As much as the last few weeks have seemed to drag by, I can’t believe I am already 1/3rd of the way done with my pregnancy. It has been a bumpy road and if you had asked me a few weeks ago I would have told you that I was either going to wait a few years to have another one, or just adopt. Either way, the bottom line was, “I’m not doing this again!” But now that some of the morning sickness has started to subside, well, let’s just say we’ll see.
Around the first of March I had a dream that I was pregnant and it unnerved me to the point that I decided to take a pregnancy test as soon as I woke up. That turned out to be a bad idea because when I finally worked up the nerve to take a peek, I was greeted with the faintest little blue line I have ever seen. I went to work that day not knowing if I was or wasn’t, and was pretty much a basket case all day. I found a website where people had posted pictures of their pregnancy tests, and people could vote on whether they thought the test was positive. Finally I gave up and called Mike and told him to go out and buy a digital test, that way I could get a clear “pregnant” or “not pregnant.” I took the test the moment I got home.
At about 5 weeks I woke up and made a run for the bathroom, I felt terrible but I was still smiling even after throwing up. It felt like a rite of passage. Morning sickness varies for everyone, but I had no idea just how much or what I was in for! After a couple of days of throwing up morning, noon, and night…at work, in my car, and many other fun places, I went to Urgent Care and got some medicine for nausea. It helped a little bit but a few days later I must have been very dehydrated because I fainted on my morning run for the bathroom and that’s when I decided to see an OBGYN. (This also just so happened to be on Mike's Birthday. Leap Day. His 6th "real" birthday ever. But he was sweet enough to stay in and take care of me. I will be forever grateful!)
My doctor diagnosed me with Hyperemesis Gravidarum, which basically just means that my morning sickness causes me to throw up a LOT. I had already lost 10 pounds in two weeks, but after talking to and reading stories about others who have had the same illness; I have realized that I could have had it a LOT worse. Luckily, I was diagnosed early and given a solution that has worked pretty well. I have gone from throwing up 6-10 times a day to once every few days, which still sounds terrible but has really been such a blessing!
This is my Zofran pump, which gives me a steady dose of nausea medication 24/7. It is attached to a tiny catheter in my stomach at an infusion site that I have to move every couple of days or it starts to get itchy/painful. It doesn’t really hurt much to put it in, but it is a mind trip! I would never make it as a diabetic.
It is a bit of a hassle, carting this thing around everywhere and always making sure I have enough batteries, refrigerated medicine, etc. I also have a nurse who calls me every morning for my “assessment” which just means I have to weigh in, test my urine for keytones to make sure I’m not dehydrated, tell her how much I’m eating/drinking, how my nausea level is on a scale from 1-10, and so on. If I do get too dehydrated I have to have a nurse come out to hook me up to an IV drip and that is a MAJOR pain to cart around, so I try my best to stay hydrated!
I have taken the last few weeks off from work, but am gearing up to go back next week. I was lucky enough to get to take a trip to California for my birthday, which fully awesome even with the nausea.
Flying a kite at the beach, cameo appearance by my pump! It has been very relaxing and while I am a bit worried about going back to work, I am beyond ready to get out of this house! Through all of this I have learned a lot about myself, and just how much stress and worry I can handle. As much as I would like to complain about how horrible it has been (and it has been), I truly do realize that it could have been so much worse. I talked to one woman who had Hyperemesis years ago and her doctor didn’t know how to help her, so she lost so much weight and got so dehydrated that she had to be hospitalized. Other women experience symptoms all the way up until delivery, while mine seem to be slowly improving. I was also lucky to have a doctor who put me on the Zofran pump right away, because without it I would have surely spent the last 3 months on the floor of the bathroom.
I am looking forward to this Saturday, when I can officially wave bye-bye to my first trimester, and hope the next one will be a little more fun!
