The Happiest Reason Ever to Feel Like Crap
I mentioned in my last post that the last few weeks have been happily hectic... I think the sentiment can best be summed up by the card my mother-in-law got for Flannery that read "Pregnancy is the happiest reason ever to feel like crap."
That's right! We're expecting and we couldn't be happier/more terrified/overjoyed/overwhelmed.
Unfortunately, she's suffering from a condition called Hyperemesis gravidarum, which literally means excessive vomiting. Essentially, she's been too nauseated to hold down anything, even water. We had to go to the emergency room last Tuesday and get her hooked up to an IV to keep her hydrated. We then had to call a home nursing service to come and hook her up with an IV and a pump for anti-nausea medication so she can be at least be at home, if bed-ridden.
The good news is that despite the Hyperemesis, the baby is incredibly healthy. In fact, we've been told by several doctors that the health of the baby is often inversely proportional to how sick the mother gets, so we should statistically have a baby with a very high Constitution score.
Flannery's been steadily improving in appetite over the last few days (though not nausea-wise) and has been eating ice, grapes, sorbet, weak peppermint tea, and fruit smoothies (fruit smoothies have quickly become a specialty of mine) and (as of today) Cheetos.
This has all kept me pretty busy playing nurse (assisting with the changing of IV bags and syringes), running to the store (I'm avoiding buying large quantities of anything because her digestion is fickle) and the library/comic book store for reading material, making smoothies and preparing the dozens of small "meals" that she has throughout the day, and staying on top of the zillion dishes we go through daily. On top of all this, I've been working from home full-time. I've even, somehow, managed to draw and produce a concert poster for a fairly well-known rock band in between all of this (see my previous blog entry). I've also been fighting (not successfully) the nesting instincts that men get. What I want to do is buy some lumber and build a damn house. What I'm settling for is spending hours in office supply and hardware stores getting organizational and home improvement items and cleaning. I spent an hour yesterday cleaning the kitchen sink and the area around it (I actually had to force myself to step away from it before I started cleaning the garbage can).
So on top of this intensely busy schedule and pair-bond nest building, I've come down with ANOTHER cold (although I'm starting to think that when I start getting fatigued and overwrought that I develop cold-like symptoms so that I'll slow my butt down and get some rest... psychosomatic sickness, if you will). Either way, Constitution was obviously my dump-stat.
Despite the monumental amount of work going on and the insane amount of fatigue that I'm feeling, I'm pretty happy. I feel privileged and honored to be taking part in the grand adventure that is fatherhood from the ground up, so to speak. And taking care of Flannery feels less like a chore and more like when I'm painting and I'm deep into it -- in that Zen-like place that comes from pouring all of your energy into making something from your heart and soul.
It doesn't hurt that Flannery is taking everything with a huge amount of courage, stoicism, and her usual humor. (She's requested to inform the Internet that the IV tubing really brings out the color of her eyes). I feel like we're a real team and she's the one really doing all the hard work (which she IS... duh!).
There'll be further updates as we go along, Internet, but for now, I'm off to do another round of dishes.
That's right! We're expecting and we couldn't be happier/more terrified/overjoyed/overwhelmed.
Unfortunately, she's suffering from a condition called Hyperemesis gravidarum, which literally means excessive vomiting. Essentially, she's been too nauseated to hold down anything, even water. We had to go to the emergency room last Tuesday and get her hooked up to an IV to keep her hydrated. We then had to call a home nursing service to come and hook her up with an IV and a pump for anti-nausea medication so she can be at least be at home, if bed-ridden.
The good news is that despite the Hyperemesis, the baby is incredibly healthy. In fact, we've been told by several doctors that the health of the baby is often inversely proportional to how sick the mother gets, so we should statistically have a baby with a very high Constitution score.
Flannery's been steadily improving in appetite over the last few days (though not nausea-wise) and has been eating ice, grapes, sorbet, weak peppermint tea, and fruit smoothies (fruit smoothies have quickly become a specialty of mine) and (as of today) Cheetos.
This has all kept me pretty busy playing nurse (assisting with the changing of IV bags and syringes), running to the store (I'm avoiding buying large quantities of anything because her digestion is fickle) and the library/comic book store for reading material, making smoothies and preparing the dozens of small "meals" that she has throughout the day, and staying on top of the zillion dishes we go through daily. On top of all this, I've been working from home full-time. I've even, somehow, managed to draw and produce a concert poster for a fairly well-known rock band in between all of this (see my previous blog entry). I've also been fighting (not successfully) the nesting instincts that men get. What I want to do is buy some lumber and build a damn house. What I'm settling for is spending hours in office supply and hardware stores getting organizational and home improvement items and cleaning. I spent an hour yesterday cleaning the kitchen sink and the area around it (I actually had to force myself to step away from it before I started cleaning the garbage can).
So on top of this intensely busy schedule and pair-bond nest building, I've come down with ANOTHER cold (although I'm starting to think that when I start getting fatigued and overwrought that I develop cold-like symptoms so that I'll slow my butt down and get some rest... psychosomatic sickness, if you will). Either way, Constitution was obviously my dump-stat.
Despite the monumental amount of work going on and the insane amount of fatigue that I'm feeling, I'm pretty happy. I feel privileged and honored to be taking part in the grand adventure that is fatherhood from the ground up, so to speak. And taking care of Flannery feels less like a chore and more like when I'm painting and I'm deep into it -- in that Zen-like place that comes from pouring all of your energy into making something from your heart and soul.
It doesn't hurt that Flannery is taking everything with a huge amount of courage, stoicism, and her usual humor. (She's requested to inform the Internet that the IV tubing really brings out the color of her eyes). I feel like we're a real team and she's the one really doing all the hard work (which she IS... duh!).
There'll be further updates as we go along, Internet, but for now, I'm off to do another round of dishes.