{pregnancy accident}

So I tried blogging this a few days ago and low and behold as I went to load “one last picture”—the whole blog post deleted!! It normally auto-saves every 15 mins but didn’t this time….grr!

Anyway I just wanted to try and (quickly) recap the incident I had at the pool last Monday. I have been going to Treehouse for Water Zumba and Aerobics 3-4 times a week with my mother-in-law Liz. We were finishing up our class on Monday and I was literally going to go get out and shower, when a filter/vent on the floor of the pool erupted with a bunch of hot water and chlorine gas that I was RIGHT in front of. I inhaled a gross, smelly and almost thick air and immediately started coughing and feeling my throat close off. My eyes also started to burn a little bit and so I managed my way to the side of the pool with help from one of the swim ladies and the instructor Jenny pulled me out and yelled for everyone else to get out of the pool. There were probably 25 people in the pool overall but I got the worst of it because I was directly in front of the vent.

I walked down to the office and they sat me down and I just couldn’t stop coughing. I managed to tell Jenny to call Pierce and then some other lady called 911. Pierce arrived right after the EMT’s did and they had taken my blood pressure and tried to give me some oxygen but I still couldn’t clear my throat. They decided I was putting the baby under too much stress and needed to take me to the ER. Pierce followed us in the ambulance and called my mom to come meet us and bring me some clothes (yes I was a huge pregnant lady in a swimsuit) and then called his mom who was up in Spokane with my brother and sister in law.

Funny side note: the EMT mentioned something to Pierce about Cardiac Arrest and so Pierce said that to my mom who then called to let my dad know….my dad came rushing into the ER bawling, thinking I had a heart attack!! Haha! 

Anyway they kept telling me in the ambulance to catch my breathe for the baby and tried giving me some saline water through the oxygen mask which helped a bit but I was annoyed that they kept trying to tell me to breathe because that’s ALL I wanted to do as well.

I got the the ER and they gave me a nebulizer with some oxygen and medication and suddenly my throat cleared up but my chest was still really really tight so they continued to give me oxygen for a few hours and that helped. I also had to have an EKG and chest x-ray. Everything looked pretty well except chemical burns in my throat and chemical poisoning.

The main concern was Emmett, they thought with all the stress I was under- I would put myself into labor. The women’s center came and monitored him but before they got there, the ER nurse pulled out the Doppler to get a heart rate and for about 20 seconds she couldn’t find it…..it was the LONGEST 20 seconds but then a strong little heartbeat came and we joked later he was dodging the Doppler haha! My OB had been out of town the previous week but had gotten back that morning from Hawaii and came in to check on me and Emmett so that was such a relief!

Overall I have to say that I am so thankful to have had a fairly easy and healthy pregnancy and that this was a freak accident type of thing that won’t probably happen again. We are so thankful for all our family and friends who called and texted and came to the hospital to visit and check up. Pierce’s mom knew Pierce would be stressed and since she couldn’t be there, sent one of the “grannies” to come be there for him- which I think helped him a lot! We also had neighbors, grandparents, my parents, my visiting teacher, a few swim ladies and a family friend who is a nurse come and see me while I was there—I think the ER nurses were annoyed we were breaking the visitor number lol.

Later that week I had notes, treats and visits from friends, Pierce’s lacrosse team and even the Brighton lacrosse team. We felt the love for Pierce, me and Emmett! Thank you all.