Updates: The good, the bad, and the ugly

The Good:

We have almost eradicated the "frenemies" (Dear Friend Kristan told me that we needed to rename the lice from friends to something else, and thus it is so). I say almost because we are still having to comb out hair Every Day. Sigh. This will go on until Saturday, when we will retreat with our RID stuff and then for the next two weeks, we'll do random checking. However, there are no mature "frenemies" (and there haven't been for a good 48 hours plus), so we are just now working to get out any remnants to maintain that status. Thank goodness! I found this website from James Cook University to be SUPER helpful, in case you ever need to utilize it.

Also under the category of good, and the blessing of the blog, let me just say Thank You to those of you who read my post partum saga and have offered help--you have gone above and beyond and it's so appreciated. Again, my heart is full by your generosity and kindness in extending the offers. Further happy news is that my younger brother is actually going to come up for a few days to help out, braving Leper Island (he was a Vice Principal at an Elementary School and seems quite unfazed by the whole notion of lice, bless his heart) and I'm very grateful to him for that (this would be cousin Katie's dad, The Bishop). He might even bring Miss Katie up, which would please Miss A and Miss E to no end. We'll see.

Now onto the "bad"

...which is only bad in the fact that I'm not sure what to do. I'm still waiting on a call back from my pediatrician, but maybe you have some experience with this, Gentle Reader? Maybe? Here's the issue: Miss Q has not pooped since Monday. And that would be Sunday night/early Monday morning kind of poo. She's strictly breastfeeding and she's eating lots and she's churning out the pee-pants, but nothing else. I understand this is not necessarily abnormal, and I wouldn't worry about it too much, because Miss A did this when she was an infant, but I just don't want issues with jaundice effecting Miss Q. So, if you have had this experience, I'd love to hear about it.

And, under the category of "ugly,"

Here's my personal update...I have actually put this under a mental category of "Sure, why not." I went to my great OBGYN today and have been diagnosed with puerperal endometritis. What is that, you ask? That's a fine question. Let's get educated together, shall we?

According to the Merck online:

Puerperal endometritis is uterine infection, typically caused by bacteria ascending from the lower genital or GI tract. Symptoms are abdominal tenderness and pain, fever, malaise, and sometimes discharge. Diagnosis is clinical, rarely aided by culture. Treatment is with broad-spectrum antibiotics

Yeah, so basically I have a infection in my uterus caused by bacteria that invaded after childbirth and am currently on antibiotics and doctor's orders to "take it easy," which will be much easier to do now that the frenemies are gone. TMI: I first noticed something was amiss on Sunday night/Monday because my lochia had a funky smell and color, so I called on Tuesday and the nurse called in a prescription for me, started me on the antibiotics, and scheduled an appointment with me to see Dr. G. I'm glad I called, because I guess if left untreated, this could land you in the hospital or worse. Blech. The ironic thing is, yeah, I'm tired and don't feel 100% yet, but I don't know that I'd have ever chalked that up because of this, what with the new baby and all. So, Gentle Reader, it pays to pay attention to your body! And that's the moral of today's story, for all of us, I guess.

Just to reassure you, I am feeling better. It's something though, isn't it? It is definitely making this a memorable time for our little family, and I know in about a month or two, we'll all be laughing and making jokes about this because we'll be on the "other side" of it. ...and not a moment too soon, I say.