No one could have prepared me for the saga this pregnancy has been. From the very hour I got a positive test result there have just been trials, upheavals and issues.
- Hyperemesis from the very beginning to present. Any time it wants to quit I will be very gracious.
- UTI and horrible ligament pain around 12-13 weeks. According to some Google searches it is because of the muscles re-stretching in subsequent pregnancies.
- Almost constantly being on some sort of anti-sickness medicine, anti-biotic. When pregnant with Adam I had no need to take any sort of medicine and sort of prided myself on this.
In recent weeks there have been numerous cases of chickenpox in the toddler groups I go to. Funny thing with chickenpox is that the virus is contagious before the symtom of spots displays itself. So I'd been taking Adam to family gatherings, to the park and to toddler groups over the weekend and start of the week. He woke up on Wednesday covered in chickenpox and since then it's been a non-stop roller-coaster in our house.
I can't take him out in public lest he infect someone who has a weak immune system or someone who hasn't had chickenpox before. Andrew and I both had chickenpox as children so we can't catch it. I was a bit anxious about my unborn baby but was assured all would be okay...
The past few nights have been 'interesting' with Adam being full of energy and scratching all during the night. Is amazing how he can function on such little sleep. Andrew was working a night shift last night and I contended with Adam screaming, shouting, being a grump. He dozed for a few hours from 3am-7am then woke up like a lark singing to his toy zebra.
This morning when I wakened from my very-little-sleep I found itchy spots on the right side of my shoulder and back. Got an emergency appointment with the GP, who was a total sweetie. Andrew rang him on my behalf at 8:45am and I was in the clinic for 10:30am. God bless the NHS! I explained what the situation is, he had a look at it and told me I needed to have blood taken to make sure I am immune from chickenpox following my suffering it as a child. If I'm immune then that's okay, if I'm not then I'll need to get my unborn baby checked for issues. I made the awful mistake of Googling disabilities and illness chickenpox can cause in unborn babies. My advice is to not do that, ever.
The GP was so nice, told the nurse that the blood samples needed to be sent to the lab in a taxi to make sure they got there very quickly! I was standing in the clinic with my face a picture just taking in all he was saying. The lab is a grand-total of 10 miles away from the clinic and the idea of it going there in a taxi baffled me! Shows how important he thought it was - I've been told the results will be back over the weekend.
In terms of the itchy rash on my shoulder both the GP and Andrew say it doesn't look like chickenpox, but the blood tests are just to check. The thinking is that it is a rash caused by photo-sensitivity to sunlight caused by taking cyclizine (the anti-sickness meds I take). The past few days have been lovely sunny days and I've been out in the back garden a lot with Adam, been wearing lots of strappy tops so my bare shoulders have been exposed to sunlight. Could be that, or it could be a rash from insect bites or something.
>exhale<
Has been a busy busy week. An (other) intense week firefighting issues.
I'm glad that Adam has got chickenpox now while he is still young, and despite it all he has retained his lovely personality (during the day times at least!). But really I could have done without another mountain to climb with this pregnancy. Poor little bump is happily kicking away in there, but he/she has been through so much, hopefully oblivious to all that is happening.
Fingers crossed it's just a rash.
ReplyDeleteAnd STEP AWAY FROM GOOGLE!! :O)