Olof’s off to Uppsala in the morning and he’ll be gone for three days. Bah.

Luckily Helena is coming out to stay for at least part of the time so I won’t be totally on my own with all the kids and dogs and related hassles. My MS has been flaring up to various degrees for the past month or so, so it’s especially good that I’ll have her help while he’s away.

I’m doing mostly fine, but I have a fair bit of weakness in my left arm and leg and I get tired really easily. Just being on my feet long enough to cook dinner or vacuum the house can wear me out, and I can’t walk very far at a stretch before I need to sit and rest for a while. It’s pretty common for women with MS to have a fairly severe flare-up within the first three post-partum months, so I was expecting this, but it’s still no fun.

I hesitate to complain too much, though, as it’s much less severe than the flare-up I had after Tage was born. That time both of my legs were affected so badly that I couldn’t walk down the stairs (I had to scoot down on my butt) and I couldn’t stand up long enough to shower. We ended up bringing in a lawn chair from outside so that I could sit down inside the shower stall. I also lost the use of my right hand and arm, so that I couldn’t change diapers (okay, maybe that part wasn’t so bad!) or braid Lydia’s hair. This current weakness is nothing at all like that, and I’m thankful for it. It’s still hard, though, and a bit demoralizing to be feeling this way again after not having any attacks for more than two years.