I intended to write my big "I'm pregnant!" details post on Monday, I really did. But I started to feel quite sick that day and never got around to it. I was hot, so hot, and feeling queasy on top of a cough and sore throat. Then I was going to write a post about how paranoid and dramatic I am and how I was convinced I must have the swine flu because it couldn't just be a regular cold, oh no. But I felt even worse on Tuesday and barely made it through the work day. I collapsed in bed when I got home and stayed there the practically the whole night except for dinner.
Then I had an appointment on Wednesday morning at my employee wellness center where they took my temperature and tested me for strep and influenza. I was running a 100 degree fever so I was told I would be sent home for the day. As the nurse practitioner left the room to run my tests, I joked with her about what a paranoid person I am because I had convinced myself that I had the swine flu. She came back to the exam room ten minutes later with a grave look on her face. She said, "Well, you tested positive." I said, "Oh no, I have strep?!" She said, "No, you tested positive for Influenza A." She started to go on about how the baby should be just fine but that I had to leave work right away and not come back for at least seven days since the start of my symptoms.
That's when it hit me. "Wait," I said. "Does this mean I have swine flu?"
"Yes," she answered.
She went on to explain that they could only test for Influenza A which could be many different strains of the flu, including swine flu. However, the CDC says that most cases of Influenza A diagnosed in the summer (non-flu season) are the swine flu. A million different things crossed my mind at that moment. Oh, my god, what about the baby, what about me, what's going to happen, can I even take anything to make me better? Thankfully, the nurse practitioner was awesome and calmed me down instantly. She explained that this strain of flu is no different than the other flu viruses, it's just received a lot more sensational press. I was given a prescription for Tamiflu and told to call my OB immediately.
I spoke with the OB office and they advised to go ahead and take the Tamiflu. It's a Category C drug which means that extensive testing hasn't been done on humans, but it's both the CDC's recommendation and my doctor's recommendation that pregnant women take it because the benefits far outweigh the risks. The flu has also proven to be more dangerous (and deadly) for women in their third trimester so as long as I rest, stay hydrated and keep my fever down, everything should be okay.
It's still very frightening though. It's amazing how quickly you fall in love with your baby as soon as you see that positive pregnancy test. You want to do everything to protect them and keep them safe and any threat to their well-being is scarier than all hell. Yesterday was pretty rough and I had trouble keeping my fever down. The Tamiflu made me sicker than a dog and I threw up 5 times in a two hour stretch. Jon has been amazing and has been by my side bringing me everything I need. I turned the corner late last night and am feeling well enough now to walk around and eat some soup and crackers. Thank goodness. I'm still really scared about potential side effects, but I'm more scared about what might happen if I don't take the Tamiflu. I'll be just nine weeks along on Saturday and it's already been quite the journey. I'll keep you all posted and will hopefully be back to my healthy self again soon. I've really been so lucky and having a dream pregnancy up until this point so I'm continuing to count my blessings.
P.S. Thank you to everyone for all of your lovely comments on my last post. They made me smile a million times over. :) I'm so excited to share this journey with all of you.
P.P.S. In case you were wondering, I'm 99.9% sure I passed my polygraph on Monday! WHEW!