A Reason (or Two) to Celebrate...With Wine!

Yesterday was a pretty rough day for me, there was lots of whining and complaining and general crabbiness. I didn’t get enough sleep the night before, and apparently my body’s reaction to that is an all-out ache. It almost feels like you have the flu, but there is no getting comfortable. And so everyone I know gets to hear about how miserable I am and how I just do not remember my last pregnancy being so awful.

After a drug-induced sleep and a decent morning, (except of course dealing with pink-eyed little screaming girl who wanted nothing to do with anything and I am surprised even woke up), I was driving to work. Late, due to aforementioned screaming child.

And that was when Mark Suppelsa told me something that makes me very, very happy. And makes other people I know happy too. He said a study recently came out that showed if a woman had a glass of wine every day during her pregnancy, then that led to more well-behaved children. And there are no other adverse effects. Hallelujah!! I can have wine! Red wine!! Yay!!! (And you can totally trust Mark. He’s the anchor on the WGN News at 5 & 9, but more importantly, he does the news on the Eric & Kathy show on the radio in the morning. So if he says it, it MUST be true.)

I’ve always been one to believe in moderation in all facets of life, but especially during pregnancy. I have a bit of caffeine every day, and chocolate, and sugar, and other not-good-for-you things. (OK, maybe a lot of chocolate and sugar) I’ll even eat lunch meat. But I always stayed away from the alcohol because they scare the shit out of you, with stories of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and premature babies and generally being a terrible mother. And really…who wants to be a terrible mother? Not me.

So this story makes me happy. And that should make everyone I know happy.

On another happy note, my dad went to see Dr. Witt the Neurosurgeon yesterday. Last week he was released to the world from his occupational therapist. (He celebrated by taking my three nieces to the pool, away from the horrid heat of the garage sale that my mom and sister were having. And there were no travesties.) Dr. Witt told my dad he is now allowed to DRIVE and EXERCISE and GOLF. (OK, to be fair, he can’t swim yet, because he has a couple of little soft spots still in his skull. Like a baby!!) But even better…he can WORK. At a desk, but that is just what my pacing-the-floors-of-his-house father wanted to hear. Of course, he isn’t going back to work until he gets home from his fishing trip to Canada, of which he leaves this week. So that is major excitement in my parent’s world. I am sure that my mom is happy she no longer has to play chauffer, or entertainer, to my father. And I am sure that my father is happy that he can now chauffer and entertain himself.

Just over 3 months after his diagnosis, which was just over 3 months after he fell and whacked his head on the ice, my dad is well on his way to being 100%. What happened is exactly what I had hoped would happen. We found a problem and fixed it. It was fixable. (I’m such a boy in my thinking.) I know that many people have health problems that aren’t fixable, or are ongoing, and don’t get better in roughly 3 months after 2 brain surgeries. I know how lucky we are.

Tonight, I think I’m going to toast to that.