We all know that a pregnant woman is supposed to drink more water than the average non-pregnant person, right? Like 10 glasses instead of 8 or something like that. So, probably a 6oz cup of 1/2 caf coffee and a couple sips of Coca Cola is not enough for about 8 hours of the day. Nope. Not even close. Know why? I do!

Because you’ll pass out in front of all of your co-workers!

Whoops! I sort of did that yesterday. I ate two pop-tarts for breakfast. Not two packages – just two that come in one foil package. And I had a cup of 1/2 caffeine coffee. It was like my 4th cup since finding out I’m pregnant. I don’t drink a lot of coffee. Then I had a few animal crackers before lunch. For lunch I had half of my Victory Garden Soup. I was full and not feeling the best so I couldn’t finish it. It was still a pretty good sized portion though, I thought. Then I headed over to our West office for a meeting with a new agent. I was very thirsty (who woulda thunk, considering I’ve had approximately nothing to drink at this point in the day) so I grabbed one of the Coca Cola’s left over from Labor Day vacation (yes they’re still in my car!) and had a few sips.

I finished my meeting just fine and walked around the building to see if anyone else had questions. I stopped to talk to Brianna and we were talking about pregnancy and such. She recently lost her twins at about 18 weeks. We started talking about morning sickness and I started to feel a little flush. I figured we’d wrap up the conversation and I’d go get a drink but I didn’t make it that far. All of a sudden I was hot and dizzy and said that I was a little dizzy.

Then I woke up on the floor with my head smashed against the cubicle behind me. Another co-worker was already on the phone with 911. At that point I was somewhat awake but I couldn’t keep my eyes open. The paramedics got there within a few minutes and took vitals. I had a high pulse and normal BP. They stood me up to take vitals again. My BP dropped and my pulse jumped to 126! They asked how I was feeling and I said, “hmm OK. Not good but OK.” and they said, “Well based on your stats and the way you look, I think it’s best that we take you in.” Ok. I agreed because I was a little worried about the baby and I was just so freakin drowsy still that I just wanted to lay down!

So they got me into the ambulance and gave me some oxygen and an IV. I felt immediately better. Got to the hospital for an ECG, blood-work, and fetal heart rate check. All was fine! The stuff they checked in my blood – sodium, potassium, probably some other crap – came back a little low but everything was balanced which showed that I was indeed dehydrated. Heart was fine. Baby’s heart was fine at 168 bpm. After the IV was finished, I was sent home.

We called my dad, who was in the middle of a tattoo 45+ minutes away, because we weren’t sure if I’d be out in time to get Isabelle. Turns out he didn’t need to come but it was good to have him there. Unfortunately, it’s not the first time Johnas has had to call and say, “Um Bill, Jess is in the ER.” Actually, I’m pretty sure I was in the exact same room last time.

I was pretty certain as soon as I realized I passed out that I was dehydrated so all I felt was embarrassed. Well that and tired and nauseous! But, I was lucky to have caring co-workers to take care of me and get help.

So far today I’ve put down about 30 oz of water and 20 oz of juice. That’s pretty good for only being 4:30, right? Well, compared to yesterday anyway.

Related posts:

1. Pregnancy and Alcohol
2. What Is Pregnancy Tea And How Safe Is It?
3. The Risks of Not Knowing You’re Pregnant (Part 2)
4. Lag Liv: Nausea, Playgrounds, and Pregnancy
5. Conceiving A Baby After Miscarriage: How Soon Can You Become Pregnant?