Six weeks is a LOOOONG time...

...to be sick, that is.  Yes, you read it right: six weeks!  About a week before my Big Ultrasound, I came down with a nagging runny nose.  As in the same cold from this post.  It was annoying, but I didn't worry too much; just bought some Kleenex and called it a day.

About a week later, when I went in for my ultrasound, my nose was red and raw from so much blowing.  My doctor's nurse gave me a list of safe over-the-counter medications I could take for various symptoms.  I tried Tylenol Cold, since I had it at home already, and it didn't help.  A few days later I switched to Benadryl, which seemed to do the trick.  When I hit the three-week mark, and went in for my 20-week check, the Benadryl was working, but my cold was still persisting.  My doctor told me to try a saline rinse once or twice a day, in addition to the Benadryl.

The rinse worked wonders and really made my sinuses feel clean!  By the time I'd been under the weather for four or five weeks, the Benadryl was gone, but I was feeling better.  I was glad to be done taking pills and only blowing my tender nose once or twice a day.

But as my daddy used to remind me: Don't count your chickens before they've hatched!  After about a week of no medicine, my nose started up again.  With a vengeance.  Except that this time I really couldn't blow my nose because now I was congested instead of runny.  The only time I could empty my sinuses was first thing in the morning and then a little later while I was in a hot steamy shower.  The only difference was that, by now, my snot was no longer clear, but yellow-green and at times bloody.  And I couldn't sleep because I couldn't breathe.  And my throat was sorta itchy.  And I was coughing, but never able to relieve the tickle way back in my throat.  Hot tea didn't work.  Drinking water throughout the night to moisten my throat wasn't an option because then I'd waste even more precious sleeping time going to the bathroom!

Finally, yesterday, I went to the doctor.  My normal primary care physician (PCP) wasn't available, so I saw his nurse practitioner, who listened and felt all over.  Thankfully she was able to rule out pneumonia, and she didn't see anything to cause much concern.  Even more thankfully, she totally sympathized with the fact that I am 23 weeks pregnant and miserable with feeling like this!  She wrote me a prescription for the infection, recommended some more over-the-counters for my symptoms, told me to continue my nasal rinses twice a day, and sent me to my OB's office to get the all clear on the meds before I filled the scripts.

Since my OB's office is about a mile from my PCP's office, I just drove over to ask my questions, rather than waiting on hold for a nurse to check with my doctor...  For not having an appointment, they were able to chat with me very quickly!  The nurse came right out with her drug book and checked all my meds, determined that they were totally safe for me to take and combine, and sent me on my way...

...but not before I signed Hubs and myself up for prenatal classes!  I can't believe it's almost that time!  Although I think that nursing school and clinicals have me well-prepared for what to expect, I know that Hubs has no clue what he's got in store, so the three-session class should be beneficial for him.  Of course, we also get a tour of the birthing center at the hospital, and since it's a different hospital than the one my nursing class worked at, I'm glad I'll have an opportunity to see how they do things over there.

So then I went to the pharmacy and filled my prescriptions then went home for my first dose and a nice long nap!  Hopefully I'm finally on the mend!  I'm crossing my fingers that by the end of my 10-days of antibiotics I'll be all better and ready to finish my last week of Reserves Duty!

Maybe by next week I'll be back to normal blogging with some What's Cooking Wednesdays and Sunday Stories for you...