The ER, my new home

On February 16th, I had my first of many trips to the ER for this pregnancy.

At around noon that day, I started feeling like someone was sitting on my chest and was having trouble taking deep breaths. Add that to the constant vomiting and I was a huge mess.

Because my insurance had switched to Kaiser, there were new rules I had to follow when it came to going to the ER or urgent care. I had to call first, and speak with the nurse advice line and be instructed to go to the ER or urgent care, based on what the situation was.

I think I called around 12:30, shortly after I realized the chest pressure wasn't going away. Of course, ALL of the nurses happened to be on lunch. "Really?" I thought. They couldn't stagger their lunches so that they were always available?

So the wonderful receptionist took a message for me of what was going on and said that a nurse would call me back. Awesome.

Literally, two hours later, I finally heard back. Apparently after lunch they have a daily meeting. How effective was that? Have everyone gone at the same time? Ridiculous!

I wasn't surprised when they sent me to the ER, but I was beyond frustrated at this point.

I got to the ER, checked in and was immediately seen. At least these people were efficient! My BP and my heart rate were elevated, and I had lost even more weight since the last time I was weighed. Down 7 pounds now.

They did an EKG and a chest x-ray to make sure it was nothing to do with my heart, and then hooked me up to an IV to get me rehydrated. All of the vomiting, what they referred to as "hyperemesis" or severe morning sickness during pregnancy, had severely dehydrated me.

After they confirmed that the EKG and x-ray were normal, they wanted to try and figure out how to stop the nausea and vomiting. I was already taking 3 Zofran a day, like clockwork, and it clearly wasn't working. They tried Pepcid to try and help with the chest pressure, thinking my esophagus was irritated from all the vomiting. The Pepcid almost immediately gave me blurred vision. I was texting my mom and sisters to let them know how things were going, since no one was able to come with me to the ER, and suddenly I could barely tell it was my phone in my hand. Apparently a common side effect of Pepcid. Not anything I'd ever want to take again!

After there was no change, aside from my vision, they tried Phenergan for the nausea. That didn't help either, and instead made me very restless. My legs would not sit still and I felt very anxious to get up and be active. And I STILL felt sick. This clearly wasn't working.

After being there over 5 hours, my sisters Katie and Sarah came up to sit with me while they figured out what was going on. Sarah, being a CNA, asked the nurse (really good looking one, might I add) if they wouldn't mind doing an ultrasound because up until this point of my visit they hadn't even bothered to check on the status of the babies. I was so out of it from all the medicine that I hadn't realized they were only concerned about me. Clearly it would be important to also make sure the babies were ok!

Per her request, they did an ultrasound and both babies were doing great. Baby "A" kicked baby "B" super hard while we were "watching" and it was literally the cutest thing ever. Already there was sibling rivalry and they had a LOT of time left to spend in there.

Once they confirmed the babies were okay, and that I wasn't experiencing any actual heart issues, they sent me home. I was to follow up with my OB in a couple days.

That night, my sisters and I went to Red Lobster and I was actually able to keep food down for once. Amazing! Apparently the combination of the IV fluids, Pepcid, Phenergan and the Zofran I was taking worked well enough to fight off the nausea for now. I took full advantage and ate like food was going out of style. Lots and lots of crab!

The weekend went by and I called to follow up with my dr that following Wednesday. A little more than a couple days later as instructed, but I finally had the energy to do something other than sleep and throw up. I still wasn't feeling any better and the night at Red Lobster was the only time I'd been able to keep food down, or water for that matter. I knew I was likely dehydrated, yet again.

When I called in, I was hoping just to schedule a follow up appointment but when asked why I ended up speaking with the advice nurse line again! They sent me straight to the ER. Go figure.

When I got to the ER, I was beyond frustrated that I wasn't seen right away. Shouldn't a pregnant woman take precedence over those who were likely there just to get pain meds and be sent home? I literally waited about 45 minutes before I was seen, but only because I finally put my foot down. I was getting worse just sitting in the waiting room and finally felt like I was going to pass out. They took me back to the triage room and checked my BP and it was 136/87. That finally got their attention!

I got hooked up to an IV, what would soon become a routine of mine, and then started to try more medicines to help with the nausea. I made sure to remind them that Pepcid and Phenergan were not good options!

After about 5 or so hours there, I was sent home again. This time with a prescription for a medicine called Reglan. It had seemed to work at the hospital, but they gave it to me with Benedryl and it basically just put me to sleep. We would see how well it worked once I was home!

I was pretty confident I'd be back in the ER soon, as I was there twice in a week in a half already. This pregnancy sure wasn't getting along with my body. And all I kept hearing from the dr's was that it was worse because it was twins. Thanks doc, real helpful!