Update

Well, four days to go (hopefully) until the c-section. I say "hopefully" because there's now a possibility that it will have to be delayed, because I am STILL sick.

I really thought I was getting better earlier this week, only to have an ear infection, of all things, sneak up on me on Thursday. I don't think I've had an ear infection since I was about 12 years old! Now here I was, six days from delivering, with my first one in twenty-some years. Unbelievable. I've also had some sinus pain, and I don't think I've ever had a sinus infection in my whole entire life. It's so ridiculous that all of this is happening right now.

So I ended up at the urgent care place on Thursday evening, where of course they wanted to prescribe antibiotics. This made me extremely nervous, since antibiotics are supposedly what caused me to have c-difficile after my last c-section. Now, less than a week before another c-section, I had to decide whether to take additional antibiotics for a completely unrelated problem. The urgent care doctor wrote me a prescription for the antibiotics as well as some ear drops to relieve the pain (I'd forgotten how horribly painful these things can be—and I now have renewed appreciation for the fact that Elsa has never gotten one). I decided, since I had the pain-relieving drops, that I would wait until I could talk to my ob-gyn before starting the antibiotics.

At my ob-gyn appointment the next morning, my doctor thought I should take the antibiotics, because she actually wants to delay the c-section if I'm not feeling better by Wednesday! This in spite of the fact that I'm now measuring about 3 cm over—when she measured me, she said, "Yep, we've got to get this baby out of you ASAP." Fabulous. Giant baby needs to come out, but ear infection and continuing cough aren't cooperating. The idea of the c-section being delayed was quite possibly the worst news I'd gotten yet.

My doctor recommended taking probiotics along with the antibiotics as a preventative measure against the c-diff. So after much thought (and deciding that my guess was probably as good as anyone's in the medical profession in this situation) I decided to go ahead with the antibiotics. I figure I don't have much to lose—I'm not sleeping well because I'm so uncomfortable, and I don't have many chances to rest during the day, so it seems unlikely that I'm going to recover on my own by Wednesday ... or perhaps even before I go into labor naturally, regardless of when that may be. So waiting around just seems like prolonging the misery. I'd rather get this baby out, even if that means taking my chances on another round of c-diff (and at least it's an instant weight-loss plan!). I've been on the antibiotics since midday yesterday, and so far I'm not noticing much improvement. I had really hoped that I would feel a lot better when I woke up this morning, but I'm about the same. Fingers crossed that these antibiotics will kick in soon, since it would really be awful to take them, with the possible increased risk of c-diff, and not get any of the benefit!

And of course, Bob had been hoping not to go into work at all this weekend ... and that has now turned into going in both today and tomorrow. Fortunately, Katie is taking Elsa and Karina to the Children's Museum tomorrow afternoon, so I'm going to force myself to do nothing but sleep (or at least try) the whole time they're gone. Thank you, Katie!!!

One piece of good news: My weight was exactly the same as at my last appointment, which means I've had a net loss of one pound in the past two and a half weeks! So if I don't gain any additional weight by the time I deliver, I'll gain exactly one pound less in total than I did with Elsa. : ) Yay, can't complain about that.

Everybody PLEASE think positive thoughts for me that this c-section will still happen on Wednesday as planned! Believe me, I am also not above lying to my doctor and telling her I feel perfectly fine, even if I don't, in order for this to come off as scheduled. That's under legitimate consideration. : ) We will, of course, keep everybody posted.