So I woke up yesterday morning feeling a bit warm. Pleasantly warm, like my old “heat vampire” days when I used to snuggle under the duvet until I was red-hot. And I was feeling a bit sore, (I thought) because I had been putting shelves up in our new shed the day before. I was maybe a bit tired, but you can’t really tell that until you’re up, and of course I often wake with a headache.
It wasn’t until Alex touched me and said “Ow!” that I realised that I was maybe a bit on the excessively warm side. And it wasn’t until I got up and started shivering uncontrollably that I realised that I was sick.
Great, I thought. Just great.. Martin’s been doing so much for me and for the household since Fiona was born. So when I’m finally getting over all the various aftereffects of the birth, from hospitalisation to anaemia to the baby blues, I suddenly fall ill.
My in-laws were over to see Fi and Alex. I came downstairs for their visit, but I can’t swear to the coherence of my conversation. Apart from that, I spent the day in fevered reverie, drifting in and out of sleep. Martin did everything, from hoovering to cooking a magnificent Sunday roast to keeping Alex going, while I lay upstairs in some alternate universe.
Fortunately, the symptoms only lasted a day or so. I’m still feeing pretty weak, and Fi seems to have caught some snuffliness from me, but it seems to have been a brief illness. Dramatic, but brief.
Now can I get back to feeling normal?
Don’t you hate it when life plays like that?
After two weeks of being out of work and school due to my surgery, I was due to resume all those activities on Monday, February 9.
So what do you think happened on Sunday, February 8?
You guessed it: The flu bug cometh.
Thank goodness for awful-tasting medicines that keep the symptoms at bay. It’s bad enough I can’t play golf for possibly the next few months. I’ve missed enough work and school already!
Hi Abi,
your experience of flu struck a chord with me. My son is now 7years old and I haven’t had a “normal” bout of flu/cold since he was born. Either it’s low-key symptoms which drag on for a week or two, or full-blown misery but over in a day. As a single mum I can’t afford to be ill but I’m left wondering if there are changes to the immune system following childbirth or a stress response? One particular occassion I’d worked three 12 hour shifts and was struck down within half an hour of returning home!
Hope your stitches have healed now.