Oh, my head

Despite having a fabulous Christmas with good food, family and friends, we've been invaded by germs. I came down with a bad ear infection Saturday where Bjorn had to take me to the emergency care place to get seen. It would figure I would need medical attention on the Saturday of a holiday weekend. The very nice doctor on call confirmed that I did indeed have a "raging ear infection" and prescribed lots of goodies including antibiotics to kill the bacteria, Nasonex to clear the passages, ear drops to numb the pain and Percocet to help me deal with pain and sleep. The pain had eased by Sunday in time for Christmas Eve festivities and by Christmas Day I still had the ringing in my ear, but otherwise felt better. By Tuesday, however, the stomach bug hit. I went to work for a few hours and endured stares from people saying "Get out of here, you crazy lady, and don't get the rest of us sick." I went to the doctor who said the ear was healing up nicely, but that stomach trouble was just a side effect of the antibiotics. He said to stay on them for another week, but after a night like last night where I couldn't keep anything down, I opted against starting up again. I figure I'll kick the stomach bug and then go back to the ear infection. Bjorn has also managed to get some type of stomach bug so we've been a joy to be around. Fortunately, Andy has seemed to miss this one (knock wood, HARD). Keep your fingers crossed that today was the worst of it for us. Those last 24 hours have been tough.

I have a new appreciation for how kids with ear infections feel. The pain hurts worse than I remembered and those antibiotics really do a number on an already sensitive stomach. It might make me rethink treatment for him in the future.

In my seclusion, I stumbled upon this Web site and this rang true for me -

I love my kids. I just don’t love the actual work of raising them. Oh and the amount of talking it requires. And the public humiliation. Also, the guilt of doing this job. But otherwise I love it all.

I, too, love my son more than I ever thought possible (oh, cliche), but what she said made me chuckle. And feel better that I'm not the only one out there, especially on a day like today where I feel so crappy, who wishes for a live-in housekeeper/nanny. You know, Pam Ewing on Dallas was always touted as the nicest, sweetest, bestest mom ever and she's always handing her kid off to the nanny to put to bed.