Okay, I am almost afraid to say this out loud but….I THINK I FEEL BETTER.

After 7 or 8 weeks of absolute hell from nausea, unrelenting fatigue and just a constant sense that my pregnant body was under siege, I am starting to have more good days than bad (meaning that I DO still have bad days, like most of Saturday and Sunday of the past week when I mostly stayed in bed. Or in the bathroom, hunched over the toilet throwing up. Ugh). But it’s now Tuesday, and I haven’t taken any of the most helpful Zofran in 24 hours; today, I actually feel pretty normal.

Could it be that starting the second trimester really has been the magic mark? Having never been sick like this in any previous pregnancy, I didn’t know when it would let up, but an awful lot of women seemed to tell me that almost like clockwork, as the first trimester turned over into the second, the really bad nausea went away.

So I am knocking wood, throwing salt over my shoulder, begging and pleading with Mother Nature and just hoping against hope that this is what is happening for me. I am now into the first week of the second trimester, and this is the second day in a row when I have felt – dare I say it? – almost like myself. And as is generally the case when one has been very ill for a period of time, just feeling normal feels rather euphoric. Regular old good feels way better than good. It feels great.

On Thursday I am going to see what I am referring to as the pregnancy drool specialist. He’s actually an ENT doc who apparently has some specific expertise in treating my bizarro condition, which has now been officially diagnosed as Ptyalism Gravidarum (my doctor says he’s never seen anyone have it as bad as I do). I am hoping he has some tricks up his sleeve – and I am also kind of annoyed that I was never referred to a specialist for this condition in previous pregnancies, where I also suffered from it. I think I have just complained more loudly and forcefully this time. I have also discovered that taking a low dose of regular, old OTC dramamine helps A LOT with the PG. I discovered this remedy via my hours and hours of googling in an attempt to discover some cure that my doctor might not have thought of. I kept reading that dramamine is frequently prescribed for dogs who drool too much, so I figured, “hey, I’m a mammal with a similar problem; maybe it could work for me!” After confirming that dramamine is safe during pregnancy, I gave it a go. And I am happy to report (especially to other pregnant women who may find this blog post while googling for their own cure to Ptyalism Gravidarum) that it helps quite a bit. I take 25-50 mgs every 6-8 hours, and it doesn’t make me sleepy at that dose, but does dry up my mouth enough to offer some good relief. So there you have it. (FYI: It’s kind of embarrassing to admit that I have this specific pregnancy symptom publicly, but there is SO LITTLE INFO out there about it that I decided to share it with blog readers in hopes that I can help someone else who is suffering from this weird and not terribly common affliction.)

Even though I am feeling better physically with each passing week, I do feel rather anxious because I am so buried in the undone; I am terribly behind on so very many things. I have been keeping my head above water by focusing 100% on work. That’s come first during the past few months of hospitalization-with-virus-followed-by-first-trimester-hell. Jon and I agreed that everything else had to play second fiddle so that I stayed productive and met expectations on the job. So I have been a very neglectful wife, mother, friend, sister, granddaughter, housekeeper, volunteer, church attendee, dog washer, book reader, exerciser, entertainer….you get the picture. Many days (okay, most) in the past several months, all I have been able to do is go to work and do my job to an acceptable level. Once I get home at night, I’ve collapsed for the evening. Thanks be for Jon, his amazing parents (who have brought us supper more evenings than not in the past month. I LOVE MY INLAWS!!!), my sister Betsy, my amazingly understanding children and a few close friends.

It’s been a tough, tough, TOUGH couple of months in our family, but I am hoping that dawn is breaking. With a little help from Dr. Zofran