Got sick on Sunday and it’s still getting me…

It all started Sunday night when I got a sore throat and occasional cough. I figured it’d go away, and it’s not like I can take many drugs for a cold right now being 16 weeks pregnant.

Well surprise, surprise, it got worse. Monday morning, my throat hurt more and my cough stayed occasional but became productive. I also felt lightheaded or dizzy or like fainting if I stood for 20 seconds. Sometimes I could last 20 minutes, but not often. I called off work (RVT in an animal ER/ICU) because the feeling faint thing wasn’t going to work. I need to stand to tend to the animals and I did not need to be fainting at work, especially while pregnant.

Tuesday was the same, but I was off work. I did have some added lethargy, but I headed to my husband’s extended family Christmas party as we planned to announce the pregnancy to them that day. I couldn’t miss that, his cousins are from out of state and we likely wouldn’t see them again until maybe Easter (I’m due in June), and that’s a big maybe. When we arrived we were swarmed with hugs and things stuck to our back for a game to guess “who we were.” All I needed was a straight line to a chair before fainting. Luckily my husband was awesome and helped me to the nearest chair. I didn’t faint. For the game, he was GI Joe and guessed it. I was Madam Curie, whom I’ve never heard of (I suck at history) and was disappointed that I couldn’t get it. Others got people like Madonna, Marylin Monroe, Elon Musk, and Donald Trump. Moving on, we eventually told them about our baby. Everyone was excited. I ate some food and started to feel better. The fainting feeling went away, hooray.

Wednesday, Christmas Day, was just awful. The congestion hit. I had so much mucus packed into my poor sinuses. My sinuses were inflamed. I couldn’t blow it out. I took four showers that day to help get it out. I used my netti pot and even that struggled to go faster than like five drops every two seconds. My sinuses on the left stung after the use of it and later on I had blood coming from the same side. I had enough energy to get through opening presents between me and my husband (a whopping eight gifts - four for each of us) while listening to a new Christmas vinyl record I bought a month ago for just this occasion. Then I went to bed, only getting up to shower. I was trying to survive on Tylenol, which wasn’t helping much. I tried Claritin late after my final shower and it seemed to help a little.

Thursday I was scheduled to work my usual shift at 3pm (second shift). I was still congested but had a little more energy. Happily, the sore throat and cough had gone away. We ran out of distilled water for my bedside humidifier overnight, though. Luckily my doctor’s office was open, as were pharmacies. I scheduled an appointment at 1:00pm for 1:45pm, ate a small lunch, and my husband took me to the appointment. I got examined and talked with the doctor. She suspected it to be viral and sinusitis, but told me if by Saturday I’m not better or if I’m feeling worse to call and she’d prescribe antibiotics because at that point it’d be more likely to be bacterial and not viral. She also wrote me a note to miss work that day and the next, return to work on Saturday. I let my boss know. My husband then went out to get distilled water and Sudafed (okay’d by my OB). Sudafed is magic. Within four hours my congestion had decreased 90%. My husband is also magic cause he brought back McDonald’s with him. Bless this man of mine.

Now today is Friday. I had my humidifier all night. My Sudafed and Tylenol lasted to 6:00am. I wasn’t sure I wanted to take more at that time as I know I should use the least amount of Sudafed possible. So I got an ice pack and draped it over my forehead and nose (so I could still breathe of course). My eyelids and nostrils, raw from mucousy tickle tears and nose blowing, appreciated the cooling sensation. My sinuses seemed to be less inflamed by the cooling as well and became less active with the probable mucus highways constructed in my sinuses. I was able to go back to sleep, but I could only sleep on my back so the ice pack wouldn’t fall off. Not ideal, but at least I could sleep. My alarm went off at 11am. I had a snack and took more Sudafed and Tylenol.

I hope this ends soon. I hate being sick, but I also hate being sick while pregnant. This sucks. Not only do I have me to worry about, but I have the baby to worry about. I worry the Sudafed will raise my blood pressure to a concerning level, or constrict the umbilical cord and deplete my baby of oxygen and other nutrients. When I went to the doctor, my blood pressure was 110/70, which I know is a good level and gives me some peace of mind. I’m glad I have my husband and he has had these days off work for the holidays. I am sad I have to use some of my sick pay because I was planning to use that for maternity leave (I can supplement my family leave with PTO and sick leave since family leave pays I think 60% of base wage). I just want to feel better.

TLDR: got sick Sunday night, symptoms traded around but has sucked the whole time, still not feeling better yet, had to call of work for three days, Sudafed is magic, husband is amazing, Merry Christmas to me in my bed for five days.