Getting better, feeling glad

Ah, relief.

No, not for me. I'm getting more physically uncomfortable by the day. Nay, by the minute. Occasional flares of sciatica, the standard heartburn and acid reflux that punctuates pregnancy for me, sore hips from lying on my side in bed. You know. All the fun, glamorous stuff about being pregnant.

But the good news is that David is better. He had a second chest x-ray yesterday, and the radiologist said that his lungs look clear. No more pneumonia. No more pleural effusion (one was spotted on his first chest x-ray last Monday). The heavy regimen of antibiotics worked their magic.

That's right. That's relief you can sense emanating from this blog post.

I will say that it was a hard two weeks at our house. David was so sick, and we were all a little unprepared to cope with it. First H1N1, then pneumonia. I just hope this is the end of it for us. It should be: William and I went down to the health department last week and stood in line for one of the precious few H1N1 vaccine injections that were dispatched to Nashville. The injections were reserved for high-priority cases, but even then, there were not enough to go around. We were lucky. I'm hearing from a lot of friends and acquaintances that they weren't so fortunate. More vaccinations are due in this week, and I hope that everyone who needs one is able to get one.

I'm just feeling glad that it's today and not two weeks ago, when this roller coaster was just starting for us.

Even doctors get sick

I'm normally not this bad about updating this blog, but this week...oh, this week.

Let's just say that the week started inauspiciously with me sideswiping the side of the garage door with the minivan, and it ended with a bang, literally, with my son wacking the back of my arm with a toy and leaving a big red mark. In between, David got H1N1 flu and is still laid up, with fevers and a terrible cough, five days later. Poor David. It has not been pretty. Thanks to a combination of him losing weight due to illness and my gaining weight due to a little parasite growing in my belly...er, I mean pregnancy...I think I now outweigh him by at least ten or twelve pounds. He didn't even go with me to the OB on Thursday for my 20-week ultrasound, the big one where we got to find out what type of baby we're expecting. He moaned at one point that he felt so bad that he even forgot the name of the closer for the New York Yankees, which is a Big Deal because, as you all know, he's a lifelong, diehard Red Sox fan and he looooves to hate the Yankees.

So, later, I'll try to be all pithy or witty or something, but right now, I am just tired. So, so tired. I do want to say, however, before I retire for the evening, that I am grateful to my in-laws for taking William off my hands for a few hours today and for giving me some extra tissues and Gatorade for their ailing son. I am grateful to my father-in-law for taking William to school two days last week. I am grateful to my friend Jaclyn for bringing over some delicious homemade chocolate cookies to boost our spirits (and David's calorie intake). And I am thankful to my parents for coming up last weekend and taking us to supper at the Loveless Cafe.

Oh, yes, and the Baby to Be? Well, William's going to have a Baby Brother--perhaps the only good news to come out of the week. (That's called burying the lede, for you non-journalism types. Because I'm guessing that you've all been wondering.) I always wondered how I'd deal with a little girl who had big wild hair like mine, and now I guess I won't ever have to worry about it!

Dear William...

Dear William,

I am really sorry that I was too tired and pregnant to go downstairs and get ice cubes for your water cup at bedtime tonight. I hope that you will not need too many years of therapy to get over the heartbreak. Sleep tight!

Love,

Mommy

Yes. No. YES. NO. Yes...

Why are small children so inconsistent? Or is it just my child? My child, you see, will answer a question in the affirmative and then, not, fifteen seconds later, answer the exact same question in the negative. Or vice versa. You could get whiplash if you were paying close attention and expecting him to stick with his original (or second, or third) answer.

Here's just the most recent example.

Me, about three hours ago: "William, do you want macaroni and cheese with the rest of your lunch?"

William: "NO! NO! I just want grilled cheese samwich, and that's all. No macaroni and cheese, and that's it!"

Later, when I'm about to start eating mac'n'cheese, I hear, "Mommy, is the macaroni and cheese ready? I want some. Is it ready? Is it ready? Is it ready?"

Then, from William, as he frantically inhaled two portions of mac'n'cheese: "Mommy, macaroni and cheese is my FAVORITE."

Inconsistent? Mercurial? Or does a small boy just like to exercise the right to change his mind?