NORMAL

     The suggestion of food allergies made perfect sense to me. I did forget though that none of this happened until after my difficult (but not as bad as it could have been) pregnancy with child #3. a BOY! Early on I knew this was going to be a long pregnancy. I didn't throw up nearly as much as with my other pregnancies but felt awful constantly. I was raising the other 2 kids from my couch, with the help of lots of Netflix and block building parties on the floor. I felt like an awful mother. Within the first trimester I had received 3 IVs, had the nurse practitioner do unmentionable things to get a bowel movement started and had my nose cauterized because of an uncontrollable bleed. None of those things are impossible or even as hard as most women face. But it was difficult and I felt dizzy all the time.
     With each IV they were puzzled why I was so dehydrated. I drank plenty of water and wasn't throwing up. My blood sugar levels were constantly going crazy...........up one second down the next but not off the charts crazy, just enough that I was sick all the time. I had the worse 'brain fog' or so its called. I had a hard time thinking, focusing, talking, really doing anything that a normal life required. My poor husband was a single working parent who also had to be my nursemaid. He's tough though and loves me enough that he showed it by taking care of me and the kids day in and day out the whole 9 months!
     The doctor "suggested" (I am a hard core rule follower) that I go off sugar and starch and see if that helps my blood sugar problem. It did. I still didn't feel relief from most symptoms but at least I didn't have that 'crash' that I had been experiencing. This is the first time in my life I have gone off sugar. I am an addict if such a thing exists. Even the owner of our local corner gas station told me in his thick accent "You eat too much candy." FINE I won't buy his candy anymore :)
     I was induced with this baby and it went better than I had expected. To be honest there were days I didn't expect that I would live through the labor. My body was just doing strange things and I felt very sick and "weird" most of the time.   With baby #3 here I was one happy mama!  But also such a happy mama that I lived in fear of my body's poor health and what might happen tomorrow! I guess I should add that through all the all of my blood work came back normal. My doctors were sure that I everything was fine. 
     When he (baby #3) was 6 weeks old, my daughter (4) and I left the house to go to Target for some girl time. We were so excited and I felt like I was healthy enough to drive and visit one store on my own to spend some precious time with her. On our way to town, a 15 minute drive, I started having pain in my upper chest, kind of like heartburn but more under my rib cage. It got worse so I pulled into Albertsons to buy an acid blocker and see if that helped. By the time I got into the store the pain was almost unbearable. I had just had a baby which is significantly painful but this was worse! It got to the point of unmanageable. I knew I only had time to make one call......if that. My parents lived the nearest so I called and all I could tell my mom was that I was at Albertsons and something was very wrong. Please come!!
     It's hard for me to go into too much detail about this experience! I have said before that I was worried about dying but at this point I hoped to. The pain I was having was the most unimaginable thing in the world. I wanted to give up but wanted to stay here and raise my kids. The ER did test after test. The first one being a ct scan of my heart. They were very sure I was having an aortic aneurism. Something that kills someone within 10 minutes if surgery isn't performed. As I understood, basically one of your heart valves turns itself inside out. My parents had called my husband who was on his way with the kids. Later I found out he didn't have keys and had to wait for a ride to come be with me. A hard time for him I'm sure. Morphine didn't touch this pain. 3 other painkillers didn't touch this pain. We said a special prayer asking God to help me stay with my family longer. I don't know to this day what happened inside my body. It was hours before it finally went away.  I know I could never survive that happening again. I also know that it was God who helped me through it and I am forever grateful!