Sick, sick, sick and shower!

For the past three days, I’ve barely gotten out of bed. I’ve had either the worst stomach virus or the worst case of food poisoning I’ve had in my entire life. Late Saturday night I actually ended up in the ER because I couldn’t keep fluids down, my pulse was racing and I was worried about how dehydration might affect the baby. While I haven’t thrown up since early Sunday morning, my stomach can barely tolerate anything without causing me excruciating pain. At this point, the only liquids I can have are broth and water and the only solids I can have are bread, crackers and rice. Even my old standbys of gatorade and yogurt are just not working for me. This diet is not exactly enough to support one person, much less a person and a baby who at this point needs a lot of nutrition since he’s supposed to be growing half a pound a week. The baby seems to be doing ok as far as I can tell — he’s moving around as much as he ever has (and he moves like crazy!) — but I’m actually feeling more wiped out today than I did on Tuesday. We’re interviewing candidates for a position at work on Thursday and Friday, so I’m really hoping I feel better soon. I’m just not seeing any improvement.

Before my disaster, though, I was having the best weekend! I took a half day off Thursday and all-day off Friday to spend with family. Adam’s parents, sister, her kids and her boyfriend as well as my parents came for the weekend for my baby shower. Adam’s best friend from childhood and his wife and adorable daughter also came. It was so nice to see everyone, though definitely a bummer that I couldn’t run around and play with my niece and nephew as much as I could before I got pregnant. It just felt nice to be surrounded by the people I love so close to my due date — it was a warm and wonderful experience.

The wonderful ladies who planned my shower

The shower on Saturday afternoon was so much fun! My mother-in-law, sister-in-law and niece planned the whole thing and since they are masters of style, everything was gorgeous and perfect. When I heard there would be games, I got a bit nervous, having been to a shower once where we were forced to sniff baby food on diapers to guess what the food was (yuck!). But these were cute, light-hearted brain-teasers — perfect for a group mostly made up of librarians! My nine-year-old niece, Maddy, was a terrific master of ceremonies (she is the smartest, friendliest, most amazing 9-year-old in the world). The party really exceeded all of my expectations. Before the shower, I was feeling disappointed that a few friends who didn’t have kids decided not to come, but it didn’t end up making the party any less fun. The people who did come were awesome and it was perfect.

It was definitely a bummer that three hours later I was throwing up and couldn’t enjoy the big family dinner going on, but no amount of sickness could have spoiled what was a wonderful time with family and friends. I might feel like hell at the moment, but I’m extremely cognizant of the fact that I’m a very lucky girl.