A Trip to the Emergency Room

As soon as I woke up this morning, I knew it was going to be a rough day. The moment after I peed, I felt like I needed to hurl - and I did, sort of. It was just frothy white stuff. It took me a lot longer to get ready this morning because I kept darting to the toilet. A normal person would have just called out from work, but I hardly ever do that. I've been working at OCUA for about a year and a half, and I've only called out once. I wasn't feeling horrible at the time, so I figured I'd go to work - and if I were to throw up again, then I'd just go home.

Well, I went to the bathroom a handful of times during the first hour of my shift, and it got to the point where I was just dry-heaving. But being the stubborn jackass that I am, I stayed. And stayed....and stayed. I decided to take an extended lunch and go home for a bit. I ate pho, which I was able to keep down. After I was done eating, I was seriously considering just calling Marissa and telling her that I needed to stay home and rest. Did I? HAHAHA. 10 minutes later, I was back in my car, heading to work. And like a good employee, I toughed it out till the end. I think I actually did every kind of procedure today too: vasectomy, prostate biopsy, cystoscopy, urodynamics, and Botox. Phew.

Once I got home, Ralph started to get ready to go to his jiu jitsu class; and when he left, I went to the bathroom...to go #2. Now, I've always had issues with constipation, and my pre-natal vitamins have been no help at all. The additional iron has me on the toilet for longer periods of time, and this time was no exception. When I was done, I noticed a drop (or two) of blood hit the water in the toilet, and my heart dropped. I wiped my vaginal area - and to my horror, there was a dark bloody clot. I lost my mind at that point and started to cry.

Once I cleaned myself up, I called Ralph - luckily, he hadn't gotten to class yet, so he turned his car around to go home. While I was waiting for him, I did the worst thing anyone could do - I went online and Google'd miscarriage stories/photos/etc. Needless to say, none of the posts made me feel better. When Ralph got home, we called an advice nurse from Kaiser. Her name was Jenna, and she told us to make a same-day appointment with my OBGYN the next day. I didn't want to wait, so she suggested we go to the ER at the Irvine Kaiser (they had ultrasound capabilities). Ralph and I were out the door in less than 5 minutes.

Once there, an RN greeted us (I didn't get his name), but he admitted me, took my vitals, then had us wait in the waiting room. 10 minutes hadn't gone by, and an RN by the name of Jung (nice Korean lady in pink scrubs) called my name and took me to my room - A10. I was instructed to leave a urine sample and strip down to my underwear, and then I put on a hospital gown. She took several vials of blood (according to Ralph, it was 6), then she hooked me up to an IV to get some fluids in me. While she was doing all of that, Dr. Hwang (the ER doc) came in and basically told me what the plan was - they were going to run some blood tests and also order an ultrasound. Once I was done with the ultrasound, he'd explain the results to me.

Dr. Hwang left, and Jung was still fidgeting with my IV line/bag. She was barely finished hanging the bag before the ultrasound technician came in. His name was Jason, and he was wearing a camo scrub top. He was very energetic, and he wheeled me away to the ultrasound room in no time at all. It was FREEZING in this room, by the way. He performed two ultrasounds - externally and internally. The external ultrasound was pretty quick, but the internal one felt like it took forever. After he was done, he said he was going to type up the report then take me back to my room.

This seemed to take forever...but it was only 15 minutes, and I'll never forget what he said to me when he came back.

"I wrote a book about you. And it looks like it's going to have a happy ending."

I didn't respond right away because I wasn't sure if he was telling the truth, or he was just saying that to make me feel better. Now, I know technicians and nurses aren't allowed to diagnose, but I couldn't help myself - I asked him if he really thought everything was okay. He said he couldn't say but hinted that the results were in our favor.

As he pushed my gurney back to my room, I finally began to calm down - but I wasn't going to celebrate until Dr. Hwang gave me the final word.

And the final word(s) was (were) amazing.

Dr. Hwang said the baby is where it needs to be, and that the baby's heart is beating (100 bpm, to be exact). THANK YOU, GOD.

Regarding the clot, Dr. Hwang suspects that it was just a hemorrhage near the embryonic sac that got dislodged and was discharged through the vaginal canal. I was all-smiles at this point. He answered all my questions (regarding constipation, taking it easy at work, what to expect if I was having a miscarriage, etc.), then discharged me...but not before letting Ralph take a picture of an ultrasound screenshot of our baby. The doctor said I was also really low on potassium, so he sent in a nurse to give me Klor-Con (it's not as disgusting as everyone says). After that, we went home.

The whole thing was a blur, but I am so grateful that my baby is safe. God-willing, the rest of this pregnancy will go on without anymore scares. :)

But before I sign off, here's the very first picture of our little tadpole:

Morning Sickness

Is it even possible to have morning sickness at 5 weeks?! I woke up this morning feeling fine. I wasn't particularly hungry but decided that it was best to have something in my stomach. So, I took my prenatal vitamins and had some yogurt with granola and half a glass of orange juice.

About halfway through my yogurt, my stomach felt like a bomb had gone off inside of it. I immediately stopped eating and curled up like a cat on my couch. I can't even remember the last time my stomach hurt this bad. After half an hour of trying to calm myself, I decided to take a Tums - it didn't do ANYTHING.

