I took Rob to the pediatrician yesterday, and the pediatrician said he doesn’t see how it can possibly be whooping cough. Then he retracted that statement, saying that whenever he says something like that, he can almost guarantee the test will come back positive just to show him doctors shouldn’t get too full of themselves. (Ha ha. Thanks for giving my child WHOOPING COUGH with your HUBRIS.) He thinks it’s probably not even a cold, just seasonal allergies. But in any case, the test results for whooping cough won’t be back until Thursday afternoon or Friday morning. This is me, not freaking out about the minuscule risk that we might expose a zero-day-old baby to whooping cough.
Now Edward and William are coughing. Listen, I am this close to kenneling these children for the next week. If the rates were reasonable I might throw Paul in, too: this morning he said he hadn’t wanted to tell me but he’s had a sore throat for two days and today it’s worse. He stayed home from work, which is actually good timing because he can help with the kids while I bump around the house like a caffeinated bumblebee.
Normally he wouldn’t go to the doctor for a sore throat, but I am getting really jumpy about all this illness and I said he had to. I believe my voice got a little shrill. I’d been up since 4:30 (couldn’t get back to sleep after third pee of the night) dealing with the existing situations (note to Rob’s teacher about the doctor appointment; email to my in-laws explaining that if they send me last-minute crucial contact information at 8:00 tomorrow morning, as they have done twice before on my c-section date, I will not be here to receive it), and I was in no mood to add yet another complication. If he’s contagious, he can stay home tomorrow with all the children and I will go off to the hospital free and easy and not give any of them a single thought.
I feel queasy and fluttery. This day is the one day of the entire pregnancy that doesn’t seem long. I gave the twins baths, and I’m on a second load of laundry. I don’t have much I need to do, but I want to have plenty of hours to let that truth be felt. I want to be able to go into one room and then another, seeing the empty laundry baskets, the empty trash cans, and the fresh sheets. I want to visit my muffin stockpile in the freezer. I want time to go over my hospital bag list twenty extra times to make sure I’m not forgetting anything that will make me unable to have the baby after all, and I want to re-read the hospital pamphlet so I won’t forget not to get up at 3:00 a.m. and eat a steak. Oh my god, what if I lose my mind and accidentally eat BREAKFAST in the morning? What THEN? I need to re-read the pamphlet right now.
You say ‘spastic bumblebee” but you seem SO COMPOSED! I can’t get over how you type using mature punctuation like periods, and serious ALL CAPS, and not a single freak-out exclamation point. (See? I even wanted to put one right THERE, but had to match your calm tone.) (….!)
Stay in this place, Mama, it is a good one. Best of luck today and tomorrow. We can’t wait to meet your Baby. :)
Hope all goes smoothly tomorrow. Yay baby!
“I want to visit my muffin stockpile in the freezer.” – HA ha ha!! So funny. Sending you zen-like calmness for the rest of today. So excited for you and your new boy about to make his entry into the world.
How exciting!!! However, your family needs to get healthy, like yesterday!
Well, I guess this is what having a family is all about. It’s just just peaceful and a bed of roses…uhh, well, never!
I think you’re baby-focused and rightfully so. You just worry about you and that new little life you’re about to bring into this world. We’ll be anxiously waiting to hear all about the new baby and birthing experience. Until then, I’ll be sending happy thoughts your way.
Good luck tomorrow. Can’t wait to hear how the whole thing goes.
So exciting! I’ve been following along (yes, ‘lurking’) as my due date is next Thursday and you’ve been a great help to this first-time preggo. Best of luck to you – you sound so calm and composed which is awesome. It’s going to be a great day tomorrow!
Wow…good luck tomorrow.
Sending WELL Vibes your way. I hope your family is not contagious/infected/diseased & will all be well for the new baby.
:)
Oh! A Baby! It is going to be wonderful. You just wait and see.
wow, a baby. Tomorrow!
Congratulations in advance,
Sara
Oh my Gosh. I’m so excited for you, I can hardly stand it! Here’s hoping the cold is just a cold. And that baby boy’s first exposure to his new family will not be a germy one.
Can’t wait to hear all about it!
More zen thoughts coming your way….
You know, for some reason I find it comforting that the last minute panic never gets any easier, even if it’s Baby #5. Baby Swistle is almost here. Hurray!
I think knowing the exact time (as in the case of a planned c-section) would just make me more nervous and jittery. I’d totally be counting/re-counting, packing/re-packing and definitely reading and re-reading all paraphenalia from the hospital just in case I somehow missed something the other fifty-odd times I’d already done that. You know, because the thing I’d miss would be important.
Good luck and wishing you a healthy baby and a speedy and easy recovery! Can’t wait to hear the details!!!
Good luck tomorrow and I know you won’t forget and eat breakfast. ;)
“I don’t have much I need to do, but I want to have plenty of hours to let that truth be felt.”
Boy, do I understand that. But when my doctor called me one afternoon and said “I’ve moved your induction to tonight,” (instead of a week later), I did not get that luxury. And it still all turned out fine.
Thinking of you.
Good luck! Exciting!!
Thinking of you, of course!!
You must manage our expectations (as my boss says) as to when you’ll be able to post with baby news! I can only refresh my Google Reader so many times in one day!
It seems to me, at this late hour, that the diseased family falls squarely on the shoulders of the person NOT having the baby!
Good luck, Swistle. Can’t wait to hear about your beautiful baby boy!
Just stopping by to send my best wishes that everything goes well tomorrow. Sorry to hear about the diseased family… hopefully the illness is short-lived and gone by the time you get home with baby. :-)
Good luck!
Very excited about the baby! :) You’ll be in my thoughts all day tomorrow. Both of my babies have been scheduled inductions so I know all about the Final Hours and that mixture of excitement and anxiety. Congrats on the new baby boy!
I’ll be thinking about you tomorrow! YAY FOR BABIES!
Just found you through Sundry – good luck with everything tomorrow!
I’m thinking about you! And I think we’re long lost sisters,,,I too fret about accidentally eating and I love empty laundry baskets!
I’ll be thinking of you! Can’t wait for an update. :)
BABY BABY BABY! There’s gonna be a BABY!
Just run around the house singing that and you’ll be fine! Just breathe!
BABY BABY BABY! I love babies! Can’t wait to meet yours!
Today I was sitting at a red light and thinking “It’s almost time for Swistle’s baby!” Which gave me a break from thinking about my impending baby! Sending you tons of good thoughts – for everyone to be HEALTHY – and will constantly refresh for the baby update!
Hooray! Baby tomorrow!!!
SO exciting!!
can’t wait to hear all about your new little guy!
Good luck! Congratulations! Have fun!
I’ve been thinking of you on and off all day, imagining what it must be like to KNOW that the baby will definitely be here tomorrow. How must that feel? I think I would like it. A definite end in sight. But on the other hand… I’d be a three alarm setter for sure, paranoid that I’d somehow forget about this date I’ve been anticipating for nine months and choose this morning to sleep in!
It’s funny to know you still feel this way even after three previous births. I guess the end of a pregnancy is just an anxious time, no matter how scheduled you’re able to be about it.
So here’s wishing you a magically restful night’s sleep (it must be like trying to sleep on Christmas Eve when you’re a kid!) and a smooth morning. And of course, a healthy family. All seven of you!
Congratulations and good luck! Enjoy that maternity ward food while you can :=)
I am so excited for you. I know exactly what you mean about wanting to walk around the house and see everything in it’s place and ready for this new baby.
I’m behind on my reading. Congrats, congrats, congrats. Hope all goes/went smoothly!!!!