malady mystery

happy valentine's day, originally uploaded by kelanew.

first of all, happy late valentine's day. you can read more about the valentines eva and i made and sent to our loved ones on my craft blog.

the primary news of the week (and this will be brief -- well, as brief as i ever am, ha -- for reasons that will soon become apparent) is that i'm experiencing some sort of mysterious pregnancy malady. for the last ten days, i've essentially been on the couch barely moving. symptom roll call -- fatigue, vertigo and/or lightheadedness, weakness, shortness of breath, and heavy limbs. the first several days, i could barely sit up for 30 minutes at a time, finding it too exhausting. now i'm a bit better off, sitting up more than i'm lying, but still make it off the couch for maybe two hours a day (if that's something as simple as sitting on a bench or in the car), or instead, maybe an hour of light activity around the house (making my own breakfast, loading the dishwasher, helping eva get dressed, whatever). i am getting very sick of television, but a good portion of the time my arms feel to heavy to crochet or hold a book, and the lightheadedness/vertigo makes it hard to read or use the computer. i feel somewhat better in the evenings, but still find that simple projects like sewing a few lines on the sewing machine quickly make me too tired.

my very first thought was low blood pressure, since it feels sort of the way i feel (outside of pregnancy) when my usual low blood pressure dips too low. but, larry bought a bp cuff in the middle of the night (when i was having constant bed spins and felt drunk) and we ruled out a crashing bp (which helped us calm down and not immediately head to the ER). next, we looked at anemia, but my blood test came back thursday and my iron levels are fine. too bad, because that would have been an easy one to fix, and fit with all the symptoms. my midwife spoke with the backup OB, who said that if she had a patient with these symptoms, she'd send her to an internist. so, after much hunting to find someone who could see me before, say, i have a newborn, i have an appointment tomorrow. actually, i have two appointments, because before i found an internist appointment, i got in with my primary care doctor's PA so that i can get a blood draw to test my thyroid levels.

both my midwife and the OB have assured me that while i may feel awful, it's not an obstetric emergency. that said, i don't like the not knowing. i can deal with feeling this way if i have to (though it's not good, we might want some laundry done and to eat some non-take-out or freezer food at some point) but i just want to know what's going on. and every so often, i decide, hey, it's not so bad, i just need to buck up! go for it, get something done! then i head upstairs, pause along the way to rest, and wind up out of breath by the time i get to the top. or try all day to get a load of laundry done so eva can have clean underwear, only to go to bed no closer. but i waver between "oh, i'm so much better, i just need to get over it" and "oh man, i need to sit right now before i tip over." very perplexing.

we'll see if monday's appointments and the subsequent test results yield anything useful.