Stomach Bugs and Hospital Trips

As some of you may know from Mom's blog I have been VERY sick! Apparently (and I was COMPLETELY unaware of this) there has been a stomach "bug" going around for 3 months now, and it's so horribly contagious that they have had to quarantine hospital wards to contain it! On Monday I had to go to the Shelby County Health Department to re-new my WIC checks and I believe that's where I caught the virus. There were so many people there with their millions of children and even though I used Germ-X before and after I was at the Health Department it didn't stop me from getting it.

There are two very bad things about this "bug". The first is that it doesn't just last 24 hours...it lasts 3 days to a week! The second is that you have a horribly sour stomach, you throw up a lot, and you have extreme diarrhea (incontinence). Thanks to all of these fun-filled symptoms I got extremely dehydrated and was sent to Labor and Delivery (since I am so close to my due date) by Dr. Huggins (the OBGYN on call). They put me on I.V. fluids and monitored Shawn (and me for contractions). They also gave me some I.V. Zofram (for nausea) and once I had both bags of fluids I was feeling right as rain. They sent me home around midnight and I was able to eat a few bites of a turkey sandwich. I was beginning to think that maybe all I had was food poisoning...but I was wrong. The diarrhea came back with a vengeance and I was VERY nauseated.

Today Mo and I went to my regularly scheduled app. with Dr. Banks. To be on the safe side I brought a washcloth to cover my face (out of respect for others) which I replaced with a face mask as soon as I got to the hospital. Dr. Banks said he wanted to keep me at the hospital today as well and sent me down to perinatal for more I.V. fluids and Zofram. They were supposed to do more fetal monitoring and an ultrasound, but that never happened. In fact the I.V. fluids never happened either because I was too dehydrated for the them to find a good vein (so I was stuck 5 times in my hands and arms)! Since Dr. Banks was called to an exergency all the nurses did was give me the pill form of Zofram and watch me drink half a sprite. Since I kept down the sprite they sent me home! I would have gone home sooner if I had known that was all they were going to do! That visit cost us $125.00 we didn't have (sigh) and I'm still VERY sick!

As you can see I just haven't been feeling well so please pray for me. It's one thing to have a stomach bug and another to have one and be pregnant at the same time. Well, I'm very tired so I'm going to go take a nap!