I always wondered if my challenging pregnancies reaped any lasting effects on my children. I so wish I signed up for some sort of 30 year research study so I would actually know and not just guess.
With MK I had morning sickness which required hospitalization, iv fluids for weeks and a Reglan (anti-nausea med) pump going right into my stomach lining because I kept throwing up the pills. I lost 15 pounds and then I hit my 2nd trimester and even though I still puked a lot, I started eating, gained a ton of weight and had a pretty good pregnancy after that. I had a terrible delivery and she was a colicky baby until 10 months old, then we "sleep-trained" her because I was going insane and smooth sailing with this kid from there on out (except when she is PMSing but can you blame her?)
With Car it was a whole different ball game. We had moved to my husband's hometown for a job opportunity, in addition to the fear of what another pregnancy would do to me with no one to watch the toddler. Odd, how some some fates just can't be avoided. In this instance the other shoe did drop. I was hospitalized for months, lost 25 pounds, had a central line inserted by a surgeon (it took 9 tries to get a viable vein) and then a feeding tube because I had lost some liver function and hadn't eaten anything in over 3 weeks. The anti-nausea drug I used with MK caused severe diarrhea this time around. Those 3 days were super fun (word of the day), but another drug (Zofran) seemed to work a little bit, intravenously. Once I was "stable" at about 19 weeks I went home with the IV's and the feeding tube. I slept at night at home and then hubs would drop MK and I at my mother-in-laws each day. I slept on the sofa while she raised my toddler.
My in-laws were amazing, I was so grateful for the care they gave my entire family during this time. My mother-in-law birthed 8 babies naturally with very "normal" pregnancies, so this was new territory for her too. Oh, and she's a nurse. My only complaint was about 5 pm each day when she started to cook dinner. The smells waifing into the family room caused the fastest mad dash an IV pole toting, anorexic pregnant woman could make to the bathroom. I didn't always make it. So, in addition to wiping my babies hiney, feeding my family, and making me comfortable she also had to clean up my puke. A saint, this woman.
She decided one late March day (somewhat like today, hence the story) that I should get out and get some fresh air. We bundled up, put MK in the stroller and hit the pavement. It was a sight, a cute grandma with her granddaughter and then me, the limping, baggy eyed, washed out, 20-something, dragging an IV pole down the street. One neighbor asked if I was an AIDs patient. Seriously. This was 2003, not 1987. But it is a small Allegany Mountain town in Pennsylvania, so I let it slide.
Then, one day when I was about 24 weeks pregnant and I was keeping down crackers in addition to the Ensure that was in the tube, my m-i-l made tuna fish sandwiches for lunch. For whatever reason, I didn't dash to the bathroom, I actually had a sudden craving for one, as well. I inhaled two full sandwiches in 5 seconds flat. It was the best tasting food I had ever put in my mouth. In the next five days I think I ate at least ten tuna sandwiches. About a week later I got to remove both my feeding tube and my picc line and even though I still puked everyday and had to take Zofran every day, including the day I delivered, I had a somewhat "normal" last trimester. Two weeks after the tuna fish overdose, an article came out about the mercury in fish being toxic and during pregnancy you should really limit this. Whoops.
But it could explain a lot about Car's behavior*. I would love to have a "reason" for her frequent drama filled meltdowns, her constant stomping around, her lack of memory when it comes to bringing books home from school and her inability to sleep in past 7am. It must be the mercury poisoning.
*I do feel like I give her a bad rap here on this blog. She is definitely the kid I bump heads with and lose my patience with daily, but she is super fun, a thoughtful friend and when she is laughing and the center of attention there is no other place anyone in the room would want to be.
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