A day in the life

When I think about my pregnancy lasting only 16 weeks I am shocked.  I think about 4 months ago, in February, and that doesn't seem like it was that long ago. That is how it feels now, but those weeks were the longest of my life.  I just thought I'd go through some of the day to day things that we dealt with.
sleep-
In the beginning I was able to sleep a lot.  This was comforting because I could at least feel relief when I was asleep.  I would sleep through the night and usually take a nap in the afternoon, as it wore on I started becoming an insomniac, which was awful.  The night where there was no one to talk to and nothing good to watch just made me watch the clock until morning so that someone would get up and keep me company.  I think the entire time there was only 1 night that Tad was able to sleep through the night (because I slept in the other room)  he was so wonderful throughout.  He woke up in the night to change my medication on my first pump.  he woke up to vomit in bed, or on the floor :(  he woke up to get me water or take me to the bathroom umpteen times, and I appreciated it so much.
bathing -
I was not able to bathe myself throughout my pregnancy, so that was quite the ordeal.  Tad would bathe me twice a week, once on the day that I had to go to the hospital and once on my doctor's appointment day.  It took a lot out of me each time, so I hated it.  Tad would wrap my arm over and over with press and seal so that we could keep my PICC dry, and then I'd still have to stand with my arm out of the shower.  I was so weak that it was a huge struggle to stand long enough for him to get me clean.  During the shower, I would not be able to keep from throwing up for that long, so he would have to help me so that I could be sick down the drain.  This was one of the most humbling parts of being sick - I appreciated him being able and willing to care for me, but being able to wash my hair and myself is something I take for granted.  Each time I was in the shower, my mom would take the opportunity that I was out of bed and put on clean sheets, so I at least had a little reward when I got out. 
spitting -
This was a really strange part of being sick.  At it progressed I got more and more obsessed with spitting.  I was not able to keep my saliva down, so all day (and night) I would rinse my mouth with water and spit it out.  This was my vice, and the only thing that felt good to me.  As we went on, my mom would think of better ways to handle it.  At first I was spitting into my vomit bucket.  We had a few mishaps with this method - I dumped it in the bed while Tad was sleeping - I dumped it in our chair - and a few times I set it on the floor and the dogs would start to drink it... so my mom came up with the idea to spit into empty bottles. They would line up full bottles and spit bottles for me all the time.  A couple of different nurses asked me why I did it, and I really had no answer, but after being healthy I've found that some women with HG do that.  I had no idea - and it made me feel a little more sane. 
eating -
every day I would try to eat little bits of things.  My most popular item was freeze pops.  They were so cold and felt so good on my throat.  I also liked fruit and other sweet things, but I could not keep anything down. On my last doctor's visit we were discussing trying baby food, but I was able to eat solid foods after the baby was born, so it was no longer something we had to worry about.
peeing my pants :( -
when I found out I was pregnant, I packed all my feminine products into the back of the closet thinking I wouldn't need them for a long time.  I was wrong.  When I was throwing up, most times I would also pee my pants from the pressure, so we found that if I wore pads they would absorb most of the pee, so I wore pads almost all the time. It was frustrating and gross, but Tad and my mom would probably both agree that it was better than washing the rugs and floor in the bathroom, or my sheets all the time. 
TV -
  I was able to watch TV while I was sick, which I am SO grateful for.  Some women can't handle the noise and movement on the screen, but I was able to.  I watched a lot of marathons.  Roseanne, Top Chef and The Nanny were always my favorite ones to find.  I wasn't able to read, it made me nauseous, but Tad read to me a little bit.  There were a few days that we played games.  We had gotten loaded questions not long before, and that was an easy one to play.  Over Thanksgiving, my parents, Chris and Maria and Tad and I would play it.  They would all bring chairs in and sit around the bed. 
going out -
twice a week we had to go out.  On Mondays we went to the hospital to have my dressing changed.  My mom would usually take me to this appt and we would make it in the afternoon, and then on Wednesday or Thursday morning we'd go to the doctor.  We made that a morning appt so that Tad could come along as well.  Through most of my pregnancy there was only one real thing that I craved, which was iccees.  So sometimes after the doctor or hospital my mom would stop and get me an iccee to take home. 

sorry, this is sort of a boring post.  I just feel like I've only talked about the major days and not the every day ones. 

