Monday, February 19, 2007

Children are a pain in my ...

Apparently, children are a pain in my neck. ... Or throat to be more precise.

I had not thought it would be possible to experience worse heartburn with Thing 2 than I had with Annabel. I didn't think worse heartburn WAS possible. Surely, I must be remembering it it all wrong because last night as I lay awake for the third night in a row, wanting to cry and knowing there are FIVE MORE MONTHS of this to come, I couldn't believe it had been this bad.

I couldn't even find comfort sitting in an upright position. I know it sounds astounding, but the burning in my throat, the gagging on bile, the feeling of general sickness took me by complete surprise. How can I stand FIVE. MORE. MONTHS. of this?

I remember telling people that I had horrible heartburn with Annabel and that I'd gained only 12 pounds during the entire pregnancy because of it, but I'd truly forgotten how awful it was. Drinking water, even in small amounts, seems to produce the same general results of eating an Italian hoagie stuffed with sausage, onions and sauce. I don't remember feeling nausiated at the same time, though. That's new.

I also don't remember it sneaking up on me. The feeling of fullness decends upon me without warning: One minute you're asking for seconds of pasta and the next -- only one morsel later -- you're wishing you could vomit to feel some relief.

One of the first things that happened to make me think I might be pregnant this time around was that I woke up one morning to the undeniable horror of reflux; it was at least two weeks before I would be able to take a pregnancy test.

I hadn't had heartburn since Annabel was born ... I wonder if that means ...

Sure 'nuff. Strange, though, how I'd thought this pregnancy would be different.

******

Annabel isn't feeling well either. Poor thing is at the doctor as I write this, having woken up from her nap with a swollen, goopy purple eye. She's been fighting a cold all weekend and awoke this morning with crusty eyes. I thought it might be from sleep, but no. She is a mucus factory, and it's being produced from virtually every orifice.

So I'll just be sitting here swallowing fire and crossing my fingers that I'm the only one suffering tonight.

******

Well Jed called from Albany Tile (where he is trying to figure out if what he wants to do with surround of new tub/bathroom is even feasible **Blink, blink**) to say that Annabel is fine, and in the most graphic of technical explanations, there's a rather simple reason for the goopy gunk swelling up her eyes: The tear ducts usually drain through the nose but when mucus cloggs the nose as much as Annabel's nose is currently clogged it sometimes oozes out the eyes. Lovely, huh?

She sounds good, though. I could hear her prattling on in the backround, talking about all the ice cream she'll eat when it's summer.

10 comments:

Mom101 said...

Huge sympathies. I have mild heartburn which a Pepcid a day takes care of. I can't even imagine it being worse than that...

Good thing we at least get babies in the end to show for it and not just some shitty medical condition, right?

Firestarter5 said...

Hells bells, maybe I'm preggers as well! I only wish a single Pepcid AC would work an entire day on me.

Nice to know Annabel has eye-snot. At first it sounded like she might have pink-eye, which I used to get.

toyfoto said...

Jed reported that the doctor on call was very helpful. He clued Jed in to a little medical expertise: "In cases of pink eye the eye gets pink."

jenB said...

i took at least one Tums a day while pregnant, usually more, especially near the end. Now, non-pregnant, I still get it! Pregnancy broke me! One Zantac usually does the trick. Best of luck with the bile, you have my sympathies.

jen

Unknown said...

Oh I totally feel for you! I went through bottles and bottles of Tums. To this day, the thought of eating another Tums makes me shudder. Try drinking a little milk - sometimes that worked for me. :-)

Anonymous said...

Oy. I hate that I know EXACTLY what you're talking about. I went through bottles and bottles of Tums. One on my nightstand, one on my desk, one in my car, and a little baggie of Tums in my purse. I had it BAD. Come to find out this last fall that I have GERD (that reflux disease) so when we decided to jump on the babymaking bandwagon, I stopped taking my pepcid script because my OB/GYN said to stop. But I'm miserable, and I'm not even pregnant yet.

I wish I could give you a trick or two to soothe your throat and chest. I ate ice cream and stayed away from acidic fruits and juices. Sometimes it helped. Sometimes it didn't.

Gail at Large said...

I'm not firsthand familiar with heartburn, so I'm afraid I don't have any advice. But I had pinkeye a lot as a teenager, and that's what I thought Annabel had when you first mentioned it. Oy vey, it doesn't sound like a happy time in the barn.

Anonymous said...

Sufferin' right there with ya. Hugs for you and the little one.

Anonymous said...

Oh my, I had the worst heartburn with all three of my girls, and I also would be nauseated from drinking water. Brings back awful memories! But I second the suggestion of Zantac, I would take upwards of 12 to 20 tums A DAY with the first two, and when the doctor finally suggested Zantac with Melody, it was like a miracle. Hope Annabel feels better soon and that you do as well!

~Gretchen

Kelly said...

I had a very mild form of heartburn, the feeling of fullness in the chest and some burning and just constant freaking burps. IT was hella-uncomfortable, but what you have sounds like torture.

I felt like it was so un-PC to say that I hated pregnancy, but there were just too many things to make me either uncomfortable or in pain. It's beyond tough. (And my mom used to drive me insane: "I always felt so good during ALL my pregnancies!) Grrrrr...

You have my utmost sympathies.