5th Week
Okay, I've known that I've been pregnant for less than a week, and I've already been to the Emergency Room. I woke up in the morning and half of my face was numb. I called my OB and they told me to absolutely go to the ER, which was terrifying.
They did all these tests to rule out me having a stroke which is rare for a 28 year old. Apparently, I have Bell's Palsy which disproportionately effects pregnant women and no one knows why. It's caused by a compression of the facial nerve. I've been given an anti-viral med to reduce the pressure on that nerve. Now, I just have to sit and wait. I feel like a monster. Half of my face is dead. I can't blink my right eye and am thankful that I wear a sleep mask at night already, since I can't keep my eye from drying out. I can't smile. I have almost no sense of taste. When I try to eat I end up biting the paralized side of my mouth. And in two days, I will have to sit through boring Christmas pictures with half a face that doesn't work.
Supposedly it will go away in a few weeks. Hopefully.
Robert has been really great through all of this. He's been SO excited. It started out that he thought we should wait to tell people, but by the end of the day he'd told everyone he worked with, and even our hairdresser. He said, "I can't help it."
He's wanted to wait on me all the time, and even ran home on his lunch break to make me scrambled eggs and a muffin, even though he didn't have to. He's wonderful. What a great soon-to-be dad.
They did all these tests to rule out me having a stroke which is rare for a 28 year old. Apparently, I have Bell's Palsy which disproportionately effects pregnant women and no one knows why. It's caused by a compression of the facial nerve. I've been given an anti-viral med to reduce the pressure on that nerve. Now, I just have to sit and wait. I feel like a monster. Half of my face is dead. I can't blink my right eye and am thankful that I wear a sleep mask at night already, since I can't keep my eye from drying out. I can't smile. I have almost no sense of taste. When I try to eat I end up biting the paralized side of my mouth. And in two days, I will have to sit through boring Christmas pictures with half a face that doesn't work.
Supposedly it will go away in a few weeks. Hopefully.
Robert has been really great through all of this. He's been SO excited. It started out that he thought we should wait to tell people, but by the end of the day he'd told everyone he worked with, and even our hairdresser. He said, "I can't help it."
He's wanted to wait on me all the time, and even ran home on his lunch break to make me scrambled eggs and a muffin, even though he didn't have to. He's wonderful. What a great soon-to-be dad.