this is how you would typically find me.  clean water in my right hand, spit bottle in my left.  hooked up to both of my pumps. it surprises me sometimes to look back at the pictures and see myself smiling.  the only reason I wanted any taken was to someday show the baby what I went through for them.  now I'm glad to have them, but they make me seem much happier than I actually was.

its been a while

Well, I haven't written in a while now!  I guess that isn't quite true - I've written and deleted and written and deleted... I know what I wanted my next topic to be, but I can't quite put it into words very well.  I've been trying to figure out how to explain myself on a topic that I am not looking forward to sharing, but I feel like it is an important part of the story.  The topic?  abortion.  First let me explain my views on it, and with this, if you feel differently - I am not trying to offend, just offering up my thoughts.  I feel like it is SUCH a complex topic, so please bear with me if I ramble.  So, I am pro-life - I feel like if a woman is mature enough to handle having sex, then she needs to be mature enough to handle the consequences.  I know that this is a double standard for guys, because they can be as responsible or irresponsible as they choose and it doesn't affect their body.  Is that fair?  no, it isn't, but I also thought being pregnant wasn't quite fair, but that is life as a woman.  I think that if a woman is raped that the choice should be hers for keeping or aborting her child.  If she didn't choose to have sex, then I think it is important that she is able to choose to carry her baby.  Again, this is difficult, because I believe life begins at conception, but I think it would be harder than I could ever fathom to carry a child that was the product of your rape.
   In hyperemesis history, the only way to save the mother was to abort her child.  The thought of this breaks my heart that so many women had to endure what I did, and on top of it the added pain of then aborting her baby.  If a woman did not abort, she and the baby would not live.  That is an insanely scary thought to me, had I not been born in the time period that I did, I may not be around.  I had this thought also last spring when we were in Grand Turk.  We were on a bus tour and saw their new hospital, it was really large and beautiful.  Then we went past their old hospital, and I again thought, if I didn't live in an advanced country, I may not have survived.  I am very blessed to have had access to the doctors and medication necessary to keep me alive and our baby alive. 
    All that being said - I wanted an abortion.  This was a baby that we wanted, we planned for, we tried for, and that was not enough for me to not have those thoughts and feelings.  I can't describe the deep hell that hyperemesis is, I can't even remember myself how bad it was, but when I think about not wanting to keep my baby it still brings tears to my eyes.  This child was a person, he was already forming, he was already a he, we just didn't know that yet.  Tad and I discussed abortion a number of times, and he agreed to go whichever way I choose.  He would help me fight the long and difficult fight, or he would love me unconditionally even after ending his child's life.  Have I ever mentioned that I have a wonderful husband?  It was this love that he had for me that actually made me want to push through it.  I knew that he would make an amazing father, and I didn't want to be the one to take that away from him.  So I did not choose to abort our child, but I think it is so important to know that I thought about it, I wanted to, I said it a lot.  Why else didn't I do it? Sometimes I don't know. Shame, my beliefs against it, love for my unborn child - all of those played a part. I don't think we'd be where we are today if we had gone through with it.  I want to mother a child so much, but I don't think I would have felt that I had the right if I had ended one of my children's lives.  I don't think that is all together rational, but I know that I would have felt an enormous amount of guilt.  So many women do not have the support from their husbands, families or doctors in order to make it through this awful condition, so a lot of women choose to abort and I feel so much for all of these women.  I know what it is like to be living every day thinking that THIS is the worst day of your life.  I feel like I sound melodramatic, I'd probably think so had it not been me. 
   What are my thoughts now on abortion?  I don't know.  I know that I haven't walked in other women's shoes who make that decision.  I hope that women won't, because there are so many amazing families waiting to adopt, but I can't judge that decision.  I do think that if a woman's life is in danger that she should have that option, so should I have had that option?  yes, I think so. Should the government have a say in abortion?  again, I don't know.  I think it would save the lives of many if there was not the option, but I know that it would still happen and be less safe.  I never in a million years would have thought that I'd be a woman to think about it and consider doing it.  So if you would, please say a prayer for all of the women who were not able to win the fight against HG and for their babies who were never unloved. 
   Below is a link to the 'In Memorium' section of the Help HER website.  You can see Gabriel's square fairly close to the top, and so many other women who have lived this nightmare. 
http://www.hyperemesis.org/mothers/in-memorium/

