Pairs of socks knitted in 2014

  • Roxanne's socks
  • Brian's Cascade socks
  • Shirley's lacy socks
  • striped Meredith socks
  • striped stranded #1

Friday, September 21, 2007

Sick, but less whiny

Two and a half weeks later, I still have the @#$%ing cold! Thankfully, the doc gave me antibiotics and they work reasonably well. I've stopped running a fever, coughing up green stuff, and feeling like an asthma attack was going to happen at any minute. But I'm still coughing. While it's been about a week since I had a coughing fit so bad that I started puking (The first night I was back to work after I started the antibiotics, I accidentally vomited all over the staff bathroom. I appologized profusely to April the night housekeeper when I asked her if she'd mop up.) the regular coughing fits are annoying.

I had an immunocompromised patient earlier this week. (Medicalspeak for "we don't know why, but your immune system has decided to take off on an extended holiday, so don't be surprised if you get deathly ill from some common problem that doesn't trouble most people.") She asked me why everyone else was wearing gloves before they cared for her, but I was wearing a mask as well. "Does this mean my family should be wearing masks too?"

"I have a cold," I told her. "I've had it for nearly three weeks now, so it seems to like me. But I don't imagine you want it." She agreed that this was a reasonable precaution.

We got to hear Genghis' heartbeat at the doctor's office visit. Apparently, in spite of all the worry I've had over losing eight pounds due to morning sickness while not being able to take in much calories, he's doing all right. Since the morning sickness has eased a bit (when I'm not coughing) I've started gaining the weight back. I'm only about two pounds heavier than my usual non-pregnant weight, but the baby bump is growing steadily.

I've been knitting EJ a pair of socks for his birthday next month. (As usual, I'm too lazy to go find the camera.) I'd forgotten just how hard it is to knit a full size pair of men's socks in Army desert tan. Cursed short attention span!

On Sunday, we went to a different church to watch Nancy, one of the gals I work with, dedicate her baby to the Lord. She adopted Lydia from Guatemala earlier this year, and she is a beautiful little girl! (The usual toddler preference for pink coupled with her dark hair means that the resemblance to Dora the Explorer (her favorite character) is striking.) It's been wonderful to see Nancy's joy at motherhood these last few months. When I do get around to downloading pics, I need to post the ones I took of the service.

Monday, September 3, 2007

Sick and whiny

Since I'll probably spend the vast majority of this post whining, I might as well start off with the good news we've recently received.

Brian got "the call" from New Start, so we're officially moving to San Francisco! I'm still apprehensive about the move and job hunt, but so excited that Brian found a church.

We got woke up the other day by a 30 second message on our answering machine from my brother EJ saying he got to Iraq safely and was okay. He'd signed off before I was able to get conscious enough to grab the phone, but praise God he's okay!

I received a lovely package from my Fiber Frenzy swap secret pal. She sent me a whole big ball (I think it's about six ounces!) of aqua superwash merino roving, and chocolate! (Alas, chocolate is apparently on Genghis' list of "foods that induce morning sickness." But as it keeps indefinitely, I'm going to save it for later. Perhaps the nausea will abate in a couple off months.) I'm too lazy to go find the camera and snap pictures right now, but the roving is lovely.

I've been spinning it up lace weight and plying it with lace weight silk that I dyed myself. The silk is in a nice complimentary teal color--I dyed it several weeks before I got the package, though. It's always nice when things work out so well like that!

The morning sickness has tapered off somewhat. The amount of Zofran I require to keep food down has steadily decreased over the last several weeks. (I mostly need to use it on nights I'm working. Who would have thought that being around puking people makes me vomit?) Unfortunately, I always seem to realize too late that it wears off after about ten hours. The sympathy I've received from my co-workers is nice, but I hate having to interrupt the end-of-shift patient hand off even more than the puking itself. I still haven't gained any weight over my non-pregnant weight, but the baby bump (Until we know it's gender, we're referring to the baby as "Genghis.") keeps on growing. (I lost about eight pounds from morning sickness, but I've gained them all back.)

But right now I've got a cold, and it makes my mood rather lousy. I was so happy to get through the winter without one after catching one every month we were in Nome. But I guess it's that time of the year again...

The stuffy nose doesn't really trouble me after having had one constantly for the entire pregnancy. The coughing fits, however, feel disturbingly like the first few volleys of "the old Dash 'N' Heave" of morning sickness. It hasn't turned into that yet, but I really hate puking.

I think I'll see if the Yarn Pixies (who seem to visit more freely when I take medication of some sort--perhaps there's a lesson here) were correct when they suggested that I could crochet socks if I tried hard enough.