But it’s not Tuesday, you say. I know, I know… stay with me here {really… try… LONG POST ALERT}. After a fantastic weekend visiting my favorite brother and fam in Kansas City, I was ready for a standard, uneventful week. I was going to have an ultrasound Monday at Jearlyn’s office {what can I say, I love ultrasounds:)} and had a few playdates planned with friends but according to my schedule, week 30 would come and go without much tadoo.
Cue Monday morning. I woke feeling a-okay. Barrett and I headed down to Lincoln for our ultrasound. While en route, I had a bad feeling I might barf {argh. Why did I think, even for a second, I could travel without my fairy godmother’s emesis bag?}. After a stop for water {and terribly disgusting dollar menu french toast sticks for B…why do those things always look better than they taste?}, we picked up grandma E and headed for Heart and Hands. Ultrasound was fan-flippin-tastic. Not only was Grin moving and a-shaking but currently weighs in at 2 lbs 14 ounces which puts us right on track for growth. After a bp check, I was feeling good with a reading of 135/94… pretty standard…heck, even a little lower than standard if we’re being real {and we always are, right?}. All in all, good morning.
On the ride home, I once again felt a little nauseated but worse … my head began to pound. This is not completely abnormal for me for this pregnancy. But by naptime, I was officially hurting. My eyes felt better squinted and scrunched up. Though my stomach didn’t hurt, I thought that the nausea would soon lead to tossing my cookies. I tried to nap but that wasn’t happening. My head thumped and my blood pumped. By the time Adam came home from work, I was on the couch, eyes closed all the while trying to make sure Barrett didn’t get into the knife drawer or find the matches. I had tried (separately) E.T. Tylenol and Fiorcet {a headache med they gave me in early preggophase} but nothing was cutting this clinger. So, at 7:ish, I caved. I called my merry midwife on her cell {I know… I hate to be that girl} and discussed the dish with her. She talked with Dr. K and they gave me 3 options… go to Methodist E.R., drive to Lincoln to St. E’s, or wait it out until the a.m. and see Dr. K. With a two year old’s pending bedtime and a just-plain-feeling-silly-about-going-to-the-er-for-a-headache feeling, I decided to try to sleep it off.
Upon waking up in the A.M. my head was still in total attack mode so Adam and I got B in the car, met up with grandma B {thank God!} and headed down to see Dr. K. My BP was awesome … 120s over 80s range, Grin was moving great, we’d had a great ultrasound the day prior… I still felt stupid going in for a headache…but by that point, it was so bothersome, I just needed for it to cease. Dr. K checked out everything… my nervous system business, my bp, did a dipstick for protein, and had me spit quarters while spinning plates in the air… and while all that came out perfecto, I was, as I told him, feeling totally shitty {yep. that’s what I said.}. So, they admitted me. For a headache.
Short story very long {I know… we’re already there} I was hooked up to monitor Grin’s goings-ons, I was filled up with Vitamin B6, morphine and Magnesium Sulfate and was told to rest. First of all, how people take narcotics on a regular basis is beyond me … while the morphine cut the headache for about 22 minutes, it felt like I had poured tequila directly into my vein. Second, magnesium sulfate is some crazy stuff. Not only did it make me feel like I was breathing fire when I spoke but also, it made me forget Tuesday was even happening. By the time we were discharged, I was feeling warm and fuzzy, quite lethargic {my BP was 110/65!} and I still had a headache… but a much less painful one. While Jearlyn wanted to keep me over night, they agreed that if I took it very easy over the next couple of days, I would be able to go home. Of biggest concern in hypertensive mamas-to-be with headaches are seizures, stroking and stillborns but with all things checking out beyond beautifully {they ran everything from ABCs to CBCs}, I was free to sleep in my own bed … which I gladly welcomed.
With Barrett still at Grandma and Grandpa’s house yesterday, I was able to lay around, sleep off the drugs and catch up on my reality tv. I feel 98% better today and while I feel stupid for going to the hospital for a headache, I think Tune-Up Tuesday was a success and I assume if my doctors decided on it, quite necessary. For now, we’ll watch my bp vigilantly, do our kick counts and say a prayer that I’m not admitted to St. E’s for at least another 6.5 weeks.
So, that’s my very very long story about the day I spent in the hospital for a headache {I’m sure those bills will be awesome}. And while otherwise, this is a very normal week, without much tadoo, I do have plans to pack our bags this weekend… but that’s for another post…
