Another Scare

I found myself lying in a hospital bed on Saturday morning. Dylan was working in Butte and Addison and I were getting ourselves ready for a nice warm day in Helena (finally). I was taking a shower and became extremely alarmed when I discovered something that made me think my placenta was coming out of me. I literally thought my baby was falling out. I called Dylan and Sara, panicked, and told them I was heading to the hospital.

Once I got to the hospital they put me in a wheel chair and took me to the Mother/Baby Unit. With my Addison by my side in the hospital bed, I explained to the nurse what was wrong. Addison was asking all sorts of questions. She is intrigued by medical gadgets. The nurse was hooking me up to the baby monitor and taking my vitals. She observed that my heart rate was 136. Within a matter of seconds it quickly jumped to 150, my blood pressure dropped, I was unable to breath and very close to blacking out. My nurse called for the rapid response team which brought in 5-8 people. They quickly hooked me up to IV fluids and slapped an oxygen mask on my face. The nurse kept touching my face telling me to stay with her and to keep breathing. One of the nurses grabbed my phone and called Dylan telling him that he needed to come immediately.

All that was happening and Addison sat where she was instructed to sit and watch. I can't even imagine how scary it must have been for her. She went from sitting next to me to being picked up and put into a chair in the corner by a stranger. Her mom was unable to talk to her or hold her hand. She sat there, perfectly quiet, observing.

My little episode only lasted a few minutes. I came back to and my vitals returned to normal. A nurse brought Addi a bear and blanket and a snack. She climbed back up on the bed next to me and I told her how proud of her I was and explained what had happened. She thought the oxygen mask was funny looking and told me not to move my hand that had the IV in it. She was amazing. She kept telling me that she would take care of me and that she would keep holding my hand until daddy got there.

They did an EKG and took some blood. The EKG came back normal and the blood tests showed that I am a little anemic. Dr. Mcmahon, the doctor I started seeing her in Helena happened to be in the hospital. He examined me. He said my uterus is tight, closed and tucked up where is should be -- the baby was not falling out! I do have a large cyst that I will just deal with until this baby is born. At that time they will drain it, cut it off and stitch it up. The cyst came from when I gave birth to Addi. When a tear healed inside of me, it healed over a mucous gland. With the pressure of being pregnant, the gland has filled with fluid resulting in disgusting cyst. The doctor said the sudden tachycardia (rapid heart beat) was caused from the anemia and a possible anxiety attack. He also said the other symptoms I have been experiencing were probably related to the anemia.

Dylan arrived in Helena as there were releasing me. They instructed me to take iron daily and drink a lot more fluids.

The past few weeks I have been experiencing a rapid heart beat. It usually happens when I am lying down. I get short of breath and it feels like my heart is going to beat right out of my chest. It has woken me up in the middle of the night. I get waves of nausea, light-headedness, shortness of breath and black spots in my vision.

It was scary. Hopefully the iron will kick in and I will start to feel better.
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Dr. Key, the Great Falls specialist, received my blood results back. I have or had echovirus, 2 different strands. This virus most likely caused the fluid in baby's abdomen. Dr. Key said as long as baby remains strong and nothing else develops abnormally, baby SHOULD pull out of this ok. I see Dr. Key next week for another ultrasound and follow-up. I have a huge list of questions to get answered! This appointment cannot come quick enough.

My doctor here in Helena called me this afternoon. He set me up with an appointment with a heart specialist to have an echocardiogram and Holter monitor done to see exactly what my heart is up to. This morning I had another dizzy/almost blacking out episode. Dylan called my doctor to see if he wanted to see me. I think this caused my doctor to think that the episode on Saturday was more than an anxiety attack. I am grateful to see the heart specialist. I don't feel the episode on Saturday was only anxiety/stress related. My heart is acting weird and I want to know why.

Another exciting week in the adventure of pregnancy....