Greetings from the TB ward

Jeff randomly got sick the last day we were in North Carolina - fever, chills, coughing, the works. No one else in our group was sick, so it was a little mysterious, but germs are all around us I guess. Then a week or so later, Rosa got a cough, which got pretty bad kind of out of nowhere. It was waking her up in the night and everything. Might have been from Jeff, might have been from a girl in music class. 4 or 5 days later, I had a mild sore throat for a few days - no biggie, gargle salt water and stay hydrated. Then Jeff went out of town Wednesday night, and Thursday morning I woke up a shivering pile of sweaty achiness, praying that Rosa would fall back asleep from her 5:30 wake-up. Thankfully she did. When we both got up at 8:00, my throat was absolutely burning and I couldn't turn my eyes to the side without a shooting pain. My chest felt tight and then I coughed - oh it hurt - and sounded like something between a bark and a goose honking.

I actually internally panicked a little bit. This was the first time I've been really sick since Rosa was born - for which I am thanking my lucky stars! It takes a lot of energy to get through a day with Rosa, and I really wasn't sure if I was going to make it. I have a couple friends who aren't working right now that I could have called to come help if I truly couldn't do it, but I didn't want to get them sick, so I decided to just try to plow ahead and see how it went.

I couldn't talk above a whisper and was moving at about 1/4 my usual speed, and Rosa could definitely tell that something was different with me. She was the calmest and mellowest she's ever been for all three meals, and all morning long, when all I could do was lie on the couch, all she wanted to do was crawl up and nestle against me. (And then squirm around of course, but that goes with the territory.) I was amazed, and really really grateful.

Rosa went down for her first nap easily, and I slept too, and by the time I woke up, the Ibuprofen had kicked in and the achiness had eased. As I said, Rosa was on her best behavior for lunch, and we even made it out to the playground (where I took great pains for both of us to stay away from the other babies) in the afternoon.

By the time Rosa woke from her second nap, I could see the end of the day in sight, and I breathed a sigh of relief. Since then the coughing has gotten phlegmier, my voice is totally gone, and I can't sing lullabies to Rosa, which is usually a big part of naps and bedtime, but I made it through the achey day, with a lot of help from my sweet girl. No pictures of being sick - just a boring all text post. Hopefully we're both on the mend!