Bunny Swim Fever

The good news is, I'm not being a total drama queen about returning from vacation. The bad news is I'm sick and possibly dying. I'm being dramatic about that instead.

But first, we need to discuss the cluster that was yesterday. I woke up late and feeling crappy. After Cora excitedly showed off her bunny sweater, she started crying when it was time to leave for school, sobbing "no school... stay HERE... stay here" which is just the worst. I left James to deal with that and made it to work in time for a meeting, then left again just in time to make it to Cora's 10:30 egg hunt, which was actually at 9:50 despite what a teacher told me on the phone just that morning, so we missed the whole thing. Then I followed James home to grab Cora's swim suit for her lesson later and James closed the giant metal driveway gate on my car as I was driving through.

Me:
Didn't you know I was behind you???!!

James:
I did. I even told myself not to close the gate... and then I pressed the button. I can't explain it.

Me:
???!!!

I drove my new car with its newer scratch to run a few errands I deeply did not want to do as my lunch break and went back to work where I felt increasingly terrible. The only reason I didn't go home was knowing that the big kids were there and I needed to get Cora to her first swim lesson at 5. So I persevered, not even excited about eating cookies during an afternoon meeting- I should have known right there something terrible was happening to me on a microscopic level.

I went home to grab the big kids and pick up Cora- she was super excited to see us, screaming "NANAT!!" and "YAYA!!!" and giving so many hugs it took us 10 minutes to make it down her hallway. We got to James's pool "DADDY'S POOL?!!!" and she was SO EXCITED to be there. She was a little skeptical when we changed into her swim suit, but willing to let things play out. We waved to James in the water and sat on the chairs in the back of the pool.

Who's going to rock her swim lesson?

This girl!

Cora had just decided that swim lessons were the best!

And then her teacher came to get her and she clung to my neck like a spider monkey and had to be pried off while sobbing, but really, despite the intermittent crying and her ineffective wails for daddy who was teaching his own lesson, it went pretty well.

She did not believe the princess dive stick needed saving.

And she initially refused to high five after the lesson.

But in the end, she was willing to think about what she learned.

I'd been slowly failing throughout the lesson and then everything fell apart on the 10 minute ride home. I was nauseous, shaky, freezing, achy, boiling hot and covered in goose bumps. When we got home I mumbled for the kids to clean up the playroom and then do... just whatever while I stripped and took a hot bath and then curled up in the couch like a sad, fleece-covered shrimp until James came home an hour later. When he got home, he was talking about his lessons, Cora's success, etc. and then he saw me on the couch, stopped in his tracks, and said, Holy crap.

I was shivering with a 103 fever and everything hurt.

So, that sucked. James did everything while I watched Pitch Perfect 2 from the couch. Then when he finally got to sit down, I watched it again, and I looked so pathetic, he didn't even complain. I had a rough night filled with night sweats, which left me soaking wet and freezing, and then a few delirious minutes later I'd be boiling hot once again.

The kids are off school, so I've farmed them out to friends (thank you friends!) while Cora naps and then they'll be at gymnastics and I'll just try to keep Cora away from me until James gets home with the kids at 6:15. This will be tricky because she's by far our most exuberantly affectionate child. At some point this morning, while I was still delirious, I thought there was a Cora on my face but later dismissed it as a fever dream. When I finally emerged from our room around 11 and asked James about it he said yes, that did happen- he'd gone into our bathroom, leaving our bedroom door cracked open, and Cora raced in, climbed up our bed and on top of me and was giving me big hugs and patting my face, exclaiming "MAMA! MAMA!" repeatedly until he pried her off. He was a little freaked out I didn't remember.

We'll see how it goes. The good news is Pitch Perfect 2 just popped back up on HBO, so I have that going for me.

Update: Got worse through Friday night and Saturday morning and finally dragged myself to urgent care on Saturday afternoon (with Cora!) while the big kids and James were at a play I was also supposed to be attending while a (now sick) babysitter watched Cora. I have the flu. The flu is terrible. Happy Easter!