A word of advice for dads-to-be
If you have any sort of pre-emptive strategies for preventing yourself from coming down with a cold/flu/fever, and your wife is getting into the latter stages of pregnancy, employ those strategies, immediately if not sooner.
There is nothing more miserable, I have learned, than being sick while your wife is super-pregnant. I've had a severe sore throat and a wildly fluctuating fever (as high as 101.3°, as low as 97.4°) for the last three days, and it totally sucks. I mean, being sick always sucks, but it especially sucks right now, and it sucks for both of us. Why? Because 1) I can't dote on Becky as much I normally would when she's 38 weeks pregnant, and 2) Becky can't dote on me as much as she normally would when I'm all sick. Oh yeah, and 3) I have the added stress of worrying that 3a) I'll still be sick when Becky goes into labor, which technically could happen at any moment, and/or 3b) Becky will catch what I have, won't be able to take the medicines I can take, will be totally miserable, and it'll be all my fault.
As it is, we're both basically sitting around the house in a somewhat zombie-like state, each trying to do what we can for the other, then periodically stopping to wallow in our respective islands of discomfort: my stuffy nose, hacking cough, eyes that feel like they're on fire, chills trading off with hot flashes, and oh yeah, the horrible pain whenever I swallow. Becky, meanwhile, gets to deal with getting kicked in the ribs, feeling stretched, smooshed and crowded all over, and being exhausted... all... the... time. (And so forth.)
Actually, Becky has been a saint through all this. Despite my efforts, I daresay she's been doting on me more than I have on her, and with very little complaint. Personally, I see this as further evidence in support of my longstanding theory that Becky is the most awesome wife in the world. Here we are, at this unique moment in our lives when I ought to be waiting on her hand and foot, and instead, she's trying to nurse her sick hubby back to health. (For example: homemade chicken-noodle soup tonight!) Becky rocks.
Oh, and one other piece of advice, albeit perhaps of the somewhat more obvious, damn-Brendan-you're-a-dumbass variety. If you wake up with a fever of 100.8°, and you still have ambitions of going to work, and you decide to take a shower in pursuit of those ambitions... don't take a hot shower. I had chills when I got in, so it felt good... for about 30 seconds. Then I started to feel very nauseous, which in retrospect I realized was because (duh) my body temperature was starting to spike. I got out after about ten minutes, and after maybe five minutes of evaporative cooling, my temp was at 101.3°. Who knows how hot it was when I first got out. In conclusion, I'm a dumbass.
P.S. For any worry-wort fathers and ex-medical-professionals-in-law who may be reading this, rest assured: I went to the doctor, got a strep test, and it was negative. I was told it's just a run-of-the-mill upper-respiratory virus, and that I just need to take it easy, drink lots of fluids, and get plenty of rest. So that's what I'm doing.
"P.S. For any worry-wort fathers..."
Sometimes I wish I'd never Taught-you-by-Example that sneaky tactic of the Rhetorical Pre-emptive Strike :>. But Thanks :). GET WELL SOON. / Oh and, isn't it "Wart"? Worry-Wart? Yeah I think it's Wart. / Dammit now I'm Worried about that, I'll have go to Lookit Up. / I think a Wort is somesort of a Fungus. A Wart, on the other hand (especially on the other Hand :), is sometimes mistaken for a Mole. Beware this error. ;}
Posted by: Joe Loy | Dec 17, 2007 7:37:37 PM
Do you have any of those filter masks that you and or becky could wear? Should we institute a level-5 biohazard procedure and turn your apartment/house/condo into a cleanzone?
Posted by: David K. | Dec 17, 2007 7:52:59 PM
What if it's the Dog Flu? Woof. :) J/K, Robbie.
Posted by: Joe Loy | Dec 17, 2007 8:36:26 PM
Ah ha, me boys. It IS "wart". Worrywart. Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary. "One who is inclined to worry unduly."
(Mass at STA Parish, West Hartford; Concluding Rite with the famous Father Murphy Amendment: "Deliver us, Lord, from every evil, and grant us peace in our day. In your mercy keep us free from sin and protect us from all Undue anxiety..." :) [just old Fambly stuff, folks, don't Worry yer Warts about it ;]
Posted by: Joe Loy | Dec 17, 2007 8:58:40 PM
Posh. If making chicken noodle soup for an ailing hubby was all it took to achieve sainthood, methinks there'd be a lot more saints out there. Besides, don't think you won't make it up to me. Mwahahaha!
Posted by: Becky | Dec 17, 2007 9:08:04 PM
My mother doesn't even make homemade soup for me when I'm sick... you're a lucky boy, Brendan. :) Feel better!!!
Posted by: Vicki from NJ | Dec 17, 2007 9:53:05 PM
Feel better! Just so you're BOTH over this before the Baby is born. Nothing worse than a sick infant (trust me) except maybe having a sick infant when you're sick too. Guilt, worry, and aches all at the same time (BTDT)
Posted by: kg2v | Dec 18, 2007 8:30:40 AM
Flu shot, buddy. Always get the flu shot. I failed to get the flu shot before your wedding, and look what happened.
Posted by: Andrew | Dec 18, 2007 3:10:02 PM
Feel better!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: Jackie | Dec 18, 2007 3:26:30 PM
Trust me, Brendan, it could be worse. I threw my back out at the same point when my wife was carrying our first. Both of us felt like invalids for days, and the only thing which took away the pain were healthy doses of "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation". Only good thing out of the sequence - it gave us a look ahead at what it'll be like when we're old and gray.
Posted by: kevin | Dec 18, 2007 4:02:19 PM
Actually, Andrew, ironically enough, I got the flu shot last Tuesday... the very day my sore throat started. (It didn't get really bad until Friday night, and the fever didn't develop until Saturday.) At first I thought maybe I'd gotten sick from the flu shot, but my doctor assures me (and the Internets confirm) that the flu vaccine uses a dead virus, so one can't get the flu from it. However, it's entirely possible that I picked up some sort of bug that was floating around in the air at the doctor's office from some other sick person who was there.
Posted by: Brendan Loy | Dec 18, 2007 4:03:47 PM
Kevin: Heh.
Oh, and thanks for all the get-well wishes, everybody. I actually am feeling a lot better, and haven't had a fever since yesterday afternoon. My doctor said I should stay home (lest I get my co-workers sick) until I've been fever-free for 24 hours... so it looks like I'll be back at work tomorrow. Nothing like a three-day week right before the holidays! :)
Posted by: Brendan Loy | Dec 18, 2007 4:05:21 PM
Brendan, don't you see? Your body was so busy defending against the flu shot, it didn't have time to defend against the real threat! Its just like the war in Iraq distracting us from the real threats like Canada!!
Posted by: David K. | Dec 18, 2007 4:46:23 PM
The flu shot takes a couple weeks to kick in. So getting it now isn't too useful. You needed it back in October/November.
Posted by: jc | Dec 19, 2007 12:19:49 AM