Sick as a dog

3:30 AM is a wonderful time to post on my blog. I took some robitussin at about 3 so it's starting to kick in, then I will go back to bed. This has been a rough couple of days.

Friday night, I was feeling fine (not great, at eight months pregnant you never feel great). I had an appointment with the chiropractor, and Nana and Papa were watching the children, so I made a trip to the grocery store to buy vegetables (Linda and Cheryl were here to visit this weekend) and a few other necessities. After checking out I called Paul to see when he was getting off work, and we made plans to have Mexican food for dinner. Then I drove back to Nana's house to wait for Paul.

By the time I got to Nana's I was feeling pretty ugh! but that's typical from late-term grocery shopping. I didn't think much of it until the contractions started getting really hard and really close together. And then I was puking with every contraction.

When Paul arrived I told him I wasn't ready for dinner. Then a little later I told him to eat dinner himself. Then I said "call the doctor".

The Dr. on call told us to go the hospital which we promptly did. Paul dropped me off, and it was all I could do to hobble in the door and sit down. The ER attendant found a wheelchair and as soon as Paul got in she wheeled me up to the labor and delivery unit (if you're more than 28 weeks pregnant they automatically take you to L&D no matter the complaint). When I get there, they were expecting me but didn't have any rooms available so they took me to the breastfeeding room where they asked a bunch of questions while I proceeded to moan and puke.

When they had a room ready they took me in and had me change into a hospital gown (designed by the famous Seymour Hiney). I was really limping and having trouble moving. I tried to pee in a cup but couldn't. So they put me in the bed, examined me and hooked up the tocometer.

I didn't take them long to figure out that I had stomach flu and was having contractions from dehydration. So they put me on an IV and administer nausea meds. The pains softened. I continued to have contractions for a couple of hours, but by 2 AM they had almost stopped entirely. If I had not gone into the hospital when I did the labor probably would have been irreversible, but fortunately we arrived on time.

At 3 AM they sent me home. I was still too weak to walk very far, so they wheeled me down. By the time I got home the nausea meds were starting to wear off. And I could tell it would be a long weekend.

Paul called the doctor Saturday morning got me some nausea meds. Linda and Cheryl arrived Saturday morning. We had not really warned them that I was sick. We probably should have told them Friday night. But at that point we didn't really know what was going on. And because of the relatively high likelihood that I would have the baby this weekend we thought it might be nice for them to be here. Plus with the doctors orders to stay off my feet I needed their help

But fortunately, the baby stayed right where she belongs. Hopefully, she can incubate at least another week.

The nausea mostly left by about 1:30 yesterday, but not before I somehow developed a cold. The coughing and the sneezing wouldn't be so bad if I weren't so weakened already. So popsicles and jello for me for awhile longer. Although I can no handle chicken soup too.

Now I am just praying that I get myself recouped before I have real labor.