Week 23 and for the most part, I am still feeling really good and trying to enjoy the small luxuries of the second trimester. I did have one interesting spell last week that occurred at the most inopportune time. As I have mentioned in a previous blog posting, I started a new job about a month ago and with any new role, you spend the first few months trying to define yourself in the department and truly understand what your purpose is. During a recent off-site planning meeting (that occurred at my boss’s house), I had a near fainting episode.
The meeting started at 8am and I had shared two pop-tarts with Harper as I was taking him to daycare earlier in the morning – yes, I know, not the breakfast of champions for mother, child or unborn babe – but, they are good, easy to make and Harper and I both love them. Harper actually calls them a “cookie” – which probably accurately defines their nutritional value. When I arrived at our team’s planning meeting, I also helped myself to some grapes and a cinnamon bun to get the meeting started (afterall, I am pregnant and I have told you before that I feel hungry again within ½ hour of eating). Just as we started the meeting, I began to feel really dizzy and uncomfortable. At first, I thought I was experiencing a little bit of anxiety but I kept asking myself “What am I nervous about? Why is my heart racing as if I have just seen a rabid Doberman pincher?” I took a drink of water, adjusted myself in my chair and continued to eat my grapes thinking I could shake the feeling.
My boss was standing up talking about our 2007 goals and the feeling began to intensify. All of a sudden my ears started ringing and my boss started sounding a lot like Charlie Brown’s teacher “waa, whont, waa, whont, waa, whont”. Then, everything started going fuzzy – so I thought I better tell everyone about my situation before I end up on the floor. So, in the middle of her conversation, I yelled out “I THINK I AM GOING TO PASS OUT”. I’m glad I don’t remember what anyone’s reaction was because I’m sure they were wondering what the hell was going on. For some dumb reason, I got up out of my chair and began stumbling like a drunken sailor across her living room floor until I landed (or was assisted – I don’t recall) to her comfy armchair and ottoman. By this time, I felt nauseasous and pale as ghost. Of course everyone had this stunned look on their face and wondered if they should call 911. Thank goodness I had told the rest of the team last week that I was pregnant, just in case there was any misconception regarding the reason I was getting really chunky and enjoying wearing longer shirts that resemble a lamp shade. So, at least, everyone had a frame of reference to understand why this might be happening.
Since I am new in the department and I didn’t want to prolong the disturbance that I had caused, I tried to collect myself and told them I would be okay if I could just get a cold wet wash cloth to put on my face. This seemed to work for a little bit and the meeting carried on with everyone looking over at me in the armchair on occasion to make sure I hadn’t died. I even tried to offer insight in the conversation to assure everyone that I would be fine. But, within about 15 minutes, it happened again and I knew that I was done for the day. For some really unexplainable reason (oh wait, it might be my unstable hormones) – I even started crying and asked someone to get my cellphone so I could call Matt to come get me. I felt like an elementary school kid crying for their mommy to come pick them up. Glad I work for Human Resources because our group is very use to dealing with unstable people on a regular basis – so at least it wasn’t totally foreign to them. But, I am sure that they don’t see their work colleagues cry a lot, so this was something new! I really hope this is not a defining moment of my career.
Because my boss only lives a few blocks from our house, Matt was there in a split second. Of course he was very worried and had me call my doctor. It seems that I might have had a real surge in my blood sugar which caused this reaction. Well, duh, no wonder, I probably ate 10 cups of sugar over the course of the 1st hour of my day. The nurse just told me to lay down for a bit and drink some juice (more sugar!) and see how I felt in an hour or so. Well, I laid down and slept like a baby for almost 3 ½ hours. Not sure if that was a symptom of my current problem or a collective symptom of not having a full night’s sleep since early 2005 or maybe I just enjoyed having the bed all to myself for the first time since October 2005. Either way, I woke up around 1 pm starving and made myself some lunch – so, I knew BB and I were going to be okay.
Luckily, it hasn’t happened again and honestly, I hope it doesn’t (at least in a public setting). Most of all, I think my work colleagues are very understanding and don’t think they have made the most bizarre hire to the department. But, then again, I still have 3 more months to go – who knows what could happen next!
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