Back to the story

So to get back to the story of being pregnant.  The pump was a miracle for a couple of weeks, my mom was with me at first so before I went back to work she helped me shop for maternity pants, I wasn't showing yet, but I needed looser pants to allow my site to not be bumped all the time.  Things went really well at first, I could eat normally and I was able to go back to work.  I only worked for a few days - it feels like longer, but I was just figuring out dates, and it was probably only about a week, and then I started throwing up again.  I again stopped being able to keep anything down, and based on my weight and dehydration, they sent a nurse out to my house to put in an IV.  I had a few issues with it flowing fast enough, but it stabilized me a little bit.  A day later, I had my weekly doctor's appointment.  I did find that when most patients are pregnant women, they don't want a sick person, especially one toting their own IV pole to sit in the waiting room long, so I was seen almost immediately.  At this appointment, I had my first ultrasound.  With a lot of hyperemesis patients they are carrying multiples, so my doctor wanted to check that out  (also a side note -  people with HG are more likely to be carrying a girl).  They did determine that there was for sure only one baby in there and it was really incredible to see it moving around so much.  I didn't enjoy it as much as I wish I would have though, because I already knew I was going to be hospitalized again.  This doctor's appointment was kind of scary, my doctor talked about the possibility of getting a tube inserted so that the baby and I could get the nutrition that we needed.  She also decided that my situation was now more serious than what she dealt with.  I still saw her weekly for my appointments, but all the decisions were now being made by a high risk doctor.  It did impress me that she turned me over to someone else and I trusted her more.  So again we went straight from the doctor's office to be checked into the hospital.  At the hospital I was on the maternity floor, then because of overcrowding up there, right before night I was shifted down to pediatrics.  My new doctor came in and told me that I would be having the tube inserted.  He explained it some, it was called a PICC line - PICC stands for peripherally inserted central catheter - and I'd get it the next day.  This visit was a difficult one, I was given Reglan a lot, which we figured out makes me feel like my skin is crawling.  It gave me the jitters, and I wanted to walk and not be still, but was too weak to do so.  I'd guess that I told Tad I wanted to go home about 100 times or so.  The pediatric nurses were really wonderful to me, there was no one else on the floor, so I had their undivided attention.  When Tad had to go home to let the dogs out and get our things for the night, they put me in a rocking chair with a really warm blanket so that I could get some of my jitters out.  After that when it was time to get my meds, they would give me benedryl first, to calm me down - which really worked but it was REALLY painful.  It would burn my veins and I could feel it as it traveled up my arm.  I hated it, but I was glad for more calm and less freaking out.  The next day I would get my PICC, and my parents came up for it.  I was very scared to get it put in, so the nurse that would administer it called me in the morning to talk me through what she would do and tried to put me at ease.  It didn't really work, but I appreciated her kindness and thoughtfulness.  Getting a PICC is a sterile procedure, so only Tad could stay in the room with me.  The nurse strapped my arm down to a table (not a good feeling) and got it put in.  She was incredibly kind and told me that she'd tell me what she was doing at each step - I told her, no thanks.  First she numbed my arm with a painful burning shot, then cut my skin open a little bit to be able to thread the catheter into my vein.  It went up into my right arm, and stopped just above my heart.  The procedure went well, it was not nearly as bad as I would have guessed.  My PICC had 2 'ports' on it, so I was able to get fed through one of them and could get medication and my blood drawn through the other.  They kept telling me how nice it was going to be that I could get blood drawn this way and they didn't have to stick me.  the bad news was that a PICC makes you more likely to devlope a blood clot, so I had to go on blood thinners, which was an injection to the side of my stomach daily.  Again, Tad learned how to do this, as there was no possible way I'd be sticking a needle in my own stomach!  After getting the PICC in the hospital made me up a bag of TPN (total parenteral nutrition).  They got me hooked up to it right before I went to bed, and that turned out to be a very long night.  No one had taken out my IV, so I was getting IV fluid and TPN all at once.  I would have to go to the bathroom SO bad about every 20 minutes.  So Tad would drift off to sleep and I'd have to wake him up to take me to the bathroom.  It was awful, but then a nurse figured out that I didn't need both, so I got off the IV fluid.  We had to stay in the hospital until the next night, because Tad had to learn how to change my bag and take care of my lines.  They also came out to our house once to walk him through it.  It was a complicated process and it was important that he did it correctly, but the nurses were very impressed with him :)  Below are some pictures of the PICC  - another time I will post pictures of Tad caring for it.  sorry this was a long entry! 








This was in my room, since I was on pediatrics, they gave me a beanie baby dog :)




not a very attractive picture, but the purple line on the right shows where the tube stopped inside of me and you can see the PICC - here I am attached to the TPN, but the other one was free.





