Posted by: Alex
12 weeks is touted by many as this magic time when your pregnancy friend nausea just ups and leaves you. Week 12 was when my nausea took up residence in the spare bedroom and started following me around like a Labrador. But yippee! This past week (13) has been so much better. Nausea still waits for me in the morning, pouncing on me as soon as my feet hit the floor, but after a stern chatting to I can convince it to stay at home while I go to work and continue with my day. Without Nausea around I am also much less hungry. Strange but true …
It’s been an eventful week. Hunny discovered a small red bump on his upper arm on Sunday. He thought it was just a zit or something. By Wednesday it had taken over a sizeable section of his upper arm. After some convincing he went to the doc to get it checked out. Well, my friendly doc wanted him to go directly to Sunninghill clinic and get it removed. By then it had killed off the skin covering its peak, which peeled of with the plaster and left a nice big suppurating wound.
Determined to be a man about this Hunny didn’t go directly to the hospital, but agreed to go to the hospital if it wasn’t looking any better by Thursday morning. Well it wasn’t, and he did. He sms’d me around 10:30 AM to ask me to bring him some nightclothes and a book because he might be staying the night. They were going to operate that afternoon, under general anesthetic!
I don’t think I have been as at a loss of what to do in my life, so I went shoe shopping. Well actually, I had planned to go and look for some new shoes at lunchtime, and being as Hunny didn’t need the clothes and things immediately, I full-filled that plan and bought two cue new pairs of shoes. I realize that makes me sound like a totally heartless wife, but really I think it was a coping mechanism. I wasn’t needed at the hospital yet, and I couldn’t concentrate on work, so I had to do something else …
I got to the hospital about half an hour before Hunny went into theatre. He was getting changed into one of those sexy gowns and paper underpants when I arrived 
The really great anesthetist, Lance, sent me an sms when we went under, and another just before he finished up in theatre, so I was ready and waiting, pacing the halls when the very serious surgeon came looking for me. Everything went well he said, but Hunny would have to stay the night. He also told me that they removed a lot of necrotic tissue, Hunny should have come in the day before, and he’s lucky that it hadn’t spread too much between Wednesday and Thursday. I went home and looked up necrotic tissue: it means dead tissue. I also did some research on why an abscess could be such a critical thing. Well, gangrene would be the reason! Shew! Things we didn’t know. Hunny thought it would burst and sort itself out on its own.
It’s Friday, and Hunny is still in the hospital, but the wound is looking better. Less swollen and infected. He’ll still need to stay in another night though, mostly just so they can clean out and dress the gaping hole in his arm at their own convenience. He’s off the antibiotic and pain medication drip, so at least he can wonder around the hospital.
Anyways, looks like this was the culprit: the Brown recluse spider. When Hunny told me the name and I looked it up on wikipedia I was shocked and horrified. That image on the top right of the page is far too familiar! We have sightings of these little guys in our house at a rate of probably a couple a week. We usually just leave them be. They kill some mosquitoes and they stay out of your way. I expect we’ll be fumigating the house in the near future.
To show people why you would need to be admitted to hospital for a simple spider bite we took some picture evidence of the very grim looking suppurating abscess that laid claim to a vast potion of Hunnys left arm. The swelling that extended down to his elbow. I think I’ll leave them for him to post though, it’s his story after all. I’ll link when he posts, if you are into looking at really gross images.
On a different note, what is it about some people that make them so determined to bring you around to their way of thinking about childbirth? I just had my company’s CEO telling me to “think about”:
1. Not finding out the baby’s sex before it’s born
2. Having natural childbirth
3. Forgoing pain medication when I do so.
Something about true surprises, challenges, being designed for this kind of thing, and showing how we are different as women. Not sure he knows that much about being a woman.
But surely I get to make this decision on my own? Of course by ‘own my own’ I mean with my husband and my medical practitioners advice only.
And what’s with peoples need to ask “Was it planned”? This pregnancy was planned, but why do I need to tell that you? What if it weren’t? Then you have just put me in a position where I must either lie, or confess that I had an oopsy, where I’ll then need to qualify that we are excited about the baby anyway and you’ll still wonder if I might resent the pregnancy and child.
Or maybe I’m just touchy because I’m pregnant.
I must say that not everyone is that so pushy about it. One male colleague (he has 4 kids) who overheard the CEO’s closing arguments said to me that for what it’s worth, he thinks there is nothing wrong with taking ‘the easy way out’ as my CEO put it. Thanks for the support Johan; it means a lot to me.
I’m off to visit my love in the hospital now. Have a great weekend all.
April 22nd, 2008 at 12:46 am
Alex,
Co-workers, friends, people from church, even STRANGERS will have an opinion and a weird question about everything with your baby…even after (s)he is born. Don’t let them undermine your confidence or give any credibility to their opinions…unless of course they are leaving a comment on your blog, then you should obey their every word…
People wanted to know if I was having a boy or girl
when it was due
whether I planned to use drugs
if he was planned
after birth I get asked if he’s breast fed
sleeps through the night
is a good baby
I’m sure this will continue on throughout his life. To save us some time in the grocery store, I’m having a t-shirt made that says
“Harvard class of ‘26, breast-fed, perfectly behaved good sleeper, top of the growth chart, boy….yes, my Mommy is married”
April 25th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
[...] « 13 is the magic 12, brown recluse spider bites and more pregnancy venting [...]
July 15th, 2008 at 7:43 am
[...] posted his picture story yet, because well, it’s not done yet, so a here’s quick update on that story: Nearly 3 months on, Hunny’s arm is still not fully healed. He stopped applying the dressing [...]