mastitis and more

All last week Sarah and I have been coughing this horrible cough that carried now other symptoms with it. No runny nose, no aches and pains, no mucus. Just this weird, dry cough. Sarah always gets croupy with any cough so she sounds like a seal. I've met a lot of people this summer with this cough. Friday I had a migraine from hell, surely from the massive thunder storm that was trying to come through all day until it finally did around 4pm. Between my menstural contractions (they were a few steps beyond cramps) and the migraine, I just felt worn way out. I had run that morning and was so slow. Like it took me 8 minutes longer to do my usual run. That's very slow. I had no idea what was going on until...
Yesterday morning I woke up with a fever, chills and pain throughout my body. My throat was inflamed and I had a painful lump in my breast. A clogged duct turned to mastitis overnight. I went back to bed, shivering and woke up later covered in sweat, the fever broke. Still, I my body was aching. It felt like every ligament was on fire. Add to that day 2 of a very heavy period that closely mirrored early-active labor for the first few hours of the morning...I wanted to crawl under a rock and sleep.
Instead, life as usual. Greg was working. So we all got dressed and did our grocery shopping. My mom came by and we went to Trader Joe's. I bought some Emergen'C. After I drank some and ate some lunch I was feeling better. We walked to the Ypsi Shadow Art Fair which was fun. I wished they had a larger space to gather in though. It was tight in there. But it was air-conditioned, much to my relief. I pictured it was being in the parking lot of the Corner Brewery.
We ended up leaving with a bracelet for Sarah, an Iggy Pop is from Ypsilanti shirt for me, a little water color of hong Kong stuck to a sheet of wrinkled metal and some coffee. It was so hot out.

By the time we walked home, I was feeling like crap again. I called Greg and told him to finish up soon (by this time he was at Karls wrenching in the junk yard). He said he'd be home in an hour. An hour and a half later he came home. I went to bed. The house was cool thanks to all 3 window ACs going. Eamon couldn't wrap his head around his mama laying down in the middle of the day. He kept busting in to the room and jumping into bed, laughing. "Mama go night-night? Me go night-night too!" and then he'd scramble under the blankets, kicking me and giggling. Greg came in and grabbed him and told him to let Mama sleep. After 3 more Eamon interruptions I locked the door, which made him stand at the door and rattle the knob calling, "Maaaama!" The kids played in the dining room jumping and thumping and laughing. So loud. I stayed in my bedroom for 2 hours and slept all of 10 minutes. I came out and the house was destroyed. There was a bag of sand and seashells dumped all over Sarah's floor with about 52 wodd animal game tiles. The living room was covered in various puzzle pieces and toys. Greg brought up a basket of laundry but didn't fold it (which makes me crazy because then it just gets incredibly wrinkled~I'd rather him leave it in the dryer).
I was so pissed but didn't have the energy to say a word. I came out to both kids telling me they were hungry (I had left instructions with Greg as to what to cook them for dinner). So I started dinner and began cleaning the mess. Then I folded the laundry.
What is it with men? I know they're not stupid, but I've definitely noticed a trend in them not to choose to make that wee bit of extra effort that would make things so much easier for everyone. I've taken the kids out of the house or played quietly with them in order than Greg can sleep. And of course I feed them and keep the house in decent shape. I take one afternoon for the first time in 2 years to try to rest and all the guy does is sit on the couch watching tv while the kids have a blast wrecking the place. Grrrrr!
So not fair.
So there I was with a fever again, very achey, very tired and very awake and angry. The kids were fed and the house was clean all in 30 minutes. Fortunately the kids went down around8:30. I lay in bed til midnight finishing up this book I got from the library called, Nobody Nowhere, by Donna Williams. It's her autobiography about growing up as a pretty severely autistic child. Not to mention being horribly neglected and abused by her mother. She ends up as a high functioning autistic. Interesting book. It was published in 1992. I'm going to check out if she's written anything else since. It was very interesting.
Today I feel much better. There's still a lump in my breast, but at this point it's just a clogged duct. The cough is still there. But the aches and pains are pretty much gone. We're supposed to be meeting my sister, her husband and boys at the lake today. Because she has teenage boys, she has the advantage of using them as porters. When we go to the lake, it's just me carrying our bags, rafts, sand toys and food~ so it's kept to a minimum. My sister brings the charcoal, lighter fluid, hamburgers, potato salad, chips, pop, rafts, lawn chairs, blankets, towels, deck of cards, etc. Everyone is lugging something down to the beach. It's hilarious but fun. And she barks out orders to her kids, "Go help your aunt Mandy! Watch Eamon so she can sit down for a few minutes!" I love it.

I got a call from NARM saying there were a "few discrepencies" regarding my portfolio and application. I thought I was gonna vomit on the spot. As if the IRS were calling me. The woman was very sweet and helpful though~ seeming she well understood how stressful the process is. When I thanked her for being so sweet she said they're all midwives who process the portfolios and they're all they're to help bring more midwives into the world. The mistakes were just a couple of dumb things, things that I forgot to write (like that I attended high school on the former education part~ don't know how I did that). She sent me the extra forms to resubmit. She also said my client evaluation form and my professional evaluation form didn't arrive yet. I know about the professional one and its not such a big deal. But the client one I sent off June 24th. I ran into the client I gave it to yesterday and she said she filled it out and mailed it the next day, but would happily re-fill out another. It's these little pain-in-the-ass things that make me stay awake at night. I just want the process to go smoothly.
It looks like I will be taking the written exam in February provided I pass the skills exam and firstly, get through the application process. I'm scared to re-fill out the couple extra forms when the kids are around, because I know that's why the first batch was screwed up.
Where's my Swiss au pair so I can get this shit done?!
It was proven to me yesterday that my study time for the NARM will have to be done away from the house. If I can't even have flu sick day 2 hour nap because all hell breaks loose when mama hits the hay, then I certainly can not study at home unless the kids and Greg are gone.

All right, off for a shower and to get these kids dressed for the day.