Spring break is officially over. It's back to school, but only for my middle child. The other two have been struck down in the prime of their youth by The Pestilence – the disease the three of them passed back and forth all last week. We haven't traced it to its source yet. We don't have rats around here, much less ships bringing in sailors from 'round the world. But we do have two hairy varmints, one of whom has been scratching an awful lot lately. But I'm not pointing fingers.

This virus is a nasty one. It features a stomach ache, nasty headache, a sore throat and a bronchial cough so severe and grotesque-sounding I've been walking around with toilet paper stuffed in my ears to keep from gagging at the sound of it. It's been like a T.B. ward around here. All week. So today I'm home playing Florence Nightingale. I've been fetching food and beverages all day, but the worst part is the TV's stuck on the Disney Channel.

Help me. I'm one episode of Suite Life of Zack and Cody away from bolting.

After the short nap I took this morning I'm feeling a little queasy myself. All winter long I've barely managed to dodge the viruses my kids have brought home from school. I was on the verge of getting a couple of them, then somehow managed to fight it off. I really hope that happens this time, too. I don't have time to be sick. Not with my schedule. I have a paper due Friday – currently in first draft stage – another due Monday – ditto – plus loads of reading and two short, weekly reports due next Monday. And whatever I didn't notice on my syllabus, and haven't made time to obsess about.

One positive is this has given me time to read some of Heather Armstrong's (DOOCE!) book, It Sucked then I Cried. It feels a little weird how much I identify with her description of having a newborn in the house. Her pregnancy experience was a little different than mine. I can't grasp the concept of she and her husband sitting up all night after seeing the positive on the test, talking about names, how life will change, how exciting it all was and how much a team they were in the whole experience. 

But the exhaustion of adjusting to having a newborn who doesn't sleep, that's something everyone who's had a baby understands.That, and the feelings of inadequacy, guilt and a general, overwhelming fear you'll do something wrong and cause something terrible to happen. I know her impending post-partum depression, too, though in my case it came immediately and didn't wait months to set in. I believe in getting a head start whenever I can.

I'm just getting to the part her depression is settling in, before I know she'll have her nervous breakdown. Anyone who's been an avid reader of her site (ME!) already knows the basics, but not the details.

Back to the sick bay go I.  Maybe I should invest in a mask and box of latex gloves. I certainly don't want to be stricken with The Pestilence before the end of the semester. Come to think of it, I don't particularly want to be stricken with it anytime, truth be told. I'll have to hang some garlic around the house, and a horseshoe above the door. Having a few leeches around the house is never amiss, either. Time to run 'round to the apothecary.