Mother's Day

Well to be honest, mother's day is a very difficult day for me.  Not following along with our history here, but I thought I'd take a few minutes to talk about being a mother without a child.  Today was an ok day - I don't believe that 'time heals all wounds' but time definitely makes things a little duller of a pain.  Last year I asked Tad to not do anything for mother's day, I didn't want to think about it.  At that point I was only a few days away from my due date, and was already having a really rough time.  So last year Tad let me decide how I wanted to spend the day.  I don't remember a whole lot of the day, except that we went to the hospital.  When we were in the hospital having the baby (I'm sure I'll talk about it more in a later entry) they were amazing to us.  One of the things that they have is called the Wall of Miracles - if you have a live baby, you are able to put a plaque on the wall with their name birthdate and footprint, for I think a $50 donation.  If you have a baby die, they give you a plaque for free.  All the babies plaques are intermixed, you can see some families' histories on the wall.  So we went to see Gabriel's plaque last year - below I will add some pictures of it.  We didn't have him buried, so it is probably the closest thing to visiting his grave that we have.  We go there whenever, but mainly we've gone on important days so far.  His due date, mother's day, father's day, his birthday, and when we've had family in town.  So this year, we again had a relaxing day, this morning we stayed around home, I got some sun (a little too much actually) and didn't do much.  This afternoon we went over and visited Gabriel's plaque.  He had a new 'neighbor' plaque since the last time we'd been there.  It was another baby that had died.  To see how many babies are up there each year that don't make it seems so impossible.  We often feel so alone in our pain, but really there must be people everywhere going through the same thing.  Afterwards we went for a long walk, then a nice Sunday drive, and out for dinner.    I know that some people do not see me as a mother, because I don't have a child here, but I am absolutely a mother.  I have not had to stay up nights with a crying infant, but I was awake nights throwing up all night.  I haven't had to choose a day care, or how to parent, but I did have to choose to be poked and proded daily in order to keep my son as safe as possible.  I look forward to future mother's days where I can hold a child in my arms, but I will never forget my first child.  I may not look like a mother to an outsider, but I have known the wonder and amazement of holding a child in my arms that my body had been able to form - which is truly a miracle.  To all of you moms out there, I hope you had a wonderful day.



Gabriel's plaque - we have a matcing one at home.



  

Hyperemesis Gravidarum

So when I was in the hospital the first time I was given information about hyperemesis gravidarum (HG)  but didn't know a whole lot about it.  Since then I have found an incredible website http://www.hyperemesis.org/ and read as many books as I could get my hands on to try to understand more.  Please feel free to read more on the above website, it has the best information I've found, and is really great.  While in the hospital the doctor told me that throwing up was going to have to be something I got used to and lived with, so Monday morning, I again tried to go to work - pink bucket in tow.  I was again not keeping anything down, and didn't last the entire day.  Later in the week - probably on Friday - I went and saw my doctor for the first time.  We chose her by going with a Christian clinic here in town, and I wanted a female doctor, and she was the only one there, so we felt lucky that she was what we were hoping for.  She was concerned about my lack of improvement, and decided to hospitalize me again so that I could get rehydrated.  They had also recently started working with an in home nursing company, so she wanted me put into their program.  While with them I had to check my urine daily to see if I was in ketosis, and my weight and call it into a nurse.  They also were able to come out to our house so that I didn't have to be put in the hospital any time I needed an IV.  Most importantly though what they could offer was a pump for my medication.  While in the hospital this time, they again put an IV in.  They got it on the 3rd try - I got a lot of medicine through there and was someone regulated again. Then a nurse came to install my pump and teach Tad and I how to use it.  The good thing about it was I could no longer throw up my medicine, it went directly into my blood stream, and I got it around the clock.  The bad thing was that it had to be put in my thigh.  I was really not thrilled with this information, but was told over and over that it was a small needle that went just under the skin.  I will agree that in general it was a small needle, what they didn't tell me though is that it just went straight down into my leg, and I had to have it changed from one leg to the other every 3 days.  My parents came when I was in the hosptial this time, which I really appreciated.  I was in for 2 nights.  Tad learned how go change my 'site' from leg to leg and we both learned the ins and outs of the pump. 



my mom and I waiting for the nurse to show up

 After getting the pump I thought it was going to be my miracle, I really started to feel better and was able to work for about a week and 1/2. 



in the hospital after getting my pump installed

 



these next pictures are from home, when I was feeling pretty good, this is as I had my site changed on my left leg is the old site that is getting taken out, and in my right leg is the new one, so it has the cover on it with the medication going in.





my legs did not react well at all to the pump being in them, they got all red and irritated, and I didn't think they'd never look normal again - thankfully though, there is only one spot where you can see the markings






feeling pretty good - trying to get my old one out

 



after it was out, my painful leg with the medicine coming back out of the hole it made.

