Escaping

Since today marks a whole month since I've been constantly sick, I figure by now I deserve to leave it-- even if only temporarily.

This afternoon I packed my water and plastic baggies and ran some errands. After a rough morning and no solid foods (again), I was tired of my teaspoon-every-20-minute Pedialyte feedings (I still have Jurassic 5's Quality Control lyrics run through my head every time I have a spoonful -- You baby MCs drink Pedialyte, my underground doesn't like you, the media might...) It took me a good 6 hours to bathe, get dressed and leave the house, but I did it!

Once I was out, I had to carefully plan my moves. First, I hit the post office. The Commodore may not get his birthday gift on time, but I tried (sorry!)... Next, it was on to the library.

Here's where I made my real escape. I like going to the library book store. It can be very rewarding. I found a book that I almost paid $12 for recently for $4 instead. Woo-hoo! That wasn't the best part though, the best part was when I wandered over to the children's section.

I initially moseyed over because I was looking for something fun and new for my nephew, who has probably lost interest in all of the stickers I've been sending him. He also has a little brother now, and while the little one is still drooling and not reading, I'm going to need to double my Auntie budget soon. Anyway, I realise it's far too early for me to be thinking about an additional library card or reading to a certain little person. But this didn't stop me from

thinking about it and making a personal select purchase.

For the nephew, I chose a family favorite. I got him a James Marshall book, which is in fair condition. We'll call it loved. It was $2, and I immediately remembered the characters when I started to read it, which I thought was definitely worth $2.

Since I wasn't feeling like I was going to hurl right there in the library at that moment, I looked around the shelf a little more and found two that I have decided to keep for myself... er, um, rather, I got for the Rockwell library. I can officially say the first book I bought for my first (nobody get too excited) child is One Morning in Maine by Robert McCloskey. I didn't really want the ducklings anyway-- Blueberries for Sal would have been fine too, simply for the Mainey-ness of it all. Just looking at the cover transported me to a summer in Maine, enjoying a [rare] sunny day on the dock, listening to loons on the lake, swimming in the water and trying to describe the way it tastes as it sneaks into your mouth a little. It was funny how easy it was to spot the navy and green cover and recognize the sketches inside. For just a little, while that book took me somewhere else-- exactly where I needed to go. And for $5, it was certainly worth it.

I am home and hoping I might be on to something. The other books in the home library I will build from now on won't be the first, but if I do this once a week, I'll have something to look forward to doing, and I can re-discover places I haven't been for a while... which will be a nice escape.

Finally, Week 11

My absence in the blogosphere can be blamed on MNN, morning-noon-night sickness. I'm not going to call it morning sickness anymore because it just makes me upset to think I should be feeling better by noon each day.

Most of the week is a blur, but let me see if I can recall enough about each day to officially put it behind me and say I really don't ever want to have another week like Week 10. Ever. I'm just glad that the Olympics are going on because it gives me something to look forward to.

On Wednesday, after two straight days of struggling with liquids and liquid-like substances (yogurt), I called my doctor's office. I considered going there, but I didn't think they'd like it if I just walked in and started vomiting in their office. After patiently waiting on hold, the nurse asked me a handful of questions and told me to try Jell-O and Pedialyte. I had my list and was still staring at it when she called back to ask one more (and seemingly critical) question... What color is your pee? TMI? Maybe TMI for a blog, but I'm not afraid to share... there are a lot of other things worse than pee-hue that will likely be around the corner, right? The nurse was quiet for a second when I told her the little pee I'd seen that day was more like honey than apple juice. Yes, giant red flag-- and a ticket to the hospital. I guess it was my little whimper for help. After packing a few books, I was on my way to the emergency room.

I waited for about an hour in the United Nations of ERs, listening and watching my fellow patients in between chapters on beekeeping (I managed to finish the beekeeping book-- we can talk bees some other time). I got through after they called "Kelly"-- confused? Yep. I asked, "First name or last name?" A volunteer checked my wristband and said it was indeed my turn. Yay! A nice nurse my age named Liz gave me some warm blankets and hooked me up to a bag of fluids and drew some blood. A doctor came in and asked me some questions and then Liz returned with a little vial that turned out to be my salvation!

After another bag of fluid (I still hadn't peed, but I eventually did before I left), I was told my blood work looked borderline in some areas (potassium) but good enough to send me on my way. So I walked out feeling like a new woman and went straight to the pharmacy to fill the script for my new wonder drug, Zofran.

I resisted taking it until I could Google it a few times and it seemed like the benefits outweighed the misery, lack of sleep, and being in the hospital again so I took the medicine. I'm not myself, but I certainly am BETTER, and I'll settle for that.

Bag Lady

Never mind sending me bags... in my crazy pregnant mind I must have thought that was a good idea.

Now I have a better idea, thanks to a certain special someone who found these Bio Bags for me at Whole Foods. They're certified 100% compostable and just the right size. Much better than the plastic ones.

Asking for a little help here...

