Excitement

Sunday we got up very early in the morning to go to LaCrosse to have breakfast with Jerod before his plane left to go back to Baghdad. Jerod's flight left at 7 AM therefore we had to be at Perkin's at 5 AM. That is too early for this girl, let alone Elly, that meant getting up at 3:45! While eating Elly threw up everywhere. So the question is was she just tired and not chewing good enough, choked on some bacon, had a touch of a bug, or what? No one will ever know as she was just fine before and after the episode.

After we had breakfast we headed to the LaCrosse airport where it was difficult to say goodbye once again to Jerod. But thankful that this time it is only for 3 months. The security was very kind in telling Jerod that he could wait until the last possible moment to check in if he wanted to spend as much time with his family as possible. How very nice they were.

Afterwards, Harry & Dad went to cut wood all day long while Elly had a nap. Then we ventured down to spend time with mom. I needed to go visit our friend Rachel that just lives on top of the hill from my parents and so I dropped Elly off with mom and up the hill I went.

While there we had more excitement. After about 20 minutes of talking with Mark & Rachel I told Rachel that I was going to pass out. Thankfully her first responder instincts kicked in and she was behind me in no time. Once I was on the ground she started taking my blood pressure and pulse which were both elevated. Unfortunately, it happened again about 20-30 minutes after the first one. Rachel called Harry and told him that he needed to come and get me. Once at mom's the passing out got closer together and more intensified. We called Dr. Solverson, our chiropractor, at home and asked if this could possibly be from my back being out of line. He said there could be a possibility and therefore he came in and checked me out. He said that before I got there he checked an old chart that showed pressure points that might be out. He said that I had a variety of them that were needing attention. But still once we got home I was still passing out every 10 minutes. We did leave Elly, unwillingly, at my parents overnight so that Harry had one less thing to worry about.

Monday morning my mom & Elly came up and stayed with me while Harry went out on the milk route. I called into the doctor right away at 7 AM to ask what she thought I needed to do. She said that she wanted to see me and therefore at 1:30 we went in to find out what to do next with passing out still going on. She checked the baby and ordered an EKG right away. Baby is great, heart rate at 150 and EKG came back normal. Then she decided that blood work and an IV of fluids were needed, just in case I was dehydrated. All blood work came back normal and after an hour the IV was finished. She did have another thought that it could be that the baby was sitting on a vein on my spine and therefore was putting pressure on it and was making me pass out. When this happened it indicated to the body that the blood supply needed to go to the baby, heart and arteries. Everything else was not a concern. Therefore the blood flow to the brain was forgotten and then I would pass out. Once the blood flow is back to normal I come to. Knowing this, Nancy still wanted to rule out anything else that could be going on with my heart. So she ordered a Syncope Holter Monitor.

*A Holter ECG is basically a continuous electrocardiogram taken while you are performing your normal daily activities. It is a simple painless procedure. Monitoring electrodes will be put on your chest. These will pick up the signals from your heart and transfer them to the portable recorder, where a tape recording will later be transformed into a report which your doctor will analyze. Holter differs from a resting ECG in that a resting ECG records only a very small portion of your heart's activity, less then 1/4 of 1% of your daily heart beats. The resting ECG is taken while you are at rest and therefore does not show how your heart will react to normal daily life.

When the test is completed you will return to the doctor's office. The doctor will remove the recorder and electrodes. He will then process the recording via a sophisticated, high-speed computer. The results is a report highlighting various portions of the recording.

The doctor will use this information along with your past medical history and results from other tests. He can then make the most accurate diagnosis of your condition and provide the best medical care possible.

With this said, we still think that all will come back normal and that it is the baby laying on a vein. If this is the case, and continues, we will have to meet with a cardiologist to see how to deal with this throughout the rest of the pregnancy. We are hoping that eventually this will pass and we will be ok. Many have asked and yes I did pass out with Elly but not until 36 weeks.

So I will be able to take this monitor off at 4:30 today and will get the results from the doctor on Friday. Will update as soon as we know more. I am still passing out yet today. Elly is a trooper helping me in any way possible by getting me water, my phone, rubbing my back and thinking that "turning mom on" is fun. Even though I have told her that pushing the button on is not a good thing as it indicates that I am passing out for the doctors to specifically look at that time and activity of my heart.

Harry is doing good also. He is very tired as he is trying to milk the cows, do his milk route and take care of me and Elly. Along with getting up in the night to make sure I am still doing ok and getting up in the night with Elly as she is not sleeping through the nights. He is our rock and is doing a great job of providing for us in every way needed. I am also appreciative that he goes with me to all my appointments for the support but also because he comes up with my questions that I don't think to ask.

We thank all of you for your thoughts and prayers during this time. Once again my babies don't like being inside of me and hopefully we will make it full term.

*Pamphlet from Franciscan Skemp.