But then I woke up Wednesday morning around 5 am with a terrible migraine. I've had a couple of these before during this pregnancy (mostly during the 1st trimester), but with a couple doses of tylenol and some rest, I have been able to suffer through it until I was able to sleep it off. But not this time. I took a bunch of doses of tylenol, and tried to rest all day, but I never got any relief at all. It was also different than other migraines, because it actually hurt worse to lay down, so I had to rest sitting up. I consider myself to have a fairly high pain tolerance, but my pain never went below an 8 out of 10. I have only checked myself into a hospital 2 other times in my life - to have my other 2 babies. But I couldn't take it anymore, so finally around 6:30 pm I decided I had had enough and went to the hospital.
I checked into labor and delivery to make sure it wasn't affecting my baby. They hooked me up to the monitors, and even though I was having contractions like crazy, I never became dilated, and the baby appeared to be fine. But the pain was excruciating. It took 3 doses of morphine to get my pain level to come down at all, and it wasn't until after 2 am. I also got a dose of benadryl and was finally able to get some sleep. 3 whole hours before I was woken up again. And from there on out, I only got small batches of sleep the rest of the day, nothing longer than an hour at a time. And my pain level was not going below a 5. And on top of that, I was not able to keep any food down at all. I was puking the entire time (which only worsened the head pain). Every time I managed to get something down, I would fall asleep, only to be woken up shortly thereafter, which would cause me to puke again. So needless to say, it was a very miserable day.
Since it was by far the worst migraine I have ever had in my life (I've never had one that intense that lasted that long, and often my other migraines would ease up after I puked only once), they ordered a CT scan of my head. It was safe to do while pregnant, and I was nervous about what was causing this, so I consented. But the scan came back normal (thank heaven, although it was not easy - laying flat made the pain worse, then they covered me up so much it was so hot, and I got so dizzy, as soon as I sat up, I was puking again). So no answers. Then I had a neurology consult. The neurologist gave me a dose of magnesium, which actually brought my pain down some more, interestingly enough. Then he said he wanted to keep me another night, give me some different pain medications, and see how I was in the morning. I told him there was no way I could stay there one more night. I knew that one of the reasons I had been puking all day was because I was so exhausted, and I could not get any sleep in the hospital. Another reason is because the food there is nasty for a sick, pregnant girl. I knew that if I could go home, I could get some decent, uninterrupted sleep, and be able to eat food that I knew my stomach could tolerate. So they agreed to let me go and gave me a couple prescriptions for magnesium and phenergan. They gave me a dose of phenergan before I left, and that stuff knocked me out! I still woke up a few times throughout, but that was the best night's sleep I've had since I've been pregnant! Only problem, I woke up the next day with a residual headache, vomiting and diarrhea. Luckily the last two went away, but not the headache. I would not consider this a migraine anymore, but that makes it the longest headache I've ever had. And luckily too, I got cancelled at work last night, so I did not have to go into work or call in "sick."
I just hope this headache goes away soon. Even though it is not nearly as bad as it was in the beginning, it is still very difficult to do much. Poor Kellen had to really take over everything while I was out of commission, but he was able to work from home Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. We are so very lucky he has that option and a boss who is willing to allow him to do that. I don't know what I would have done without him! I am so lucky to have such a great husband!
UPDATE: Headache finally went away on Monday, but kept sneaking back every now and then. Then on Wednesday (one week later), I had zero headache. Just still completely exhausted from the whole ordeal.
UPDATE: Headache finally went away on Monday, but kept sneaking back every now and then. Then on Wednesday (one week later), I had zero headache. Just still completely exhausted from the whole ordeal.
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