they weren't lying

Having a bad cold while pregnant is definitely not high up on my "fun times" list. You always hear people saying how miserable a cold can be when you are knocked up, and now I know they weren't bullshitting me.

Buster had a bad cold which turned into a sinus infection at the end of last week. The bad cold had been with him for about five days or so prior to going all sinus-infection on his ass. I felt pretty great, up until Friday morning. I woke up with a touch of sore throat. But as I got up started getting ready for my day, it went away. Phew, close call, right?

Wrong. Friday afternoon it came back, with a vengeance. I felt awful. Couldn't sleep much at all Friday night. Saturday the sore throat was gone, but it had been replaced with severe congestion and lots of nose blowing.

Since I felt so rough, I decided to make homemade chicken broth. I threw in some frozen chicken breast tenders (all the chicken I had), a quartered onion (skin still on), four carrots (skin on, chopped in half), three celery stalks (chopped in thirds, celery leaf still attached), two bay leaves, eight peppercorns, and two packets of chicken seasoning from Ramen noodles (don't judge, I was out of chicken bouillon!). And I let that go. All day.

Needless to say, my house smelled absolutely amazing. At about 4:00, I had a mug of my homemade chicken broth and it was delightful. About an hour later, I decided to put down the controller (Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is my new Xbox 360 obsession) and strain the soup.

And what did I find floating in my delicious, amazing, rich, satisfying soup?

Yep, a fucking stink bug.

I'm not sure if your corner of the world is infested, but mine definitely is. It doesn't help that we are backed up to a wooded hillside. Stink bugs are EVERYWHERE. I kill them when I see them, but they are tricky little fuckers. They flatten out to thin-as-shit and work their way in to my house. And my soup.

So, I threw it out. "It" being the soup. Perhaps that was overreacting, but if the stink bug in question expressed that nasty smelling stank into my soup, I did not want to chance eating it.

After throwing it out, I cried. Crocodile tears. And then sent Buster to the store for saline nasal spray, Breathe Right strips, and decaf lemon tea.

The nasal spray and decaf lemon tea with honey made me feel a million times better. It was such an improvement, I decided to go to sleeps sans-Breathe Right nasal strip. And I slept decently.

Sunday morning, there was a marked improvement in how I felt. No sore throat at all. Some congestion, but I expected that. I even managed to get out of the house. Went to the grocery store and got the ingredients for chili and cornbread. Came home, cleaned up, put the chili on, then settled in to several hours of Kingdom of Amalur.

My congestion seemed to get worse as the day went on. I tried the saline nasal spray, and it wouldn't drain out of my other nostril (the way it is supposed to). Apparently I've moved to the  fully-clogged stage now. Lovely.

After eating chili, Henry went CRAZY! It was the most active he's been for the longest amount of time since I started feeling him move. Does that mean he didn't like the chili, or loved it? It wasn't very spicy at all, as I'm a wuss and can't handle too much heat. But it was a fun hour and a half for me, that's for sure! And Buster even got to feel a roll (that was the first time I really could distinguish between a kick and something else... which I'm assuming was a roll!).

Before bed, I decided to go with the nasal strip. I was so congested and miserable, I was hoping it would help. And it did give me some relief, although I still didn't sleep too well.

After getting out of the shower (and having removed the leftover residue from the sticky nasal strip), I notice something odd on my nose.

A bruise.

Are you kidding me??

I know it doesn't look too bad in the photo, but come on! Anytime there is a random, not-supposed-to-be-there bruise on your face, it's noticeable!

Thankfully, after about 3 layers of concealer and then my bareMinerals foundation, it practically disappeared.

But really, wtf? I guess I can't use the Breathe Right nasal strips when I have somewhere to go the next day...

I can't wait for this cold to be gone!

Comments

  1. I have to take off breathe right strips in the shower, under the spray and take about two full minutes to peel them off to avoid bruising. I hope you feel better soon! I'm waiting for the first frost and hoping it calms down my excessive sneezing, nose blowing, and coughing that is from pregnant swollen membranes. Yay!

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  2. I've had a summer cold for the past two weeks, and my sleep has been miserable.

    Afrin is my miracle drug, but you can only use it 3 days in a row, then you have to have 4 days off of it (it can cause rebound congestion otherwise). I use it at night so I can sleep. When I'm not on Afrin, I've been taking Sudafed, which helps a little, but rarely decongests me enough that I can breathe through my nose. So Sudafed nights are rocky, sleep-wise. Maybe 4 decent hours of sleep, then 2-3 of up-every-30-minutes. I hate it.

    I use Breathe Right strips on Sudafed nights - they help a little. And I use the NeilMed - it's like a netipot but much more pleasant to use (netipots feel like I'm waterboarding myself). I use it in the shower in the morning and I use it at night.

    Hope you feel better soon!

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  3. Argh, hang in there - I've had two colds during this pregnancy and neither one was much fun at all! Have you talked with your OB about which meds might be safe during pregnancy? I was surprised that some of them were, even though my beloved NyQuil (nothing else helps me sleep with a cold like that stuff) was off the table.

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  4. Stink bugs are the worst! I come from a place that is infested with those nasty little things. Recently, my mom ate a bowl of cereal only to find a stink bug waiting for her at the bottom. Vom!

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  5. Ick about the stink bugs :(

    I could never tell if that meant he liked it or not, or just got hyper from stuff. I always went with "he liked it" though lol.

    Hope you feel better soon.

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  6. Wow, I can't believe you got a bruise from the nasal strip! Crazy.
    And booo stink bug in your soup! UGH! That sucks :(

    I hope your cold goes away soon. I got a cold when pregnant and yep.. it suuuuuuuuuucks.. especially the terrible congestion.

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  7. If I wasn't sad you felt so bad I would be laughing at this post. Really? I stink bug in the delicious soup? And a bruse from a breathe right? Get some rest and catch a break!

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  8. I'm sorry you are feeling bad! There is nothing worse than a crappy cold. And what's with the bruise? Yikes! Feel better soon!

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  9. I would have thrown the soup out too. Not cool. Not cool at all. Stupid stink bug. And that bruise cracks me up, only because I am the girl who bruises when someone touches me wrong - so that so would have happened to me. Glad you're at least starting to be on the mend lady. Here's to feeling even better tomorrow!

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  10. Stink bug!!! Wtf?? That is the third grossest bug I can imagine finding in the soup :( (the first being a cockroach, the second being a centipede). I'm sorry you had to throw out all that deliciousness because of the invader.

    I got a cold right at 11 weeks when I was FINALLY not feeling completely nauseated. I was so annoyed; it definitely extended my "feeling like utter crap" phase. I hope you feel better soon!!

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  11. I hope you're feeling better! 'Tis the season to catch a cold and I've been praying that I don't get one! I've never used breathe right strips & now I'm scared that if I need to I'll get a bruise too! I bruise very easily.

    I'm so glad that Henry has been so active and Buster was able to feel him! My little girl has been kicking/rolling like crazy and i'm lovin' it!

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  12. Ugh! Suffering over here with a cold now too that was passed on from the husband. I feel your pain my friend - minus the stink bug! :P

    Hope you're feeling better now.

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