Only 9 1/2 hours in the Emergency Room...

It could've been much worse.

I really don't feel like writing this, but I know some people are wondering what the story is. Thursday morning, sometime before 5:30, I got up to use the bathroom (I never used to get interrupted sleep 2-3x a night before the pregnancy...and I have a feeling now that it's started, it will never end). I stumbled to the bathroom, and both Matt and I didn't think anything of it. I'm usually still half asleep anyway. As I washed my hands I noticed I felt disconnected...like I was watching someone elses hands under the sink. Whatever. I was tired, so I went back to the bed. As soon as I laid down on my back, my right arm became numb. You know, like when it falls asleep? Well, I hadn't been laying on my arm, in fact, I was just up walking around and it kicked in when I laid down. Normally, I can just shake my hand out and get that tingly feeling to go away. No matter what I did, there was no relief of that sensation. This only lasted a few minutes, and then my lips, the right half of them, got all tingly and numb. Then it spread to the outer parts of my lips to my face on the right side. Matt was on his way out the door for work, and he didn't think much of the numbness. He thought maybe I slept in a funny position. He told me if I had any more problems to call my parents. Well, my tongue got numb. At this point, I started getting nervous...what if it spread to my throat? As soon as I could feel my tongue regularly, I called my parents.

My mom answered, and I did my best to describe what was happening to me. I couldn't get the words out! I stumbled over all my words, repeating them over and over to try to get them out right. This was worrying me and frustrating me...I literally couldn't talk. I felt so jumbled. I waited for my dad to pick me up and tried watching a little tv. It was early, so only the news was on...and my mind couldn't keep up with the words on the screen. I recognized the words, but I couldn't read them. My dad picked me up, and the radio was on. They were talking about politics and mentioned one of the candidates names. I couldn't focus hard enough to know who they were talking about. I got to my parents' and my mom says we're going to the hospital. She hadn't called Matt yet because she didn't know if I wanted to talk with him. Huh? I could not figure out why she was so interested in contacting this Matt...Matt who? I went to the bathroom and realized that Matt was indeed my husband's name then laid on the couch for a few minutes while my parents got ready. Then it hit me! I went to the kitchen where my mom was and started crying...I had forgotten my husband's name! My parents were quite worried but took it in stride not to worry me more. There were a lot of other confusing scenarios that morning, but I'll save you the boring details.

I got to the Emergency Room just after 7am. 2 IV's (I guess the first one was a dud), a CT scan, an EEG, 7 doctors, hundreds of pokes later, they concluded I had a complex migraine due to the hormones from the pregnancy. They were running the gamut of tests to rule out stroke and seizure. I am to see one more neurologist and possibly have an MRI to make sure everything is ok.

I must admit the emergency room isn't my favorite place to be, but I managed to get a few laughs in. I was hooked up to all kinds of monitors and my mom had me breathe differently to see if anything would change. It started beeping when I laughed, and that made me laugh more...so it kept beeping. Then the EEG...they hook you up to like 30 little wires all over your head. My hair was going crazy like it often can, and I was a site! Then they wrapped my head in gauze to hold the the little probes in place so it looked like I had a head injury. The nurse was fun and laughed along with me...telling me what beautiful hair I had. Matt walked in after getting some lunch (the lucky man), and I'm sure my beauty made him fall in love with me all over again!

That was the day. We're hoping that was my first and last migraine!