Spiders and Dinosaurs

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Hello again,

Well, the 18th week of my pregnancy proved to be a very eventful time. I was all ready to have an ultra sound and Leo & I were very excited about that, however it was all slightly overshadowed by the events of the night before, as usual life had other plans.

I had just jumped out of the shower into my warm pyjamas (it was winter in Australia) and I went to put on my new ugg boots (sheepskin boots), but I spotted my old ones beside the lounge and just slipped into them instead and sat down to relax and watch a comedy festival on TV. 

As I was sitting there, all of a sudden I felt as if a needle was piercing the top of my left foot, so I quickly pulled my foot out of my ugg boot, oh my god it was really sore but there didn't seem to be a mark on it.  And because I was complaining so much Leo got the torch so we could make a closer inspection, but we still couldn’t see so much as a pin prick. 

Then a couple of minutes later as I sat there still rubbing my foot trying to figure out what had happened, low and behold, a spider crawled out of the top of my now abandoned boot…. So I alerted Leo who promptly captured it in a jar and said in the calmest possible fashion, “Now I don’t want you to be alarmed….”  (I knew a sentence starting with that couldn’t be good), “….but it’s a Redback Spider!  So let’s just hop into the car and we’ll go to the hospital”.

Now, Australia is known for it’s deadly creatures and in case you didn’t know, the Redback spider has one of the more poisonous venoms in Australia with more bites reported than all the snake bite cases and severe marine stingings put together.

The good news is the antivenom for the Redback spider was invented in 1956, so the dread of it’s lethal effects have dissolved and nowadays the Redback antivenom is used in more than 300 cases every year. 

Which is great...........if you are NOT pregnant!!

Fortunately, after three hours or so of regular monitoring at the hospital, I wasn't having any allergic reactions to the bite or becoming unconscious or delirious or the like. So everyone started to relax, even though I was still in a lot of pain. The Doctor's greatest concern was how the baby would be affected if he had to give me the anti venom and he explained the spider bite in and of itself was only affecting me, so baby was safe!

He also said it would be fine for me to have the ultra sound the following day, so off Leo and I went to see what we could see.  Ah, the pleasure and the pain… the pleasure of seeing for the first time the growing life inside my womb, all the while the relentless pain in my foot and lower leg throbbed on.

Here is the first snap shot of my baby, and Leo and I both thought it looked quite a lot like a little dinosaur, so cute! My heart melted!

Well, to complete the picture, I spent the next 48 hours rocking, literally.  It was the most intense neurological pain I have ever experienced in my life and it seemed to intensify as my body was working the poison out of my system. And as there was really nothing I could take for it, just some ice to try and numb it and a bicarbonate of soda paste which brought some relief, even if it was only for a few minutes at a time.  It was energy healing that saved the day and proved to be the greatest relief and the only thing that allowed me to sleep, which of course was necessary for healing and recovery. 

So in light of that I think child birth will be a walk in the park!!

I know you really can’t compare spider bites and child birth as they are two entirely different types of physical experiences, however, at least in birthing a child you get breaks from the intensity of contractions.

So till next time,

Best wishes

Virginia

To see my previous pregnancy blogs just click here