Chewing Is SO Exhausting

I have had a really lousy few days.

It started Thursday morning at work.  I started feeling lightheaded while cooking, so I went to the bathroom because it is so cool in there, took off my hat and rolled up my pants.  Unfortunately, there were customers and I was needed up front.  This isn't anything new.  Nearly everyday that I work, I feel lightheaded.  I usually end up snacking on something in reach and I gulp down Sierra Mist, but that day, it was starting to get busy.  Who eats tacos at 10:30 a.m.? Gross.  Oh well.  So I am up front and it hits me again, only stronger.  I was about to take money from a customer but I turned around and called for my manager.  I knew it was serious this time and I had to get to a chair.  While turning, I grabbed a taller counter and called again and tried making it around the counter to the chair and then everything fuzzed out.  The only thing I remember is excruciating pain on my bottom ( I guess even while passing out, pain can be felt).  I woke up on the ground with someone holding me and a different manager kneeling right in front of me calling my name over and over again.  I think she even opened my mouth and poured a drink down- fruit punch.

They called the ambulance, and then tried to find my husband's phone number (with no luck), until I somehow pulled my cell phone from my pocket.  The ambulance seemed to take forever.  They finally arrived when I started understanding reality.  They ruled out a head injury from lack of blood and my ability to respond to questions correctly.  I was helped onto a stretcher and they wheeled me right out of there and took me to Pattie A Clay.  They decided to go there because my OB/GYN is in Richmond.  I think that's why!

It was so scary.  They had to put an i.v. in my arm and took a little blood out.  It was testing that blood for glucose levels is when they decided that's why I passed out.  It was measured at 77, and the EMS guy said it needs to be around 90.  So he injects that stuff straight into my i.v., connects all these little patches to my body to monitor my heart (just in case).  Then he waits until we pull up to the hospital doors and pricked my finger: my blood sugar measured 147. 

Ugh, they wheeled me into a curtain area, took some more information, made me sign something, wished me luck and headed out leaving me with a bunch of new faces.  The lady nurses starting stripping my layers off and connecting more little patches to my whole body. Whew, and that's when Tim got there!  I was so relieved to see his face!  He was so good while we were there. Completely supportive!

The E.R. doctor came in and told us that having a heart problem is one of the reasons people my age pass-out and that he needed to rule that out, but most likely it's because I'm pregnant and my glucose levels were low.  He asked what I was having and I told him we found out yesterday it was a boy.  He seemed to think that because we had the ultrasound the day before, the baby was fine, and then he walked away.  Our mouths dropped to the floor.. Tim asked the nurse if we could please hear the heartbeat to be sure and she told us that she didn't know if the doctor had planned on doing that.  Well, he told her that we were requesting it, officially.  They brought in the Doppler thing that had the ears from a stethoscope, so while the nurse could hear, we couldn't.  She told us the heartbeat was at 160 bpm (the day before it was at 170) but we understand that it can move up and down for various reasons.

An hour or two had already gone by at this point.  The nurse's aid also came in and put another needle in my other arm to draw some more blood.  They came back after a bit and said that my glucose level was down to 69, so the doctor was ordering me to eat a meal there.

Not only this, but I MADE the doctor check my tailbone.  It hurt too much for it to go unchecked.  They didn't want to and I suppose it's because they couldn't do anything about it anyway (although he did tell me that he could prescribe some vicodin and that narcotic wouldn't hurt the baby, to which we quickly responded with a "NO").  He checked and said that it was probably just bruised.

We were there from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.  We got out of there and I called my mom.  I told her that we were just going to pack our bags and be on our way in less than a hour and we were.
This morning, oh. my. goodness. it was so bad.  I still can't even kick my legs, or bend my head to sneeze because the pain is so bad.  The only relief I can get is from sleep.  I've basically slept the day away.  To top that off, I am allergic to cats and my parents have three, so I couldn't even open my eyes this morning.

I have to eat more, that's the problem.  It's just that chewing is so exhausting and I don't have an appetite.  I only eat when I get hungry and it doesn't take much to fill me up.  Tim has now been hovering over my every meal and making sure I eat every bite.  It's too much work.  It just is. A solution is to drink the protein shakes and I do enjoy drinking quite a lot.  My diet mostly consists of non-sugary drinks and that's the problem, along with not shoveling food in my face all the time.  Seems my body is running out of reserves, and it's just time to bite the bullet and do it.