Week 8 - A hellacious day.

One thing I’ve been pretty stoked about with this pregnancy is that I don’t have the all day long, never-ending nausea.  I’ll have random bouts of it throughout the day, but it’s nothing I can’t handle, and it’s far less than the first go-round when I was pregnant with Anna.  However, I’d trade daily nausea for this one day of pure hell that I just experienced.

Warning: If bodily fluids gross you out, leave now.

I woke up around midnight on Monday morning feeling out of sorts.  I wasn’t necessarily nauseated, just not feeling quite right.  Trying to fall asleep next to a snoring husband is nearly impossible, so I grabbed my gear and went to lie down on the living room sofa.  After a few short minutes, all hell broke loose, and the demons were released.  When I say demons, I mean poop and puke – fun stuff like that. 

I figured, eh, it’s probably just that little bug that Anna had last week.  She was only vomiting with this thing for a few short hours.  A few shorts hours of vomiting for me turned into an entire day of not keeping anything down or in.  Every sip of water came right back up.  The worst part about all of this was that I was on mom duty all day while Joe was at work.  I couldn’t even fix my child food without running to the bathroom sick to my stomach. 

After about 12 hours of this nonsense, I could no longer move.  I called in reinforcements.  Joe came home from work loaded down with essentials like orange sherbet (the only “food” I could think of that didn’t send me rushing to the bathroom) and bottles of Gatorade.  My mom left work early to come and watch Anna for me.  At her urging, I called my OB’s office to see what they recommended.  Had I not been pregnant, I would’ve sucked it up, but at this point I was concerned about the lack of fluids and how it would impact my baby. 

After waiting for what seemed like forever (and two calls later), the on-call nurse told me to head to the ER stat.  How am I supposed to do that when I’m too weak to even walk?

I forced myself to shower and get ready, but halfway through, I needed help to even do that because I was just so darn weak.  Then right before we left, the last bit of drink and sherbet that I managed to keep down finally made an exit.  At that point, I knew I was making the right decision by going to the hospital. 

We get there and only had to wait about 30 minutes before they put me in a room in the ER.  I was hooked up to saline and given a shot of Zofran right away.  That drug is nothing short of miraculous – within a few minutes, I felt like my old self again.  No more nausea, no more pain, no more urges to purge.  It was wonderful! 

I guess from all of the pain of getting sick so much throughout the day, my entire abdomen, back and legs were cramping up.  So, they took all kinds of blood and then decided, later on, to let me get an u/s to make sure that everything was OK with the baby.  The blood results came back showing that I had high levels of ketones in my urine which is an indication of muscle breakdown due to vomiting.  Other than that, all of my other levels checked out OK which makes me think I’m Super Woman! 

I had to keep drinking tons of the best drink on the planet – Ocean Spray Cran Grape – to fill my bladder enough to have a clear u/s.  Unfortunately, I was so dehydrated that even with an entire bag of saline and four boxes of Cran Grape that I couldn’t fill my bladder quickly enough.  I had to wait and wait and wait.  The worst part is that my mom and Joe were back in the first room where I was treated, so of course they were freaking out since it was taking so long. 

We eventually managed to get a decent shot of the baby, and everything checked out well in baby land.  I had visions that all of the amniotic fluid had dried up, but everything checked out fine.  It’s amazing how you can be on your death bed, practically, and your baby is completely unharmed.   The u/s tech told me that the baby will always take what it needs from you, no matter what.  Selfish little thing!

I was wheeled back into the first room and started feeling a little nauseated again.  Oh, hell no!  I started begging for more anti-nausea meds just to avoid that horror again.  The first Dr. mentioned Reglan.  Uh, isn’t there some class action lawsuit against this drug because it causes birth defects?  When I told him that, he started naming off issues with it.  Uh.  No thanks.  I’ll just deal.  Then the next Dr. on call recommended a shot of Phenergan.  She said it would knock me out pretty quickly, so that’s why they always give Zofran – way less side effects. 

The idea of being knocked out sounded good at that point, so I agreed.  And they weren’t kidding.  I was slurring my speech and unable to walk after just a few short minutes.  I wonder if there are any Phenergan addicts out there.  I can see why.  It’s was pretty darn nice!

We finally got discharged after the Dr. went over all of my test results and said everything checked out fine.  They wheeled me out to the car which was a good thing since I couldn’t walk by that point, and I got in and immediately fell asleep.  After that, I don’t remember much except Joe stopping for gas and feeling bad for my mom that she had to drive back home this late at night.

I guess I forgot to mention that we dropped Anna off at my cousin’s house down the street.  She watched Anna for a year, so Anna feels right at home there.  I am SO thankful that she was able to help us out like that and care for her while we were at the hospital.  After Joe brought me home, he took off and picked up Anna from her house.  I vaguely remember Anna crying for me when she got home, but after that, I was totally out until 1 a.m. when she woke up screaming for me.  She eventually came into our bed and slept with us the rest of the night. 

So, now I’m feeling 100% better, weak, but better.  Thinking of yesterday and the horror of it all makes me shudder, but I got through it having a whole new appreciation for women who suffer from hyperemesis throughout their pregnancy.  Bless you. 

Today will be an all liquid diet day, and tomorrow I’ll start on soft foods like mashed potatoes, breads, etc.  I’m actually able to think about food now without retching, so I’m definitely on the mend.

Here’s where the baby is today:


I am 8 weeks pregnant.


—  If my face is touched, I turn away.
  
— Someday, my new diaphragm will help me breathe real air.
  
— The nerve connections in my spine are forming.
  
— I've been told I have nice ears.
  
— My belly now has an appendix.
  
—  Now I have brains AND brainwaves! 

—  My collar bones and jaw bones begin to harden. 

— Something else is moving. It's my hands!

Aversions: Water, fruit, vegetables, basically anything healthful for you

Cravings: Chili cheese fries, mashed potatoes, french fries, basically anything horrible for you

Symptoms:
Hair is starting to look normal again
Mild nausea periodically
Aversions, cravings
Sore boobs

There are some days where I honestly don’t even feel pregnant which can definitely be scary at times, but I’ll just be glad that my symptoms are few and far in between. 

See ya next week!