Somebody call the whaaam-bulance!

..edit... I don't know why my formatting isn't working. The periods are there so your eyeballs don't explode from too many words all bunched together.

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The last few weeks have been brutal. I had finals, I had a sinus infection and I even had bronchitis. I had them all at the same time.

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What does a pregnant woman seeing a naturopathic doctor take for ailments? A whole lot of nothing. Benadryl if I can't sleep, excedrine extra strength for sinus pain, and bronchial saline every 4 hours via the nebulizer for the chest. Let me tell you it has been a shitty 3 weeks. Walking from my bedroom to the bathroom (which is IN my bedroom) takes all energy out of me. Like serious exhaustion. Even then returning to bed it takes me a few minutes (LIKE 10!!) to gain my strength back. I think some of it is mental. I'm mentally exhausted, and physically exhausted and that's from both sickness and from pregnancy. Im due in four short weeks ( as of tomorrow) and I can't imagine lasting that long.

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Last week I woke up in the middle of the night with the most horrible of horrible contractions. They felt real. I thought for sure I was going to have the baby that night. They were in my back and wrapping around to the front of my lower abdomen. My whole stomach was SO tight. I couldn't even breath or move or wake up Jerry. They were two minutes apart lasting a few minutes. Jerry blissfully slept through all this. I started feeling panicky because I was thinking like, did i sleep through early labor and now I'm in transition? I started shaking and feeling nauseous. This went on for about 2 hours, eventually I started falling asleep as soon as the contraction lessened in the least bit and then would wake up again 1 or 2 minutes later. But then I fell asleep and didn't wake up until 6am. I woke Jerry frantically, my body felt like you feel after labor, a mixture between getting hit by a car and being involved in a stampede. I told him he needed to look online and see how often I needed to feel the baby move. I was 90% sure she wasn't even alive and was practically in tears. I felt her a couple of times very very softly but it was over an hour before I felt a very real, definite kick. I saw my midwife and the baby checked out just fine, her heart rate was in the 160s and she had by that time been moving happily (and stabbing me with her sharp elbows) for a few hours.

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And that led me to being put on modified bed rest. My midwife cannot legally deliver me for another two weeks and at least one more week before the hospital would deliver me. I have been having more contractions since then, well Braxton hicks (if you'd like to be technical) and my body just feels so danged tired. The baby is still in such a different position than any of the other kids, my hips and back and top of my stomach feel like there must be at least a 9 pounder in there. It's ridiculous. I am very eager to find out what she does end up weighing... and I'm praying it isn't 9 pounds!!

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I'm done with finals now though and over the weekend I slept a lot and did a lot of nothing around the house. We did manage to go out to dinner on Friday with the kids. We drove to South Center Mall and ate at the Rain Forest Cafe. Lucy was of course, terrified of the place and spent a little bit of time hiding her face in her hands or lying face first on the table with her arms dangling next to her. Very pitiful. The kids loved it though and we ordered mac and cheese for them (gross and boring) and they loved it and ate a ton.

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The sinus infection is almost gone, or at least the horrible pain in my face has died down enough that I can now sleep in my bed, on only two pillows instead of a reclined position. The bronchitis is still around, though not as bad. I do sound like I have emphysema though if I don't use the nebulizer about every 4 hours and lying down hurts because of that. I feel like my lungs are burning/buzzing in my chest and breathing is though necessary, not pleasant.

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On Monday we went back to our routine. Or attempted... and failed. I'm not kidding, I could not get myself awake and out of bed to get breakfast for the kids. Jerry walked Sam to the bus stop and then we collapsed back into bed until like 10:30. I feel better knowing he was as tired as I was!! During all of spring break not one of the kids woke up before 9 and one morning we all slept in until 10:30. That is ridiculous at this house!!! Lucy though, is going through some sort of stage where she's waking up more often than an infant. At least every two hours if not more.

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So it's been about three weeks that I haven't done any housework. If something NEEDS to be done then Jerry does it graciously. I don't think you can imagine the state my house is in though. It's like... I don't even know, probably the worst it's ever been. I didn't do laundry for over a week (OH MY GOD. Did I just admit that ONLINE!?!) and the kitchen has seen better days... like any day of it's life. But in stead of taking care of housework on Monday we went to the book store with the three littles and I bought two books for my book club (which you should all join because it's really awesome and it's online, on facebook.) When I came home I had enough energy (I should say "zest", energy is no longer in my repetoir.) to take two hours and clean the kids' bathroom. I wanted to do two things, like the bathroom and the kitchen or something but I just couldn't.

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I had a terrible time getting the kids to bed that night. Joe was up playing in his room literally TWO HOURS after I put him to bed. With the damned light on. When Jerry got home I collapsed into a puddle of self pity and apologized for being the laziest wife, meanest mom and worst general person ever. He forgave me of course and told me he knew it was only because I wasn't feeling well. I was like, "oh yeah, duh. I haven't become a horrible person after all." but after three weeks it feels more like life and less like "boohoo I have a cold. *sniffle*"

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Today I did get up at 7, had a cup of tea and then cleaned my bedroom and the laundry room and did 4 loads of laundry. The kitchen is still appalling as are the children's' rooms, my bathroom, and the living room. But, one step at a time. I still feel like death. We had a power outage for about an hour and I decided to read on my bed since it was SO gorgeous outside. I opened the blinds and the window and pulled my gorgeous quilt over my lap. I vaguely remember smiling in contentedness at my bird picture before things became blury.

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I woke up two hours later. Jerry had left for work, Lucy was sleeping, the boys were playing their DS games and Molly was watching a movie on the computer. It was amazing. The kids reported Daddy had fed them lunch before going to work.

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Have I mentioned he is freaking amazing?

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One day I wont be pregnant and I'll just be able to do normal house work like I used to and maybe I wont complain so much....

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bwahaha. Okay, no, I probably will complain just as much if not more.

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p.s. The last two nights I have been hearing frogs croaking SO loudly. It's so magical and lulls me into sleep and sweet dreams.