 |
| At hospital. Photo taken at 10:10, in case you were wondering. |
I got the beginnings of a garden-variety cold on 6/7, along with quickly worsening insomnia -- not uncommon in end-game pregnancy (see previous post for details). The cold gradually became a cough, and at my 38-week prenatal appointment the next week I asked my CNM for some meds (since pregnant women are told to err on the side of safety and take no drugs whatsoever, lest they cause limb deformity and the manufacturer get blamed). She prescribed plain Robitussin for the cough and Ambien for the insomnia. The Ambien worked great but the Robitussin didn't do jack, so on Saturday, 6/15 I went to Urgent Care. The doctor gave me a mask, listened to my lungs, declared acute bronchitis, and sent me home with some Azithromycin. This didn't help much either, and the next day-- panicking because I was scheduled to deliver soon -- I called my OB, who prescribed Prednisone and told me to call if it didn't help within 12 hours. The coughing continued to get worse, so I called the OB back, who told me to go to the hospital to be "evaluated by the resident." The OB assured me I would probably not even get admitted into the hospital.
 |
| Wyatt and Aunt Mary (and Aunt Liz, background) at Cousin Nathan's party |
We told Wyatt he could have a fun overnight with his great-aunt and uncle -- on a Sunday night! -- then I grabbed my already-packed hospital bag, and we set off for Fairview Riverside Hospital. I was checked into Labor & Delivery, though Baby's arrival was not imminent, then subjected to a series of X-Files-esque tests to determine the nature of problem. (If you've never had the nasal Whooping Cough test, I don't recommend it.) After a few hours, I sent Bryan home and settled in for the night. (Also, sleeping on a labor/delivery bed is not recommended either; those L-shaped beds are designed for birthing, not relaxing.) So much for not being admitted to the hospital. The Gilligan's Island adventure began.
The next day (6/17) I was moved into the "high risk pregnancy" unit, for moms who are not about to deliver -- however, I was the only sick mom with a healthy baby in the unit. All other patients were healthy moms with sick/at-risk unborn children. I got the better deal; having a sick unborn babe would be beyond stressful. The OBs kept an eye on Baby and the Internal Medicine docs tried to figure me out; the coughing was getting worse, I could hardly talk, and I couldn't breathe deeply. After ruling out Legionella (what?), the doctors had me cough into a cup for a sputum culture (gross), which finally confirmed that I had pneumonia.
After the pneumonia was diagnosed I was started on a high-powered regimen of narcotics (codeine), sterioids (prednisone), antibiotics (ceftin), and inhalers (albuterol) but it still took a few days for me to feel like things were improving. Pneumonia is a tenacious illness, slow to take hold and even slower to loosen its grip. By Wednesday evening (6/19) I was starting to feel slightly better ... slightly.
In the meantime, the doctors were monitoring Baby closely to make sure he was in no distress. If he were, they would deliver him immediately -- though the danger there was that I couldn't lie down without a horrible hacking fit, and I had to be able to lie down for a C-section. (Doctors didn't even want to talk about using a general anaesthetic with a patient with pneumonia.) Fortunately Baby was a rock star and sailed through the whole experience fine, with a steady heartbeat and good vitals.
On Thursday (6/20) I was disconnected from IV antibiotics, 24/7 fetal heart monitor, and continuous blood-oxygen testing, and on Friday (6/21), after repeated requests, I was sent home for a weekend of bed rest. Tomorrow we'll return to the hospital again, probably for 72 or 96 hours, and will come back home with the fourth member of our family. Stay tuned for updates and pictures, pictures, pictures!
No comments:
Post a Comment