Trip Tribulations

Here's my theory - if I get the angst(s) of our trip out of the way in this post then the next post about our trip can be about the fun. I think it'll work. Plus, I really don't feel well enough to write about the fun we had and when I do write about it, I want to truly feel it. Okay?

As you can tell by now, I'm still waiting for that vacation/trip where at least 70% of the trip is positive and good and the other 30% is the stuff that happens when you have kids with you and you're not in your normal "routine" of things. See? I'm not greedy when it comes to my expectations. I'm not asking for a 90% perfect trip - just one where the good solidly outweighes the bad. Really, is it too much to ask? I guess lately it has been.

So here's what happened. The night before the trip, one day after I got my weekly chiropractor adjustment, my lower back went out badly. Add lugging heavy suitcases, plane rides, stress, and lots and lots of walking up the hills of San Francisco, and saggy couches and it became a perfect storm. Now I've had back pain since I was 14 and the worst of it is sciata pain that shoots down your leg and makes it almost impossible to walk. This pain didn't shoot down my leg (so that was good) but instead it had the same level, if not a little worse, shooting across my lower back directly out of my tailbone. It became so bad that I was mentally making contingency plans on the fly. For instance, as we were walking up the hills of Chinatown: "What would I do if my back went completely out right here?" and then I would figure out where I would stop, who I would call, etc. That lasted the entire duration of the trip though it simmered down a little the last 2 days of our trip. Just in time for.....

A horrible bout with the stomach flu. Oh My Gosh. I went to bed on Saturday night at 9pm because I was exhausted. We did alot of walking every day in the pouring rain and with a wind chill around 32 degrees so it was completely understandable that I was really tired. Oh, did I forget to mention (since I seemed to forget it myself last week) that I'm also pregnant. Hmm, maybe that made me a little tired too. Anyways, I went to bed at 9pm. and woke up at 11:30 with really bad stomach pains. I was up and down for the rest of the night alternating evacuations between orifices. I thought maybe it was food poisoning but I was sick all day Sunday and Monday too so it had to be the stomach flu. I was so weak and nauseous. The additional rub was that V. was too tired on Saturday to do anything so Sunday was our only day to do something in San Francisco as a family and it also was the only day that it wasn't pouring rain.

I decided it was going to have to be that time as an adult and a mother when you just have to suck it up and that's what I did. We went to Fisherman's Wharf, got some lunch, went to the Aquarium, and took an hour long boat cruise. It truly was mind over matter with my strategy being that as long as I didn't put anything into my stomach and concentrated on the cold air in my face, I may have a fighting chance at staying upright and not throwing up. It worked but came with the price afterwards of collapsing in bed when we got home and the next day's travelling home via taxi, subway, airplane, and car almost pushed things over the edge. Even today (Wednesday), my stomach is not keen on food but it's able to tolerate liquids which helps lessen my worries for the baby. I've been so dehydrated the last 4 days that the Braxton-Hicks contractions started up and that is never a good sign at this point. So I'm on the road to recovery but it's a slow one and it's hard to run around doing what needs to be done (grocery shopping, taking I. to school, etc.) when my energy is so low.

So the next post when I get the energy will be full of the good details and some of the pictures, though I didn't take all that many on account if the buckets of rain that were falling on our heads 4 out of the 5 days.