Pregnancy sickness, part 2

I went to see my doctor again around 8 weeks because I was so sick. [Note: I wrote this post when I was barely out of the sickness-woods. I find it quaint now that I considered holding out until 8 weeks (meaning I had been experiencing pregnancy sickness for only about three weeks) to have been such a long time to wait to see the doctor about the sickness. But time passes slowly when you are pukey.] She prescribed a little drug called Zofran. Perhaps you've heard of it? If not: it's an anti-nausea medication that was originally developed for chemotherapy patients but which is now often prescribed to pregnant woman to help them combat "morning" (hahahahahahaha) sickness. Honestly, when I picked up the pills from the pharmacy, I was not very hopeful. I thought nothing could help me, that I was doomed to a half-life of sluggishness and pukiness forever...or at least for the next 32 weeks. The thought was so overwhelmingly demoralizing. I know it sounds like I'm being dramatic, but when you feel sick to the point of not being able to function - but still, somehow, you function, because you must - for a long period of time, well, you get a little dramatic.

Anyway, it was Thursday, 14 February. I remember the day well. At around 1 o'clock I took a Zofran and then resumed my pitiful bed/workstation in the majlis. About 30 minutes later, the most amazing thing happened: I didn't feel sick. The nausea was weirdly still there, and if I thought for too long about certain foods or if I smelled a certain smell then it was still really uncomfortable, but basically, I took up my bed and walked. It was that amazing. Majd and I walked to the store together. Miriam came home from school and I was not irritable and/or lying down on the couch trying to keep it together. Jeremy came home from work and found me happily preparing dinner. I stayed up past eight o'clock that night! It was like some bizarro world where I was, you know, my old self again. Zofran gave me my life back.

Unfortunately, Zofran also taketh away. I won't get into too much detail here except to say that one side effect of Zofran is that it, uh, completely stops the natural digestive process, specifically the elimination part. I took Zofran happily for a few days and then paid the price with a different kind of crippling stomach distress. I still think of those three nausea-free days as a kind of break in the clouds. From then on, though, it was a delicate balancing act between half-doses of Zofran - enough to get me through work and class, but not enough to actually make me feel better because I couldn't afford to spend entire mornings in the bathroom. As happy as I had been to start taking Zofran, I started looking forward to the time when I wouldn't need it anymore...

...which turned out to be around 16 weeks (mid-April). I knew I was coming out of the woods while we were in Germany because I was able to eat so much FOOD. A few weeks after we got home, my nausea and food obsessions (at least the pukey ones) were much reduced. Hallelujah. (Though I still can't look a package of Fritos chips in the eye. Ugh.)

So that is my tale of pregnancy sickness and the knight in shining armor, Zofran. Who turned out to have an evil side, but I'm still grateful I had it to get me through the hardest times.