So I'm afraid I am very lapsed at the old recording of symptoms, feelings and progress of my pregnancy week by week. Its something I always wanted to keep (along with my 365 project which has also now finally met an end), and as this is something I will only experience the once in life, I want to write it all down.
As I stopped at 6 weeks, it would be almost impossible to remember enough detail week by week to fill in the missing 13 weeks, so I thought I would catch up by combining several weeks into one and make sure I stick to it for the remaining 21 weeks. I know I also have several mums on my list who have helped me so far by giving advice and suggestions so thats a big help. Keep it coming girls!
So we start again at 7 weeks. My memory of the next few weeks is mainly the realisation that the sickness which plagued me in week 6 was not just 'normal' morning sickness. The doctor had signed me off for 2 weeks from week 6, but in these weeks I found myself unable to concentrate on anything, I had constant dizziness, felt on the edge of vomitting all the time and even sitting up became an effort. Its then that my PJ's became my daily uniform and the routine of bed to sofa was established. I couldn't watch TV or even log on to see what was happening in the world of Facebook. Although the way I was feeling physically probably took precedence, the feeling of isolation and hopelessess at the situation started creeping in.
I visitied Bradford Royal Infirmary Early Pregnancy Assessment Unit several times in these weeks and received anti sickness injections (which stung like a bugger and sadly made no difference!). They also prescribed me some anti sickness medications. I tried 3 in all. Metocholopramide, Cyclizine and Stemetil and none had any effect. They do say in severe cases of hyperemesis, these meds often don't touch the symptoms, but at this stage I had a lot to learn about hyperemesis.
At 10 weeks and 1 day the sickness reached a zenith and I travelled back to the BRI seeking help. I hadnt long registered where I wanted to have my baby at this stage and had chosen Airedale Hospital which is known to be the better hospital by anyone local I spoke to and is also nearer to all of Darrens family. Due to choosing this hospital, BRI could no longer help me as I was not registered there for the birth. They said as I had come in and my urine sample had registered something called Keytones (a sign of dehydration and malnutrition) they would give me some fluids in a drip and send me home but I would need to go to Airedale with any further problems.
After 6 attempts at taking blood and inserting a canular and feeling a little like a pin cushion, I had some saline running into me at a rather fast pace. It took an hour and a half for my body to swallow up 2 litres and they sent me home again, feeling pretty much the same but absolutely shattered.
I woke on the next morning, it was a Sunday and was the sickest I had been since the illness started. I was vomitting constantly, hardly able to breathe for being sick. We called Airedale Hospital and were told as they didnt have an early assessment unit like BRI, I would need to be assessed via A&E. This was the case for all pregnant women under 20 weeks. We called Darrens dad who took us to A&E which is about half an hours drive away and we spent 4 hours waiting to be seen. It was one of the most miserable experiences of my life sitting in a packed A&E department trying not to vomit but desperately wanting to, seeing people being taken for that seemed to be routine appointments before me. Darren tried his best to get me seen earlier, but we were chastised by a very matronly nurse who told us 'If we admitted everyone who came in complaining of bein.g a bit sick, we'd be here all day. You'll just have to wait.'.
Eventually I was seen. My keytones which had been 3 the night before when I was put on a drip was now showing 4 (very high). I was admitted to a ward which was terrifying. I had never had a proper hospital stay before this. They put me on a drip right away and I stayed on one from the Sunday until the Wednesday morning until my keytones were back to 0. As nice as the nurses were, the stay was horrid. I didnt sleep with my drip always needing replacing in the early hours and waking up the whole ward with its beeping, I was lonely, I was on a ward with a senile old lady who spent the entire time verbally abusing the staff. I prayed for 12 weeks to come to be rid of this as thats the usual timeframe.
One good thing from my hospital stay was having a scan to check that everything was ok. I had this at 10 weeks and 3 days. Everything looked normal and there was only 1 baby. Previously they thought it could be more than 1 due to my sickness. It was so wierd seeing the little figure on the screen moving about and turning over. It made it all seem all the more real.
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