Trials of a Mother of 3

This is going to the most interesting thing you've read all day - no doubt about it...

I haven't felt great all week, but my stubbornness showed through this week and I didn't go to the doctor. I kept thinking I would get better, but that just didn't happen. Maybe I would have been okay if it hadn't been for Tuesday night. Anna Kate slept no more than 3 hours all night long so neither did I :( It went something like this -

8:00 PM - Anna Kate goes to bed at the normal time (8-ish)and all seems to be well with our world.
10:00 PM - Jon and I go to bed.
10:10 PM - Anna Kate wakes up crying (screaming actually) - I'm thinking she may be hungry but most likely just needs a cuddle and will go back to sleep
10:50 PM she's still awake and I begin to wonder if she's cutting another tooth, but when I feel around her mouth there are no "tooth bumps" - turn on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse - more crying
11:30 PM - still awake - try to watch Word World - her all time favorite show - no good! Give her tylenol and wonder if I should call the doctor
12:00 PM finally get to sleep - thanks Tylenol -
1:00 AM - Anna Kate wakes up again and I know I should be moving faster but it's just not happening - still wonder what on earth is keeping her up all night long...
2:00 AM - back to sleep in the recliner
4:00 AM - wake Jon up because I can't hold my head up any longer
6:00 AM - get up and iron school clothes, make breakfast and lunches, and be pleasant when waking Gracie and Caroline for school
7:00 AM plan to call the doctor at 8:00 

AND THEN IT HAPPENED ********FLASHBACK to 10 years ago**************

I finally figured out it had to be an ear infection! So, I called the doctor at 8:00 and took the first appointment I could get (with a different doctor than our regular one, of course). Lucky for us it was at 8:45! Jon and I got in the car and headed to Rivergate only to get behind the absolute slowest car on the road Wednesday morning - my nerves were shot! I can't remember the last time I passed someone on a highway, but it happened Wednesday morning because it was just getting on my nerves that he would not exceed 40 MPH - not even going down the ridge!

The doctor confirmed the ear infection and gave us an antibiotic - the normal pink stuff. Herein begins Trial #2 - getting Anna Kate to take antibiotics - we probably should have videoed it. The faces she made, the swatting at the syringe, and finally the puking it all back up - YEP! We had to do it twice. By the third dose of the day, she was getting better at taking it though. AND she slept!

This next part is where I learned a valuable lesson in being a mother of three kids who constantly need something. By Thursday, I was feeling rough. I finally gave in to my stubbornness and went to the doctor - I had so much sinus pressure that my teeth were hurting. As I was driving to the doctor's office I thought about how much easier the past few days would have been if I weren't feeling badly too - and I made the decision not to let it go next time. The doctor prescribed Bactrim (SP?) and as she said the name of the medicine I had a moment when I remembered there was something bad about that medicine - but what was it???? My brain was too tired to remember.....until this morning - two doses later. I was sitting in the rocking chair with Anna Kate (who is much better by the way) and I remembered breaking out in hives from head to toe just a few short months ago. My skin immediately started itching as I tried to remember the name of that medicine that made me have the reaction.... I couldn't remember, so I tried calling the doctor (still itching) who conveniently closes at 11:30 on Fridays (It was 12:00). Finally, I remember that I had the prescription filled at a Walgreens and call them. They confirmed that I did have an allergic reaction to none other than BACTRIM! UGH! I spent a good part of the afternoon trying to get that prescription changed and finally did get something different called in to the pharmacy. I do not have hives this time, but just the thought of how bad they were that time made my skin crawl (i'm itching right now as I type about it).