days back. I'm phobic about getting strep tests myself (as in performed on me... yeah, needles: no problem, a cotton swab: reduced to tears -- not pretty. thank god I can write my own prescriptions for antibiotics when I need them so I don't have to endure this anymore. Yes, I know this is not what others recommend. But seriously, I get a fever and bright red tonsils literally oozing in pus (sorry!) when I have strep, so it's really quite obvious), so I'm normally very sympathetic. But you know, the first day back after break... my sympathy stash was very small. And we'd already been trying to get this swab for ages.

For the record, while the rapid strep test was negative, the hospital lab lost the patient's throat culture. The mom said she'd just take her to the pediatrician since she was concerned about how many days in a row the patient had been coming to see me... hello! Me too! Though "concerned" might not be the word I would use. ... guess what: the patient came by today to report to me that the throat swab with the pediatrician had been WAY more uncomfortable than me. Hello, I told you so. (Apparently she also came by earlier to complain about some physical ailment or other, but I hadn't been available. Shucks.)

Everyone who hates getting their throat swabbed should get it swabbed by someone who hates it just as much. We really do it better.

Anyway, I feel unfairly persecuted by this oncoming cold (yes, I'm quite sure that neither the child in question nor myself have strep, even without the pending throat culture results, and thus, that I have a cold) because, frankly, I think pregnant ladies have quite enough to deal with without even more physical ailments. Seriously.

And given that I haven't been sick since before getting pregnant, despite my hazardous line of work, it has seemed that Fate agreed with me. But someone coughing directly in your face... yep, that'll do you.

And now, it's just past 8:30 and I'm taking myself to bed. Mulling over the idea of a sick day tomorrow. Unlike Shannon, I'm the totally un-hard core type of medical provider. Especially since both my social worker (fairly useless, anyway) and my medical assistant (god's own assistant... how did I get so lucky???) will be at a training, anyway. Dashing back and forth from the front office, with my medical assistant hat on, and my office, with my nurse practitioner hat on... not fun. Not even a little bit.

After work, I get on a bus to Boston to see my cousin Bonnie and her kids. Their house is the site of ICI attempts one through four. I get to tell the kids my big news. My cousin is relieved that I will be on hand so she is not the one to answer "their five hours of questions." The older kid is ten and quite the little biologist. The younger one is eight, and last year confidently told both me and her mother that it wasn't possible to have a baby without being married. Her mother, a former nurse, and I were both smirking about that... I hope her world isn't about to come crashing down when I break my news to her.

And ps, today I went to get dressed and discovered that I could only barely button my pants. In two different pairs of pants. And this was only standing up. I learned from painful experience recently that things that barely button standing up are really uncomfortable sitting down.

And so today was my first day in maternity pants. And they felt really weird. I couldn't decide which was more weird, the stretchy material scrunched down below my belly or pulled up over my belly and slightly flapping just below my breasts. So I alternated between the two. I guess I shouldn't have passed over those intermediate-level maternity pants that only have a panel below the belly. Oh well.