You'd never guess I was in hospital just 13 hours before this was taken...
The pros of good (legal and ok for preggo) drugs plus pregnancy skin and hair.
This might sound like a lie but this is the first time I've been proper sick since Etta was born. Despite all the kiddy bugs newly floating around our home, I've always seemed to be the one who is spared, or who only gets a little ill compared to everyone else. Sure, I've had morning sickness, and I got acute sinusitis which was scary (cos blurred vision and sudden onset headaches) but only really set me back a few days.
I'm pretty sure it was The Curry. My Midwife has other theories that we are testing currently* but the reaction was in normal food poisoning time of having et The Curry and the reaction I had was more violent than in a usual Tummy-Bug-From-Kid scenario. Also, it's just been the spews (none of the poos) which leads me to think my body rejected and was irritated by it, but it didn't get very far through. The Curry was eaten by Etta also (a small amount) and she didn't get sick, but when you are pregnant your body is less able to fight off bugs - so things that might not usually affect you, can.
Anyhoo, I didn't think anything was that amiss until I tried to go to bed last Wednesday night. I felt all acid stomachy and blergh, so actually attempted to spew in order to sleep. I am not good at making myself spew. It was a pretty unimpressive effort. I did eventually get to sleep, only to wake up around 2am to spew proper. After some time I managed to keep some panadol down (the cramping was very sore) and slept a bit more, only to be horrendously ill again around 6am. At this stage there was no food left, and I wasn't managing to keep fluids down. So was a bit of a mess.
What I was most worried about at the time though, was that I was supposed to be minding my friend's son for the day (a few months older than Etta so a great day for them). I deludedly thought I might still be ok to do so, but wanted to let them know the scenario. So glad I did and they decided to keep him home. An hour or so after that I was still throwing up fluids and incapable of looking after Etta. Murray hadn't realised I had been sick all night (he is a good sleeper) so was initially grumpy when I said I felt ill. Then after hearing some epic toilet runs he understood a bit better (he may also have had coffee by then), organised for his parents to have Etta for the day and went into work late so he could take her to them and make sure I was ok.
I am so thankful for that! I know so many parents who do just have to truck on through. I honestly think had I had to try I would have ended up in hospital with dehydration. Thursday was awful, but I hoped I'd magically be better come Friday.
Cos I was hosting a Tupperware party... Basically, if I organise any sales based party, something will go wrong. Last time I was also just post illness - turned out that illness was 'Surprise' pregnant - I found out I was pregnant on the day a bunch of people were coming to my house to look at Fuckerware. Horrendous. While I felt a bit better on Friday, and wasn't spewing (so decided the party was still on) I was completely wiped out. My fab cousin Sara came and took Etta off my hands for an hour in the morning. And Mum was due after Etta's nap to help get ready for the party and hang with us so I could rest then too.
The party was small and adequate and just family and over by 9.30pm (yay!)
And then Saturday I had work.
Because I hadn't been spewing for a bit (I was sick a bit after the Tupperware party, but that was because I thought I was ready to eat cheese. I was not ready to eat cheese. Cheese makes me do stupid things. Like eat cheese.) I figured I was ok for work. I was very tired (like, couldn't read a page of a book tired) but it was a six hour day shift which is not really that hard.
Before work I was quite sore, but figured it was just babies positioning (in a good position now and sometimes that hurts) and had Panadol so figured I'd be ok. After an hour at work I realised it wasn't just babies position that was sore. I was having a LOT of Braxton hicks, and wasn't sure if it was turning into contractions or not. My boss popped in to pick up some bits and pieces so I told him what was going on, and not to freak out, and that if I needed to go home I would call him. I also explained that (usually) labour was not like on TV and if I called him it didn't mean he needed to drive like a lunatic and learn how to deliver a baby on Youtube at the same time. I'd probably be sweet for a bit longer. And it probably wasn't labour.
