Not getting better

I'm not sure how long it's supposed to take for one to recover from the flu. I'm sure it's more than 2 days, but I'm tired of being sick and tired of being scared for my baby. You see, last night, I dug out "What to Expect When You're Expecting" to look up info on fevers. For pregnant women, anything at or above 100.4 is considered "you should call the doctor" worrisome. And if you feel decreased fetal movements, you should immediately call Labor and Delivery, because that's a really big sign of trouble.

Took my temperature at various times last night. The first time I took it (7ish), it was 99.9. An hour later, 100.4. An hour later, 100.6. At 10:35, it was up to 100.8. I took 1000 mgs of Tylenol and waited to see if it would go down. An hour later, it was still 100.8, so I called the After Hours Nurse, who then transferred me to Labor and Delivery triage. The nurse there told me to give it another hour and to drink as many cold fluids as I could in that time, hoping the fever would break. Well thankfully it did and at 12:45, I was down to 98.7 (which is still a little high for me, as I'm usually more like 96- or 97-point something). Each time I got up to go to the bathroom, I'd check my temperature, and it stayed low for a while. Then, when I woke up at a little before 6, it was back up to 99.7, and a little before 8, we were back to 100.6. sigh.

I never realized until I was pregnant that such a low-grade fever could be such an issue. I mean, really, 100.4+ isn't that hot. But when you're pregnant, everything is about the health of your baby. So here's hoping the baby is okay.

I'm off to the doctor this morning to get seen. I don't think they'll do anything for me, but it's better safe than sorry.

Sick

Well, I finally got the flu shot saga cleared up. Went to the doctor on Monday and was told there aren't any H1N1 shots, and that you can't have one if you've been vaccinated within 30 days. So I got a seasonal flu shot and a month from now, if I have to, I'll get the H1N1 vaccine, too.

Of course about an hour after I got my seasonal flu shot, I started feeling REALLY sick. Chest and head congestion, sore throat, alternatively productive and unproductive (non-productive?) coughs, chills. I immediately got into bed and laid around for the rest of the day. It didn't get better as time passed, though Mike did make me his delicious homemade chicken soup. I also stayed home today and mostly slept. Slept and coughed.

I sent an email to my doctor who wrote back saying that the flu vaccine doesn't have any live flu in it (which I knew, but I wanted to put the timing in perspective) and that I'm either having flu-like symptoms as a result of my immune system mobilizing due to the vaccine or that I got the vaccine a little too late and had already been exposed to the flu. Great.

I can take Robitussin, she said, and Benadryl, and should watch out for fever. If I get a fever, I need to call the doctor immediately. Gotta get out my thermometer.

Still alive

Mike and I went on a babymoon, hence the lack of posts. What a blissful experience! It was so nice to get away from it all for a while, and to stay in gorgeous hotels (that I didn't have to clean) and eat delicious food (that I didn't have to cook or clean up afterward)!

I am very lucky that my husband is really good to me. He is respectful of my limitations and thoughtful, and is sensitive to the fact that I don't always like asking for help or admitting I'm not physically up to something due to the pregnancy. We had a great trip, and it coincided with our 5-year anniversary, so that was fun, too.

Now that I'm back to the real world, things are going fine. I have two doctor's appointments next week: one regular checkup and the big sonogram to find out the sex of the baby. Unfortunately, I've read some posts lately on The Bump message board and watched some shows on TLC about unfortunate pregnancies, or children that have had trouble once they were born, so I'm feeling a little more anxious than usual. No more "The Child Frozen in Time" or "Sister Bond: Conjoined Twins" for me!

For the last two days, I've been having trouble breathing again. Not sure if Poppy moved and is sitting on/pushing against something involved respiration or what, but I don't like it! Other than that, and a short bout of morning sickness this morning, I'm feeling pretty good. I've been elevating my feet and being more conscious of how much standing I'm doing, so the foot swelling has lessened. I also have been trying (but not with much success, truth be told) to drink more water. I've gotta get better about that...

