Our first Christmas was scheduled to happen on Christmas Eve Eve (aka: December 23rd) with Tim's parents. About 2 pm that day Brenden was snuggled up under his covers, enjoying a later nap and I had just stepped out of the shower when I was overcome with a not-so-pleasant wave of nausea. I thought I had overheated so I laid down on the couch to see if it would pass. Then I thought I must need food and water, so I grabbed an apple. By 2:30 pm I was violently ill, but I thought it would pass. Wow...I was wrong.
Tim came home early to help me finish packing to leave and the first words out of my mouth were "I'm not going anywhere." Unfortunately, the Oklahoma Blizzard of 2009 was upon us and if we didn't leave that night then there was a very good chance we'd be snowed in by the next day. So I sucked it up, grabbed a bucket, and got in the car. We eventually made it to his parents' house and the entire time poor Brenden was so worried about me. I couldn't even turn around to reassure him.
By the time I crawled to their bathroom I knew it was food poisoning or a bug, which we had a few years ago, and I thought sleeping next to the toilet, swaddled in 3 comforters, dressed in a hat and my thick coat would keep the chills away and make me feel a little better. Not so much. After an hour of being sick every 5 minutes Tim decided this was NOT ok and took me to the emergency room at Bailey Medical Center, which is where we went for his wonky eye problem back in March. In 20 minutes they had me through triage, an IV in my arm, and lovely, wonderful Zofran (an anti-nausea medicine) in my system. Seriously, I love those people.
Within 5 minutes I felt 1,000 times better. I could hold my head up, my stomach wasn't cramping anymore, and I was coherent. All I wanted was a glass of water but I had to settle for 2 bags of fluid through my IV. When they finally decided that I was going to be fine they sent me up to labor and delivery to check on Lauren. The little stinker was all over the place and they had a really difficult time getting her heartbeat for longer than a few seconds. They eventually brought in a doppler, which they can use with babies when they are smaller, and her heartbeat was perfect. She also kicked the heck out of the monitor so we all knew that she was fine.
They finally gave me some Sierra Mist and crackers, which I shared with Tim. He thought he was getting really hungry but it became obvious that what I was suffering from was definitely a virus. I hit the call button so the nurses could help him since I was still attached to 3 different machines. They were so very nice and so were the nurses and doctors back in the ER. They asked if he wanted to be admitted but promised that the medicine they were sending me home with would help him as well. For some reason a nurse handed him an alcohol swab and told him to sniff it. Apparently it's supposed to help when you feel sick to your stomach, but Tim assured me that it never made a difference.
Eventually I was discharged, but not before the patient across the hall introduced himself. He was an old man that hadn't slept in months and was having breathing problems. His family members were some of the meanest people I have ever heard speak through a curtain. They informed the doctor that he had just been released from a nursing home that day and that they wanted the hospital to take responsibility for him and have him transferred to another home. The doctor was just as shocked as I was to hear this. He tried to explain that the hospital wasn't where you dropped off your parents when they get old and you don't care to help them. We left before we found out what they did with him, but I hope he's ok.
The final diagnosis: stomach virus which led to some pretty bad dehydration. Dehydration is awful for anyone. Add in being pregnant and it gets really scary.
After a lovely stop at Walgreen's at 1 a.m. where Tim became acquainted with the location of the bathroom, we headed home. Even though I know the medicine helped it sure tasted awful. The "slight mint taste" that it was supposed to have wasn't entirely accurate. When we finally got home poor Tim had to be sick a few more times before it really kicked in. Thankfully we both felt almost normal later that morning, although we were exhausted.
It was definitely NOT how we planned on spending part of our holiday but we feel lucky that it didn't start when we were trying to drive out to Colorado, or during that lovely blizzard we had. Next up...Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, which was filled with much more family and a lot less being sick.
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