Honey, Just Take Some Tylenol

The other day I had a migraine. Not an ordinary headache, but a MIGRAINE. Head thumping, stomach clenching, forehead pounding, temple bursting MIGRAINE. Just thinking about it makes me want to vomit.

As I am relatively new to this whole prego thing, I will admit that I let my mother in law talk me into thinking I had the swine flu. I had this headache and a RAGING fever of 99.9 degrees. After tuning into cnn.com (at work) I realized the inevitable. Whoa. I. was. dying. I called the doctor, left work and headed in.

After sitting in the very well lit waiting room (Thank you Dr! The overhead florescent lights really help my headache!) for 10, 20, 30 minutes past my appointment time, I truly thought that this doctor's appointment was not only important, but necessary for my ability to stay alive. (A side note, today Babbling Abby had a funny post about the waiting room as well- moving along....)

I was called back (Amen!), weighed (Oy!) and put in the room. The doctor comes in, she tells me she can help me (Again...Can I get an AMEN!). I am physically relieved...until she looks at my chart and says "You're pregnant?" What?!?! I can tell by her face the miracle solution has disapeared and is being replaced with "Have you tried tylenol?"

For all of you non-preggers out there, the answer to any pregnancy pain is tylenol. Does it work? No. Is it safe for your baby? Yes.

With my heart on my sleeve I tell her how miserable I am. That the headache has lasted for 3 days. No, tylenol does not help. WHAT ARE MY OPTIONS? You guessed it....TYLENOL. I'm sorry, she says, but that's it. Oh, but on the bright side she did tell me that if I get the swine flu, I will have a cough and physically not be able to drive to the doctor. Good news, right? Right.

I finally left in tears (only tylenol!) and sobbed in my car while relaying the entire story to my husband, mom and mother in law. Whoa is me! I have a headache while pregnant! I am going to die if I don't get rid of this today. After heading through Mickey D's (don't judge me- the happy meal was crucial to my recovery), I called my OBGYN. She suggested a massage. Alleuiah! What a great idea.

I call the massage place, request a prenatal therapist and sign myself up. After vomitting twice at work (sorry for the graphics, but again, crucial to describe my level of miserable-ness), I headed out for my massage. I followed the massage (strictly head, shoulders and upper back) with a luke warm bubble bath and topped it all off by going to bed at 7:30. And you know what? I am now headache free!

Moral of the story: Enjoy the drugs while you are baby free. Because once you become pregnant, your options for relief are slim to none. While the end product is COMPLETELY 100% worth it (I hope!- don't worry- I'm kidding!), the process of 40 weeks with no good meds is a daunting task, not for the faint of heart.

Let's all give our moms a big hug today. They deserve it.