by TErickson » Oct 27, 2004 8:15 am
I totally feel for all those here who have had to deal with this horrible side effect of pregnancy. My husband and I had been married 6 years and were not planning a pg, but it happened and we couldn't have been more thrilled. I was finally working at a job I loved for a very small company and my husband worked full time while also trying to start his own business.
For the first few weeks I was pg, there were absolutely no symptoms, and then about week 8 the morning sickness hit. I thought it would be something I could manage and continue working and just get through. However after about 2 days of continuously vomiting and not any food/ cracker or other idea was helping I was miserable. Within one week I spent 1/2 a day in the hospital getting IV fluids and anti-nausea medication.
Over the next 10 weeks... I would continue with this routine of being extremely sick, in the hospital weekly for IV fluids and trying numerous anti-nausea drugs and nothing seemed to work.
This entire time I was trying to work what I could.. but only averaging 10-15 hrs a week of my 40+ hr a week job. I would be sick at work and just try to get as much done as possible, but the rest of the time moving off the couch was a challenge. After about 6 weeks of this my employer kept requesting I put in more hours, and I tried, but kept explaining that I was just extremely weak and couldn't do much more. My doctor wrote numerous notes advising that I not work but they began to get quite an attitude about the whole thing.
It was very stressful on myself and my husband, though he was a trooper and tried everything he could to help, but there was not much he could do.
In the end, I lost 25 lbs and only one medication seemed to help, but I hadn't started it until week 17 so not sure if it was the medication or just finally the end... Zofran did not work for me, I ended up getting relief with Methylprednisolone. It was a last resort option. After being on it for 2 weeks, I was feeling much better, eating and beginning to get my energy back. I really scared my family because I looked anorexic by the end.
Along with dealing with all this... I ended up going into work one day to find all my belongings packed up and being "laid" off because they couldn't deal with me being unable to work full time. I was extremely upset when they also informed me there would not be a job for me after the baby came. I couldn't believe that I was already hurting financially from not working my full time hours.. but now losing a job, while getting ready to bring a new life into this world. I never thought I would be at this point when we started a family. I always thought we would have plenty saved and be able to live comfortably when the day came. But our savings was depleted from being sick for 10 weeks and unemployment would not compare to my current salary.
Thankfully I am doing much better now at 29 weeks and baby seems to be doing just fine. I still way less than I did before getting pregnant, but have gained back about 18 lbs. I have such mixed feelings now... scared, excited, apprehensive. My unemployment will run out about when the baby comes, which normally the plan would have been to have savings ready for 6 weeks of no pay, but now no savings will be available and I am not sure how we will make if financially. Also in trying to find a new job, I haven't had any luck... not many companies want to hire someone who will need off in just a few months for maternity leave. So at this point I most likely won't get something until after the baby comes. But then I am not sure how we will manage with the cost of daycare.. so we are looking at all options.
We fortunately have great insurance which covered all of my hospital visits.... I am just paying more for it because it was through my employer and I am on COBRA. This is expensive, but compared to the hospital bills it is well worth scraping each month to pay for it.
I checked with some lawyers after the whole ordeal with my employer and found in the state of MN where I was working, there was not much they could do. Since it was a small company I was not protected even by FMLA.
I have no idea how the outcome of this will be, but I do not wish HG on anyone and hope that someday they find ways to help deal with this. The stress of your health and job security is definitely not healthy and I just hope that we manage to get through this with a healthy baby and not be financially ruined.
I just wish I had found this site earlier for support.
Good luck to all!