October 3, 2009
Overnight in the Hospital
I failed to mention that at Thursday’s doctor’s appointment, I was given a flu shot. Not the H1N1 vaccine, but the regular ol’ Influenza A vaccine. My doctor highly recommended the vaccination since I will be giving birth at the height of flu season, which began this fall.
The last time I had a flu shot was five years ago, and after it was done I felt so sick, as if I had contracted the flu immediately. And the injection itself hurt terribly. I vowed never to have that vaccination again.
I don’t know why I changed my mind this time (and my mother now believes my baby is going to be born autistic, based on all the articles she’s read about the links and risks and THANKS MOM for making me even more nervous about this subject), but now I wish I’d have said no to the shot.
Right after I got home from the appointment I felt fatigued and took a 3 hour nap. Exactly 24 hours after the injection was given, I was experiencing upper abdominal pain, shortness of breath, rapid heartbeat and elevated blood pressure. I thought I was having an episode similar to when I had pre-eclampsia with my first pregnancy.
I felt winded as I walked from living room to kitchen. I had to sit down and my heart was racing. The sudden onset of these symptoms made me panic. Pre-eclampsia usually does not “happen” so quickly, but over the course of several weeks instead.
I called Doug at work first. He was in a meeting. I waited half an hour and then called my doctor’s office. The on-call doctor told me to head to the emergency room right away, just to have the pain checked out. I interrupted Doug from his meeting and he rushed home to drive me to the hospital.
Once there, the nurses and doctors sent me to the OB/GYN area and started asking millions of questions. I answered accordingly, blood was drawn, a urine sample was collected, and over the course of three hours we waited for results.
The ER doctor came back and said my protein levels were fine, blood work is good, no liver problems, and after he consulted with the OB/GYN on call upstairs in the maternity ward, I would be free to go home.
Except, I wasn’t. Dr. J was on call and she wanted to keep me overnight at the hospital for observation, simply because my blood pressure was still higher than she liked. I tried to reason with her, to tell her it was probably panic or anxiety, but she insisted that monitoring be done and I was too tired (and hungry!) to argue.
While I was getting situated in room 307, my nurse was getting all the monitors ready. Suddenly, another nurse came in and yelled, “308 needs pain meds, NOW!” Off my nurse went. I soon discovered why she ran out in a hurry.
Thirty minutes later, I witnessed the screaming of the woman who was delivering her baby in the room next door. She was in a lot of pain, that’s all I can gather. I had to turn the television on with the volume a little bit higher than normal just to try to drown out the painful screams. At one point I heard her scream, “Get it out! GET IT OUT! PLEASE GET IT OUT!” I seriously thought I was going to faint, and I wasn’t the one in labor.
Doug was still at the hospital with me when this was happening, and he told me, “I don’t ever remember you screaming like that. You looked so calm.”
“Probably because I had an epidural,” I told him. “I was too drugged up to scream.”
After several hours of monitoring and blood pressure checks, my pressures came down, especially when laying on my left side. I didn’t get much sleep while there, however, and I’m so glad to be home this morning.
Another 24-hour urine collection has been ordered, and results will be received later this evening after I drop off the jug of pee. Ugh. I hate these collections. Such a gross thing to carry around.
The doctor still isn’t certain why I was having such a hard time last night, but thank God it’s over and I can rest at home. Dorothy was right when she said there’s no place like it.