 


the is the part that stayed in my leg - when it went in there was a needle with the little tube, but after it is in your leg and secure, then the part with the needle comes out.  It was quite painful, but at least it made me feel better.

  

Pregnancy Part 1

On September 16th 2009 - Tad and I found out that we were expecting.  I was excited, but very freaked out!  Tad took the news much more calmly :)  We spent the next few days trying to pick a doctor and hospital.  We were planning to see our parents 3 weekends in a row coming up, so the plan was to tell each of them in person.  We found out on a Wednesday, and I felt fine through the weekend. 

On Monday morning, I started feeling what is probably normal morning sickness.  I felt sick all morning, then could eat pretty well from about noon to 5 and then felt sick all evening. During this week we picked a doctor, and set an apointment. On Friday the 25th, I threw up for the first time and the 26th was the last day I was able to keep food down.  I worked for a few hours Monday, but went home pretty early.  Monday I called my doctor and told the nurse how sick I was, she put in a presciption for me and thought it would make me feel a lot better.  That was my first experience with a suppository - not a big fan, and it didn't help me.  Tuesday was more of the same, another prescription, a stronger suppository, and again no results.  Wednesday I was given a new prescription for Zofran, they told me this was a lot stronger, so I had dissolving tablets, and again, didn't feel a change.  At this time we were starting to get worried, so we decided to call our parents and let them know what was going on.  We also decided to not go on a trip that weekend that we had planned.  We were to fly to Albuquerque to see Tad's family.  In the wee hours of Thursday morning, Tad called the emergency number for our doctor and she called him back.  She told him to take me to the hospital.  We waited until morning to go, I didn't want to be hospitalized, so I was hoping to just be able to have a regular appointment.  In the morning though, nothing had changed, so we went to the hospital to get an IV because I was very dehydrated. 
  In the hospital they got my IV started on the second try - they placed it in my left hand in a vein on my wrist, it hurt the entire time it was in - they even gave me an ice pack.  When I turn my wrist now I can still sometimes feel where it was placed. 

While there I was on the labor and delivery floor, they gave me a lot of Zofran through the IV and alternated it with Reglan. 

I got this pink bucket that day, and it hardly left my armspan the entire rest of my pregnancy.

I was only in the hospital for a little over 24 hours.  My doctor who I still had not met was not on call, so we saw another one from her practice.  He was a total pompus jerk, and I was very unimpressed.  He gave me a piece of paper with what I had been diagnosed with, never even bothered to tell me more about it or the name or anything.  He just told me that getting sick was going to have to be something I got used to.  While there I felt very uncomfortable and wanted to go home so badly.  Tad slept on a little cot in the room with me.  Before I was released they gave me grape juice, a popsicle and jello.  They thought the IV fluid would help regulate me and I'd be able to keep things down.   When Tad was driving me home, we had just gotten to our exit when all of the things they'd given me came right back into the pink bucket and so it began the cycle again...

Welcome

Hello and welcome to our blog :)  We thought we'd make an area where we could update people on our lives and our journey to building our family.  Please feel free to follow along!  I just thought I'd start out with our short history.  Tad and I met in January of 1999, got to know one another on a missions trip to North Carolina that summer, and had our first date during Thanksgiving break of that year.  We dated through the rest of my high school years and college.  Tad proposed in January of 2004, and we were married the following year in June. 


the day after we got engaged



June 2005


 After we were married - we lived in Champaign/Urbana for a little over a year, and then moved just north of Green Bay, WI.  As we moved, we got 2 new puppies and enjoyed the craziness that they added to our lives. 


PJ and Colby when they were brand new



Over the years we discussed having kids at length.  We knew that was what we wanted for our little family, but we weren't sure how we wanted to go about it.  I was nervous to be pregnant, and we didn't feel it was necessary that our children be biological so we thought for a while about only adopting.  In the end we decided that it would be interesting to have a biological child - and probably easier to do first, so we decided to start trying for a baby in January of 2009.