Heat Exhaustion + Pregnant = DO NOT WANT.

Blogged on Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008 by Rachael. Filed in Blog365, Emo, Health, pregnant!.

I didn’t mean to leave you all hanging after that short-hair-or-not post, but after a busy and fun weekend, I ended up REALLY sick.

Our a/c is still out of commission (we’re in a waiting list now to have it looked at), and yesterday it was pretty humid and the heat was fairly high. It wasn’t really much hotter than it normally is at this time of year, but it was hitting me particularly hard; I just assumed it was the pregnancy slowing me down. I’ve always been horribly uncomfortable in the humidity while I’m with child anyway.

Throughout the day, I drank lots of cold water, sat on my butt or laid down for the most part, stayed away from my hot computer as much as possible, and tried to rest. My skin got hotter and hotter and by dinner time, I was convinced I must have a fever. Now, before you ask me why I didn’t just call my doctor, it’s because I DON’T HAVE ONE yet. My case worker is swamped and her attention span can only be caught by what’s screaming in her direction, and in order to get my insurance turned back on I have had to leave numerous messages, culminating with a message on her supervisor’s voicemail, which FINALLY resulted in her telling me to come in and fill out a buttload of more paperwork. Whatever, as long as it gets me and the baby taken care of - I’ll fill out any damn sheaf of papers you need.

Back to yesterday - I took my temperature, and was dismayed to see it registering normally. Stupid pregnancy hormones, I thought, making me feel feverish when I’m not! We had a couple of frozen pizzas on hand, and Troy fixed those for dinner, since neither of us felt like doing anything more than that. I ate three pieces before collapsing on my bed once again, feeling extremely not well. My head had been hurting on and off all day, my skin was hotter than ever, and my eyes hurt. It was like I was trying to think through fuzz.

As soon as the kids were in bed, Troy came in, leaned over me, and said gently that he was pretty sure I had symptoms of heat exhaustion and dehydration, and that I should be drinking electrolytes and sitting in a cool bath. That was when I realized I hadn’t been sweating all day, even though everyone else was. He started sponging me down with a cool washcloth, which felt like ice on the skin of my back even though it was almost room temperature, and after he made me promise to sit carefully in the bathtub in tepid water, he went to the store for juice and off-brand Pedialyte.

Last year around this time, I had my first experience with heat exhaustion. I grew up without air conditioning of any kind, so I’m not sure why it bothers me now; but I was digging about in piles of junk that we were sorting through to throw out or keep, before we moved here, and I suddenly got dizzy and incapable of doing anything other than lying down and trying not to pass out. However, since I’m all optimistic (and quite possibly stupid sometimes), I TOTALLY forgot about that. Durr. Once you’ve had it, you’re susceptible, and I’m already in an easier-to-compromise position right now.

Today I’m somewhat better, but I slept. And slept. And slept. And drank my cranberry juice/electrolyte cocktail over ice, and slept some more. My headache went completely away as soon as I started drinking the first glass, and the majority of the muscle aches that had been plaguing me since LAST time it got hot (aHA!) went away as well. I’m really lucky not to have gotten to the puking stage - Troy caught it in time.

I think from now on, I’m keeping electrolytes in the fridge at all times. Here’s to being NOT dehydrated.

Oh, and when I finally wash my hair (don’t hate on me, standing up is HARD, yo!), I’ll take a photo so you can see what I did to it. Deal?