Round 2

It's been a while since I've posted anything-- mostly because I'm having mixed feelings about repeating the same news for the 50th, 51st, 52nd... day in a row.

The latest development is that I'm now taking twice as much of the Zofran as I was a week ago. This increase came after a day of endless sickness and general misery, which was Tuesday. When you've vomited between 8 and 10 times in a day and you start to get faint and dizzy, it's time to do something. Time to call in the big guns: IV Fluids.

Since the closest hospital to my house, Cedars-Sinai, doesn't accept my insurance and my last visit cost $700+ (anybody out there keeping a baby cost sheet?), I went over to UCLA, which is about 5 miles from my house. I decided a cab would take too long and I didn't have enough cash to get there, so I drove myself. How sweet that they offer valet parking at the ER! Only in LA!

They saw me after about an hour of waiting. I hadn't tried eating anything before I got there so I wouldn't have to worry about the they-called-your-name-but-you-were-in-the-bathroom problem. I was put in a room with a mural of smiling children holding hands superimposed in front of a satellite image of earth. I sorta wanted a Sharpie so I could give them all devil horns.

Clint joined me and sat in an extra chair in the small room. I told him it would be boring, but he came anyway. Bless. After one whole bag of fluids, I got another. It was rather uneventful, but I really did feel better. Bonus: we got to see the nugget again, and it looked like it was still hanging out in a hammock. It moved around a bit, but I couldn't see it very well on the sorta crummy screen. Apparently, it was fine. However, I was not: I had protein in my pee. Geez! I can't get a break!

These proteins are called ketones, and they're sometimes a sign of being on the Atkins diet. In my case, it was a sign of starvation. These ketones are potentially dangerous to the fetus, so the nurses and doctors encourage you to drink more and eat carbohydrates so that they go away. I'll find out tomorrow if they're gone. It was a little scary to think that all of this sickness has finally caught up with me and is potentially causing harm to the nugget. The nurse taking care of me, whose name was Shannon (and she looked like Molly Shannon!) said I looked "stoned" but Clint assured her that I was just tired. After all, I hadn't left the ER for three hours. My blood pressure was super low, but I was sent on my way anyway, armed with a new Rx for Zofran that dissolves so that I don't have the challenge of swallowing it with liquid. That night, I went home and hunkered down.

I've done my best since then to drink more-- but even with twice as much Zofran, I've still been getting sick so I know that I'm not close to relief. I have activities on my calendar this week (It's week 14! I was/am? an optimist!) and I think I'll be canceling them tomorrow. Oh well, time to start another week. Second trimester, her we come.