Misery and the Potty

I've had a mild-severe headache for the past week. Sure, it goes away with Tylenol, but it's been rather annoying.

At my OB appointment last week, and the appointment with my regular doctor two days later, we decided to change my current allergy regimen. This was possibly one of the worst decisions I have ever agreed to.

I switched from Zyrtec to Claritin. I began using a nasal spray to hopefully control sinus swelling and thus avoiding Sudafed. The plan was that it would also hopefully help control some asthma symptoms I've been having lately.

None of this worked. I started taking the Claritin and nasal spray (I want to say Flonase, but it could be another type) on Thursday night. Friday morning, I woke up with one of the worst migraines I've had in about 6 or so months. I want to take a moment here and say that migraines don't present "typically" in me (to that, I say what does?) because I don't have sound sensitivity. Normally, as long as I can lay or sit still somewhere in the dark or with my eyes shut, I can "function". This involves not moving at all and with an active toddler, it's hard. Todd did stay home on Friday. My symptoms lasted through the weekend, with me assuming the headaches were because I wasn't used to a nasal spray. So on Sunday night, I didn't take the spray.

I have woken up everyday since with a headache. Jack missed daycare on Tuesday because My headache had me up From 4-7:30 AM. The pain is just bordering between uncomfortable and functional; but leaving the house and exposing myself to sunshine seems to be when the pain peaks at its worst. I don't need Todd here, but I have relied heavily on those annoying Little Einsteins as helpful babysitters. I am trying to stay equally hydrated and caffeinated, which helps to some extent. Potty training has been moved to the back burner until I can focus both of my eyes on the same thing without it feeling like someone is prodding my brain with some type of Egyptian mummification device.

When I went in for my BP check this week (postponed tues to thurs) my BP was a bit high. Not worrisome, but enough to draw some baseline labs. It's been creeping up the last month or so, and I'm ever grateful that I'm going weekly to monitor it. Todd's optimism never fails. He helped me through some mild panic yesterday by reminding me that we are already a month further than when I was placed on bed rest with Jack. I only have 2.5 more months to go with miss Nina and if I have to go on bed rest now, I know my MIL will be there for support. He had to talk me out of a full on panic attack after receiving the worst blood draw of my life.

I have excellent veins. I have even better veins when I am hydrated, which I was yesterday. I also have a history of nearly fainting when my blood is drawn. Fertility treatments and pregnancy blood draws helped with that, but I still cannot see the blood leaving my body or discuss what is happening. The woman that drew me always manages to leave a bruise, so often that I usually drive about 20 minutes out of my way to go to the other lab. I had three pokes on Monday for my GD test and none of the marks left a bruise. The guy that drew me was quick, efficient, and was excellent at distractions. yesterday, the woman missed my vein, had to fish, hit something "hard" and proceeded to tell me all about it. Combine the stress of the draw with the fact that my toddler was running around the room and I got a bit woozy. Not good. My arm hurt to bend at the elbow for the next 20 minutes or so. Thanks lady, today I have a bruise.

How has Jack been this week? I would never have believed that he is 2. He will occasionally jump on me and scream if I'm laying on the couch, but he's 2 and mommy has largely ignored him for about a week now. He does seem to know I'm not feeling well. He comes up to me and tries to give me pillows, blankets, or bring me his Mickey or Woody, and sometimes is so confused why mommy is crying that he offers up his beloved binky. He says "mama owie?" and tries to kiss my invisible owies better. This usually involves him pulling up my shirt and pointing at my belly button and saying "ow?" as he kisses my belly better. No tantrums, minor whining, and he lets me know if he wants a diaper change or to sit on the potty. He's been, in a word, awesome. I am very lucky to have him instead of a monster toddler.

Despite my neglect in the potty training area, he lets us know when he wants to pee. Last night after his bath, he was enjoying some naked playtime (read: running away when we tried to put a diaper on or get his teeth brushed) when he stopped, grabbed his penis and said "yellow?" I yelled at Todd to put him on the potty. He sat, peed, and signed "more" while saying "yellow!" I'm assuming "yellow" means m&ms in this case, since he gets m&ms for going pee. Despite having finally brushed his teeth, I gave him m&ms because he recognized his need, let us know, and held his pee while Todd ran and got the potty seat. We were so impressed by Jack that we just kept reflecting on it. It beat out last weekend's start-stop-run to the potty incident that resulted in a tiny accident. I'm honestly amazed at how easy this process has been. It's certainly not what I expected when we decided to potty train. It's also not quite what I envisioned and hoped. We were hoping for another quick Jack led weaning, but he just doesn't want to give up his diapers just yet. Maybe we're just not there yet. Perhaps after his first poop in the potty.