Monday was definitely scary. I was into work before 6 a.m. (because I work an early shift each Monday) and felt tired — per usual — and was having pain in my throat and chest when I took a deep breath. I called my general doctor's office as soon as it opened and scheduled an appointment for the afternoon.
I went to cover a city meeting at 8:30 a.m. and still felt about the same. But on the way back from it I started feeling worse chest pain and had some numbness down my left arm. And I couldn't feel the tips of two fingers on my left hand.
Now I know it's normal to have some hand numbness during pregnancy. And I hadn't been freaking out about the shortness of breath because I asked my OB about it last week and she thought it was probably the baby in a position where it pushed against my lungs. I was worried about the symptoms I was having but didn't want to be a hysterical pregnant woman. But when I called the nurse at my OB's office, she said I needed to go to the emergency room.
I had some idea what to expect walking into the ER with the chest and arm pain symptoms. I was immediately hooked up to a heart monitor, they put in an IV to draw blood and had me laying down (much too flat for comfort). Brian got there soon after, which helped me calm down. Still, as he mentioned in yesterday's post, it was hours of waiting on answers.
Once they determined everything was fine with my heart, the main concern was that I had a blood clot in my lung. They would tell me that the chances were very remote and then turn around and remind me how life-threatening it could be if there is a clot. I was not calm.
Luckily we got the CT-scan and found out the good news... pneumonia. I'm on a Z-pac now and trying to rest as much as possible.
It's hard not to feel like a little bit of a failure getting so sick during the pregnancy. I've been proud over the past seven months that I've avoided getting even a simple cold... then I wind up in the ER. But I guess getting sick just happens sometimes. And I'm being a much better patient than usual. Most times when I'm sick I have a hard time giving in. I try to keep up most of my normal routine until I fall into bed with exhaustion. This time around I'm making rest and sleep my top priorities. I took two naps while home from work yesterday. I'm back on the job today, but am still taking it easy. I think the antibiotics have eased some of my chest pain, but I'm still pretty breathless just from going up a flight of stairs. It's hard to know how much of that is being caused by the baby's position and how much is being sick. Either way, I hope the symptoms get better soon.
And on a bright note: Today marks the start of week 30! Baby and I are officially three-quarters of the way there!
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