I had lots of drama yesterday- I spent the day in the ER. Everything is fine, but it was a bit scary. After I went to the OB in the morning for a non-stress test for the baby (they want to make sure its heart beat speeds up when it moves, check the amount of amniotic fluid and see when I have contractions. Everything looks perfect with Graglo, which is of course good news. I did find out that I was having contractions all the time during the test but I didn’t feel anything. This rather surprised the nurse when she kept asking ‘but you felt that right?’ and I said ‘nope, nothing’. This could be its own type of fun when delivery comes if I don’t notice until the very end!) When I got up to leave it suddenly felt like I had looked at a bright light with my left eye and I couldn’t see well. I took the metro to work but I felt dizzy and I couldn’t really see and I was confused and very spacy. I got to work and Rachel who sits next to me commented that I didn’t look good. Then my left hand, my nose and then my tongue went numb.
So I kinda freaked- this not being the norm and all- and called Mike, he said call the OB triage nurse, I called her, she called me back and said this sounds very odd go to the ER. I asked if I could go to the nurse here she said “ma’am, GO TO THE ER”. I kept arguing, she kept saying the same thing, finally I said fine, Rachel went with me in a cab to the GW ER and Mike met us there.
So I was there from 1-5:30 pm. The did a CT scan, they checked for AIDS (I told them it would be negative, but they ‘strongly recommend’ people get the test, and the young med student who came in to administer it looked so earnest and puppy like that I said fine, I’ll take it, but it’s going to be negative, or Mike has some SERIOUS explaining to do. Surprise, surprise, it was negative) they did blood work, and they gave me an IV- the nurse was nice, but TERRIBLE with needles, I have a massive bruise on my right arm that’s only going to get bigger and uglier over the next few days. When she got the needle in my arm she shot blood all over the lovely gown and the sheets. Nice! I told her at least there was proof she got it in if anyone wasn’t sure. She smiled and said ‘yeah, thanks for that!’
They were worried I’d had a stroke- with being pregnant they said I have additional clotting factors that make it more likely- but the CT scan showed that my brain was fine. Based on everything the lead ER doc said it sounded like a migraine which apparently is not uncommon in pregnant women- AND DC is under ‘code orange’ weather which means it’s hot, humid and the air quality is low so it’s hard on ‘communities at risk’ which I guess probably currently includes me. She thought that might have added to me getting the migraine.
They called my OB – who is a member of the GW medical group so they all knew her and my records are in the system which is nice- and she said she was delivering a baby, but based on everything she thought it was safe to release me so they did. And thus ends my not-so-much excitement from yesterday.
The downside of the ER is that my cell and blackberry didn’t work, so I couldn’t even call people/do work- which would have helped with the extreme boredom since we were in an oatmeal colored room with nothing to do. Mike had his laptop, his cell, his BB – everything -and they were all dead. That’s when I knew he loved me- he was technologically cut out of all communication which makes him twitchy- and I told him he could go sit in the waiting room so his gadgets would work and he said with a small sigh ‘no, I’ll wait here with you’. Awww.
I feel much better today, and I’m trying to drink as much water as possible to make sure I don’t get dehydrated and repeat the joys of yesterday. Whew. It’s hard work being knocked up 🙂
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