Masters of Disasters: October 2014

Tuesday was a beautiful fall day. As such, I decided to go for a little run. When I say run, what I really mean is like a jog or probably more accurately, waddle. I snapped this pic right before I left and thought, dang that belly is getting big! I "ran" up state street near my house, which is a good sized hill. At the top of the hill, I tried to pick up my pace a little. I crossed a traffic light, lost my footing, and fell down. Hard.

It felt like I was in slow motion. My mama instincts kicked in and all I was thinking about was my baby. I tried to do everything I could not to land on my belly. Gravity won, my belly was too big and had me too off balance. I hit my left knee first, then the right side of my belly (which was sticking out more because that's where the baby was). My wireless head phones flew off my head into the street. My hands and arms hit last.

It knocked the breath out of me. I started hyperventilating. A man that had watched me from inside a nearby building came running out to me and started asking me questions. I couldn't breathe enough to answer. I just laid on the pavement flat on my back. I kept trying to tell myself to calm down. I thought that might help my breathing. When I caught my breath, I explained to the guy that I wasn't that far from my house and I could call my husband. He stuck around for a while until I was ready to stand up-- which hurt. Especially the right side of my stomach.

I called Danny. Luckily he was only a few minutes away from where I was. More than anything I was just really scared. And I had no idea what to do-- I was so unprepared. Do you go to the Emergency Room in this kind of situation? Where is the emergency room? Does my insurance even cover that? Do I call my doctor? How do I call my doctor after hours?

I just kept thinking about my baby-is he ok? And I kept trying to get him to move around to help me know how he was doing. And I was feeling terrible-- why couldn't I be more careful?? I tried to remind myself that this easily could have happened if I was just walking around. Sometimes accidents just happen.

I called my doctor a few times with no luck. Instead we called our trusty moms. My mom had a hard fall when she was pregnant with my brother and Danny's mom was a nurse so we felt like they would probably know what to do as good as anyone. My mom recommended not going to the ER and just continue trying to get a hold of my doctor. Danny's mom was just leaving work near our house and stopped by. Being pregnant has made me appreciate and love moms in a new way.

While we were driving home, the doctor called me back while Danny was on his phone talking to his mom. The doctor asked me a bunch of questions-- I was still really frazzled but I remember she told me to monitor my baby's movements over the next hour and told me to go to labor and delivery if I didn't feel him at least six times, or if I started having contractions or bleeding. Didn't get a lot of calming or compassionate words from her. Maybe that is not her job, but I think talking with her made me feel more scared and worried about my baby.

A few minutes after we got home, Danny's mom got to our house. She rubbed my belly a little to try to get him moving and explained how cushioned he is in there. She explained what can happen when you hit your belly hard and most of those concerns center around his little house in there not providing him the nutrients etc that he needs. She was exactly 100 times more calming than my doctor but did it in a serious enough way that I knew I shouldn't treat my situation lightly.

I hadn't even noticed my knee which looked like something out of a zombie movie-- swollen, bloody, and bruised. I also got some nice scratches down the front and right side of my belly. It reminded me of my long boarding days when I would crash and get stupid road rash.

He didn't move a lot the first half hour. I was completely freaking out inside. I don't think I even realized how emotionally attached I am to my baby until I thought I might have lost him. Finally, after laying on my left side and eating something, we started feeling him move around. That was the best feeling in the whole world. I could just imagine him in there thinking "what the freak is this lady doing to me??"

I didn't sleep a ton that night. My body hurt. Probably like how old people hurt when they fall down> Sorry old people. And I still just felt worried. The second we got up in the morning, I called my doc again and he (group practice, so the first lady was a she, now its a he) had us come in for an ultrasound.

I hated sitting in the waiting room wondering whether my babe was alright. But, there was no happier moment then seeing that bouncing baby boy in there with his chubby little cheeks happy as a clam!

The doc called me a few hours after we left and told me I was on bed rest for a few days. I guess they were a little concerned about my placenta but said it was most likely a-ok, he just wanted me to take it easy so I'm not bumping things around in there. I was still very frazzled yesterday even though I knew my babe was pretty much OK. My sweet law school buddies brought me cards and my favorite Slab pizza! Not exaggerating when I say that I bawled my eyes out for no less than 20 minutes over it. So thankful for my lawschool homies.

We have a follow up ultrasound on Monday but I'm feeling much better today (emotionally) and baby M is as wiggly as ever in there. My ribs, tummy, and knee are killing me but I will take that compared to what could have happened!

And hey, I might as well be on bed rest, because I'm taking the ethics portion of the bar on Saturday.