A bump in the road...

Thank you so much for praying for us yesterday and the past few weeks with all that's been going on. Here's an update on the steroid shot:

I got the bethamethasone steroid shot in my upper leg yesterday afternoon at my doctor's office. It was one of two shots, given 12-24 hours apart. The shot hurt like a bugger for about 5 minutes then I was OK. I had a lot of lower back pain last night but I think it had more to do with getting bigger (I've gained 25 lbs so far) and running out of real estate space for Bobo than the shot! I'm only 5 foot 2 1/2 (yes, the 1/2 is important!) and have a short torso so there's not much space for him to go!

I went to bed around 11pm and everything was fine. I woke up around 1am and felt restless and like I was having insomnia. I took a Benadryl at 1:20am and hoped it would calm me down a bit (it's a safe pregnancy drug and works well when I have restless leg syndrome which has been more common lately). By 2am, my mind was wide awake and in full gear and my body still wasn't settling down. I also kept coughing, like I couldn't get enough air into my lungs (thanks, Bobo!).  I got up and decided to put my awake-ness to good use, so I blogged a bit, wrote some emails, caught up on Facebook, etc. By 4am, I wasn't any more settled and still restless, so I decided to watch a movie we had rented (Flywheel). I tried to get some rest at 6:30am (a half hour before we had to get up) but my body had other plans: it was all fidgety and restless and felt like my whole body had restless leg syndrome! My brain was so tired and I was at peace in my mind (and in a good mood) but my body just couldn't get comfortable or settled. My heart also felt all out of whack, like it was pumping irregularly and faster than normal. It was almost like I was on steroids or something! :-)

I got up to get ready and noticed a symptom that I had last time with the steroid shot that I forgot about: steroid flush. My cheeks and neck were bright red and warm. That's when I knew for sure that I really was reacting to the steroid (although the night activities and lack of sleep already tipped me off!).

I went to the doctor's office at 8:30am to get shot #2 and told the nurse all my concerns. She called the doctor and they agreed to NOT give me the second dose due to all my reactions, YAY! The shot(s) were given to me as a precaution if I were to go into labor early. 2 shots is better than 1, but 1 is better than nothing, so they were content to let me go and not put me through any more suffering, I was SO relieved!

My mind was still quite active and racing a bit for a few more hours but then I came home and slept for over 2 hours and feel SO much better and rested! I think the worst of the reaction is over, praise God! My doctor gave me the OK to fly down to Anchorage today and my love encouraged me to go visit my dear friends down there, so that's where I'm headed today for 3 days! I get to love on some babies and just hang out with some of my all time favorite people!

Oh and I forgot to mention earlier that my gestational diabetes test came back all clear and I do NOT have it, yay!

Thanks for reading and for all your prayers, support and encouragement! I feel very loved and am so thankful for each one of you who takes the time to read my updates!

Lots of love,
Julia, P and Bobo