Baby is OK - still preggo - but we spent a night in the hospital

Since Christmas Day I've been overly tired and really weak. The last 4 days, the weakness was so bad I wasn't able to get out of bed more than a few times and I was lightheaded, blacking out, heart was pounding, despite laying down all day, and having lots of aches and pains in lower abdomen, hips, joints, etc. The worst symptoms are shortness of breath and weakness. I get winded just getting up to go to the kitchen. I thought I was probably just anemic like I usually get during pregnancy so I finally, after days of J.R. telling me to, went to the ER. They sent me straight to OB since I'm over 20 weeks and they took some tests. It turns out I had a couple tests come back abnormal...none of which was iron. The test they did for blood coagulation was high and my thyroid was low. Also, my resting pulse is pretty high.

So then they decided to admit me to watch my pulse O2 all night and make sure I was breathing OK. They started a slew of tests...a CAT scan to rule out a lung clot, which they did rule out; a spiral ultrasound on my legs to rule out more blood clots - all is well there, too; more blood tests, etc. Then this morning I had an EKG. Won't know the results of that till Wednesday, but the tech told me in her unofficial opinion it looks good. So, apparently this all boils down to hypothyroidism, which I start thyroid replacement for tomorrow. I still feel the same - like crap - and am supposed to rest, rest, rest and drink fluids. It is pretty scary to have my heart just start pounding and racing while I'm just laying here and the shortness of breath is the worst. I don't know how those relate to the thyroid...I can't find anything online that says they do, but I hope they figure something out.

The abdominal pain is due to old age (my own professional opinion), 4th baby and muscle stretching, which I assumed, but was cautious since I had so many other issues. The joint pain can be from the thyroid, too. It is actually getting worse, but I have some hot pads that help.

So, that's that. I went in for a dumb blood test yesterday at 5 p.m. and came out having been through a whirlwind of tests today at 1:00 p.m.

I'm going to sleep now. Hospital beds are not soft. But it sure is quiet!

Oh, and if you didn't catch it in the Subject line, the baby is perfectly fine. Her heart is great and I was constantly comforted by her since she has become quite the little gymnast. I was mostly concerned about how these symptoms might affect her, but apparently the thyroid replacement is beneficial to babies - makes them smarter! (According to one small study that my doc referred to.) Good thing since I won't even take Tylenol unless I'm really suffering.

I have to give HUGE props for the nurses and Dr. Sanders. I felt immediately calm, being in such good hands. I've never been through such a thorough round of testing and I am so grateful for it. The nurses were so great, so understanding and so attentive considering there were plenty of new moms and babies to take care of.

My 5 month appt. is on Wed, with my Dr - Dr. Heath. I hope he can give me some more answers by then, especially about the EKG. I'll keep you posted.