Our Long Night

We ended up in the ER last night! I was not happy about it as I do not like hospitals (being a patient, working in them is a different story for me). We were watching a movie and I was getting really short on breath. This had happened a few time during the week but I was always stopped what I was doing and went to lay down. After 15 minutes or so I would feel better and then take it really easy the rest of the day. My doctor had told me that if I did get short on breath that I needed to go the ER immediately because I'm pregnant and still getting over H1N1. Well last night we were watching a movie and I started to get really short on breath. It was odd to me because I was on the couch and the other times it had happened I was at the computer, or working on something or doing something that involved a little too much energy than I should have been giving. I layed down and that didn't work. I moved to the edge of the couch and that didn't work. I stood up and that helped a little. Kelvin asked what I was doing and I told him I was having a hard time breathing. He told me we needed to go to the ER but I refused. I told him it was no big deal since this has happened before and it went away after a little while. After a while longer it really started to hurt trying to breathe and just kept getting harder and harder. Then after 45 min had passed and it hadn't let up, Kelvin took me to the ER. I do not like the ER and protested the whole way but he was honestly worried about me and I must say I would have done the same thing if the situations had been reversed.

When we got there, everyone was really quick to act because I am over 20 weeks pregnant and there were some major things that could be wrong. We got back to the room pretty quickly and I was impressed by that. Thank goodness they were having a slow night. Then they hooked me up to all sorts of monitors. My oxygen saturation was fine so I knew there was no immediate danger to me or the baby but they still wanted me to stay. When a tech came in to do my IV, he was having a hard time. The first time he tried, he failed but that was ok with me because I know that sometimes you just don't get it the first time. Well, the second time he tried I felt like he was ripping my arm off. He kept hitting a nerve and was digging in my arm like there was no tomorrow to find the vein. It hurt so bad and Kelvin was ready to punch him in the face. He tried for a good 2 min the second time all the while I was holding back tears it was so bad ( I ended up with a half dollar sized bruise on my arm, quite an accomplishment since I do not bruise very easily). When he didn't get that one, he went to the other arm and was successful pretty quickly. I was just grateful it was done. The doctor came in and assessed my situation and then had some blood work drawn and put me on a breathing treatment. The nurse told me that I had some crackling in my lungs and that meant there was fluid accumulating. They were also worried about a blood clot that could have moved to my lungs causing a pulmonary embolism. We waited and waited for the blood work to come back and then when it was 11pm (we think that was 2 hours after we got there) I called the nurses and asked them to come in and help me unhook because I wanted to go home!! The doctor came in a short while later and explained that the labs for blood clots came back totally normal which was a good thing but we didn't expect anything that bad would be something for us to worry about. So basically I have been having trouble breathing because there is fluid on my lungs but it hasn't turned to pneumonia yet so all I can do is keep coughing and try to get it all up. I felt silly for going to the hospital but all the nurses and even the doctor said it was a good thing that we went especially considering all the circumstances. We came home and Kelvin was relieved that he didn't have to worry about waking up in the middle of the night to find me dead or not breathing.

Funny thing though, I feel MUCH better today than I have the whole time I have been sick! Maybe that breathing treatment worked better than I thought. I have even gone to the store for a short while and came back still feeling ok. I went to the store a few days ago and it wiped me out for a couple days. Then I did my small sewing project and it wiped me out for a couple days. But I am doing great today and am so excited to feel like I am finally getting better and not that I just feel better for a little while. Plus I finally get to go back to work on Monday! I can't wait to get into my old routines and feel like a contributing partner again and not an invalid! The baby is still fine which is a big relief to us and I slept through the entire night in our bed which is also a first since I got really sick. Many thanks to an incredible husband who has taken such good care of me and the baby! Couldn't ask for better!