I know my body...and it was telling me, "Page, it's time to throw up."

Now, I know vomiting isn't something listed on people's favorite activities, but I especially hate throwing up.

After I couldn't take it anymore, I forced myself off the couch, went to the restroom, and threw up my breakfast. Luckily for me, eating yogurt for breakfast lessened the burning sensation. Who would've thought?

It's been a couple of hours since I threw up...and I'm still feeling lousy. So lousy that I had to withdraw myself from a pool party/potluck at Trang's place...ugh. So bummed. And Nicole was making spam musubi!!!

It's okay...I've asked my mom to come over, and she, my dad, and brother will be keeping me company during the USA vs Portugal game. I'll be telling them the big news then. :)

We're Pregnant!

When Ralph and I were engaged, an important question kept popping up - when should we start having kids? Our two basic options were: let's start trying right after the wedding, or let's start trying after a year. We never really decided - Ralph wanted to wait a year, but I just COULD NOT wait.

Unfortunately for me, Ralph would win this little chess match. On the night of our wedding, I slipped on my wedding dress and severely sprained my left knee. (So much for conceiving on our wedding night.) Initially, I was able to walk with crutches, but slowly progressed to limping awkwardly for the next few months. I could BARELY walk up/down stairs...needless to say, getting pregnant wouldn't have been a great idea. I started birth control soon after.

Fast-forward 7 months later to May 2014...

My limp had gone away, and I was able to manage getting up and down stairs without gripping onto railings. And I had baby fever - a very bad case of it. One day, I asked Ralph if we could start trying. His response was, "How many more pills do you have left for this month?" I told him about 2 weeks' worth. He simply said with a smile, "Alright, well throw them away then." So I did.

I wasn't expecting to get my period for another 2 weeks when I stopped my birth control, but it came a few days later. Soon after, I bought some ovulation tests to help us find out if I'd ovulate that month or not. I read on several pregnancy websites that it could take up to 3 months for a woman to get back on track (hormonally) after getting off birth control. I used the ovulation tests and was discouraged when all of them were negative. I figured that I wouldn't ovulate that month and we'd try again in June.

A few weeks ago, towards the end of May/beginning of June, I noticed my breasts were a bit swollen and were really tender. I thought nothing of it, since my breasts normally feel that way a week or two before I start my period...and I was supposed to start my period on Monday, June 16th, but nothing happened. I didn't think much of it because I figured my body was still re-adjusting after discontinuing birth control.

On Tuesday, I decided to take an ovulation test - if I was ovulating, it'd explain the sore breasts. And lo and behold, the test came back positive! That night, Ralph and I "tried".

The next day, my day off, I had lunch with Nina, Keyan, and Kaela at Gen. Afterwards, we had some dessert at Fusion Tea Bar then went to Target so Nina could sign up for her baby registry. While there, I picked up a few things, including a pregnancy test. I didn't think I was pregnant (of course not, how could I be if I've just started ovulating?), but something just compelled me to get it.

When I got home, I put away my groceries and let Wendy out to pee. I saw the box of pregnancy tests (it was a 2-pack) and, after a moment or two, decided to get tested. After using all those ovulation tests, I was pretty much a pro at peeing on a stick. So I took one of the pregnancy tests and went to the bathroom. I did my deed, recapped the test, and set it on the floor. I didn't even get a chance to flush the toilet when I noticed a blue line appear on the window that indicated a positive result. I was in absolute shock. I flushed the toilet, picked up the stick, and just stared at it.

Ralph was still at work, and I didn't want to tell him the news over the phone. I also didn't want to tell my parents over the phone. Who did I call? Cara. She was shocked and happy and offered to come over, but I told her to stay put. I just needed someone to know, and she was the one I knew I could call.

I paced back and forth in our apartment and kept picking up the pregnancy test to make sure the two blue lines were still there. I was just in disbelief. In that moment, I realized that I had to tell Ralph when he got home - but how? Quickly, I emptied out an egg, painted it baby blue and wrote "CRACK ME OPEN" on it with a black Sharpie. In it, I inserted a paper message, and put the egg in the refrigerator.

I took the second pregnancy test to make sure the first one wasn't a fluke (nope, that one was positive too). Then I hid the two pregnancy tests in my closet, and I waited for 7:30 to roll around.

When Ralph got home, we ate dinner first (McDonald's - I didn't have much time to cook!). He grabbed a soda from the fridge, saw the egg, and asked, "What's that?" I told him to open it, but he was a little cautious about it. He said he'd open it once he was settled. Ugh. It was absolute torture! I had to wait for him to finish his dinner AND put away his work stuff!

Once he was all done, he took the egg from the refrigerator and sat down next to me. "Oh, it's empty!" he said, realizing how light it was. I said, "It's not empty. Open it." He asked me what was inside, to which I rolled my eyes and repeated, "Just open it." After tapping it on the table several times, the egg split in half, and Ralph unrolled the paper message that I had put inside earlier. It said, "You're going to be a daddy!" He stared at the piece of paper, then looked at me. "Really?" was all he could say. He looked back at the paper, then back at me, then gave me the biggest hug. As I hugged Ralph back, it finally hit me...we're going to be parents. I tightened my hold around him and began to cry.

Let the journey begin!