Since I've been pregnant I have found certain tastes and smells can set off reactions in me I have never had before. Lemons are a big one. The scent of lemons makes my stomach churn so that means no lemon cleaners, perfumes etc. within my olfactory zone. I have always hated lemons in my water and don't like lemons with any sort of fish. But since bonding with Baby I can not even stand the thought of a lemon anywhere near me when I eat. If one comes in my water, I have to send the whole glass back instead of simply removing the offending lemon from my glass. If there is a lemon touching any of the food on my plate I have to send the plate back because even the thought of a slight lemon taste makes me gag. Usually I get away with this with the whole "sorry, I'm pregnant" statement, but every once in awhile I get that look. The look that means they think I am being a huge pain in the ass. So I try to be proactive and say NO LEMONS right away. But some still sneak through.
But the lemon side effect is small potatoes to what happened last week at work. I arrived for my shift feeling fine so I was surprised when a half hour in I was feeling light headed, dizzy and sick to my stomach. I took stock of my surroundings but did not smell anything that might cause issue. Since I was trapped in a control room until the show was over I had little choice than to muscle through and get to the end of the show. Once I was free I went outside and lay down in my car for a bit. After a half hour I was feeling much better, figured I must have been tired, and went back inside to get the next newscast ready.
As I continued to work I started to feel bad again. Dizzy, light-headed and now I started to cough slightly. Also, I was getting wafts of something pungent that make my stomach clench. Over time it got worse and worse. When I went to go do my show I found out that they had sprayed fire retardant in the room next to where I work around the time I came in for my shift and that was a smell that was making me sick. I was quite a bit concerned because I know how bad fire retardant can be, it's always talked about in regards to when it burns, the toxicity it gives off is bad, especially for pregnant women. And it seemed there was little to no ventilation in the are they sprayed. Also, no warning was sent out and people were working amongst the fumes, coughing and feeling ill, but still working.
I went to do the show, thinking being locked in the control room would help, but I started feeling worse and worse, almost passing out once. When the show was done I made a beeline for the bathroom because I didn't feel too well, and called Charming to explain what was going on. As I was talking to him I went potty and was shocked to see blood. Not a lot, but after not seeing blood for seven plus months, even after "activity," and how crappy I was feeling, I understandably freaked out. Charming told me to get to the hospital RIGHT NOW and I left, fearing the worst and hoping it was nothing.
Luckily, it was nothing. Baby was fine, the blood was caused by my coughing so much shaking a few over engorged blood vessels loose, but the door is still closed shut for now. I reacted badly to the smell, which is no surprise given my reactions to strong smells given my allergies and asthma (I also found out the next day that the stuff they sprayed was non-toxic, thank goodness. Just really smelly.) It was the scariest thing I ever went through and I certainly do not want to go through anything like that again. I told the Labor & Delivery nurses they next time they see me, hopefully I will be in labor. I felt a tiny bit silly, like I may have jumped the gun a bit, but after listening to the poor woman in the bed next to me who had lost a baby at 29 weeks (what I was last week), given birth to her second at 33 weeks and her third at 31 weeks and was now in bed with her fourth at 31 weeks again with contractions, I didn't feel too bad. I needed to make sure everything was okay, so my sake, the baby's sake and the sake of my poor helpless husband who was stuck having to check in at work and couldn't come be with me. Once I got to the hospital and they had hooked me up and found the baby fine, I told him to stay put, I would let him know if he needed to come but I didn't want him to come if everything was okay, even though it killed him to do that.
This experience taught me the first thing about being a new mom. Listen to my instincts. I got myself out of a situation that could have been harmful to my baby and I will never regret that.
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