I Will Survive

At first I was afraid, I was petrified ... ok not quite but it was definitely not a good feeling!  Let me explain.  I contracted the flu (the seasonal one, not the swine flue) sometime last weekend and started exhibiting symptoms of this wonderful disease on Sunday afternoon.  I didn't really think anything of it at first because it started as a feeling that I had something in my throat and that I was trying to cough it out.  But after arriving home from Edmonton (where I had been all weekend) it soon became evident that I was definitely coming down with something.  I started to feel achey in my shoulders, hips and thighs which I tried to attribute to the amount of driving that I'd done in the previous 48 hours but apparently my body wasn't listening.  I decided that maybe a soothing shower would help so I asked Jay to start one for me while I went to grab my towels from my bathroom.  By the time I got back (we don't have a huge house so this took about 30-45 seconds) I was shivering so bad my teeth were chattering.  So I called my fabulous older sister to see if she knew anything about the flu and being pregnant, and of course she did.  But being the eternal optimist that I somehow have morphed into, I procrastinated getting any of the stuff she recommended until Monday morning as I hoped against hope that I did not have the flu.

But Monday morning finally showed up (I say finally because I had been awake for pretty much the entire night sweating, coughing, aching and peeing because I was trying to stay hydrated ... it's a vicious cycle) and it was decided that I was entirely too sick to go to work.  So my wonderful hubby stayed home as well to play nurse for me and was sent on his first assignment to get the Tylenol, thermometer, Gatorade and soup that I'd been advised to get the night before and had not.  The rest of the day was fairly uneventful and passed with me sleeping/lounging on the couch while Jay got me whatever I requested.  And then Tuesday decided to rear it's ugly head.  I woke up feeling slightly better than on Monday as I had actually slept fairly well on Monday night, and after a shower I was feeling fairly human so I decided to head back to work.  BIG MISTAKE.  By the end of work on Tuesday I was physically drained of any energy I thought I'd had that morning, and the cough was back with a vengence that made my lungs and body ache as well as making my throat raw.  The cough also decided it should bring it's little friend the stuffy/runny nose with it.  Apparently the cough did not get the memo that it was not actually invited to this party and definitely shouldn't be inviting friends.  So Tuesday night was passed with me attempting to sleep in the lazy boy because I thought sleeping upright might help as I was unable to accomplish this feat in a normal horizontal position after more than 3 hours of trying.  But it did not help.  And it also caused more problems as I was aware that the baby was not moving much at all.  We now had a combination of sick, exhausted, hormonal Alisha and were now adding panic into the mix.  Not a good situation.  So Jay drove me to the ER Wednesday morning where I was informed that 1. I had to wear a surgical mask so I didn't infect anyone else; 2. I was not running a fever (which I already knew because I'd taken my temperature before we left the house); 3. my pulse and oxygen levels were great (yay me); and last but not least 4. even though the rest of the hospital doesn't want the unclean masses (ie those who have the flu) walking about, they were still going to send me up to the delivery suite to check the baby out since I'd had decreased fetal movement.  Thanks for all your help ER nurse lady.

Upon arrival at the delivery suite, I had to explain again to the nurse why I was there, but we were then escorted to a room where I was hooked up to some fetal monitors to make sure everything was ok.  By this point I was a mess and was crying.  The nurse was like "Is it just 'cuz you're feeling so horrible that you're crying?"  I was thinking, "Doesn't everyone cry when they are here?" but Jay pointed out later that she was probably just making sure I didn't have any other pain or anything to worry about.  It's a good thing one of us was level-headed.  But it turned out that everything was fine with the baby.  His lack of movement was probably caused by the fact that I wasn't feeling well and had been living on soup for the last few days which although delicious doesn't really contain a lot of carbs and stuff to make him feel like shaking his groove thing on the dance floor.  However, I did score my very own set of fetal monitoring bands which I was instructed to bring back with me for delivery or if I have to go back for decreased fetal movement again, so it was not a complete waste.  And I had my mind put at ease which is also good.  But the day was not over yet.  I also had to go see my regular doctor to get checked out for my flu symptoms, so we headed over there where I had to sit in the "special" waiting area for the infected until she could see me.  It was a good thing that we know one of the nurses that works there because she was able to get my appointment pushed up so we didn't have to wait for a year and a half to get in.  But I ended up with the same news ... it's the flu, so stay home from work, avoid crowds and company, continue on my liquid diet and get plenty of rest.

Which I did for the rest of Wednesday.  And all of Thursday except for the few hours when I had my first appointment with my OB.  It went well and he seems to know what he's doing (I'm just kidding, I've heard he's really good from a bunch of people).  He also informed me that as soon as I'm feeling better I should go get both flu shots because as a preggo my immune system is decreased making me more susceptible to both strains.  So I will add that to my list of things to do for next week. 

And that brings us to today.  I actually slept all night!  It was fabulous.  I think I might actually be getting over this thing 'cuz my nose is hardly stuffed/runny anymore, when I cough it doesn't make my lungs ache and my throat feel like it's being stabbed from the inside, I've only had 3 mugs of hot lemon water with honey so far (which is a definite improvement since I think I was at about 10 by this time yesterday), and I actually had the energy to wash my bedding today.  Don't worry, I took it easy and watched my recorded episodes of Grey's and Private Practice in between loads.  Besides, since I'm starting to feel better, I figured it was time to remedy my germ infested pillow cases, etc.  And I actually had something other than soup today ... I had 2 bowls of Cinnamon Toast Crunch for lunch today which definitely made the baby happy.  Yay for the return of my appetite, however small it is at this point!

That's about all, I guess, and although I felt like it was never going to end earlier in the week I think it's safe to say at this point that I will survive as this too shall pass! (And apprently I am capable of stretching "I have the flu" into the longest post ever.)