Ahhh, the childhood memories of strep throat...

I was born with monstrous tonsils. Seriously. Everyone who saw them ooohed and aaahed. Every nurse, every doctor, every curious onlooker... I was quite accustomed to the proclamations heard when anyone saw the golf balls at the back of my throat.

Therefore, I was plagued with strep throat at least twice each winter until the time that the pesky things were removed. (How old was I, Mom?)

Just a few weeks ago, a 4-year-old at church had her tonsils removed and her mom said that they were just plain huge. It wasn't until that moment that I truly thought, "Hmmm, Ally is almost five and has never had so much as a sore throat." Sure, she's had colds, coughs, the big D word, she even lost her voice once. But I have never heard her say, "My throat hurts." Until now...

Early Friday morning...very early Friday morning...like 4:30 AM Friday morning...I heard that awful sound that makes every mother panic. "Mommy! Mom!" I raced upstairs because, well, Ally RARELY wakes in the night. She deliriously asked me if her music was still on. (This is fodder for another post...she must have her music playing ALL NIGHT LONG.) This was, of course, a ridiculous question because we could both hear said music. Then she said the second thing that makes every Mother panic at 4:30 in the morning: "I feel so hot."

True enough, the sweet little chickadee was burning up. I got her some water, assured her that her music was on, changed her into a t-shirt, and put her back to bed. Then I returned to bed, worried about the day ahead of me.

About three hours later, David moved a little TV from our room into her room and settled her in for the day. From 8 to 5, she hardly moved. It was a little creepy. She moaned a bit, but didn't say much at all. I checked on her regularly, fully expecting another dreaded exclamation, "Mom, I threw up!" However, that never came and she went to bed after a nice dose of Tylenol at about 8:30 PM. I was restless, consumed with what the night would bring. Sick always seems to get worse in the wee hours.

After several hours of restless sleep, I heard her footsteps in our room and THOSE words I referred to earlier: "Mom, my throat hurts." This was accompanied by tears. There was still a fever, although it was much lower, and I knew we'd be making a trip to the doctor.

Just a few hours later, Ally is back in her bed, in those cozy PJ's, watching Toy Story. And here I sit, ever vigilant, making sure the antibiotics prescribed for her strep throat don't have any ill effects. Poor little miserable thing.

Just this morning I read a fun little article by a blogger I like to read. Her blog address is suburbanturmoil.blogspot.com. She's a snarky little writer, with lots to say about motherhood and living in 2009. She makes me giggle. I like that. Anyway, she also writes for the online Nashville newspaper, The City Paper. Her recent article was about a horror movie that she would like to submit to writers entitled, "THE SICK HOUSE." I can totally get that. We have been sick for what seems like months and I AM DONE! You can read the article here. (Just a note: she's a bit hard on her husband. It's funny, but don't read into that! I have nothing to complain about in that department.)

Just in case you didn't remember, Natalie is scheduled to have her "procedure" on Tuesday. You can review the story here if you missed it before. Anyway, if you have a moment, please pray that she (and David and I), somehow escapes the strep throat germs prevalent in our household. Obviously, if she develops symptoms, we'll have to reschedule her tear-duct-unclogging. As much as we ARE NOT looking forward to the "procedure," we would like to get it over with and stop worrying about it! Thank you.