Monday, February 14, 2011

My story

These past few months have been the hardest that I've had to endure in my life! I found out that I was pregnant in October and started getting extremely ill just like I was with Livvy. Then it got worse and worse and I got to the point where I could hardly get up but I somehow found the strength to feed Livvy while Mikey was at work and that was all I could do. I tried to eat but would throw up up to 10 times a day. This went on for about 3 weeks and I had to go to the hospital 3 times to get hydrated. I lost about 15 pounds, at my lowest point weighing 98 pounds, I felt like I wasn't going to make it through that. During all of this I was taking zofran but it can't help unless you can keep it down, my ob just told me to try to sip ginger ale and nibble crackers and they just didn't understand that I couldn't. When I am pregnant I have a condition that .5 to 1 percent of pregnant women get called Hyperemesis Gravidarum and it is very hard to deal with especially because no one really understands what it is like to be that sick and other women think they understand because they threw up a few times and were really nauseous during pregnancy, it is very depressing and I felt very alone. We decided that Livvy and I would go and stay in Arizona with my family while I was so sick. That was the best decision because my mom, dad, and brothers and sisters helped take care of Livvy and I mostly just slept all day and my mom would make me food and eventually I started being able to eat again. I was only throwing up 3-5 times a day but suffering from extreme headaches, a side effect of the zofran I was dependent on to keep food down. I lost all of my strength because my body was just eating away at itself the whole time so it was very difficult for me to do anything even walk up the stairs. Right before going to AZ we found out that we were pregnant with twins but my first appointment while in AZ I found out that I lost one of them which was devastating. I found out that the baby that died had triploidy, meaning it had an extra set of chromosomes and would not have been able to survive, the scary news was that the placenta was cystic but thankfully the twins had separate placenta's and the healthy baby's placenta was normal! The doctor told me all of the scary risks of keeping the bad placenta inside of me but they really didn't know what was going to happen because this is a very rare occurrence. They said all we can do is wait and see what happens. I've gradually been getting better and now I've been gaining weight instead of losing weight so that is good! I've still been throwing up everyday, usually just once a day, but I really can't wait for the day when I stop throwing up for good! I still have very little energy and my Hcg hormone levels are triple what they should be and my brain always feels foggy and I always feel exhausted. I've been back home for about a month and a half and it has been very difficult trying to live my normal life and get the things done that I am supposed to. I try to just focus the energy I have in taking care of Livvy and keeping her healthy and happy and doing my best to take care of myself. My husband has been there for me thankfully. He has been very good at taking over dishes, laundry, vacuuming, putting Livvy to bed, and whatever else we might need. If it wasn't for the help of my family, my loving husband, and the strength from my savior I know I would never had the strength to make it through. It is still hard to get through the day, especially while Mikey is at work but we are making it and I am so grateful that I am a lot better than before. The best news is that my little baby BOY is doing good and at my last appointment they told me that there are not as many cysts in the placenta of the baby that died so that is good that they are going away and not growing! I am 22 weeks pregnant now so just a little over half way there! It has been a very long and difficult journey but in a few months we will have a precious addition to our family and we are very excited! I never imagined that being pregnant would be like this for me but that is my story!


4 comments:

AN Petersen said...

Reagan, Im sorry to hear that you have been so sick. I wish i lived closer so i could help. You will however be in my prayers. You can never have too many of those. : ) Congrats on the baby boy though. Boys are bundles of fun! And olivia is serisouly one of the cutest girls ever.

Annette W. said...

Wow. That is really scary.

Glad you are doing so much better now.

Chalyse said...

Reagan, you don't know me. I am a friend of Seena's and was looking at your cooking blog. I noticed you had a family blog and wanted to read your birth story. I met you at church too while you were in San Antonio visiting. I read that you have had hyperemises with your pregnancies and I have too! I have three children and with each one it has gotten worse. With my first I lost ten pounds, with my second I lost 12 and was put on daily hydration therapy and with my third I lost 19 lbs and was put in the hospital for ten days with a picc line and TPN. I also had a zofran pump in my stomach. It was much better then taking the pills because you don't have to swallow it. The zofran goes straight into your body and is absorbed into the bloodstream. I know exactly how you felt while you were sick. It is the most debilitating thing to feel nauseated all the time. It is so hard to not have help or very little and to watch the family suffer while you are sick and can't doing anything for them. I am so sorry. If you ever go through it again I would be happy to talk with you.

Mikey and Reagan said...

I havn't been blogging lately and never saw this comment until now! Thank you Chalyse! I am hoping that my next pregnancies wont be so bad but I have a feeling they will be similar, I just have to tell myself it'll be better next time or there wouldn't be a next time! I wish I'd known the different things available, my doctors were so clueless and just kept telling me to eat smaller meals... like I was gorging myself until I threw up?! Or try eating this or that... they didn't realize for some reason that whatever went in came right back out. I called in asking for IVs because I wasn't able to keep any fluids down and they told me to try other things first. It was a horrible experience. I'm sorry that you've had hard pregnancies also, it is nice to know that someone else DOES understand because most people don't and never could!