Long Story Short

Illness has been kicking my butt. I have no voice, I have a huge headache and every-so-often snot runs willy-nilly out of my nose. It is not pretty. Add to this two sick Kids and one sick Wife and it might be clearer why I am disturbed. I can't sleep. I can't stay awake.

Yet there is so much to report. I just can't tell if I should give the glowing "everything is great blog" version or the "woe is me blog" version. Hmmm...I'll try to just stick to the facts.

Wife ran the Nike Women's Marathon last weekend. She went to San Francisco on Friday, and I spent my first night solo with the Kids. Isn't that funny - I have never been alone with them overnight. Wife has only left them for 2 nights in 3 years, ad both were only to spend time alone with me. Well, nothing exciting happened. I was already sick so I didn't even get to have fun. I just fed and bathed the Kids, put them to bed and went to sleep myself. Ho hum. (Guess it is better than some scary or sad story, so I will take it. But I did spend a bit of time walking up and down the hall thinking "Is this it? Did I forget something?" It seemed kinda easy...)

The next morning Kids and I went to San Francisco and the drive was very educational for Boy, who learned the when you pass a car on his side, they are in the Wrong Lane. He was in a maniacal "why" mode -
Me: You were born in San Francisco.
Boy: Why?
Me: We used to live in San Francisco.
Boy: Why?
Me: We are almost there.
Boy: Why?
Me: Is anyone hungry?
Boy: Why?
It was driving me insane! Not to be outdone, Girl was in rampant "are we there yet" mode. She got smart to the "Does it look like we are there yet?" response by saying "Yes, I see the hotel - Mom, why aren't you stopping?" and then tears. Kids were sick too, so nobody had too much fun on the drive. Still, could have been worse. Only 1 potty stop!

So we all (Me, Kids and Mother-in-Law) stayed with Wife in the city for the weekend. At the onset, we did not know how many germs had traveled with us, intent on keeping us up all night, but we jammed into the hotel room and made it a party. It was actually really fun to be back in the city. It felt good to know my way around and feel like I was at my home -- it was in contrast to Wife's friends from home who seemed like Fish-out-of-water and Wife who was cranky about it. (She always hated downtown.)

On Saturday we went to a pre-run dinner where Boy fell asleep due to lack of nap and fever, while Girl was alternately hyper/smiley and crashing/whiney. I took both Kids (in stroller) to the back while Wife and MIL got motivated. It was kinda funny to be in the back with all the dads watching the kids go crazy. We got good sleep from 11 - 2, then it was lots of coughing, crying, peeing until Wife got up at 3:50 to get ready for her race. She left at 4:30 and I was hoping for more sleep but was thwarted by wet pull-up at 5:15 and awake Kid at 6:25. Soon we were all awake for the day.

I made sure everyone had instructions before heading out to see Wife on her journey. I saw her briefly at mile 14, from across the street at a red light as she passed through the park. She was running and looking good. I was pissed it took me so long to find parking that I'd missed her. So I drove on and after a bit of a struggle, found another spot not too far from mile 17. I stood in the rain waiting for her, dreading that she had already passed me. As I waited, the time when she definitely should have made mile 17, based on when she was at 14, passed. Then a little more time passed. Sure, it had started raining pretty hard but Wife was definitely slowing down.

Eventually she made it to mile 17 (and I say eventually not because she was slow, but because I was cold and worried - she did an amazing job!) and I asked if she wanted me to run a bot with her. Her face lit up, so I did. I had planned all these things to say to her to keep her on track, focused and not mad at me. And it worked! I have always felt that if Wife's labor had gone past a few hours, I would have died. I felt so useless beside her laboring. I would tell to to "Just breathe" and she would give me this look like "don't say another f-ing thing, I am ready to beat you Woman!" and then I would be quiet and the nurse would look at me like "Do something - are you a sack of potatoes?" Wife was simply miserable and I was quite ineffective in helping her. Not so at the marathon. I distracted her. I motivated her. I stuck with her for 9.2 miles and helped her finish in time to get the Necklace - the prize for finishing within 8 hours. Yes, that is right. Wife ran for 7 hours and 55 minutes. She was very tired at the end and hurting Big Time, but she did it. And I helped her. That feels great!

But I do have to point out that I am a bit impressed at myself too. I have not exercised in at least 6 months - and by exercise I mean do anything! I have been to the gym MAYBE 20 times in the past 5 years. Yes, it has been that long. I used to play soccer. But after 5 ACL injuries and 10 knee surgeries, I don't do any of that anymore. And yet I ran 9 miles. Sure I am a little sore, but I wasn't even that tired. I know I could have done a half marathon - with no training. Is that weird? Can most people do it but they don't know it? Sure, we weren't going that fast either. But distance is distance, right? OK, I am proud of myself.

But back to the weekend. Because that afternoon, I ramped up to SuperMom status by bringing Kids and MIL back to hotel (Wife took shuttle) and then going out to get lunch for everyone - then taking care of Kids while Wife and MIL rested, making sure MIL had everything organized to take care of Kids while I took Wife to post-run party, where she drank so much she doesn't remember getting back to the hotel. (So sad that we had nice snuggly moments on the walk back that she will never remember....) And I pulled night duty taking care of crying, peeing Kids again. And next morning I took care of Kids and packed while Wife and MIL stayed in bed. So it really is no wonder that I lost SuperMom status due to excessive crankiness just before leaving the city to return to work. With laryngitis. And a fever.

And that is how the last 2 days have been, except that I get to start Lupron injections tomorrow morning for the FET the day before Thanksgiving. So over a month on Lupron - no thrills for anyone there. But really what I have been trying to say this whole post is that I deserve for this to work. It is Wife's turn to take care of me. I am a busy women with a good heart, and I am ready to be pregnant for a while. Thanks.