A challenging pregnancy

Her side:

During the first trimester of this pregnancy I got very sick. I was throwing up all the time. I couldn't eat. I couldn't keep liquids down. I could barely stay out of bed. Some days I never got out of bed or off the couch due to lack of strength, energy, and the fear of making myself sick. Motion sickness was very much present, even the scrolling on my phone screen or the computer screen. It got so bad that I had to go to the ER right before Christmas and receive 2 bags of fluids and be put on a mild prescription for the nausea. Things had started to eventually look up minus the massive amounts of exhaustion that hung around.

Friday, April 20th, started out as a good day. It was sunny and we were all in a good mood. I had plans to take my boys and the boy I babysit to Creation Day at the local Christian Family Vision Library. They had baby animals, a creation movie, snacks, and activities for the kids. The boys had a blast. They got to pet a miniature horse, a lamb, a bunny, and see baby chicks that had recently hatched. We saw some friends and had animal crackers. It was windy and chilly but the sun did not disappoint. We are hoping they do this event again next year.

After lunch and when 2 of the boys were down for a nap I started to feel icky to my stomach. Not necessarily an uncommon thing for this pregnant mamma to feel but it was a stronger wave of nausea compared to what I had been feeling lately. I took my prescription medicine, something I have only been taking worse case scenario at this point, took acid reflux meds, drank some water, and tried eating, as that usually helps. But it wasn't helping. I laid on the couch and tried to be as still as possible. Then the headache started and the usual round ligament mixed with minor braxton hicks joined the club. Over all...I was miserable.

Right before Peter woke up from nap and the girls got home from school I got physically sick. Hoping that my stomach would eventually feel better, I changed in to some pajamas and laid on the couch some more. The temporary relief faded a lot quicker than I was hoping and about 2 hours later I was very sick again. The acid from my reflux was already starting to burn my throat, tongue, and mouth so bad and eventually blood entered the picture every time I got sick. This went on every 1-2 hours from Friday afternoon until Saturday morning. It made me sad because this meant I had to miss the Global Impact Conference dinner and speaker for the night and miss helping out at the Focus on Missions table, which is the group I went to Mexico with last summer. Andy wasn't feeling 100%, either, and in the end he decided to stay home, as well. And that meant he and the children missed their activities, too. We were all bummed but I needed to be in bed, which is where I was as soon as Andy got home from work.

Saturday morning, Andy found me on the couch, where I tried to sleep unsuccessfully, and we decided to call the on-call doctor at my OB's office. After telling him my symptoms and everything that was happening he decided it was in mine and the baby's best interest to go to the ER to check my blood count, fluids, and to monitor the baby just in case. Our amazing friend, Andy's co-worker, came over last minute to stay with the children so he could get me to the ER, where the doctor had called ahead to make sure they were ready for us. You guys, this made for a quick ER visit compared to our previous experiences. I got fluids and medicine right away. Fortunately, all my vitals were good, all my fluids were good, minus what I needed for slight dehydration, and the baby was moving non stop almost the whole time it felt like.

I was diagnosed with GERD which flared my HG (hyperemesis gravidarum). I was given stronger anti-nausea meds and told to take stronger over-the-counter acid reflux medicine. I was also told to eat a bland diet to help keep everything tamed and to, hopefully, avoid a flare up again. So, now I munch on jell-o, yogurt, toast/sandwiches, and hydrate with water and Gatorade. Exciting, right?

I am still overly exhausted, I still feel the uncomfortable cramping, the back aches, the headaches, and the round ligament aches. I still feel the waves of nausea and I still don't sleep very much. But baby Simon is healthy and active. I just have to continue to add limitations to what I can and cannot do the last leg of this pregnancy. 3 more months to go.

Once again, I am thankful for my husband. His empathy, support and concern during this difficult pregnancy is what is helping me get through it. He makes sure I don't over extend myself, makes sure the children are gentle around me, and understands when I don't eat dinner with them and sometimes have to be in bed at 8:30, sometimes earlier.

This Friday I am suppose to accompany my precious 7 year old on her school field trip to the local zoo. Praying that I can make it an enjoyable time for her and the small group of children I will be helping with. Praying it doesn't over-extend my body and put me out for the rest of the day. Praying my medicines will be fully in my system and working over time on this day. And, most importantly, praying I don't have to call and cancel on her. It would devastate her and me. I am trying to soak in all the moments I can with each of my children because when baby Simon gets here I know I will be focusing a lot on him as we adjust to a routine of having a newborn around again and teaching the children to be calm and how to help out. I will have all 5 kids home with me for about 2 weeks or so, depending on when he decides to actually arrive, before 3 of the children head off to school and Andy heads back to work. (Thankful for 2 weeks of paternity leave his work offers.) Then it will be just me, the baby, and Peter.

I know I/we (because Andy does help a lot at night) have late nights ahead of us. I know we have a lot of adjusting to do. But sometimes its hard to look past what is happening right now. And, for me, its hard to think that I can feel any different than what I feel now, feel any sense of relief. It really caught us off guard how quickly this all flared up this time and how hard it hit. We talked about all the different things that could happen once we got to the ER Friday. Some "worse case scenario" things because the on-call doctor did mention the possibility of admitting me and monitoring me and baby over night, if needed. But, since nothing bad came out of the visit, minus my inconvenient diagnoses, we are praying that our next hospital visit will be in about 3 months when I am giving birth to a happy, hopefully (but probably not) small baby boy.

James 1:2
"Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials,"