Last Girls Weekend

Ever since my oldest daughter was born, we have had ridiculous timing when it comes to getting sick. Because of her exposure to older kids, she got sick all the time. Between her and my youngest, we’ve had everything under the sun, some of it twice. Roseola. Fifths Disease. Hand Foot and Mouth disease. Ick.. all of it. She also had these ridiculously high fevers. Everyone else would have the same bug and a low grade fever, bam.. she’d have a 104.5. Scary stuff, especially for a first time mom. But it breaks you in, and you get over it.

My husband and I have been together for 10 years now, and since we met, I have only made two trips by myself anywhere. One was to a funeral in Kansas City and the other was to Houston, for a wedding. We didn’t have kids yet for the funeral, so it wasn’t as daunting, but the trip to Houston was a huge undertaking. Planning, travel, being picked up from the airport, etc etc. Huge thing. It was the first girls weekend I had since I’d had my oldest child. She was 2 and she was quite a handful. I was really looking forward to the weekend to hang out with old friends and just have a good time.

Being the paranoid person I am, I decided that I needed to know for sure if I could drink. We’d been trying to get pregnant, and I wasn’t late yet, but I didn’t want to go to this big girls weekend and drink like a fish and then feel horrible (like I did with my first child). So I made my husband stop by Walgreens for something little, and while I was in there, I grabbed a pregnancy test. He didn’t see and I didn’t mention. There’d be enough time to discuss it after I got back for the weekend.

By the time I get to the airport I’m starting to feel nauseous. My brain is working overtime. Is it nerves? Am I just worried about leaving the baby? Am I really pregnant?
I was driving myself crazy and I decided I couldn’t wait any longer, so I got through security, checked in at the gate and went to the bathroom to take my test.

Sure enough, 2 minutes later I’m asking a stranger in the bathroom with me “Does this look like 2 lines to you?” Ummm.. yeah.

After that the nausea got worse. Great. Psychosomatic. Now I know I’m pregnant, I feel sick. Except. That wasn’t it.

By the time I landed in Houston, my husband calls me to tell me the baby is throwing up. I get picked up by my friends and we make it back to the house and I’m trying to make the best of it. I tell them my good news but tell them they can’t say anything to Mike if he calls back. He’s got his hands full and I wanted the news to be happy. I didn’t really surprise him with the news of my first pregnancy, and I wanted to do something nice for my second.

Well, he calls again, and this time it’s to tell me that he’s throwing up now. And now I’m really beginning to think that my nausea is not from being pregnant. Sure enough it wasn’t.

I ended up staying the night, throwing up almost all night in my best friends child hood bathroom. I called the airport and got them to switch my tickets. Luckily, they didn’t give me any trouble about it and I don’t think they even charged me extra. I missed the wedding. I was miserable and I just wanted to get home and see my baby.

Both my husband and my daughter were so sick that my mother had to come pick me up from the airport. When I walked in, all plans of a romantic “I’m pregnant” surprise went totally out the window. I’m mumbled the good news before I crawled into bed. I was gone less than 24 hours. I flew twice, trying to not throw up the whole time. I missed the wedding and my girls weekend. I missed my romantic surprise and I ended up wishing I’d never even tried to go. It was awful.

5 years later, I’m headed back to Texas. I went out drinking last night and I’ve been fighting this paralyzing headache all day today. I kept telling myself it was a hangover, but after a while, I knew better. I’m still not sure what it is, but I can only hope whatever it is ends with me. I’m flying out in 5 days. And I REALLY REALLY wanna go this time.