thistle epistles

Well, today has been an interesting day!

I fainted in public for the first time.  What a milestone.

I was feeling fine this morning, and David and I walked the short distance (10 minutes) up the street to Knightswood to worship.  It was comfortably warm outside, not anything to bother me.  After the service started, my head was feeling funny and I was having lots of trouble with shortness of breath, which I found really strange, but I thought I would be okay and the feeling would pass.  By the time the minister had started his sermon, I realized I was in trouble because I suddenly felt extremely lightheaded and was sure I was going to pass out.  I whispered to David something like, "I"m not feeling well. . . I'm really lightheaded" and that is the last thing I remember.  David apparently responded by asking me if he needed to take me out to the ladies' room, but I was already unresponsive and he realized by looking at me that I was on the verge of passing out, so he just held tight to me so that I wouldn't fall over.

Fainting is so, so, so scary.  But David was brilliant.  He handled it like a pro!  Apparently I made a HUGE disturbance.  When I faint, I don't just slump over tidily - apparently my body goes rigid, so David said it was quite a sight.  I was sitting down on the pew when I lost consciousness, and David was expecting it, so he apparently held tight to me so that I wouldn't fall over - instead my head just went backwards.  It was right in the middle of the sermon, and the minister stopped preaching, and lots of people jumped up and rushed over, and some were concerned that I was having a seizure. But David knew what was happening (because he's seen me faint before) and he just held onto me so that I wouldn't fall over and reassured everyone and I was unconscious for about 20 seconds altogether and then came to with a concerned crowd of people staring down at me.

Unfortunately the feeling of lightheadness and shortness of breath did not go away quickly, so David and the minister's wife and one of the elders and another lady from the congregation who is a GP helped me to the ladies' room where there was a chair I could sit in.  The minister resumed his sermon but only preached for another 10 minutes - even though I had fainted when he was just starting his first point - apparently I caused the poor man to completely lose his train of thought!

I was really feeling very, very unwell and became concerned that my blood pressure was too high, which can be dangerous in pregnancy.  Thankfully the minister's wife had a blood pressure cuff at her house just down the road, so she went to get it and we took my blood pressure, which was normal - so that was reassuring, but I was still feeling horrible and having trouble getting my breathing under control and my head was still spinning.  Because we weren't sure whether it would be better to get a lift home, so that I could go straight to bed, or whether I should go to the hospital just to make sure everything was okay, I phoned my doula, Lindsey, who is on call for me.  She was very helpful and reassuring and encouraged me to go home so that I could rest, and phone the maternity assessment at the hospital and see what they said.
 
I followed Lindsey's advice and went straight home from church (lots of kind people offered us a lift back which was really helpful!).  Then I phoned the triage/maternity assessment at Southern General hospital and talked to a very helpful lady.  She reassured me that this is a common occurrence for pregnant women and it was probably due to everything being "squished" inside including my blood vessels, and my blood supply probably got temporarily cut off.  She encouraged me to have something sugary to bring my energy levels up and take away the shakiness, and to go to bed.  So I sucked on an ice pop for a while, and my wonderful husband fixed me a sandwich, and then I went to bed and have been resting all afternoon and listening to sermons.  I fell asleep for quite a while.  At this point I'm feeling much better overall - no longer short of breath or lightheaded - but I am very tired.  And my body is extremely stiff and sore (lots of muscle pain) from head to toe now, because when I pass out my body goes rigid!  So I feel like every muscle in my body has been wrenched.

I'm very thankful that this didn't happen on Friday during our trip to/from Inverness. . . and I'm also thankful that we weren't all the way out at our church on the East End of the city this morning - we normally would have been, but the man who gives us a lift to church was out of town and we would have had to take the train and do a lot of walking to get to church, so we decided to attend the congregation here in Knightswood which is very close to our house - so it was a blessing that I was close by when this happened- and not on the train somewhere, or 35 minutes away in Shettleston with no way to get home!  I'm also thankful that everything is okay with the baby.  He's been happily pounding away in there and making himself comfortable!  :)

If anything, this has confirmed to me that I can't really be out and about much more these days.  I was honestly feeling fine when I left home this morning to go to church, and just had a lovely short stroll (less than 10 minutes) up the street, and no idea that anything like this was going to happen - which has made me a bit nervous about venturing out at all now!  How am I supposed to know if I am physically capable of anything if something like this can happen so fast?  We are praising the Lord for His protection and the many ways that He demonstrates His care for us.