What a weekend! Where do I even begin?
Over this past weekend (5/17/08) Rich and I drove to Ohio to help his Aunt Cindy celebrate her 50th birthday. The drive takes about 5 hours. We were cautious while driving and stopped for stretching, potty, and food breaks. I felt fine throughout the whole drive.
Once we arrived in Ohio, I still felt fine and we headed to Aunt Cindy's birthday party. I felt fine. WE went to Rich's Grandparents' house afterwards and I stated to feel a shortness of breath. I just couldnt take a deep breath, and once I was able to, I would feel the need to take a deep breath again. Therefore, I was taking really shallow breaths, and just chalked it up to being tired, pregnant, and a long car ride. I didn't think much of it...
We drove home the next day and I felt better. That is, until I received the phone call from my mom telling me that Winnie, our Schnauzer, had to be hospitalized and was suffering from pancreatitis. I immediately panicked and became upset worrying about our little Winnie. She had to spend the night in the emergency vet hospital and had to have an IV and was administered antibiotics. After a whopping $800 later, she's fine and back home again. Whew! Just lots of rest and relaxation with mommy on the couch for a few days....
Sunday night, I had problems breathing again. I kept complaining Rich and he suggested I lie down and just take it easy. I had been doing that since we had gotten back from Ohio and visiting Winnie in the hospital. So, I continued to lie down, then went to bed early. I woke up at 10:30, and still couldnt breathe normally.
I tossed and turned for an hour and then started panicking...."What if the baby is not getting enough oxygen?" Rich and I decided it was best for me to go to the ER and have everything checked out. He was getting ready to take me, when I realized it was midnight and he had to leave for work in less than 5 hours. I told him to go back to bed, and go to work. (I want him to save his days for when the baby gets here). So, I called my mom and we were off to the ER at midnight.
The ER doctor did a chest X-ray; it was fine. She did an EKG to check my heart; it was fine. She checked the fetal heartbeat; perfectly fine beating at 144. She did an ultrasound; baby was moving and waved to us. All in all, I was fine. She said the shortness of breath was probably due to my expanding belly and pushing up my organs under my diaphragm. She told me to follow up with my OB-GYN and let them know what was going on. We got home at 4:00 a.m. Monday morning. I took the day off work. We then went to pick Winnie up from the hospital at 6:00 am and we spent the rest of the day asleep peacefully in bed.
So, I made an appointment with my OB-GYN for Tuesday at 1:00 pm. At this point, my breathing was becoming better and I felt better. However, my OB-GYN was concerned that I was still having shortness of breath, and requested that I be readmitted to the ER and have bloodwork and a CT chest scan done. He was concerned that I may have a blood clot in my lungs which can be fatal if left untreated. I immediately started freaking out because I was concerned about the radiation levels in the CT scan, and scared about the dye they had to inject into me.
After being convinced by 2 nurses, an ER nurse, the ER doctor, and my OB doctor, I agreed to have the CT scan. They all told me that the baby would receive no or very little amounts of radiation from the CT scan. My stomach was triple-shielded and they were only focusing on my chest...so the little munchkin would be fine. So, I had to wait for the test...But first, I had to sit in the secondary waiting room in the ER where a man 4 ft. from me was wretching and vomitting every 10 seconds for about 40 minutes. I freaked out again and they put me in a private room. I had to be hooked up to an IV of fluids for an hour to prepare for the dye, then I waited to be wheeled away to the CT scan. I had the scan done, and waited another hour for the results. As I waited, the ER doctor came in and did an ultrasound for my peace of mind and we saw the baby sucking its thumb.
Good news....there was no blood clot in the lungs. However, they did find that I had a hiatal hernia, which could be the cause of my difficulty with breathing. What can they do about it? Nothing. It's not dangerous, just uncomfortable. Pregnancy is probably making it worse, and I may suffer from heartburn more....but as of today, I've had very little heartburn. Nothing too severe....and as of today, my breathing is almost perfectly normal. I just feel tired....but who wouldn't after 15 hours in the ER in the past 2 days??
So, I feel better. Let's hope and pray to GOD that this is the end of the crazy events.
