Sickness

I was honoured to attend Maria’s homebirthing bright and early on Sunday morning 8th November.

It was everything I thought it would be.
It was everything I would want mine to be.

The camera lenses were still cold from being out in my car, so I panicked for the minutes as I waved them back and forth in front of a fan, hoping and hoping that the condensation would dissipate.

It did.

Maria was so calm.
It was still clear from her face and sounds when she was going through a contraction and when she wasn’t. It was also easy to follow the progression of her birthing as the intensity increased.

She was very centered and focused during the contractions, and quite able to converse outside of them.

I was asked after the baby was born if my opinions/ideas on homebirthing had changed at all.
The only answer I could give was “nature does as nature will, the only thing that changes is our perception. Why fight it? Just open your arms up and accept it.”

That was the good part of the day!

During the time it took to drive home, I started feeling unwell.
Within an hour, I was feeling very lethargic.

I went out with Frank to get some much-needed shopping in (shopping is always much-needed 😛 ), and by the time we got back home, all I was good for was bed.

I could feel a fever coming on, so wrapped up, turned on the heated blanket, and went to bed.
I woke up with a fever or 99.7F later that night, within 24-hours, it had risen to 100.6F. I read that 101F was the recommended safe upper-limit for pregnancy, so I put every last ounce of energy into mentally overcoming the fever.

By Tuesday morning, it was down to 99.0, then spiked at 100.5 around midday, and then dropped right down to 97.2!!!

I didn’t go back to work until Friday, but really felt that maybe I shouldn’t have returned until Monday – I was SO exhausted!

Eliza was such a gem.
I’ve noticed for quite some time now that she was laying sideways in my lower abdomen. The movements I felt were (I’m pretty sure) kicks on my left side, and slightly softer punches on my right.

On Friday (after the sickness subsided), she turned more vertical. I’m still feeling kicks in my lower left side, but the punches are up under my right lung.

I can’t help but wonder if she intuitively knew that I was going to get sick, and that the place for her was out of the way of my lungs.
Who’s to say.

It’s a romantic thought.

I still have a lingering cough. The cough didn’t really set in until after the fever had broke. At night, the cough was worst when I’d lay on my left side (which is the side I’ve most often slept on, and which is also the Dr. recommended side to sleep on when pregnant).
It’s a dry, ticklish cough. Sounds worse than it is.

I’ve been taking vitamin D and ‘Doctor’s Best Circumin Complex’ with extra Peperine for immune system regulation, I took Elderberry extract to provide immune system reinforcement.