Its a Girl March 1987

Breathe in............................................



Breathe out...............................................



Great! Now do you feel capable of passing an 8 and 1/2 lb bowling ball through a hole about the size of a dime?



Yeah thats what I thought. Wait breathe again... let me cut off a finger or yank out a tooth.



It doesnt even make sense.



I found out I was pregnant on July 2 1986. Hubby's ship had just been dry docked in Boston and we had found an apartment and moved in together at the end of May.



I know you are thinking... what took so long to get pregnant? We hadnt seen each other since ... you know I cant remember. We were married in December, went on our honeymoon in florida and I cant remember if I saw him again before May.



In any case... We had a little apartment in an Italian Ghetto in East Boston. I started a job on June 30th and I found out I was pregnant at some dumpy little clinic on July 2nd with a Navy wife that I had just met.



We had military insurance which was not easy to use in Boston. Near any base south of the mason dixon line it would have been fine, but in the Northern suburb of Boston, not so much.



I went to Brigham and Womens Hospital which I have since found out was a very well known place. What did I know? I was 18, pregnant and in a new city.



anyway.. the doctor there said I had a urinary tract infection. I said " I am allergic to every sulfa drug used to treat urinary tract infections" he said not macrodantin, no one is allergic to that.

No one is allergic to that!!! As always I am a medical miracle. An anomaly. I should donate my body to science so they could figure it out. Maybe I should wait until I am dead.

I am at my new job talking to my new boss and I dont even realize that I am scratching my hands. I felt like my feet were swelling out of my shoes but what did I know, I was pregnant with my first child. Horns could have grown out of my nose and I would have been like Oh is this what happens when you have a baby??

My new boss is like Nancy why are you scratching and I am like I dont know I am so itchy. Whatever....it never occurs to me that the medication I am on is making me itchy.

I have a 45 minute drive home from work. I come in and I am itching like crazy, my hands, my feet, my legs, my face...It is driving me nuts. So I begin to LOOK at why I am itchy and I see I am covered in hives. Giant ones, one on top of each other. And they are multiplying quickly.

I never think of calling my doctor. I dont know why. I just never did. Its probably because even back then I thought I was a doctor. I just figured I would take care of it by myself.

One little catch... these are the days before debit cards, the only credit card we had was a Macys card and we have about 7 dollars in cash.

I guess eventually we did call some doctor or emergency clinic and they tell me to take Benadryl. Bendadryl has just gone over the counter. It used to be prescription. It costs 16 dollars. We have 7.

Hubby goes to the drugstore and begs for just 1 Bendadryl. They are like NO way... buy the package or dont. No deals. He is frantic, I am so itchy. We are hoping this isnt permanently damaging the baby.

The only thing we can afford is Aveeno Bath. I think there was enough for 3 baths. I get into the bath and the itching starts to go away. Ok I can do this.

I get out of the bath. Itching comes back. Worse than before. The hives are so bad. I think it was a Friday because my mother was coming up the next day to visit. One hive on top of another one on top of another one. I guess I sleep.

I wake up and my mother comes and they do not let me look in the mirror. I am itching and swelling and I am pretty sure I am starting to breathe funny and feel itchy in my throat.

Did I mention that I am still taking the Macrodantin because it never occurs to me that thats what causing the itching?

finally my mother is like you have to go to the hospital. we think we should go to the hospital where I first saw the doctor.
When we get there they are like are you taking any medicine??

Oh yeah... I am... the doctor said no one could ever be allergic to this medicine.
Wrongo.

I get a shot of adrenaline. I start to feel better.

We go home. My mother and Hubby told me later that I looked like the elephant man. My face was covered in hives and so distorted, I looked like one of those scary people on the TLC channel. " when faces fall off, or when uti drugs go bad"

I got better and just a few weeks later started throwing up everything I ate.

So I think I must get to the doctor, something must be wrong.

No...Nothing Wrong... because not only do you pass a watermelon from between your legs but vomiting your taco flavored doritos at a Flea market is apparently normal.

That pregnancy was difficult. I was hospitalized at 4 months for non stop vomiting. I never threw up once in the hospital.

I did however watch the semifinals of the world series when the mets played the houston astros and every game went 12-15 innings. Hubby sat with me until visiting hours were over and I cryed when he left. Alone in a hospital in New Hampshire.

I couldnt go back to work because I literally threw up everything I ate. Every ounce of every food. I learned not to eat sharp things like my favorite taco flavored doritos because they hurt coming back up.

My doctor wanted to know how I could be throwing up everything I ate and still gain 30 lbs. I said i guess the calories are staying in. He was old fashioned and didnt think I was amusing at all. I knew all my food ended up in the toilet.

I think that maybe implies a difference of opinion..

Does he play a doctor on TV? No probably not. He is just some hillbilly doctor from the woods in Derry, NH who thought women should have their babies in the cotton fields and then go cook dinner for their man.

I threw up for nine months every day, I threw up in labor. I carried a bucket with my IV pole and threw up while I was walking the halls waiting to give birth. I was nauseous all the time.

I was in labor for 39 hours,No kidding really. I had my first contraction at 1120pm on Thursday night and she was born at 227pm on Saturday afternoon.

its time for me to sleep, I am exhausted and feel like I did way back when in 1987 when my beautiful first baby was born.

I can go to sleep in peace though knowing no one will be crying for me in the middle of the night. At least until they have kids of their own.