After two straight days of barely functioning (at the sickness scale of at least an 8, possibly 9), I am running out of plastic bags. I don't usually have this problem, seeing that I come from a long line of [somewhat] environmentally responsible hoarders and I collect the bags I get when I neglect to bring my fancy enviro-saks to the grocery store. I am pretty good about bringing them to Ralph's (how appropriate!) when I go to cash in my CRV bottles.

So when I started getting sick 3 weeks ago, I had a fairly good size bag of plastic sacks -- enough to distribute to the two vehicles and my TimBuk2... and now I'm really running low. So much so that I'm looking in cabinets around the kitchen for a few strays (found three this morning).

If you're reading this, you probably have my home address or at least know how to contact me for it. If you have extra bags around the house, could you please send me some? They'll be light and not cost much to send. I'm not about to go over to the grocery store and dig through the plastic bag recycling basin (though I've seen people do stranger things, I don't want to be that person!), I don't want to walk through the produce section at Whole Paycheck stuffing fruit bags into my pockets or walk into Trader Joe's and demand a stack of fresh plastic bags-- unfair to the bags, a single use? Such a sad life!

My neighbor happens to be pregnant too (a few weeks behind me) so I wouldn't want to take the bags that she might very well need. According to my calculations, I could be doing this sickness thing for another month, so even if you don't get to it today, please think of me when you ask for plastic next time you're at the store... and then run home a pop those suckers in a mailbox. Thanks!

She Can Read!

It's not like the President or even Elmo-- those guys have other people read their mail for them. I'm convinced that despite the hurdles of modern technology (is she a Mac or a PC?),

Mother Nature read my letter! She not only read my letter, but clearly took pity on me because how ELSE would I have managed to sleep through the night last night? It was the first time since Costa Rica (for those of you keeping track, that was Christmas and New Year's) that I slept through the night without interruption. I made it from 10:28pm 'til 7:36am. Woo-hoo!

I was shocked to see that the sun was out! While I'm still tired and certainly not over the nausea, I'll take this as a good first step toward the second trimester.

Today is the beginning of week 10. Let's make it a good one!

A Letter

Dear Mother Nature,
I know you have a sense of humor. Otherwise we wouldn't have the duckbill platypus or the Brazilian tapir. What I'd like to know is, if you like funny things and jokes, why do I have to be beyond miserable for so long!? I pay my taxes, I let old ladies cut in line at the grocery store, I recycle, I give to my local public radio station, I will compost in my new house and I do not believe that the Kardashians are celebrities. I really haven't done anything wrong, so why is this happening to me!? No joke here, just misery. Please please please make it stop!

I have a theory, and I am asking if this has any truth to it: This is to toughen me up.

1. I'm not good with sick people. Let's just say I'm not the friend holding hair back on a bad party night.

2. I've never been very good with kids. I will admit that I was a terrible babysitter and I hated the idea of babysitting. I still shudder to think about it.

3. I gag when I see or hear any signs of vomit, spit-up, phlegm or anything else like that. Just writing about it is making me queasy. 4. I don't get sick, like, ever, so this is your way of getting me to slow down and gestate.

5. You're really cruel and the platypus isn't a joke, it was a mistake.

With the exception of #4, I think they'll still be true during week 14, so why don't we just get this whole nausea-headache-pukie thing over with a little early? Wrap it up? No harm, right? Please?

Today has been a class-A misery date. February 11. Truly a 9 on the morning sickness stage chart. Really unbelievable how it's possible to feel so good one day (yesterday) and so bad the next. I am ready to feel normal now! Please do something to help me. Thanks, Kelly

Fast Food Not-So-Anonymous

I have a problem. I'm willing to admit it, because I seek any creative solution that will help me keep my figure as long as naturally possible.

Here's how it starts: I try to find food I want to eat at Whole Foods. I cruise straight to the veg and fruit and kind of wander around a bit and then I look at the bulk food a little, and make my way past the fish and the wine and beer and then to the beef. There's nothing I want there, either. I go over to the prepared foods, where I stare a little more and then think to myself, "Self, you're running out of options." I don't have a problem looking at the food, but I just don't want any of it.

No, I don't want noodles. Or soup. Or a salad. Or a breakfast burrito or a cinnamon bun. I don't want the fancy pizzas or the pretty orzo salads or the $1.99 latkes. It's really frustrating! So even when I'm trying to find something healthy and (not even necessarily) good for me, none of it is appetizing. And I can usually find something I want to eat, especially at Whole Foods. Nope. Not anymore. It's impossible.

So I go home nearly empty-handed. And I wonder why we don't have anything to eat when I return. I don't pack foodies for little field trips (more than a few hours away from the house) because I don't really want to eat anything. This is where my problems begin. And they usually end at Wendy's.

I will admit it, I'm ok with Wendy's grilled chicken sandwich. And I am really not familiar with fast food menus, but I'm slowly getting better at them because I find myself ready to pull over every once in a while and instead I pull into a drive-thru. After ten minutes and a few bites of sandwich, I generally recover. The funny thing is, I don't even want to eat the sandwich or its hamburger friends, but I go out of desperation. And so far it has worked for me. But what I know these foods are doing to my body doesn't work. So I am taking suggestions. But don't be offended if I don't want to take advice or eat any of your suggested meals, because it's hard enough to find something to eat right now.