Well, it has NOT been an uneventful week. Not even close! Some of you were following my Facebook posts, and know a bit about what has been going on, but I will lay it all out here in detail, anyway. After all, this blog is my diary of this pregnancy more than anything else!
Last Friday was a Sego Lily day. I love my Sego Lily days - working with the Odyssey team, chatting with the staff, being around my kids, playing games with students, etc. It was an extra nice day because we had some visitors, and the weather was gorgeous. I spent a lot of time outside, and as much time sitting as I could manage.
The bad thing about my work days is that they have become EXHAUSTING. It's a 6-hour work day, but really an almost 8 hour day when you include the driving back & forth and the energy it takes just to get out of the house. I'm no longer surprised when I get home exhausted from a school day, so Friday seemed very normal to me, in that I came home, got into bed, watched TV, had dinner, and went to sleep.
Saturday morning, I woke up early & took Gabe to his soccer game. Baby was NOT very happy about my camping chair, so I spent a lot of the game standing behind the chair watching the boys play. It was a disappointing 0-2 loss - mostly disappointing because it was their last game of the season., and also because they played really well but just couldn't manage to score. By the time we got back (mind you this was a home game, so a total of probably 2.5 hours of being out), I felt like I had been hit by a truck. I climbed back into bed & tried to nap, but for some reason with 15 kids in the house I just couldn't fall asleep. I did rest though, for as long as I could. When I got up to use the bathroom, I felt super dizzy, and was seeing spots. My heart rate went nuts. I got back into bed as soon as I could. The rest of the day was spent mostly in my room, resting, reading, watching a movie. Each time I got up to pee, same dizziness. My heart rate would go nuts even when I was sitting still. Baby was super active, so I wasn't too worried there. I watched carefully to make sure I was getting enough fluids & food, but that didn't seem to help anything.
Sunday, same routine. At some point, I got worried enough that I decided to call my midwife, who I then remembered was still in Mexico. I tracked down a number for her back-up, and spoke to her about what I was experiencing. She recommended I check my blood pressure, so I went to Walgreens. Totally normal, though my HR was pretty high for just walking into the store. Melissa (the MW) and I brainstormed a few things - the most likely culprit seemed to be anemia.
On Monday, I met Melissa at her office. She did a blood draw, checked BP, listened to baby, etc. I was feeling slightly better, but still dizzy every time I got up. the slightest bit of exertion has me feeling winded & exhausted. I did have slight amounts of both protein & keytones in my urine, which are signs of possible infection, low blood sugar, and also possible preclampsia, but only when combined with high blood pressure. We were both still of the opinion that this is most likely severe anemia, so I decided to start treating as such.
My late lunch on Monday was a salad with half a dozen oysters. My dinner included chopped liver (YUMMY!!!), and I bought some new protein shake powder to get my protein intake up as well. I have upped my intake of my iron supplement, and am combining it with OJ to help with absorption. These things, as well as other steps I will be taking, all help with iron levels & if we are correct about the diagnosis, I should be doing better within the next 2 weeks.
At this point, I am still waiting for the lab results that should be coming in this afternoon. They should rule out anything else, and most likely confirm the anemia. Of course, if they point to anything else I will following those paths as well, to see what I need to do to keep baby & I safe & healthy for another 6 weeks. Oh yeah, 6 weeks. Now THAT is a short time! And I still haven't made those baby wipes....
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