Children are a pain in my ...

Apparently, children are a pain in my neck. ... Or throat to be more precise.

I had not thought it would be possible to experience worse heartburn with Thing 2 than I had with Annabel. I didn't think worse heartburn WAS possible. Surely, I must be remembering it it all wrong because last night as I lay awake for the third night in a row, wanting to cry and knowing there are FIVE MORE MONTHS of this to come, I couldn't believe it had been this bad.

I couldn't even find comfort sitting in an upright position. I know it sounds astounding, but the burning in my throat, the gagging on bile, the feeling of general sickness took me by complete surprise. How can I stand FIVE. MORE. MONTHS. of this?

I remember telling people that I had horrible heartburn with Annabel and that I'd gained only 12 pounds during the entire pregnancy because of it, but I'd truly forgotten how awful it was. Drinking water, even in small amounts, seems to produce the same general results of eating an Italian hoagie stuffed with sausage, onions and sauce. I don't remember feeling nausiated at the same time, though. That's new.

I also don't remember it sneaking up on me. The feeling of fullness decends upon me without warning: One minute you're asking for seconds of pasta and the next -- only one morsel later -- you're wishing you could vomit to feel some relief.

One of the first things that happened to make me think I might be pregnant this time around was that I woke up one morning to the undeniable horror of reflux; it was at least two weeks before I would be able to take a pregnancy test.

I hadn't had heartburn since Annabel was born ... I wonder if that means ...

Sure 'nuff. Strange, though, how I'd thought this pregnancy would be different.

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Annabel isn't feeling well either. Poor thing is at the doctor as I write this, having woken up from her nap with a swollen, goopy purple eye. She's been fighting a cold all weekend and awoke this morning with crusty eyes. I thought it might be from sleep, but no. She is a mucus factory, and it's being produced from virtually every orifice.

So I'll just be sitting here swallowing fire and crossing my fingers that I'm the only one suffering tonight.

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Well Jed called from Albany Tile (where he is trying to figure out if what he wants to do with surround of new tub/bathroom is even feasible **Blink, blink**) to say that Annabel is fine, and in the most graphic of technical explanations, there's a rather simple reason for the goopy gunk swelling up her eyes: The tear ducts usually drain through the nose but when mucus cloggs the nose as much as Annabel's nose is currently clogged it sometimes oozes out the eyes. Lovely, huh?

She sounds good, though. I could hear her prattling on in the backround, talking about all the ice cream she'll eat when it's summer.