So, my 3rd pregnancy was a bit of a surprise. Sonny was only 7 months old and although we were trying to decide whether to have a 4th child some time in the future it seemed that the decision had already been made! It took me almost a month to come to terms with the fact that i was pregnant again for the 3rd time in 4 years and that in less than a year we would be parents to 4 children aged 5 and under.
Fast forward to 38 weeks of a very straightforward pregnancy and a Sunday morning. I woke up feeling fabulous and full of energy and started on a mission to cook lots of meals to freeze ready for Leigh's paternity leave period.
I needed to go to the supermarket for a few supplies and got ready to leave when i started to feel unwell, my left eye couldn't focus and i could feel the start of a headache so Leigh offered to go to the supermarket. Once Leigh had gone i started to feel a lot worse and knew that something wasn't quite right. I got pins and needles in my face and a numbness of my hands and fingers, all of which was only of the left side of my body. I felt very unwell and began to panic so i called my mum and she told me to call Leigh and tell him to come home. Leigh arrived home and i tried to explain to him what had been happening and he had a very confused look on his face. Leigh was insistent on dialling 999 and i couldn't understand why but to be honest i wasn't really aware of what was going on at this point. I would later learn that my speech was very slurred, although i wasn't aware of it at the time. An ambulance arrived at the same time as the emergency paramedic vehicle, so i had 2 paramedics dealing with me whilst the 3rd helped Leigh get our other boys into the dining room and away from the situation. I had to do a lot of exercises like touching my own nose and following finger movements with my eyes and these were repeated numerous times over the next few days. I had my blood pressure taken and when it was through the roof the decision was taken to get me into hospital. I spent the next few hours with various Dr's, neurological and obstetric and at around 2pm i started having labour pains. I was sent for a CT scan (hilarious having contractions in a lift full of people and then whilst having to lay still under the CT Scanner) but thankfully the scan came back clear. I was then admitted to the maternity ward where it seemed that the baby may be on his way. 9 hours later when the pains were no closer together and only marginally stronger i convinced my mum and Leigh that they should go home, they would need some sleep should things progress and that the boys would need to see their daddy having watched mummy being taken away in an ambulance. Once they had gone home the Dr decided that we needed to see if i was going to be having a baby anytime soon, and found that i wasn't dilated at all. I decided to take some painkillers and try to get some sleep. I woke the next morning and everything had stopped although i had convinced myself that after 12 hours of pains that the baby wouldn't stay where he was for more than another few days (little did i know that he wouldn't make his grand entrance for almost another 4 weeks).
I was discharged the following morning to the care of the Stroke Team at the hospital as an outpatient. I have to say that the care i received was amazing, even if i did hold the Dr that told me i wasn't in labour personally responsible haha...
The stroke team arranged an MRI scan of my brain and thankfully they found one! but on a serious note they didn't find any bleeding or signs of abnormality. The Dr decided that i was possibly suffering from a type of migraine that mimics the symptoms of a stroke and that although very scary didn't cause any lasting damage. I have had a few episodes since but painkillers, a lay down and sometimes sleep help the symptoms ease quickly. I think its very important to recognise the signs of a stroke using the F.A.S.T rule:
FACIAL weakness: Can the person smile? Has their mouth or eye drooped?
ARM weakness: Can the person raise both arms?
SPEECH problems: Can the person speak clearly and understand what you say?
TIME to call 999.
for further info see http://www.stroke.org.uk/
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