When I found out we were expecting, I had a lot of emotions. I knew the date was December and could possible be on the day I let go of our Angel Baby Michael Sophia. That in itself brought many emotions. But I knew that God has a plan and to trust that He knows best.
I had morning sickness. But what I wanted to do differently was to try not to take any medications this pregnancy. With hip dysplasia I have relied heavily on Tylenol and/or Advil and yes even prescription pain medications. Since having the surgery, my hips have felt pretty darn amazing. For the morning sickness I tried natural remedies. I found that spearmint, chocolate mint, or orange mint leaves in my water with slices of lemon helped so I could stay as hydrated as possible. Laying on the couch when I could also really helped to keep anything I consumed to stay down. There were times that nothing worked and I would take a Zofran but that only was needed 5 times early on.
By the summer, I was really looking forward to the morning sickness lifting. The actual getting sick did but the nauseated feeling stayed for the whole 9 months as did the extreme fatigue and brain fog. I did use my mom's blood glucose meter to check my sugars as I was napping a lot and just had no energy after eating breakfast or lunch. My sugars weren't drastically high but high enough for me to cause me issues. Once again I set out to balance my carbs and sugars. Eggs in the morning worked well but sadly I just couldn't stand the eggs. I did eventually find a way towards the end. I would sauté onions and bacon together along with chopped sweet potato and then add the eggs and top it all off with cheese. I had to watch my salt intake otherwise I would swell up something awful. I also saw a chiro as I was experiencing pubic bone pain. And at one point I couldn't walk so I made the call. My fears of being adjusted had to be let go. After the first adjustment I felt relief.
Over the summer, my mom also had her left knee replaced so I opened my house to her. I just found that since my house has the bathroom, bedroom, and kitchen all on the same level where as hers is a tri level it would make her recovery better. I felt bad as this recovery for her was more of a challenge. Good news she is doing better!
By the time school started, I felt stressed. The kids and their schedules just always seemed to change. There never seemed to be a consistent schedule. I just felt myself wearing down. By early October my body must have said enough. I came down with a fever on Saturday and Sunday called the nurse because during the night the baby became very active which wasn't typical of baby. She suggested I go into LDR to make sure it wasn't a UTI. So I dropped Arianna and Hannah off at mass then drove myself to the hospital. A urine sample was taken and came back negative. So the resident decided to start an IV and get some fluids in me. After the first round of fluids, I began having Braxton hick contractions and with those the baby's heart rate began to drop. That drew some attention. My OB decided at that point to bring the high risk dr in the practice on. So much happened. I had a lot of blood work being drawn to see what was going on. The decision was then to admit me and give me two doses of steroids for baby's lungs in case baby decided enough was enough. Then I also was to be given two rounds of IM injection of rocephin antibiotic. And also to have biophysicals done to make sure that baby was doing ok. I also was to be given a bolus of magnesium then another dose over 6 hours.
That night, after Dusty came up to drop off a few things for me, I just cried. I found a song that felt perfect for the way I felt "Worn" by Tenth Avenue North. I felt like maybe it was something I did or could have prevented. Here I had been working at not turning immediately to a drug for the morning sickness or Tylenol for aches or pains. But now here I lay in the hospital bed with so much being given to me. I just felt like I failed myself and my baby.
The magnesium bolus made me feel terrible. I felt like my insides were HOT! Then the nurse came in with the antibiotic shot and told me they give a numbing shot first because the shot itself hurts. I found the steroid shot earlier very uncomfortable so I knew if I was to be given something to numb that it was going to be painful. With the numbing medication it felt like the steroid injection. But found out when I was transferred that the IM injection without the numbing effect hurts! I was about to pull the needle out of my rear and cry because it hurt that bad! I tried to keep relaxed but I don't recommend trying to be hero and tough it out.
By morning, I was transferred to the high risk floor. It was funny to hear from my OB Dr that I had 10 doctors on my case all trying to figure out the cause of my fever. He said I will probably be that case they will talk about as all the tests being done were coming back negative. He told me, the most important thing was that baby was happy and I get better. Which is what I was doing. So whatever it was I was responding to the antibiotic. It was highly suggested that I get the flu vaccine but whether you are for or against vaccines my decision to not receive the vaccine was that a fever was what brought me and a fever that the baby didn't tolerate so why would a flu vaccine be given to me when side effects could possibly be flu like symptoms including a low grade fever. I declined as I was just beginning to feel better. I felt pretty darn good. I was sending text messages to Dusty about all things I wanted to do when I got home. He popped my bubble by letting me know it was probably the steroids making me feel motivated. And he was right. That motivational feeling didn't stay around long at all.
I was able to go home that Wednesday. After all this I then became high risk so I had a lot of biophysicals. Which once again I wasn't even sure I wouldn't that 20 week ulstrasound. Only reason I did that was to make sure the placenta was out of the way. But otherwise I was fine without one. So here I am seeing baby twice a week for two weeks then once a week up until the first part of December when my primary OB Dr thought I was close to delivering that we were good. I was put on a prophylaxis antibiotic dose to take one at bedtime. The high risk dr thought it was my kidneys that caused the fever. But primary ob wasn't sold on the idea because the results were negative. I even had my glucose levels tested but the results came back within normal levels.
Trying to get to December was a challenge in itself. I just felt so very tired and brain fogged. The couch was my spot. I just had no motivation or energy. We had a lot of pizza as dinner fell primarily on Dusty to fix.
As December grew closer I realized that eventually I would have to think about labor and delivery.
With all things, we must learn to trust in God's plan.
