On a Cold
My allergy-induced illness turned into a dreadful cold by Wednesday evening. Being pregnant, I was advised to only take Benadryl (Zyrtec did nothing). Benadryl affects me like a gallon of gin; I spent Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday in a daze, with more boogers than one human should have in a lifetime, and plagued by a cold, clammy sweat that wouldn't go away.
By Friday afternoon I was barely caught up at work, dehydrated, having contractions (again) and ready to quit my job and join the circus. No one was at work (nearly half the staff out or at meetings) and someone pooped on the floor of the bathroom. Yes, a college student shat on the floor AND WALKED THROUGH IT. I conducted 2 trainings, handled a mess of interlibrary loan requests, and pondered "why-in-the-hell-is-an-academic-library-running-like-a-Fortune-500-company." I've had enough of meaningless meetings, self-important garble, and statistics. Work was stressful. One desperate call to the OB/GYN later, and I was armed with a new medication, Zyrtec-D, and instructions to hydrate and rest.
I came home, showered, drank an entire bottle of SmartWater in one go, medicated and flopped into bed for a wonderful two-hour nap. Sam -- awesome husband that he is -- handled soccer practice, dinner, and playing with Hope so I could rest. I awoke feeling worlds better. The contractions died down as did my work rage concerns.
On Solitude
I'm in a weird place right now that only my introvert friends will understand. For the past 6 weeks I've had least three social events a week (school meetings, dinners with family and friends, baby showers, outings, chatting at the coffee shop, etc...). I adore my friends and love spending time with them, but I crave a weekend of solitude with my family. I'm avoiding the phone, endeavoring to avoid Facebook, and trying my best to engage in hermitude.
As a fan of the Meyers-Brigg Personality Assessment (I'm an INFJ) I can tell you that extroverts and introverts handle social activity very differently. Extroverts are energized by social engagements, Introverts are typically exhausted by social engagements. Not in a negative way, we enjoy time with friends, we just need solitude to recharge and refresh.
Of course this could just be a quirk of pregnancy making me crave solitude with family. Atticus will be here in 9 weeks and each weekend is fastly filling up with social engagements. I need some quiet time to read, think, sleep, and cuddle with my family before I have those sleepless nights of breastfeeding stretching out before me. Have any other mothers experienced this?
On the Weekend
This weekend will be marvelous: Sam and Hope are out playing soccer, Autumn is certainly in the air, and I'm sitting in a cushy chair at Starbucks sipping a pumpkin spice latte. Plans for later include the family finishing up a challenging owl jigsaw puzzle, flopping on the couch to watch Where the Wild Things Are, and munching on popcorn. When Hope is in bed I plan on finishing up Alison Weir's Mary Queen of Scots and the Murder of Lord Darnley. Tomorrow we have plans to do the weekly grocery shopping, make baby shower thank-you cards, and take a trip to the library.
Alright, I'm off to resume my Hobbit-esque weekend!
4 comments:
As a fellow INFJ, I sympathize! I desperately need recovery time after socializing--and I know I felt a need to nest with my family even more when I was reaching the end of pregnancy. Hope you and your family enjoy a nice peaceful weekend together. (I love that you call the babe Atticus!)
Hope you are feeling better soon.
As a fellow introvert, I crave time, space and silence on my own!
Glad you're feeling somewhat better and that you get your weekend to recharge. Greyson and Rocketgirl stayed with my mom Friday night while Rocketboy was home grounded. Chuck and I met some friends for a brief outing, and now I'm ready to hang around the house, do some cleaning, and generally be lazy. I have to grade some papers, too, but I can do that from the reclining position.
Happy reading and recharging, Amanda!
I'm sorry. I can't read anything past SHAT ON THE FLOOR. Are you effing kidding me. ??? As gold refined by fire, for sure. Such refined behavior.
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