ouch

i have been fighting an ear infection since thursday night. i can honestly say that this pain is horrible and (since i had a great c-section experience) is worse than when i had kate. i get a couple of minor ear infections every year ... i usually can irrigate my ears at home and they clear up within a day or two. not this time - i think the irrigation made it worse. finally saturday morning (after a very unsuccessful night of sleep) i went to instacare and saw a doctor who prescribed me some drops with antibiotics. then it got so. much. worse.

saturday night was awful! i slept a total of about 2 hours (in 5-10 minute increments of sleep). it was a nightmare. the pain was so bad it kept me awake and i was up re-heating my bag of rice every 30 minutes or so. not only is there this constant pain that doesn't let up, every few heartbeats i would get this zinger of what i can only describe as a searing hot needle being shoved through my eardrum into my brains. needless to say, weston took kate to church alone.

sunday afternoon, my fever kept rising and i completely gave in to the tears. crying makes it worse because it only increases the congestion and the pressure, but they flowed freely :) i forced myself to take a hot shower (doesn't that always make you feel a little better when you don't feel good?) and realized i needed more help. i asked weston to give me a priesthood blessing and thankfully, he did. i'm not saying i was cured, but things immediately started to improve. there were two very specific things that concerned me (sleep and taking care of kate) that were specifically addressed in that blessing. how great it is to have a faithful husband who honors his priesthood! within 20 minutes i was fast asleep (for a longer period of time than the entire night before).

weston woke me up after almost 3 hours so i would be able to sleep that night and i was feeling really good. we had dinner, played with kate, i took some benadryl, and i was out. it was such a great night! i only had to wake up a few times to take more ibuprofen and my eardrops.

today has been a really good day. my parents were in town so they brought me lunch and visited with me for awhile. i had some pain early in the afternoon and my ear is still pretty plugged up, but things feel so much better already. here's to hoping i can sleep again tonight :)

the best part of today is right now, however - i can hear my little girl growling to herself over and over as she lays in the dark of her bedroom :) maybe it's not laughter that is the best medicine, maybe it's your family ... although i guess our families bring the laughter :)