The Drip

Yesterday I called NHS direct due to the excessive vomiting and concerns about my health. From my previous experience nearly 5 years ago of hyperemesis , I knew some of the signs to look out for and was also conversing with some amazing women who had it throughout the whole of their pregnancies and some of the things that they said, made sense.

Due to the service being so much busier than that of ours in Scotland, I was told that I would need to wait up to 6hrs for a call back. I was fine with this because I know that although it’s worrying the amount of times that I was vomiting, that I was not as bad as a lot of people needing help.

I got a call at 6pm and was advised to go to the walk in clinic not too far from where we were staying and wait to be called. Explaining to someone who has never heard of hyperemesis , it’s easily thought of as morning sickness and having a biscuit and small sips of water is the cure. It is not, some women can vomit up to 40 or more times a day, your oesophagus becomes damaged , your kidneys can start shutting down as can your body in extreme cases, this is why it can be annoying when you have people who do ofcourse mean well, try to tell you something
that you’ve heard a million times over.

A hospital stay and being put on a drip for rehydration, various checks of urine and blood tests as well as forcing yourself to eat when all you want to do is through up at the thought of it. The closest thing that I gave ever had to this is taking the Ullapool to Stornoway ferry in the worst conditions but having it last for weeks.

So due to being so dehydrated, and unable to produce a sample, I was told that I needed to attend the maternity unit for tests. I was also told that I would not be going home. The nurses needed to take blood and due to my veins being more secure than a chastity belt, they couldn’t get it and we had to wait on the anaesthetist who seemed to have the magic touch(we needed to get one when delivering thunderpants) so I knew that it wouldn’t be a long process.

So in the drip went and out the blood came. I had a lovely nurse who advised that there was a trial being run with the fluid that was used to rehydrate, meaning that it went into the blood that much quicker resulting hopefully, in rehydration faster.

I couldn’t really sleep but around 2hrs later thought about having a cup of tea and some toast. Now, having not eaten in a few days, when that toast hit my mouth with the excessive amount of butter that only nurses use and their amazing ability to make a cup of tea that you can never get elsewhere, I snarfed that up within minutes. I had the vomit bowl at the ready, hair tied back so not to get caught in the crossfire but I was puzzled when nothing came! To my amazement it stayed down.

I managed to drift off to sleep although up and down with cries of new born babies, needing the loo and buzzers going off. Not complaining at all as I seemed to get a good nights sleep and took comfort in the thought that I soon will have a wee baby to comfort their cries and soothe them back to sleep. Although I’m under no illusions that it will pass in minutes (ha ha).

Today I was visited by the doctor and his almighty team that he was barking orders at(ejit), saying that I needed to force myself to eat blah blah blah.. And I thought that I would be getting out not long after lunch, but I’m still here, 10pm after being told that I still had ketones in my urine and would be checked again tomorrow.

When I was told that I would be staying in, my heart sank and I had a wee feeling sorry for myself cry. It’s hard being away from home and not having anyone come to visit. It wasn’t fair for thunderpants and husband to come up all the time as she doesn’t understand, so the highlight of my day was watching “Murder She Wrote” where I beat THE Jessica Fletcher, in solving the crime! It cost me a fiver (to rent the tv) but its my new claim to fame!

So as bed time nears, I hope to get out tomorrow morning which was meant to be the last day of our holiday. I even tried to strike up a deal saying if they let me out, I would go straight to the Southern and stay there… The nurse said she would speak to the doctor and test me again in the morning. So here I am, hopeful once again … Going doo lally… Even naming my drip “Bob”, feeling like Tom Hanks in cast away, only with some food and with lots of people around me… Ok maybe I’m being over dramatic

I’m off now to watch my fiver tv,and shall hopefully have some more encouraging news in the morning….