1DoH: Flu and Fall Decor

Check out earlier 100 Days of Holidays here!

(12) Monday 10/5: Kate was diagnosed with the swine flu. This pic was from earlier in the day when it was more just pity for her feeling icky, before it turned to sheer panic.
(13) Tuesday 10/6: Kate was very clingy and cuddly throughout her illness, taking several naps on our chests. Sweet little bear.

(14) Wednesday 10/7: Kate was feeling much better, and we actually enjoyed this last day of our quarantine with special family time.

(15) Thursday 10/8: Matt had a residency retreat to attend, so Kate spent Thursday with Granna and Opa. She wore one of her cute new fall outfits--one of the few things I've bought new (and not on eBay!)

(16) Friday 10/9: I finally did get decorated for fall. All the breakables had to go in the living room--Christmas will be an even bigger challenge!

(17) Saturday 10/10: Kate recently graduated to sitting up in shopping carts, rather than having her car seat perched on top. She has a cool seat cover to protect her from germs and make it comfy (and cute--I love lime green).

(17) Sunday 10/11: This afternoon, I went to a baby shower for a girl at church. I'd heard of diaper cakes before, but hadn't been to a shower with one yet. Cute. She got five blankets--well on the way to the total of 28 I received!

Next week... the fall holiday of Matt and my third anniversary!

Quarantine Ends

I returned to work today after a three-day, flu-induced staycation. Kate is totally back to normal, thank goodness, and all is well after a crazy week.

Kate developed a cold a couple weeks ago, around the time Matt got his sinus infection, and her nose was still very runny when we went on the church Women's Retreat last weekend. Her gooky-eye (an affliction she's had since birth, due to a tear duct that is not fully open yet) was extra-gooky last weekend, presumably from all the extra mucus from the cold. Saturday afternoon, I noticed her torso felt hot, but her head didn't feel warm, so I didn't worry about it, even though I had brought the first aid kit with the thermometer in it. Sunday, just before we left the cabin to return home, I noticed she felt very warm, both her torso and head, but again I didn't worry about it too much. (I probably should have at least taken her temp before we left, though I would have worried the whole drive home!)

When we got home, I took her temperature, and it was 103.4. I immediately turned to What to Expect and the all-knowing Internet, but they suggested a doctor was not needed unless it surpassed 104. (Besides, it was Sunday, and we would have had to go to the urgent care facility.) She was cranky, and Matt and I kept a close eye on her temp all afternoon as it hovered around 102.

When it was still 102 in the morning, I opted to stay home from work. Maybe if we lived close to my work, I would have gone, but given that it's a day trip just to go to work, I didn't want to be an hour away if she got worse. I tried calling the doctor, but the line was consistently busy and eventually I gave up. We monitored the fever all day, and it seemed to break around noon, dropping to 99 degrees and staying there into the afternoon. I relaxed some then, but decided to check it again at 4:00, before the pediatrician's office closed, just in case.

I'm glad I did, because it was 103.8 and she was starting to shiver a little, like she had the chills. We called the doctor, but again it was busy (turned out, they were installing a new phone system to add more lines, but it still had some kinks) so we decided to just take her anyway. They "don't take walk-ins" but one of the doctors took pity on us and agreed to see her.

Her temperature was 104.3, according to their thermometer (eek!) and they did a flu test, sticking a tube up her nose to suction out some boogies. I don't know if they scraped her with the tube, or if a blood vessel just spontaneously burst, but when she cried out, a huge blood-boogie spurted from her nose (double-eek!). That was distressing, as you can imagine, and we mopped up her bloody nose as they ran the flu test. Returning, the doctor told us that yes, she had the flu (triple-eek!)

The doctor was clearly trying to counteract all the swine-flu hype, telling us even before the flu test that H1N1 isn't really any more dangerous than regular flu. Upon hearing the diagnosis, I asked "Is it the swine flu?" The doctor responded casually, "Oh, probably, but it doesn't matter. You treat them both the same."

So, I was quite distressed as we left and headed for Kroger to fill Kate's prescription for Tamiflu. I was seriously fearing the worst. (It didn't help that her nose was still bleeding a little and that her car seat makes her even hotter.) Some of that fear is just new-parent panic, I'm sure, but I've also been afflicted since Kate's birth with an almost-debilitating fear of something happening to her. I know I have to trust God and relax, but Monday night, it was almost like everything I've feared every time I check her crib at night was coming to the fore. I was very scared.

