When it rains, it pours.

I have finally found the time and energy to write about the latest fiasco in my household. And amazingly, this is not a Nevaeh-centered story.

Last week I felt the beginnings of a cold. Or what I assumed would turn into a cold. I had a sore throat and that's where it always starts with me. But it never progressed into nasal congestion, plugged ears, or a cough. Just an incredibly painful throat (second only to the "Sore Throat of 2001" when I also had mono -- that sore throat landed me on codeine for awhile). So anyway, I finally went to a Minute Clinic (www.minuteclinic.com) on Monday and was tested for strep throat. Sure enough, the rapid strep test came back positive within 3 minutes. I'm now on penicillin and the sore throat was gone within 24 hours of popping the first pill. I'm kicking myself for not having gone in sooner, especially when I was fairly convinced that it was indeed strep. But you know what, now that I'm not feeling the pain anymore, I've kind of forgotten about how awful last week really was.

And what made it worse was that Nevaeh (ok, I guess Nevaeh played a part in this story after all) was projectile vomiting last Friday night. She didn't seem to have any pain, so I think her tummy was just too full from 3 meals of solids and bottles. She started a mini coughing fit and up it all came. That was my first vomit experience with her and I know now why parents used to tell me that I'm lucky I haven't had to deal with it before. It was all over my leather chair, my clothes, her clothes, in my hair, on the kitchen floor, fridge, stove, cupboards, sink… I spent 10 minutes cleaning it all up (because who wants to deal with it after it's crusted over?) while Nevaeh laid on the bathroom floor giggling and playing with her feet, started a load of laundry, and settled back down in the chair with her to finish her bedtime bottle. I had just burped her and was ready to bring her to bed when…. Yep…. Up it all came again. Repeat aforementioned cleaning process. I ended up sleeping on the floor next to her crib because I was terrified that she was going to be sick all night. After a couple hours of coughing every 10-15 minutes (and only one more mess to clean up), she finally settled into sleep and I got about 4 hours of sleep myself. But can I just point out how incredibly tiring it is to take care of a sick baby plus your own sick self? Not fun, but I'm glad we survived this round.