Job Woes & Mysterious Symptoms

I'm not entirely sure whether this is common knowledge yet--we haven't generally been telling people except family and close friends--but Steven lost his job when Q was 2 weeks old. I remember that as the very darkest time. My daughter was in the hospital hooked up to oxygen and yellow with jaundice, and I had taken a fast break between feedings to drive home for a bath to soak my red, itchy skin (a harsh, dry winter and a lack of my usual around-the-clock allergy meds were to blame for that). Steven broke the news to me, and I went to sit in the bathtub, sobbing, feeling darkness closing around me. I had a sick daughter that I was dying to take home--home to a house that we could no longer pay for. I told myself over and over that I would be able to look back 5 years from now and say, "That sucked. That was a bad time," and then move on to another, more relevant thought.

Steven has been jobless for about two months now. We've had family and friends supplying much of our food (women from the church brought me a week of meals, recently, and Steven's mother keeps us stocked up on food essentials and diapers). He's getting unemployment, but we recently discovered that it's a very sad amount that doesn't even cover half of our bills. We can't apply for government assistance because I immigrated within the last 5 years. Steven has had some promising prospects. He's had interviews with two computer places, as well as a job offered him as a delivery driver for Boston Pizza (which might not be bad money--certainly more than $150 a week!). He's also very interested in applying for a job as a 911 operator, which pays well but requires you to pay for your training out of pocket.

In the meantime, I am experiencing some weird symptoms. I have been hit recently with some extreme fatigue, despite getting a decent amount of sleep (rarely more than 4 hours at a time, but that's not too bad for a 2-month-old). Last night I slept about 4-5 hours, handed Q to Steven after a feeding, and slept another 5 hours or so (with one feeding in between). Now, six hours after I woke up at noon, I'm exhausted and ready to fall asleep again! Coupled with that is fast and unexplained weight loss which I originally chalked up to breastfeeding. But now I'm not so sure. Granted, eliminating dairy from my diet might partially account for my continued weight loss (not to mention, all the delicious, fattening foods have dairy in them...). But anyway, I am thinking of asking my doctor to give me a blood test to check my thyroid levels.

Well, I am too tired to think of how to wrap this entry up in a coherent fashion. Good evening.