We seriously have not gone more than a couple days since September without someone falling ill, or me suffering morning sickness. Just when I think life is back on track and I'm just starting to get my house back in order, BAM! Stomach flu. Colds. Scary weirdo rash. Seriously. How many illnesses and maladies can one family get in a five-month stretch? Let's recap:
Mid-September, the morning sickness kicked in. Then I got the weird sinus thing that made me think my teeth were rotting out of my head. Followed by a UTI, then a yeast infection (woo-hoo!). That brought us to November, when Audrey and I got colds just as the morning sickness was beginning to ease a bit. We had a couple day reprieve, just in time to head to the inlaws for Thanksgiving, and then back at home we both got colds AGAIN!!! This was followed immediately by the stomach flu, just in time for Christmas.
January, YAY! New Year, everyone is healthy, oops, wait, why is Audrey complaining that her back hurts and tugging at her diaper a lot? We thought UTI (worried that the back pain was her kidneys) and had her go on antibiotics, but now I'm not so sure she ever even had one, because on the last day (day 10) of the meds, she got a little rash. These innocent-looking handful of spots suddenly exploded into huge hideous hive-type splotches all over her body. She was itchy and miserable. Then her left knee swelled up to the size of an apple. We hauled her to the doc, thinking it was a reaction to the amoxicillin, but she was diagnosed with anaphylactic purpura, which usually follows an upper respiratory infection, but it had been a while since her cold, so it still could be from the meds. A day later, an arm and a foot and the other knee swelled and got really painful and she couldn't walk or sit up on her own or use her hands. SO SAD!!! But then the rash just vanished, and finally all the swelling went away.
This illness is a hyper immune reaction, causing the body to attack blood vessels, usually in the skin, but it can also target ones in the kidneys and intestines, so we had to take her in for blood tests and had to get her to pee in a cup. She's MAJORLY anti-potty training, so we had to strip her of her diaper and lock ourselves in the bathroom with her when we knew she had to pee until she could hold it no longer, proceeded by much crying and wailing (not just by Audrey). We could be fucked for potty training for quite some time following all that trauma. But we got the sample!! And kidney function looks fine!! (Why does this girl insist on contracting illnesses that threaten the kidneys?? It will be a miracle if she doesn't have kidney problems as an adult....) So we don't know if the original complaints we thought were UTI were the start of the purpura thing (can cause abdominal pain), or if that was an added bonus, or if the purpura came from the meds.
With all the stress and sleepless nights of worry, Audrey-cuddling and 2 am medicine doses, I was not taking care of my own health at all, and now I have an evil cold that is NOT going away, causing more sleepless nights. Sigh.
It feels like the sickliest pregnancy EVER, but I keep reminding myself that I'm not having any serious preggo complications, like many women suffer. I'm almost to the third trimester already! Crazy!!! I don't think I'm eating enough with all that is going on, but still the belly grows, and little "Maggie" seems to be doing quite well in there, doing gymnastics, running on a treadmill, throwing punches, at ALL hours of the day.
One of these days, I'll try to get a belly photo with the rest of me in it, but I have been highly unattractive for months now with all the illness, plus preggo acne (fun!) and bad hair. Here's a recent photo of Audrey, just before the rash struck.
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