Not Going to do that Again...

This is going to have to be a short update because I have to head off to work. Which means no fancy stuff - even spell check. Sorry!

Saturday I had a headache. Ty.lenol didn't kick it, and it didn't feel great but I could manage. Saturday night and Sunday was much worse. I would cry out in pain whenever changing positions. Sitting to standing. Standing to bending over. Rolling over while sleeping, etc. Moreso in the evenings than in the day. I stayed home on Monday and Marvy stayed home too to take care of me. We called the midwife office left a message for a nurse and didn't hear anything for hours. Marvy called the doula and she was pretty helpful but still thought I should check in with the midwife. So we called back.

Marvy told them that my blood pressure has always been spot on and if anything low and not high. I was not seeing spots or blurry vision. They still decided that I should go in to the hospital to be under maternal observation.

Marvy had just scheduled a massage for me, so we went to that and then headed off to the hospital from there. They checked me in and had me on a fetal monitor and contraction monitor. Everything looked great with the baby.

(I should also mention that last week at my midwife appointment she checked to see if I was dialated because I had been reporting what to me seemed like a uterus contraction. The whole belly was really hard. Didn't feel like the baby changing position or anything. It would happen whenever I stood up and it would slowly go away when I layed down. So, she wanted to make sure I wasn't dialated. And I wasn't, so things there were fine.)

The baby on the heart monitor was kinda neat. Whenever the baby would move, jump or kick you could hear it. It was like someone tapping on a microphone really hard. It was cool to hear and feel the baby move at the same time.

When they established that everything looked great with the baby, bloodwork and urine came back normal, blood pressure was 113/66. The midwife asked me if I wanted something for the pain of the headache. My first response was, "Well, no. The point of coming was to check and make sure everything was good with the baby and we could rule out any bad stuff from happening." She then said, that what she'd like for me to try was going an IV with an IV medication.

I probably should have gone home instead and nursed it on my own.

They gave me Sta.dol. It's a narcotic they give to laboring women who ask for something to deal with the pain of labor. It was awful. She described the stuff as something that would basically make me feel drunk. Sounded like something I could handle. As soon as it went into the IV. I could feel it. I handed over my glasses and book to Marvy and told him I won't be needing them anymore. He and the nurse were shocked I could feel it already. The nurse also said the midwife ordered a pretty strong dose. I started to try to sleep, but as sleepy as I was I could not even come close to sleeping or even relaxing for that matter. I felt like my nerves were shot. My mind kept thinking wacky stuff. I felt like asking to make the carnival ride stop.

Then the sweat started.

I was sweating from head to toe. Buckets. My legs were slippery from all the sweat. They turned the lights off, but since it was a windowless room it was so dark. The only light we had was the orange glow from the heart monitor.

Every noise sounded like it was 10 times louder. I asked Marvy... "What is that tapping noise under the bed?" Turns out it was the clock on the wall. I thought for sure it was right under my pillow. So, he took the batteries out.

I remembered thinking how the heck do women labor on this stuff. My body felt so heavy, I couldn't relax at all, I felt horribly uncooperative. Headache was gone but it felt like trying to kill a bug with a nuclear bomb. I really thought at that moment that the drug was worse than the head pain.

Slowly the effects subsided a bit. And as it did...the headache came back. And guess what? It came back worse then when I went in. (remember how I said it was worse at night? it was now closer to 8pm. and I didn't have the benefit of the slow uphill climb to the intensity) They gave me the option of more Sta.dol or to go home with a migraine med I can pick up at the pharmacy. I choose the home option.

Looking back I'm kinda glad I had the narcotic just so that way I know that is not something I ever want to do again. I probably would not have anyway...but now I have first hand experience.

The migraine med was not much better. I felt jittery and dizzy/loopy. I ended up staying home again yesterday because I had to concentrate pretty hard just to communicate. I also didn't feel up to driving either. Marvy stayed home with me again. Poor guy, he just hates to see me like this.

So after 4 days of evil headache this morning I still have it but it's way better than it was. Thank goodness there was no sign of premature labor. But, the headache sucks still. I just wish it would go away altogether.

P.S. Thank you for all of the great comments on my nipples. :o) Some very, very helpful comments that made me feel much better and even made me cry because of how encouraging you made me feel. Thank you!!!