Steve was able to feel the baby for the first time... it was an encouragement for him to know that the baby was ok. We still haven't made the pregnancy "Facebook Official" yet, in fact, only a handful of people know about the pregnancy at this point. But that moment resonated with Steve, and he even posted "Felt something magical last night" on Facebook. Call it hormones, but it choked me up when I saw that.
I began eating a bit more. Soft, bland foods, still, but I was eating. Scrambled eggs for breakfast, pasta for dinner.
This week, after church on Sunday, while my husband was at work I took the kids to lunch at Salsaritas (Gotta love Kids Eat Free days!). I actually had a bit of energy to drive there, but the line was super long, and I regretted it. But standing in line, a lady with a small child in a sling came up behind me, and said "Sorry you've got the PICC Line. I had it too." While waiting to order, we chatted. She had to have her IV for the entire pregnancy. After a few months, her doctor let her unhook at night. She told me that she too had trouble with people not understanding the symptoms. It was encouraging for me to see that she had a healthy baby after all that stress that she'd been through.
Again: Let me break it down for you. Have you ever had a stomach flu? or food poisoning? It took a lot out of you, right? You felt like you spent all day in the bathroom, right? And the last thing you wanted was to eat or drink something, in fear of it coming back up. But the relief you felt knowing that it's only going to last a few days... Yea, imagine all that, except you don't know when it's going to stop. That's HG.
Oddly enough, my nurse was off that week for my weekly dressing change, but her nurse was filling in. She was also sharing with me some of the issues she's seen with her patients. Again, it was really nice to know I wasn't alone.
This week when my PICC Line dressing was changed, something felt off. Usually, it doesn't hurt, but later that day, I started feeling some pain. I texted my regular nurse, and she came over the next night. My arm (which is measured weekly) had swollen over the 24 hours from the dressing change. And was very warm to the touch. She sent me to the ER.
After 3 hours of waiting, blood tests and an ultrasound of my arm, I got my diagnosis. Blood Clot! Yay. So my PICC Line had to come out. I had 10 days of antibiotics to take, plus heating pads to the swollen arm, but no IV, no fluids.
As annoyed as the bag made me at times, I needed it. At least I knew that on my worst days, that baby was getting what it needed. Now, I don't have that comfort.
The days following the IV coming out were some of the worst. My nurse told me that many HG moms start to feel relief after week 16, but that week, it didn't seem I was going to be one of those moms.
No comments:
Post a Comment