Attack

It has begun to feel like my body is attacking itself.

First with the intense swelling and weight gain. It got a little intense there at the end. Gaining 22 pounds in two weeks isn’t even something I think I could do if I ate fast food for every meal for two weeks. I lost 11 of those pounds while I was in the hospital on bed rest. Partially due to the diuretic I was given (still in shock about that), partially due to my low sodium diet, and partially due to my bed rest. 11 pounds in essentially a week. Since I delivered my beautiful 2.5 daughter, I’ve lost 10 times that amount and lost an additional 25 pounds. For those keeping track, in less than 3 weeks, I’ve lost damn near 40 pounds. This is awesome and I hope it keeps up! This also feels like the only thing going correctly with my body right now.

Then there was the severe pre-eclampsia. I didn’t even know my body was essentially revolting against the pregnancy. I felt fine. Aside from the swollen ankles, that I thought I could handle for another 10 weeks. If those blood vessels hadn’t popped in my foot, I would have waited another week to go in for my 30 week appointment. I can’t even imagine where we’d be now if I had waited. The only time anything symptom other than the high blood pressure manifested, was the headache that developed that last day. Other than that, I felt fine. My body begged to differ and the placenta they delivered after my baby was in their words “completely degraded.” It’s still frightening to think that my body just basically went kaput with this pregnancy.

Last Thursday I developed some pain in my left calf. I chalked it up to muscle spasms caused by being on bed rest and then having major surgery. I knew I had an appointment to get my blood pressure checked this week so I made myself a deal that if it still hurt when I went in for my appointment, I would ask about it.

Well, it certainly still hurt and it had also started to swell. My doctor was concerned it might be a blood clot so I was sent off to the ER for a leg ultrasound. 7 hours later I was diagnosed with a blood clot below my knee and prescribed twice daily injections of a blood thinner for the foreseeable future.

Those injections? I have to give to myself. There is a special circle of hell reserved for this. Dante totally left it out. Giving yourself a shot is possibly one of the worst things anyone could ever have to do.

They suspect the blood clot is caused by my lack of movement over the past 3 weeks and they don’t know how long it will take the blood thinners to start working the clot out. I was told “when the pain stops, your clot is gone.” But that doesn’t mean the shots stop. Of course not, that would be too easy.

So, my body did not like this pregnancy at all. Not one bit.

But who cares? It was totally worth it:

*kisses*