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Mother's Day 2002 started out as the best Mother's Day ever. After trying for two |
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Mother's Day 2002 started out as the best Mother's Day ever. After trying for two years to conceive, we were finally pregnant. Up until now, 32 weeks, my pregnancy had been text book. I was right on target for weight gain, never had morning sickness, loved everything about it. Sometime that afternoon, I developed a strange headache. I remember when I first felt it, my in-laws were leaving and I leaned in to hug my father-in-law and the left side of my neck seemed to ache like a strange pull. I didn't think much of it, said goodbye and prepared to relax the rest of the day. I took Tylenol to help the ache, but it didn't even touch it. I thought I had pulled a muscle or something, so I had my nephew try and massage my head and shoulders with some menthol oil. It didn't help at all either. The headache got worse and worse as the evening progressed. I tried using cold, and heat, and a mixture of the two. I don't know why I didn't think to call the doctor, but I thought thought it was muscle strain. I couldn't sleep at all that night, I was tossing and turning, and trying not to cry. Finally, at about 3am, I called the ask-a-nurse helpline. I began going over my symptoms with the nurse. By this time, my entire head was pounding excruciatingly. She asked if there was a pain in my upper abdomen and I said yes. She said I needed to head immediately to the emergency room. My husband drove, and my mom came with us. The ride was horrible. I felt like my head was going to explode, and I couldn't sit still in the seat because I was in such pain that I was writhing around. When we got to the emergency room, my mom was helping me in, and I couldn't even get any words out to the triage nurse before I started vomiting everywhere. The vomiting relieved a bit of the stomach pain, but my head was still throbbing very painfully. They took my blood pressure, which was ridiculously hight, but I don't remember what it was. They immediately had me processed and admitted. They gave me an IV with mag sulfate. At this point everything was a blur. I just remember a lot of activity and needles, and blood pressure cuffs. Finally the demerol took effect, and my headache started to subside. They also gave me a shot of some type of steroid to help the baby's lungs develop, because I was so bad they assumed I would have to deliver in the next 24 hours. Once they got me stabalized, they transferred me to a different Medical Center, which was much better equipped to deal with 32 weekers. Once there, I was told I would be in the hospital until I delivered, which would probably be soon. I ended up staying in the hospital for three weeks. My blood was checked 4 times daily, my IV was changed every third day. I was on complete bedrest. I had a catheter to monitor my urine output, allowed to take a bath every four days. I was not allowed to sit fully upright for more than 10 minutes at a time. The headache was constant, and it was kept to a dull roar with percocet and heat and cold packs It was a long three weeks, and the Dr's finally decided that I was deteriorating to quickly. They had scheduled me for induction at 9am the next day. That night, I was lying in bed, and my headache had come back with a vengeance. At my 8pm blood pressure check, my bp had skyrocketed and they decided to begin induction right away. They took me over to the labor and delivery suite and dumped a bag of mag sulfate right away. They put something behind my cervix to soften it up. This was by about midnight. They started pitocin at about noon. I had been given some narcotics through my iv for the pain. I had wanted to try other methods like walking around, soaking in the tub, etc, but had to remain on my back or my left side. I finally opted for an epidural. Everything progressed wonderfully, and by 5:30 i was feeling pressure. They prepped me, took me to the surgical room, and by 5:50, I had delivered a beautiful 5 lb baby boy. His apgars were 8 and 9. He was delivered on a Saturday, and we both went home on a Monday. When he was 5 days old, we had to go to the er because his sodium bloodwork had come back low. All they did was give him pedialite. I am so very blessed to have had such a glorious outcome to such a terrible ordeal. Today, Jakob is six years old, starting 1st grade, and is in the gifted program at his school. |
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