I am finally, thankfully recovered from the nastiest stomach virus I've had in a long time. I mean, no one enjoys projectile vomiting to begin with but multiply the awful during pregnancy and that will give you an idea of my starting point.
It hit without warning in the small hours of last Thursday morning and lingered...and lingered...terrible stuff. I don't wish it on my worst enemy, except maybe I do because that would be a perfect way to incapacitate someone for a week if I were plotting their downfall and needed some time to hatch my plan. I have to laugh, or at least smirk, at the irony that during the final week in my second trimester I felt totally run over by a Mack truck after having dodged the morning sickness bullet earlier. This was what I call the "both ends" evacuation plan and after that stopped, the bug settled in my guts creating the worst gas (again, from both ends) that I swear I have ever smelled - like, clear Oscar out of the room toxic fumes - no joke. I did get a preview of what I'll look like at 9 months pregnant, though. HA! That was the most uncomfortable I've been since my tubo-ovarian abscess last summer and I'm not even exaggerating in the least. If I could have safely punctured my abdomen to let it all out, believe me: I would have.
Meanwhile, life went on as usual as I attempted to get myself together for two major events at week's end: our fetal echocardiogram (ECG) and the much-anticipated triathlon relay.
Friday, June 20:
Bright and early wake-up call to be at Goryeb Children's Hospital at Morristown Medical Center for ECG. We finally got to see the full extent of that campus and it is massive. The children's wing is directly behind maternity and it is probably the poshest children's hospital I've ever seen. I hope we never have to spend any amount of time there.
We met our tech who had such a poker face, I wanted to jolt her into divulging some information but she remained largely silent during the scan which took a total of an hour. Why an hour? Well, PB, after being dehydrated and underfed for two days, decided she was having none of this poking about. She kept arching her back and punching the probe out of the way. We finally got a smile out of the tech who was basically like, "wow, doing some karate in there, huh?" Got to see the heart from almost every angle during the extended time we spent watching the screen. I wish we had gotten to see more of our daughter's face but no such luck. We'd catch the occasional glimpse of an arm rocketing forward or bending behind her head in contortionist fashion but this was all cardiac business and not for cutes.
We did find out she's still in breech position, facing out, which is kind of funny because all those kicks I feel around my bikini scar are her feet (where her head should be) and her head and hiccups I can feel just under my navel. This is going to get mighty uncomfortable the bigger she gets when her head is wedged under my ribs...this also sounds like the placenta has not budged but we'll confirm this in another 4 weeks. It's kind of freaky that a mini me is literally inside me, looking out at a world she cannot yet see. Leave it to our child to position herself so precociously.
The results of the hour-long ultrasound were totally normal. The cardiologist met with us for literally 90 seconds to deliver this news, apologize for the delay (hey, our kid's fault, not yours) and wish us well.
Mission accomplished. Time to sit in 2.5 hours of Friday afternoon traffic to get down to Philly and the race expo.
Saturday, June 21:
Welcome, summer, and the Philadelphia Tri-Rock!
It was such a beautiful day and a great reason to celebrate, despite being unwell. I was happy to cheer on my dad, my baby daddy, and my cousin who rocked their relay to finish in under two hours.
Rhett, who biked 15 miles, was less exhausted that night than I was. I curled up from the moment we got home until about 6 pm, woke up to have some ginger ale and cheerios, and then went back to bed. I propped myself up in my inner-tube pillow contraption and slept almost through the night without incident for the first time in four days. Hallelujah, praise, praise.
Monday, June 23:
First day of summer quarter at Drexel (who wants to order more textbooks?) and the first day of - DRUM ROLL - our hallway bathroom renovations. Wohoo!
Now we're about caught up, I think. Reno is ongoing with a few snags here and there - ya don't say - but hey, I'm not stressing. It's underway and looking a heck of a lot better than it did before so I can't complain. We have to wait another two weeks for the vanity top to be installed so it won't be done before my July 1 deadline. Oh well. I'll have the hardwood floors in July 2nd and then wait around for the quartz to be laser cut. Everything else will be complete except hooking up the faucet to the counter top.
Well, this was an essay-length update. Congrats for hanging in there and reading it. Time for a nap.
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