I waited a few more hours and things weren't getting any better (but also not any worse). So I called my Midwife just to check in and see what I should do**. She said to go home, put my feet up, rest and monitor the contractions. If they got any worse I would go into hospital for monitoring. So I did that. Resting did kinda help with the pain, but the Braxton Hicks did not go away. And at 8pm, it felt more like contraction contractions despite having been laid up on the couch for some time, so I called back and we went into hospital for monitoring.***
And everything was fine. Phew! I know I said last post I felt more comfortable at 32 weeks about having an actual baby, but 32 weeks is still way too early. I definitely did not want to be in labour. Basically, getting that food poisoning, or whatever has irritated my uterus and it is having a bitchfit. That is all. And while there was a little contraction action, it was nothing compared to when I went in with Etta with the UTI, so no indication of labour happening any time soon. I just have to rest until things settle down a bit.
And we learned all sorts of cool stuff while we were in hospital:
1) There is this newfangled test of the cervix they can do to see how close you are to going into labour. It is super uncomfortable (cos they have to get to your cervix somehow), but was very reassuring that I will NOT be going into labour any time soon (high five to unborn baby!)
2) Our baby is CRAZY ACTIVE. I knew that, but I don't think anyone else (Murray) quite believed me as to how much so until they saw the monitoring results. When the baby moves it makes a little black line on the chart thing like a ball point pen (chart thing also monitors uterine contractions and babies heart rate) - our baby made Posca pen size black marks. While this one was quiet early on, I think it might give Etta a run for her money in the 'smash' department in the future.
3) One of our back up midwifes is lovely (mine was off on Saturday).
4) Waitakere has some new hospital beds in maternity that look kinda like mini spaceships. They are super wide and extremely comfortable. They are so new that the midwife wasn't sure quite how to do some things. So cool!
Sunday was my in laws Renewal of Vows ceremony (kinda like a second marriage to celebrate being married for 40 years) so we hadn't told them we'd been in hospital the night before cos didn't want to stress them out. We told them after the service, so they would understand why I went home early with Mum and Etta. Sunday I was still having crazy Braxton Hicks and was totally sore and wiped out. I was very glad the ceremony was at a former work place of mine, so that even though I felt totally awful, it was a comfy place for me to be. Etta decided not to nap when we got home, so it wasn't as restful at home as I'd hoped, but Murray looked after her the whole time once he did get home, so I could rest.
And yesterday I had Etta by myself all day. Basically, if I stood up or did anything remotely active I'd go into Braxton Hicks. But the pain was gone and I had the first day where I felt I could eat proper food (I had a Popsicle Slushy for dinner Sunday night. It was fantastic). And Etta was pretty good. She seems to understand when I'm not doing that great and compensates. We had a quiet, indoors day and she napped well and we watched WAY too much TV but sometimes that's ok. Especially when you are sick and pregnant.
So yeah, that was my five days of epic sick. Being pregnant with a toddler and sick sucks. It is way harder than normal sick. There is no way I would have come out of it so well without so much help and support from friends, family and neighbors. I am sooo lucky. On Saturday, I had a super awesome Ngaio lady drop me off some treats after hearing I wasn't doing so good (our man friends are also friends), and on Sunday arvo my Lucy brought me a brief visit with scratchies and cuddles.
What this has shown me is that basically, even if I'm not sick, it's probably time to slow down. My life never seems like it's super busy until I look at it written down, and then realise that actually, sometimes it's kinda crazy.* She is concerned it might be an adverse reaction to the iron injections I've been having, as was also within 48 hours of having had an iron stabby and I react badly/similarly to taking iron tablets and it is one of the more common side effects some women have with iron stabbies. I had one yesterday so we're waiting to see if I start spewing again tomorrow. If not, it was definitely The Curry. If so, I have to stop having my stabbies which is suck because they are helping me breathe like a regular human which is infinitely better than not.
** Mostly cos I didn't want to be a dick, ignore things because it's probably nothing, then actually be in labour at 32 weeks and have left things too late for good medical intervention for a too early baby and have everything turn to shit.
*** We have the BEST neighbors in the world. I called Mum to come down (in case it was real labour), but that still left about a 20 minute gap where we would be supposed to be at hospital, and she would still be in transit. So Murray asked one of our lovely neighbors if she could just watch TV at our place and listen to the baby monitor. She literally ran over (even though we told her it wasn't an emergency) in her pyjamas. This is on a Saturday night may I add. Somebody is getting a box of choccies the next time I'm out shopping!
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