But other than that, I'm mostly excited and looking forward to finding out if Poppy is a boy or a girl!

Near faint

It's summer. It's hot. Mike and I went to breakfast this morning, then stopped at some friends' house to see their new car. That entailed standing outside for a few minutes, but I tried to stay in the shade under a tree. We were heading to our next stop when we saw an old friend and pulled over to say hi. After talking for a few minutes, I started getting the strangest sensation.

I started seeing stars. My ears clogged up-- it was like trying to listen underwater. I felt really warm and weak and woozy. It was like I was on the verge of fainting. I told Mike and he hustled me to the car, put the A/C on full blast and ran to the store across the street to get me a big bottle of cold water. Once I sat down and caught my breath (I didn't feel it at the time, but I was having a sort of hard time breathing), I started feeling better, and once the air was one me, it was even better. The water also helped. My only thought was that I started to get a little heat exhaustion and/or dehydration and that my body was letting me know I needed to take it a little easier and drink some more fluids.

It was weird and it was scary. I'm so thankful we were close to the car (as opposed to across a big parking lot) and that there was a place with cold water nearby. It definitely was a reminder to take better care of myself-- and of Poppy-- in this hot summer weather.

Feeling good

I felt a lot better today than I have in ages. I woke up this morning and didn't want to puke immediately, and I wasn't exhausted even after sleeping more than 9 hours. I was in such a good mood that Mike noticed and asked about it. I explained to him that I didn't feel like crap and that it was a nice change.

I felt mostly okay throughout the day, except for a few times when my stomach got too empty and I got choked up. Sometimes every breath I take feels like I'm on the verge of vomiting and it makes even talking difficult. I noticed it happens when I'm on the phone for a long time, but I'm not sure what that's about.

Where you at?

I hate that expression. But this post is all about where I am with my pregnancy.

I'm in hell!

Being pregnant is, hands down, the most difficult thing I've ever had to do. At first, I didn't feel like it was true. I felt the same as always. No way there's a baby in my belly!

That quickly faded, though. I began having morning, noon and night sickness. No vomiting, just really intense nausea and a lot of dry heaving. I became incredibly fatigued. I would drag myself to work in the morning (and keep in mind that I work 90 miles from my house, so I have to leave an hour and a half before I need to be at work), stay as long as I could, spend another 90 minutes in the car, then come home and immediately get in bed. I also had to leave several meetings to go dry heave in the bathroom. Nice.

It's gotten a little better in the last few weeks. I'm trying to do all the things they suggest you do when you have bad morning sickness. I take my prenatal vitamins at night so I won't feel sick all day. I eat a lot of small meals and try to keep something in my stomach at all times. Those things help, but come with their own downsides, like waking up feeling sick in the middle of the night and like feeling like a cow being turned into veal.

Normally, I love to eat. But I'm so sick of eating now! So sick of food! Nothing sounds good, nothing tastes good (or not for very long). My sense of smell has become really sensitive and each time I open the fridge, I was to throw up from the smell. And it's not like our fridge is gross and smells bad!

The last few days, I've had a disgusting, sweet, metallic taste in my mouth that won't go away. It's not a hygiene thing, I brush my teeth all the time. Sucking on mints helps, while I'm actually doing it, but the minute the mint is gone, the taste is back worse than ever. I've read that happens to some women, but no one really knows why.

Some days, I have a really hard time breathing and find myself wheezing a bit. Today is one of those days. I didn't feel like I could catch my breath. I laid on the floor of my office for a while, but that didn't help.

I don't know how far along I am, so I'm not sure how much longer these things will go on. Much of what I'm experiencing goes away for most women after the first trimester is over. I'm hoping when we go in for our first prenatal appointment on Monday, they'll tell me I'm very close to being in my second trimester and I'll start feeling better soon!