the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day

Yesterday was quite a day. I just have to blog about it because it was so bizarre. This post may not be for the weak stomach...

All during the night I couldn't sleep. Something didn't feel right- no position was comfortable and my belly just HURT. I tossed and turned all night. Around 5:30 am, I had that awful but all too familiar sensation to throw up. Thinking it would make myself feel better, that's exactly what I did. (Meanwhile, Jonathan in the shower heard me hacking it up and said, "Lindsey?! You okay?" Yeah, dandy.) well, I crawled back into bed hoping to get some sleep and J came in to kiss me goodbye. Normally he was home on Fridays but on this day he was going to Pocatello for a TR Conference. It was an all day event and I wouldn't see him home till about 7.

As soon as he walked out the door I threw up again. And again. And again every 10 minutes until about 8 am. Talmage woke up, and I felt so completely weak I could barely change his diaper. I threw some Cheerios in a bowl for him and set it on the couch because I didn't have the strength to put him in his highchair. He dumped them all out and I didn't even care. I called my midwife who wasn't available so I was told that she would call me back.

Three hours pass and no one has called. I am still violently vomitting left and right and I start to wonder if maybe I'm losing the baby. My throat hurt from all the acid, so I sucked on a cough drop which made me throw up immediately. My stomach ached from contracting, and I took a warm bath in hopes of relaxing my muscles. My bath lasted about 2 minutes before I was sitting in vomit water. The scary part was that I couldn't tell if I was going into early labor or just having bad muscle cramps. I tried nibbling on a piece of bread. Nope, rejected. So then I sipped some water. Rejected!! (don't you just love how dramatic I am being?) I could not stand without throwing up again or blacking out. I knew I needed to eat something...this whole pregnancy has demanded that I have something in my stomach 24/7 or I pass out. So I tried to eat an apple slice and after 3 small bites was back to hurling my guts out. Well finally I decide to call the midwife again and after being put on hold 4 times I have Karen on the phone. I told her my symptoms and she said "It sounds like you have the 24 hour bug." I thought, 'More like 24 hours of HELL.' She told me to get some sleep and drink water even if I did throw it up. I followed her advice and continued this awful pattern until around 1 pm. I thought I was going to die, or worse- that something was wrong with Emma.

Not long after our phone call, I begin to notice that I'm throwing up blood. In a panic I call her back and she assures me this is normal when someone is recurrently throwing up. Still, it freaked me out and I decided I would not let myself get sick one more time. I couldn't look at more blood, I just couldn't.

I counted down the minutes to T's naptime, so that I could sleep also. At exactly 11 pm, I shut him in his room and never looked back. He fell asleep by the door and napped there for about 2 hours. Since I wasn't able to sleep (kept throwing up), I decided to go in there and move him to his bed. As soon as I picked him up I passed out, and sort of clumsily dropped him onto his bed. This woke him up, and he was crying for me to hold him. I broke down into tears feeling completely helpless, realizing that I couldn't do this alone.

Basically, it was impossible for me to do anything for myself because I had a toddler on my hands. He was being so sweet natured through all of this, trying to give me hugs and mostly keeping to himself on the couch. I didn't want to bother anyone to watch him...honestly there are very few people I feel comfortable enough with to ask them for favors like that. But thank goodness for my friend Rachel... she came over without hesitation, gave me hug while I bawled my eyes out, and took Talmage away to her place. I only expected her to have him for maybe 1 or 2 hours. As I climbed into bed I prayed for uninterrupted sleep. I was out like a light for 4 hours. When I woke up I had a fever of 101 and was not able to stand. (by the way, I had kept in touch with Jonathan throughout the day about it and he was so so worried...how ironic to be gone at a time like this!)


Rachel came back with my sweet happy boy around 6:30 (bless her heart!!), and Jonathan came home soon after. Once he was here, I felt a huge burden lifted. He came home with a bunch of stuff from Walgreens (a prescription, heartburn medicine, ginger ale, some popsicles..) and kissed me even though I told him not to because I felt completely gross. He took care of everything, cleaning up the chaos that was our apartment, making dinner for our son and putting him to bed. I laid in bed while he continually checked in on me, bringing me this and that. I felt so selfish, being waited on like I was on my deathbed...but that's really what it felt like.  I am so grateful for a husband that pampers me when I'm sick :)

Sure enough, this morning I feel completely back to normal. How is this even possible? What kind of sick virus inhabits your system for only 24 TERRIBLE hours and then just up and leaves? I tell you it is so weird to me! My fingers are crossed that it's really over... as a side note, if anyone EVER feels this way and needs my help in any way at all do not hesitate to call me! No one should ever go through that alone.


I hope everyone has a good, HEALTHY weekend :)