I couldn't make this stuff up...

The week before Christmas - 7 WEEKS AGO - our kids got sickly. They weren't so sick they were miserable, but they were sick. Seth soon followed with his bout of what was some form of the flu. The kids weren't miserable but daddy WAS!

Christmas came and went. By Christmas day everyone was feeling better. I was never so happy to go back to work and send everyone to daycare and Seth off to work than I was after the Holidays. I love my family, but 2 weeks cooped up at home with sick toddlers and a husband (so make that 3 toddlers) about puts even the best of us mommies OVER the EDGE!

I go back to work for 2 days, and what do you know...2 snow days follow. That Saturday afternoon I started to feel a little strange. We had a babysitter and went out for my birthday dinner with my sister, BIL, and my parents. It was great. It was LOTS of fun. I think I drank enough wine to dismiss my crappy sick feeling and all was good...UNTIL the next day.

I was getting it, and I was getting it BAD!! A high fever and a terrible cough were my symptoms. My entire body ached. My clothes hurt me. The sheets on the bed hurt me. It was AWFUL. And I know everyone says this but, I NEVER GET SICK!

I finally drug my sick ass to the doctor. Yep, I had some sort of flu and I should be getting better in a day or two. This was already day 6!!!

3 days later the fever went away. The achiness left too, but something wasn't right. I was short of breath and just so TIRED! All I wanted to do was sleep, and my energy level was in the negatives. It SUCKED. So, I went back to the Doc. Yaaaa, my flu has turned into pneumonia. ?? WTF? How is that even fair. I was vaccinated for BOTH flus in the fll and now I have freaking pneumonia? NOT HAPPY - but sent home with a shot in my rear and an antibiotic. I should be better soon. They assured me. UGHHH...6 days later and 2 rounds of antibiotics, I still felt like shit. So, just this past Saturday back to the Doc I went.

I saw a nurse practitioner I had never seen before. She was very nice, but the look on her fae said it all. I was in BAD SHAPE, damn it. She was sure my weeks worth of antibiotics didn't work and spoke gently about hospitalizing me. WHAT?? DO YOU KNOW ME?? I HATE hospitals. I HATE them! I am TERRIFIED of them. I am soooo beyond SCARED out of my mind.

We all have irrational fears. I know this. And I know what mine are...hospitals, medical stuff (like blood and guts and poop), and birds. Yes, I am also deathly afraid of BIRDS. I do not like them! And even in the back of my mind knowing these are completely irrational, when the time comes...my logic goes out the window and my instinctive fear sets in.

So...I talk her OUT of the hospital but with conditions. She was sending me across the street for chest X-Rays to make sure my pneumonia wasn't worst and they would HOLD ME THERE until the XRays were read and I was cleared to go home. I was shaking and holding back tears. I felt awful, but apparently not bad enough to agree to go to the hospital. My Xrays came back. I wasn't better, BUT... I wasn't worse. SIGH...I got to home. I was strictly informed that they were bringing out the BIG GUNS of outpatient antibiotics and if this didn't work, and I wasn't better by Monday, I would have to go into the hospital. With that, came the threat..."YOU BETTER REST AND SLEEP!" I am not good at either of those, but seriously...to keep me out of the hospital - OK.

So, I go to the Doc yesterday and Yaaaa - The BIG GUNS antibiotics are working! I am off the hook, and I am also feeling SOOOOO much BETTER! She even tells me I can GO TO WORK the next day! I skip out of there and head to the grocery store. I decide that I am BACK and mommy is taking back over the messy house I was not able to tend to for 2 weeks. I was making dinner and in comes the family. "He is HURT." Seth belts out as they walk in the door.

Baby Bam apparently fell down as he was leaving daycare. His right knee was the size of a baseball and he wouldn't bear any weight on it at all. There is nothing worse than seeing your baby in pain. We fed him dinner and off the ER daddy and Zac went. I was a nervous wreck. I wanted to take him, but with my pneumonia and compromised immune system, we decided that Seth should. I sat with butterfly's in my stomach. I was sooo HOPING, and more so expecting, to be back to the normal...It had been SEVEN, (7), weeks since we were back in routine, healthy and living life as normal. Turns out he had a bad contusion, and it still hurts him. He was limping this morning a little, but overall, he was his normal self.

So, today would be the day...I went back to work (after 2 LONG weeks of resting and looking at four walls) and all was well in the Taylor household. It was all good until...10:55am. I got a call from the director at daycare. She said Zachary was covered from head to toe in red whelps and we needed to come and get him. Oh... My... HEAVENS! Are you freaking KIDDING ME!!! Ok, for real, I couldn't make this stuff up!

I call their pediatrician who rocks my world! I LOVE him! Then I call Seth and, God love this man, he rushes out his office doors and takes both kids to the Doc. He is the best Daddy and Husband, He gets it...sometimes... and sometimes he just doesn't. Today he did. Hahaha. Thank the Lord.

Alright, so to wrap this up...Zachy is allergic to the antibiotic he has been on for his ear infections. I text Kevan, his birth father - which is an entirely different post - YES, we have connected with them - which I couldn't be more thankful for - And he is also allergic to penicillin. It turns out that his sisters are also allergic to shellfish. VALUABLE, AMAZING INFORMATION!!

Anyway, Zachy is better. I am better, kids ears are better, Lydia is still on breathing treatments for her cough and stuff and Seth know sounds like a barking seal.

Incredibly ANNOYING this 7 weeks have been for us - BUT we are brought back to PERSPECTIVE! We are healthy. We have access to medicine and first class medical treatment. We are not homeless, denied of adequate health care. We are not lying in a street just hoping someone will come along and help. We are not desperately searching for our loved ones whose bodies could very well have been scooped up by a bulldozer with hundreds of others.

It's so hard to take it all in. As I looked at my kitchen counter last week and saw the line of RX's to be distributed among my family, I couldn't help but feel guilty. Chances are, even without meds we would all have recovered fine. We would have been uncomfortable for sure, but we would have recovered. I wanted so badly to ship all those meds to Hatia. Ho Hum. I am getting some things together for a Hatian orphange. Wish I could do more.

I at least got to enjoy a dinner out before it all set in! Happy Birthday To Me! I actually LOVE birthdays. I don't care how old I get! I just think birthdays are FUN!

I AM 35!!! YIKES!