Thursday, June 6, 2013

the time I thought I got lice in a hospital

The first month of so after Mia was born was such a blur. I was awful at blogging and besides that, I haven't written anything down. I was reading through Mia's birth story and realized I left so much out. The things I left out may not matter to anyone else, or be exciting to read about, but they are things that I don't want to forget for various reasons. So I'm going to be adding little excerpts of our time spent in the hospital :)
If you want to play catch up, read the birth story here. Today I'm adding to the part where they gave me antibiotics and told us to sleep.

I haven't shared a lot of our first pictures of Mia, so bare with me!
When the nurse gave me the antibiotic she told me to call her if I got itchy or if.... something about my tongue. I can't remember exactly what she said, but if something happened to my tongue, let her know. She left the room and I settled in (as well as you can settle with an overdue baby inside your body) when my head started to itch. I scratched without thinking about it. My head started to itch more, I scratched again, and then it started burning. All the sudden my head was on fire and I wanted to scratch my hair off. My first thoughts... Oh my gosh I totally caught lice from a freakin' hospital?! (It was way past my bed time and clearly the excitement of having a baby kept me from thinking clearly, ha!) I started to panic until I realized that the itching/burning was creeping down the back of my neck as well as my chest. I remembered what the nurse told me and wondered if this was the itching she was talking about. I tried to get Eric's attention to see if he thought I should call the nurse in, but he was out cold. I didn't want to wake him, and I didn't want to be a bother to the nurse, so I just sat there in misery wondering what I should do. (Don't worry, next time I won't hesitate to be "a bother" I still can't believe I didn't react sooner!) After about 10 minutes of the burning/itching slowly spreading throughout my body, I decided I really had to pee. The nurse told me to let her know so that she could show me how to unhook from the monitor. I buzzed her and apologized profusely for bothering her, but I had to use the bathroom. And oh yeah.... my body is kind of on fire. She ran in and checked me over and was muttering how weird this was. Usually if this is a reaction to the antibiotic, it happens within seconds of receiving it. I kind of hung my head in shame and admitted that I'd been miserable for the last 10 minutes but in my head I was thinking... why didn't you spell it out for me?! If I'd realized the itching was a reaction to the meds, I would have called her instantly (I should have caught on, but you know, I just wasn't thinking clearly at that point)!


She told me to use the bathroom and she'd call my doctor. I walk in the bathroom and look at my arms and chest and they were bright red and covered in hives. Oh my lanta! I'm such an idiot, ha ha! When I was finished the nurse brought me benedryl. As she is administering it she says, "I've never given a woman in labor benedryl, so I don't know what to expect." Ummm... okay? Not really what I wanted to hear! But I trusted my doctor and figured if he said it was okay, then it would be okay! The burning/itching finally subsided and I was ready to get some sleep, just in time for my contractions to kick it up a few notches....

Goodness... she was so precious and tiny!

15 comments:

Dee Stephens said...

You got some good first pictures! Love!

Julie said...

Wow, you go in to have a baby and have an allergic reaction. At least you got a cutie in return! :)

Sara said...

Having an allergic reaction is so scary but I totally understand not wanting to be a bother to the nurses. The pictures of Mia are great!

Nicole@mamashiptips said...

I'm sorry that happened to you.. That is scary. Mia was a pretty newborn. :O)

Anonymous said...

Well... At least you were at the hospital when it happened. The reaction that is. (:

17 Perth said...

Holy crap. That is so funny and not funny at all! And she is so tiny and pretty!

Amy said...

this is so funny (and also not funny) but mainly funny. Thanks for sharing!

Jamie Hart said...

Umm yeah.. I was in the hospital for a month and almost died-- I was infested SO BAD with lice when I got home that I nearly had to shave my head. Seriously.

ugottahavehart.blogspot.com

Suget said...

Awe Mia's photos!! She was sooo tiny.
lol that is horrible, but I would have done the same too.

drollgirl said...

Oh my lanta! JAHAHAHHAHAHAHA! that line made me cackle!

VERY glad you finally spoke up and that they were able to help!

years ago in college i was desperate for money and i heard i could donate blood plateletes for cash. i went through the screening process and passed, and they warned me about all sorts of things before they hooked me up to a machine. they told me I HAD TO TELL THEM if anything felt strange. the whole process took a long time -- hours -- and i was not feeling well during the process. NOT AT ALL. but i wanted the money. I NEEDED THE MONEY. i was COUNTING ON THE MONEY. so i kept my mouth shut while i kept feeling weirder and weirder. all of the sudden the machines i was hooked up to started going crazy -- alarms buzzing and such -- and nurses raced over to me to see what the problem was. they had to disconnect everything and they YELLED AT ME because apparently my body was allergic to the anti-coagulent they were using. they were FURIOUS that i didn't say anything. absolutely furious. they made me wait for several hours and they monitored me before they would release me. needless to say, i didn't get ANY FREAKING MONEY and i was told i could not participate in the program in the future. D'OH!

Amy said...

Was it Vancomycin? That antibiotic can cause something called "Red Man's Syndrome"...Happens to a lot of my patients.

Meghan said...

Oh my gosh! I can't believe that in addition to giving birth you had to deal with that too! You are one tough mama!

Amy said...

Hahah so you probably don't care, but when I commented earlier asking you if it was Vancomycin....This morning I had a 12 year old patient who I gave that antibiotic to. His mom calls us in 10 minutes in and is freaking out: "he is itching nonstop and it's burning, what is it?!"
FIRST thing I thought of was this post. I immediately stopped his IV. You helped me think fast!

Dinah Gacon said...

OH my word that is crazy and scary to think of when you are experiencing it first hand!!! So glad you were okay and it wasn't lice!! LOL

xo Dinah @ sunshine super glam

Shauna Quintero said...

I think one symptom nobody mentions is possible itching for any number of reasons during pregnancy. When I was pregnant with my son I got PUPPPS, which are pregnancy induced hives. And guess what...they stay until the baby is born. I was miserable! Especially because it was July! And then I kept itching for two weeks after he was born. I don't know how I survived!

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