I stopped nursing Elisabeth last week.  And it couldn’t have happened at a better time.  Because shortly thereafter, I came down with (Elisabeth passed along to me) a nasty cold.  And for the first time since I was pregnant – the first time in TWO YEARS – I was able to take real meds.  When you’re pregnant or breastfeeding, your medicinal options are pretty much restricted to Tylenol.  And most of the time, Tylenol just doesn’t hack it.  Oh, there’s also Benedryl.  However if you like to be conscious during the day, Benedryl is not always a good choice.  Now, though – now my options for Over The Counter meds were endless!

Giddy with excitement, I hit up the drug store.  I peered up through watery eyes at the rows and rows of pills, sprays, and syrups.  I carefully inspected the labels between sneezing fits.  With so many possibilities, how would I choose?  Multi-symptom cold medicine?  Cold & Flu gel caps?  Drowsy or non-drowsy cough syrup?  I noticed a bright orange label affixed on many of the boxes: “DMX”.  What was this DMX?  I saw you could only buy two of these products at a time and that ID was required for purchase.  I still had no idea what it was, but clearly it was the good stuff.  I grabbed the Robitussin with the mysterious “DMX” label and a package of Dayquil and Nyquil capsuls for good measure.

Back at home I eagerly ripped open an individual Nyquil dosage.  Dang they make those little packets hard to open!  Had those tiny, perforated lines always been so hard to tear, or had my hands grown weak after two years of medicinal abstention?  I eventually pried open the package and swallowed the pills.  That night was glorious.  Instead of waking five, six times with a hacking cough, I only awoke two.  The wonders of modern medicine!

Early in that morning – 4AM or so – I needed another dose.  But it was too late to take another Nyquil.  Damon was gone* and I had a child who would be awake in a short time; I’d need to be semi-alert to take care of her.  I opted for the non-drowsy Robitussin.  The directions instructed me to take 2 teaspoons every four hours.  Two teaspoons?  That was all?  Had that always been the dosage?  It seemed so… scant.  Nevertheless I poured my two teaspoons and swallowed.  The thick syrup coursed down my throat.  Oh sweet relief!

I went back to the drug store the next day to pick up some Mucinex… just because I could.

It’s bedtime for me now.  But first, off to the medicine cabinet.  Goodnight!  May you breathe clearly tonight.

*Of course Damon was (and still is) gone.  I think it’s in the Military Wife Handbook that we are only allowed to get sick when our spouses are away.  Why this is, I don’t know.  But it’s cruel.