Sick and pregnant: useless

The upside to being sick while pregnant: getting to say home and sleep! Yay!!

The downside to being sick while pregnant: having to stay home and sleep .... because you can't take any medicine. Boooo!!

Now I count myself among the lucky. I got a flu shot early in the season, which seems to be working it's magic. I haven't come down with anything monstrous thus far. I seemed to have skipped the gastric nightmare that's passed through the guts (and up the esophagi) of many colleagues (I am knocking on wood as we speak). 

But I contracted one nasty head cold last week and it just won't go away.

 

How much snot can a body produce?? Really?!

Normally, if I come down with these symptoms I'd visit the well-stocked medicine cabinet in our home. I'm not a huge pill popper or serum taker normally, but since I hate not being able to function, I swear by Motrin, Tylenol Sinus and Cold and Flu whenever I need it.

 

But, they are all off limits to a prego! Bah, I say.

 

There is no choice but to tough it out.

 

"Well, we can't really give you anything," the nurse at my doctor's office told me over the phone. "So, come in tomorrow if you still feel bad and we'll see if there's something we can do."

 

I felt like yelling "give me some drugs!!!" but decided against it.

 

Modern science is capable of creating life in a test tube and launching rockets into space, but there's nothing they can do for a sick pregnant woman. Makes no sense to me at all.

 

The worst part about being sick at seven months - aside from feeling like crap - is that I can't really revel in being stoic for a higher purpose.

My sickness confers no benefit to this baby (he or she could care less that I'm sick and is happily pummeling my insides as I write this from my tissue-strewn bed).

 

Since we both have separate blood supplies, the immunity I build to this darned cold won't get passed onto the fetus.

 

So this being sick thing is totally, utterly useless.

 

There must be someone I can talk to about that...

 

 

 

Comments

[Jen]

When I was pregnant a million years ago ... (ok, not a million, but 16) I had the worst head cold of my life. My doctor suggested iced tea (Lipton, Nestea...whatever comes in the can) heated up. It seemed to work like a neo-citrin without the drugs.

Hope you feel better soon!!

[Mary]

try homeopathic remedies....worked for me when I was pregnant and also when breastfeeding...

[TorontoMom2Be]

I'm sick too and SO fed up with my co-workers coming into the office hacking, coughing and sneezing everywhere. It's beyond disgusting, and these people are selfish! I am becoming really crabby at work now when it comes to getting sick, since this is my third cold since October because of their nasty germs!! It's not like a sneeze here or there. I can't breathe period! Not good, even though I've taken good care of myself and wash my hands constantly.

I finally I went to my doctor last month and begged for some relief. She gave me Nasonex, which makes me gag. She also told me I could take Otravin only when I desperately needed it, which helps. As for au natural, try picking the Vick's Vaporizer, plug it in and it emits nice warm steam throughout the night. It seems to help with my gagging and snoring and unability to breathe at night. I'm sorry your sick too, it SUCKS!!!!

[AnnaC]

I completely agree. All this science and no one can figure out a simple cold remedy for pregnant women. I got sick over a week ago and am still coughing and sneezing.

[Michele Henry]

My prenatal classes began last week, but I missed the first one because I was sick. Normally (if this was a university seminar or something), I would have shleped myself, sat at the back of the class and sneezed into my hands so I still could have participated. What kept me home was the roomful of pregnant women who might catch what ails me. How could I risk infecting up to 20 other women who would have to suffer - like I have been - without medication?
Just not fair!
I'm sorry you guys are sick too. Feel better!!

[DianaBanana]

I've had a series of chest infections since November, at one point I had to take a week off of work it was so bad.

Candied ginger has been my saving grace. I wasn't hot on the flavour, and I'm still not in love with it, but if you work past it and consume one or two pieces a day I've found that it's done wonders towards my energy levels and mood, which probably helped contribute to the retreat of the hacking coughs (though some of it has holed up in my eustachian tubes).
At this point I'm putting ginger in everything. Soup, stir-fry, spaghetti sauce even (not a lot, but a metric ton of garlic instead), salads. I'm on operation Drive-It-Out-With-Spices

[Shayna C]

I am sick now , i cant swallow/breath , so ive been drinking hot water with fresh lemon 1 tsp sugar , working well so far ..maybe you can try it and when your nose get so stuffed and cant blow anymore put a warm towel on your face .. good luck fellows mamas2be !

[Queen of the Rant]

I am sick right now, but I cant find anything that helps, any suggestions?