Late in the day and then around midnight last night I started having trouble catching my breath and my heart was beating extremely fast. Of course, during the day I was by myself so all I knew to do was take deep breaths and wait it out. When it happened at midnight, Nathan took my pulse which was 120! I felt like my heart was gonna beat out of my chest and I was having a hard time catching my breath. He told me to relax and take deep breaths for a few minutes then he took my pulse again. It was 100.
Both of our moms are nurses which is such a convenience at times like this. Nathan got up and called his mom. She suggested that I do a few things to slow down my heartrate. I did those and it did slow down but not enough. I called my doctor's office and left a message for the on-call doctor. Luckily, my doctor was the one on call. He returned my call within a minute or so and asked me to track these episodes between now and next Wednesday (my next appointment). He said it's a normal occurence at this stage in my pregnancy, especially for women on bedrest. It's called Paroxysmal atrial tachycardia (PAT). Since I have been on bedrest and not as active as normal, my heart is trying to compensate. He was very encouraging. Within a few minutes my heart rate was down and I was able to get some sleep.
I am so thankful for a compassionate husband! I was pretty upset and scared when my heart was beating fast and I could feel the baby kicking. It was something I had never experienced before and my first thought was, "Is this hurting the baby?". Nathan stayed so calm. If you know him very well, he is very laid back but even during the unknown he remained unmoved. How encouraging! I love you!
Meg
No comments:
Post a Comment