Wake Up Call

Sorry for my absence from this space, but the first few weeks of the new year have been eventful to say the least!

It all started with a health scare.  I had a wonderful day with family on New Year's Day.  Nothing out of the ordinary.  I felt fine.  Early in the evening, I developed horrible heartburn.  I have never had heartburn prior to pregnancy and have never had it since I delivered McKenzie.   I chalked it up to eating something that didn't agree with me.  I took some Tums before I went to bed.

Brian was working night shfit, so it was just McKenzie and I.  I tossed and turned all night and didn't sleep well at all.  McKenzie cried out for me around 2 a.m.  I got up to rock her.  As I was sitting in the glider with her, my heart started racing and I broke out in to a cold sweat.  Not sure what was causing it or what was going on, I put McKenzie back in bed (still not asleep and now screaming because she wanted me).  I grabbed a glass of water, but that didn't help.  I felt as though I was going to pass out and my heart was going to beat out of my chest.  I messaged Brian.

While I was talking to him, I put on my heart monitor that I use when I work out.  Sitting completely still, my heart was beating in the high 160's.  Super scary.  That's what is typically is when I'm running and working out.

He said that he was coming home and would be there as fast as he could.  I hung up and Googled my symptoms.  Many of them are the signs that women show when they are having heart problems.  I went to the bathroom and found the baby aspirin.  In my clouded mind, I swallowed the aspirin instead of chewing them.  Duh...not as effective as quickly if it was heart trouble.

I felt worse.  I was shaking and cold and felt as though I was going to pass out.  I called Brian back and told him that I was going to call 911.  The ambulance arrived a few minutes before he got home.  He took over with Kenz, because up until this point, she was in my arms.  She was as scared as I was and wasn't sure what was going on.  I felt bad for scaring her.

The ambulance took me to the local hospital.  I never had chest pain - just racing heart and a heaviness in my chest - not any real pain though.  Either way, it was all super scary.

Brian ended up bringing Kenz to the hospital with him...poor girl at 3 a.m.  That's the downside of having family, but living so far away.  They would have taken an hour or so to get here.  She was an angel though and curled up in his lap and pointed to things in the room.  She is such a trooper.

My EKG's and labs all came back normal.  They gave me IV fluids and when the bag was finished running, my heart rate had returned to normal.  They discharged me and told me to follow-up with my doctor.

I was scared out of my mind.  I'm am finally starting to feel good again.  I researched it more over the past few days and some say that this can happen to women prior to getting their period.  I fell right in that time frame, so I'm hoping that's causing all of this.  If not, I'm at a loss.  I've never had any issues before.

I write all of this to say that I'm going to start taking better care of myself.  I need to work out more.  I need to eat better.  I need to take care of myself and I need to make the time to do it.  Whether my lifestyle had anything to do with this incidient or not, the extra weight and unhealthy ways can't be good for my heart.

I joined  Diet Bet and have until February 4th to lose 4% of my body weight.  I paid $25 to join a competition with 525 other people who also bet $25.  The pot is at $13,125.  Whomever loses 4% of their inital weight wins and they split the pot.  At the very least I'll get my $25 back and maybe a little more.  I thought it would be a fun way to lose weight and as well as keep my honest and on track.

We shall see.  All I know is that it's time to start taking care of me!