The first to know

Today is the first day I have felt like doing anything after having been dreadfully sick. It started with a terrible cough and raspy voice on Thursday, added a fever, headache, and sore throat (from all the coughing!), added a upper neck and lower back ache on Saturday. We had thought it might have been allergy induced sickness - on Thursday Danny had spread the hay and straw chaff that was in the barn over the pasture directly south of our house, which is what the barn cats had been bedding down in. It may have started with that, but it was something else as well, since it hung on so long.

I had planned on going on a trail ride at Clark State Forest with Jacke R, Chris E, and David M that day, but was too sick to think about it. Later on Saturday Matt took me to the Urgent Care in Seymour, I was getting worse and we were concerned for the baby but needed to know what medicines were safe to take during pregnancy. The doctor said no allergy medicines were really safe this early in pregnancy, to take Mucinex DM, and a nasal spray 2x once daily, and tylenol to keep the fever down. So the first to know we were expecting (besides the OB's office) was Dr. Brown at Urgent Care and the nurse and office person who helped us.

Since we thought it might be allergy related, we stayed at Matt's parent's house Saturday night. It seemed to help as my throat got less restricted and it didn't hurt as badly, but Sunday I just got feeling worse and worse. Matt had spent all that day cleaning in our house, because he was afraid it was perhaps allergies related to something in our home. What a man! He worked so hard cleaning, I really am thankful for what he did.

He brought me back home after dinner Sunday night, and I was very hot and feverish. After putting Cora to sleep, we went to bed and I was hot and sweating all night, had strange dreams - felt delirious, actually. I kept waking up every hour to get some water to drink, and was not able to rest well at all. Monday morning was supposed to be a very busy day for Matt at work, but I was having trouble breathing! It was very scary, he called the doctor's office as soon as they were open, and got me a 9am appointment. It turned out that Dr. Hartung couldn't find anything wrong with me either, which was a relief because I was worried about pneumonia.

The second group of people to find out about our pregnancy was Dr. Hartung and his nurses. He asked me how far along I was, and when the due date would be. I am six weeks pregnant, and as best as I can figure, the baby will be born in the end of October. It was strange to talk about the baby like this when I felt so terribly physically - it is hard to be happy when you feel so bad. But looking back I am glad he asked those questions, and with such great enthusiasm. At the time, I was annoyed because I felt awful and didn't feel like talking, but now I see that it helped me feel joy about the baby at a time when I didn't really feel very joyful.

So, a few more besides Matt and I know our good news. I think we'll wait until after the ultrasound to tell our parents and grandparents. That is less than 3 weeks away!

I am very glad to be feeling better, and grateful to my husband who was so helpful to me during this time. I praise God for joining Matt and I in marriage, he is a wonderful husband to me.