ER Visit

Don't freak out. I'm not in pre-term labor or anything.

Last night, I got this NASTY cough and throat thing that kept me up all night, hacking and wheezing. I didn't really have anything to take (though honey is honestly what kept me alive, mixed in hot water), and when I laid down I could barely breathe. I hate going to the doctor for things that I'm usually pretty sure they can't do anything about, but I succumbed to the urge to find comfort in the ER where they could hopefully give me some kind of breathing treatment or cough syrup and make sure that my throat didn't close and I didn't die (because it was touch and go for a while there... I thought at least).

Ok. Here's the first lesson: don't go to a teaching hospital. If it has "university" in the title, find the next closest ER. I didn't even think about it at the time. I just knew it was two blocks away and it was 5 in the morning. I was seen my no less than 8 different doctors, 6 of them being what appeared to be first year residents. Even few minutes a different student doctor would come in to check me out and suggest a treatment. No one really knew what was safe for a pregnant person, and when I told them the cough was giving me painless contractions, I got a blank stare.

Second lesson: don't go to the ER at the change of shift from the night to day. At around 7 am, I was given an Albuterol breathing treatment since my throat was so tight. They gave it to me and left, and I started having the weirdest reaction. My body felt like there were cockroaches inside me trying to get out. I felt like I was hallucinating like that lady on the House episode we watched last week (turns out she had leprosy...) My hands and legs started shaking and my face got really flushed. Tim ran and got a doctor (a different one, go figure) who told me I was having an allergic reaction and would find out if Benadryl was safe for pregnancy. Never saw that doctor again. What seemed like forever later, a new doctor came in and I told him about my reaction (because I still felt so weird) and he said that was a normal reaction and I should be fine. Later, a tech brought me the Benadryl and looked at me like I was crazy when I told her I didn't need it because the other doctor said it was a normal reaction (and I actually called Lauren to verify this, that yes, Albuterol does that to you. I trust her knowledge of asthma medications over the doctor's. Rightly so).

There was a big chest x-ray debate as well. Some doctors wanted it, some didn't, they consulted for hours. Finally, they said no chest x-ray but a throat x-ray so less potential damage to baby. I didn't really want an x-ray at all but after the reaction and a dose of Tylenol with Codeine I couldn't really think to say anything about it. I wouldn't even let the dentist x-ray me a few months ago even though they said it was safe. I was wheeled down to the x-ray room where the tech looked at me and asked if I was pregnant. Um, yeah, check out the belly. That ain't fat. He looked astonished that the ER doctors sent a pregnant woman for x-ray so then he had to call them and verify. Then he tried to do the wrong x-ray (a chest one rather than a throat one). He made me stand up with all this heavy lead stuff around my belly when I felt like I was going to pass out from the reactions I was having and finally it was over.

Third lesson: take your husband with you so he can tell the doctors when it's enough. We got back from an unremarkable x-ray, and then the doctor suggested they stick a camera down my throat to see if it was swollen. I looked at him dubiously "I KNOW IT'S SWOLLEN! I CAN FEEL IT!!" He didn't buy it. Finally Tim was like no, she doesn't need it. I didn't see a doctor again. A tech brought me discharge papers and no one came to wish us well as we trudged out of that horrid place.

There is no way in HELL I am birthing my baby there.