We put her in a lukewarm bath as soon as we got home, as the doctor suggested, and she perked up right away, enjoying splashing in the tub as usual. She was chipper for the rest of the evening, even walking with her little push-cart for the first time! Her cheeriness put me at ease.

Tuesday, her temperature hit 101 briefly, but overall she was much improved. Wednesday, she had a follow-up with the doctor and her temperature never even hit normal. I am much relieved and was glad to return to normal today.

I realize that kids get sick and that it's just part of parenthood, but this first time--especially given all the H1N1 hype--I was really panicked. But, we made it through, and even enjoyed the extra family time together. Thanks be to God.

Pulling a Monica

For the die-hard Friends fans out there who get this reference, I don't mean it in the same way Judy Gellar or Phoebe meant it, but nonetheless, I am definitely engaging in a very Monica-esque task today!

For a while now, I have wanted to go through all the parenting magazines I have accumulated over the past seventeen months (since finding out I was pregnant), cut out the articles that might be useful in the future, and organize them in file folders according to topic and age level. Given our flu-induced quarantine, today seemed like a good day to finally get that done.

When I told Matt my plans this morning, he responded:

"I'm going to organize my compulsions by type, severity, how long I've had them, and how many relationships they've ended."

Later, in the midst of the task, we had this conversation:

J: "hmm. I made a folder for 'toys and gift ideas,' but now I'm wondering if I should put those clippings in the age-level folders according to the age-appropriateness of the toy."

M: [solemnly, after staring at me for a long time] "I am sure whatever you decide will be the right decision."

J: "Just imagine all I could do if I was a stay-at-home mom!"

M: [mimes gun to his head, brains splattering out the other side.]

Suffice it to say, I am a type-A and Matt is not. But now, the articles on potty training and preschoolers' social skills that weren't applicable when I first got the issue will be easily accessible when we do get to that stage of parenting. And, I can feel good about throwing away the remainders of the magazines so they don't overflow my magazine rack and pile up on a shelf (or more likely, the floor) somewhere!

Kate (who is feeling infinitely better, by the way :0) enjoyed playing with the to-be-discarded magazines (she LOVES paper!) and I even kept one to put in her toy basket so she can feed the need for paper in the future.

What's that?

Do I know I'm crazy?

Yes, yes I do.

Thanks for asking.

Wordless Wednesday -- The Hat

Kate has the flu

Please pray for Kate. We're about as anxious as you can imagine parents would be.

1DoH: Into October

If you missed my intro to "100 Days of Holidays," click here.

(6) Tuesday 9/29: I've been meaning to decorate for fall for about a week now, but the boxes are still sitting in the hallway!
(7) Wednesday 9/30: We installed baby gates in the doorways between the kitchen and dining room, and the family room and hallway. They are on hinges so they can swing open--adults don't have to step high over them.

(8) Thursday 10/1: Kate spent some time with Granna and Opa today while Daddy went to the Emergent cohort lunch.

(9) Friday 10/2: Kate and I went on the church Women's Retreat, staying in a large cabin near Bell Buckle, TN. Here, Kate plays with a measuring cup and pan while the ladies chat around the kitchen table.

(10) Saturday 10/3: The women on the retreat ate at Miller's Grocery for dinner. A terrific bluegrass band played. I'm not typically into bluegrass (despite being from the Bluegrass) but I was really into it. They included a bluegrass rendition of The Ramones' "I Wanna Be Sedated," so they weren't your typical bluegrass band, I guess.

(11) Sunday 10/4: Today is Charlotte's fifth birthday. She celebrated by running from the camera and then rolling around in her favorite place--the bathtub. Happy birthday, Mow-Mow!

Things You Can't Say in Church

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about identity, authenticity, the (quote-unquote) "real me." Part of this has to do with different parts of my life--professional, intellectual, maternal, etc.--and how I show different parts of myself in those different contexts. A big issue for me is the church, and how as the pastor's wife I can rarely say what's really on my mind there.

One day I'll get my thoughts in order enough to write a post on this subject, but for today, let me just call your attention to a cool website and book coming from Anne Jackson, author of Mad Church Disease (Zondervan, 2009). Her new project is Permission to Speak Freely, and it is inspired by the PostSecret movement. She's collecting "confessions"--the secrets Christians hold and feel they cannot share in church or with other Christians because they fear shame, ridicule, or offending someone else. The concept is very popular because people are dying to get these things off their chests. They're dying for a place where they can just be real and not have to wear a mask or hide their true selves.

I really look forward to this book because, as I said, this issue weighs heavily on me. What about you? Are there things you feel like you can't say in church? or anywhere? Feel free to comment anonymously. It's good just to get it out.