Groggy Blogging

Oh my gawd, it has been a biological gross zone here.

I scored a doctor's appointment for Urban Kid 1 yesterday at 11:15. This was after another night of hacking, hocking, spitting, wiping, and so on. Urban Dad finally said, "Please call the doctor in the morning. This just isn't right." So the next day, the UK's and I all tumbled into the car and headed over.

Turns out that UK1 has a touch of pneumonia in her right lung. Six months ago, she had a case of it in her left lung. So the doc suggested a chest x-ray just to make sure that things were cool. Seeing as how we had waited for forever in the waiting room, were all sleep-deprived, hungry for lunch and cranky for a nap (yes, ALL of us!), I asked if it was ok to get this tomorrow. Thank God he said yes. Then it was off to CVS to pick up an antibiotic.

I will spare you the scene of two small children in CVS. Rest assured that the most beautiful words I heard that day were "Prescription ready for the Urbans."

Last night, it was more coughing and hacking. I went back to check on UK1 and found that she wasn't even waking up for it anymore. So I woke her up and gave her some cough medicine (seriously, does that stuff even work???), then some honey (how about that?). Then I sat on the kitchen floor with my back against the cabinets while she curled up on my lap, hacked and hacked, spit into the little garbage can by us and rested until the next round of it. Urban Dad brought me a pillow for my back and said that he had to get some sleep. I understood -- his alarm goes off at 5:25, and his day doesn't usually end until 9pm. So off he went to the futon downstairs.

UK1 and I sat like that for a long while. I told myself that when she went 10 minutes between hacking fits that we'd go to bed. In the meantime, I held her and stroked her hair and back, something that I never get to do anymore. And thought about when she was a baby and I'd walk up and down the length of the apartment with her at night, and how she'd wake up at 2:30am every night hungry. It got to where I'd automatically wake up about two minutes before her.

And then I'd cringe when she'd start hacking and spitting after 8 minutes.

Finally, at about 3:30am, she started getting to 10 minutes. She refused to go back to her own bed, so I brought her in with me. All was peaceful until about 6am, when another coughing jag hit her.

I managed to still get up before the UK's. I also managed to have some breakfast, get a shower and get a few loads of laundry done before 7:30am. Everything of mine or the UK's seemed to have something crusty on it...

When UK2 woke up, it was instantly evident that she too has a cold. Her face was so grossly crusty! So were her eyes. And her hands. And pajamas. And sheet. And she was soooo delighted to see me coming at her with a warm washcloth! (that's sarcasm right there...)

Her diaper also didn't stand up to its job, so she smelled like she'd never had a bath the night before. We had a 10:30am appointment at Children's for UK1's chest x-ray. I wasn't able to find a sitter the night before. It was time for a speed bath.

In the meantime, UK1 woke up crabby and refusing to do even the simplest thing. She didn't want any breakfast options, refused to get dressed, whined about brushing her teeth. Everything that I said was worth fighting about. We were both sleep-deprived and cranky. And with U-Dad already gone for the day, there was no referee.

After UK2's speed bath, I put her in a fresh onesie and outfit. There. One down.

Then she hurled on us both.

I resisted the urge to hide in a closet, open a bottle of wine and put a long straw in it. I then peeled UK2 out of her nasty clothes, threw her into another onesie and a sleeper, changed out of my cool-mom pants and into a pair of jeans that don't quite fit but mostly do, and managed to continue throwing orders and threats at UK1 to get ready already since this was her chest x-ray appointment so that we could find out why she was sick.

Thank God, she was all love and sunshine at Children's. And I started to feel a little self-conscious when the receptionist asked, "Still with United HealthCare? Still on XXXXX Street?" Er, yes...and are we here that often? (BTW, UK1 recognized the Urgent Care area as we passed it on our way to Radiology -- that's where I got my staple!

The x-ray was normal. So there's that. And she seems to be coughing less today, even after only two doses of the antibiotic (yes, I know, use it all 10 days). But her nose and upper lip are all chapped and red. And UK2's are getting there too. My pair of jeans that don't quite fit but mostly do are crusty.

And it's an hour until their bedtime. One short wonderful hour until their glorious bedtime!

I think I'll be out about 15 minutes after them.....

Hope the last few days have been smoother in your world!