Ups & downs & everythings in between

It has been a bit of a crazy week.  First an update from my Ob/Gyn visit.  I saw my ObDoc on Wednesday and had a routine exam.  My labs for cultures and thyroid tests came back negative/normal (wooo!) I tested negative for being a carrier of cystic fibrosis (wooo!).  My blood pressure was 126/80 (only slightly elevated) and we heard two heartbeats with the doppler at 146 and 153 bpm.  I’ve gained 4.8 lbs since the beginning of my pregnancy, which doesn’t seem like a lot, but I was easily 35lbs overweight when I started.  I go back to the ObDoc at the beginning of February but I was doing fine as of Wednesday and was given the green light to do light exercise (walking, swimming, pre-natal yoga).

I am becoming a little more active, getting out for walks with MrBeep, shopping, running errands, working, etc.  I like it much better than taking it too easy.  I have been editing and working on some videography stuff.  I finished my friend’s wedding DVD before she headed off to Australia to visit her husband’s friends and relatives who couldn’t make the wedding.  In addition to the video editing work, I did a really fun photo slideshow set to the song “Lucky Day” by Judy Garland.  It turned out great and I was glad to get the creative workout. 

I also dragged my lazy ass to the computer and put on my photography hat.  I went through a photo shoot session I had with my friend Tiff and her then 9 month old baby.  I chose the best photos, did some retouching and sweetening, then took the top 3 and made a framed picture with a tri-cut mat and some additional art supplies.  I glued his name down a vertical and then added stickers with the words “adorable, laughing, marvelous, baby boy” in between the photo cut outs.  They had a dual birthday party (kids from 6p-9p and adults from 9p-12a) on Saturday.  I gave the framed picture and the other good prints to Tiff for her birthday.  For her son’s 1st birthday, we got him a 4-in-1 ride in car.  She says he digs it big time.

I think I may have overdone things a bit on Friday and Saturday.  I knew I was thirsty and should have stopped to get something to drink, but I thought that I’d be done soon and home.  I guzzled a good quantity of water before bed.  On Sunday morning at 6am, I woke up really needing to urinate and afterwards had a lot of cramps, but after an hour or so of resting, it calmed down.  I went back to sleep and woke up at 11am with more cramps that got worse (TMI-had a bowel movement – FINALLY).  Afterwards I had a lot of gas pain and an upset stomach and mild backache.  I called my ObDoc who was on call, she recommended I sip some baking soda and water (a bi-carb) and if that didn’t work after an hour, to go to the emergency room.  After another hour I still had a lot of gas pain and then severe cramps and then I became nauseated.  I vomited the water and baking soda (YUCK!!), then I became even more nauseous, and dizzy, and my hands started to shake.  MrBeep took me to the emergency room. I got a full work up – blood pressure normal, temp normal, urine sample normal, blood normal, and the nurse found two healthy heartbeats for the monsters with her doppler.  At no time did I have any spotting or bleeding.  After about 20 minutes, it all increased.  I had tons of pain in my sides, back and cramps in my belly, then I started to shake all over.  They started an IV drip.  After about 3-4 minutes I could feel my whole body relax and calm down, the effect was almost instantaneous.  A couple minutes after that, the nurse gave me an anti-nausea drug and a little pain killer into the IV.  Those things took the rest of the edge off and we stayed in the ER for a couple more hours so they could keep an eye one me.  Since I had so much pain in my sides (left side especially) and back, they did an ultrasound to check my internal organs -  kidneys, liver, pancreas, gall bladder - these all checked out OK.  The ultrasound tech also did a quick heart rate check on the kiddos, they were having a grand old time, doing fine, their heart rates normal.  I was less concerned about them because I could feel them moving and squirming all day.  The feeling was subtle, but unmistakable.  Thank goodness.  In the end, my release papers called it “Abdominal Pain, Uncertain Cause [Female].” I think it was the perfect storm of dehydration, indigestion, and constipation.  All of which got everything including my uterus to start aching and cramping. No fun.

Why am I telling you all of this disgusting stuff, 100% TMI with too many details?  It’s because I recognized my symptoms may be from dehydration as described by other bloggidy friends when they had trouble.  Had I not known this, I would have tried to suck it up at home and risked big problems.  After I came back from the ER, I noticed my sunken eyes with dark circles beneath them  I remembered how dark my urine had been in the last couple of days, etc.  I’m mad at myself for not keeping up and recognizing my lack of liquid intake.  The multiples book and other sources recommend 8 16 oz glasses of water/day.  Yes 128 oz.  That’s over 3 liters or a gallon per day.  Folks, that is a fuckton of liquid.  I didn’t drink a thimble’s worth, I didn’t drink a gallon.  I think I drank around a liter/day in the last few days leading to Sunday (BTW-why can’t the US just go metric?  I mean, c’mon really?)

I am being very good and monitoring my water intake and will do so from now on.  I feel fine and have felt great since about 5 minutes after the IV kicked in.  I will go tomorrow afternoon to the MFM specialist for my 16 week ultrasound.  I’m good.  The monsters are OK.  I thought about keeping this all to myself, lest I seem the drama queen, but then I remembered how much other posts help me, so…there it is.  Sending lots of love out on the wires of the internet to you all.