Don't Just Assume It's Normal

For the last week or so, I've been feeling more tired than usual. But I'm pregnant so nothing strange about that! However, last Monday, I went home from work and my feet were really hurting and to my surprise, swelling! I wasn't surprised to be pregnant and swelling, but I was surprised to be swelling so early -- doesn't bode well, you know?

When I got up Tuesday morning, the swelling had gone down, but unfortunately was still pretty bad so I wore flip-flops into work (really professional!) and brought more appropriate shoes for later. Thankfully, later never came because I didn't have any *big* meetings and my feet/legs were ridiculously swollen.

Tuesday afternoon I went to lunch with my friend, Patti Kay. We enjoyed good conversation and good food before returning to work. As soon as I got back, I noticed that I was breaking out in hives, itchy hives. I didn't really think anything of it because I've had hives before. My awesome friends at work Alicia J. and Terri B. were looking out for me and convinced me that the swelling & hives I had wasn't "normal" for pregnancy. Panicing, I called my doctor. When my doctor's nurse called me back, she told me to go home, take some Benadryl and call the following day if the hives hadn't cleared up. I tried to be calm.

I went home, took some Benadryl (feeling crazy guilty about doing so) and was out by 8:15pm. I went to bed expecting the Benadryl to fix everything. Unfortunately, that was not the case. When I got up on Wednesday, the swelling was still there and so were the hives. They were everywhere -- on my arms, my legs, even my feet! I went to work and promptly called my doctor's office. They asked me to go ahead and come in.

My feet and legs were so swollen they looked pinkish-purple, and my arms looked like I had a sunburn. I think my doctor was surprised by how widespread my hives were. He went through a list of things to see if I could remember doing anything out of the ordinary. I just couldn't think of anything. To be safe, he ran some blood tests. On Thursday, my doctor called me back to let me know my blood test results were in. He didn't want to alarm me, but he said my results showed my white blood count (WBC) was through the roof at 18.6 and my liver enzymes were slightly elevated. Basically, I have a viral infection of some kind :(

Since there really isn't anything that can be done for a pregnant woman with a virus, my doctor advised me to monitor my temperature and my breathing. (WHAT?!?! I was calm & totally freaking out during this discussion.) He said if I had trouble breathing or started to run a high fever, I needed to call him immediately and go to the ER. So, all weekend I've been taking it very easy -- naps, feet elevated, and periodically taking my temperature. Since my immune system is weakened right now, I haven't really left the house much...Talk about cabin fever.

Fortunately, my hives/rash appears to be gone (although I'm still itchy) and the swelling seems to be dissipating so I'm hoping and praying for good news on Monday. I have a follow-up on Monday for another round of blood work.

My lesson learned here is that even if you have symptoms that seem normal, like swelling or hives, they may not be. Call your doctor just to be on the safe side.