TDaP To-Do

I'm not sure if you have ever had the TDaP vaccine before, but I have and it went just fine. That is, until two days ago.

I had one about three years ago when I was pregnant with little A. No problem.

But on Monday, I received the vaccine again, because apparently they want you to have one with every pregnancy even though the recommended booster is supposed to be every ten years. I've got nothing against vaccines, and I have everything against the chance of giving my little one whooping cough, so I complied.

I expected the soreness in my arm. I even expected to feel a little under the weather, even though I hadn't had this reaction with the last one.

What I did not expect was to wake up the next morning feeling like I had the flu and unable to get out of bed. My whole body hurt horribly, and that's saying kind of a lot when you're 33 weeks pregnant. I was shivering with chills, but sweating, and feverish. I had an upset stomach and a headache. It was awful.

Oh yeah, and my hubs was out of town on business, at least four hours away. I have no family or even any friends here, except for my downstairs neighbor, who happens to be out of town as well. So I had no one to call for help with little A.

I prayed for God to get me through the day; poor little A had no idea why I was being so terrible. I was in so much pain all day--and unable to get up--that I was crying off and on. Half from pain and half from guilt because I could barely get up to turn on a movie for little A, let alone play with her or take her to the park like we usually do.

I called the triage nurse-line at my doctor's office, and she said all my symptoms were normal, so I should just take some tyl.enol. Great.

But then, by the Grace of God, my hubby arrived home, hours earlier than expected. He took my temperature, and despite the ty.lenol, my fever had gone up. And suddenly I was having chest pains and tightness in my lungs and upper back. I called the nurse-line again and was directed to go straight to the hospital.

By the time we got to the hospital I was seriously anxious, as the pain in my back and chest had spiked and I was having to breathe through it. They took me up to labor and delivery and started monitoring. My fever went back down, but now I was having contractions every four minutes along with the chest pains. The doctor checked my cervix (it was closed) and baby's heartbeat (it was perfect), so they figured I was contracting due to dehydration. All of my symptoms were a reaction to the vaccine, they confirmed.

So they made me drink a huge jug of water while they kept monitoring and then they sent me home. They never found out why I was having chest pains, but after I was cooled down and hydrated, they did go away.

Meanwhile, at the hospital, since we couldn't leave little A with anyone, my husband was having to entertain her while I was being monitored. She had a little accident in the hallway and had to retrieve some new underwear and pants from the pediatric unit.

Things like this make me realize what a blessing family and friends are. I felt pretty lonely, having no one to call.

Today I'm feeling a lot better, except that my back is really sore from the tightness I was experiencing. I praise the Lord that my hubby was able to come home early. I don't know what I would have done if I'd had to get little A in and out of the car by myself and take her to the hospital with me. I suppose God would have given me the strength to do that too. I offered up my pain and anxiety for you gals--it certainly wasn't the worst of complications, but why miss a chance to pray for you? :)