Merry Christmas?? Merry Sickmas to me!

I must preface this all by saying, desipte the daily gripes and discomfort, I love being pregnant. I can't wait to meet my son when he's born. But damn I'm glad the time until his birth is growing shorter.

Working an overnight shift is a very hard job. It goes against everything natural in the human body. We are not nocturnal animals. Our bodies are programmed to sleep when it's dark and be up when it's light.

So, there's the normal stresses of working an overnight shift... then add in being 7 1/2 months pregnant and the care of a 17 month old TWA* and well, you get the idea!

So I've set the scene... now imagine everyone being sick in this house. TWA*, Hub* and myself. TWA* started with a cold 2 weeks ago, which happened to coincide with a week's vacation. By mid-week, I was sick. By the end of the week, on the first day back to work, Hub* woke up with it. I managed to kick mine quickly. There's not much medicine available to help ease cold symptoms when you are pregnant.

TWA* has held on to a nasty cough, but a trip to the doctor showed it's just a case of post-nasal drip. Hub* refuses to take any kind of medicine. What is with men and this movement against medicine? It's infuriating!

I, however, am right back in the thick of it, but worse. I'm on my last week of vacation of the year. Wouldn't you know it, the very first day of vacation, I started hacking and coughing like a 13 pack a day/30 year habit smoker. By the end of the day, I was running a 102 degree fever and had to call the OB on duty on Christmas Eve. Fevers are a dangerous thing when you are pregnant.

So, I've been diagnosed (over the phone, based on my symptoms) with Bronchitis. I have a pregnancy-approved antibiotic to take, along with Tylenol for my fever and a bit of Robitussin to ease the cough... and I'm so exhausted I can barely move.

I'm just glad TWA* is so young. At 17 months, she won't realize she's missing out on a day of fun at her Great-Grandmother's house today... as we are staying at home. She's got oodles of presents to open from Santa and the Hub* and I... plus all the gifts she received from her AA* and her Grandma last night.

I'll miss out on a big Christmas dinner, but the way I feel, it doesn't matter anyway. I guess I have the rest of my vacation week to recover...


Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!


Abbreviations:
TWA-toddler with attitude, my daughter, currently 17 months old
Hub- my husband of 9 years
AA- TWA's aunt.

Santa's Evil Helper?

When I hear the name Santa Claus, I think of a lot of things. The rosy cheeks, the beard as white as snow, the little round belly that shakes when he laughs like a bowl full of jelly. You know, just like the image from those Coca-Cola ads.

Well, that's not entirely true. Sometimes, I think of SantaBot from Futurama. Then I envision something a little more like this....

If you don't watch Futurama (first off, Shame on YOU!), trust me, you wouldn't want to sit on his lap and tell him all your Christmas desires!

Anyway, I digress. So to me, Santa and "evil" just don't go together for me. Until I saw the story about Krampus. In Austrian lore, Krampus is Santa's horned and hairy sidekick. His job... to scare away evil spirits.

Now, I don't know about you, but if I ran into something that looked like this...

it would certainly scare the Christmas Spirit (among other things) right out of me! But evidently, during the holiday season, it's great fun for the peeps in Austria, Croatia, Hungary and other such places, to run around and encounter these creatures in village streets.

"Krampus is for the kids." That's according to one of the actors who dresses up as the devil-like creature. Ok, that definitely deserves a WTF?!?!?!?!

And people think we Americans are twisted? Stay tuned for our next installment, when I introduce you to another of Santa's helpers... one who, if you are bad, is likely to beat you with switches and cart you off in a sack. Ho, ho, ho... Merry Christmas!