Miracle!

You guys. I have had a miracle.

On Wednesday, Michael and I went to my OB/Gyn for my eight-week ultrasound. We got a good look at our little bean, heard his or her wonderful, 164 bpm heartbeat and got a due date of December 29. Merry Christmas, baby!

God is so good.

Afterwards, I had that whole long "you're pregnant, tell us everything about everyone you've ever met" conversation with one of the doctors. I had only seen this doctor once or twice before during my last pregnancy, but I had liked him. He started off by asking me if I had any concerns, and I told him about how useless I've been with the hyperemesis gravidarum. He asked me what I've tried, and I said, basically, "Everything. Zofran made me feel worse; Phenergan I thought helped me last time but it's definitely not helping now except that it makes me sleepy and while I'm asleep I'm not throwing up but I just don't have time for two naps a day; gingersnaps/candy/ale makes me feel better for about 0.5 nanoseconds but then it comes back up like fire, Doctor, I am not even kidding; etc., etc., whine whine whine."

He asked me if I had ever tried vitamin B-6. I said no, and honestly I probably said it like, "Um, really, vitamins is your big solution? This nausea laughs in the face of cancer-patient-grade anti-emetics and you think a vitamin supplement is going to help? Don't waste my time, dude." Because I was about to barf and being about to barf makes me mean(er).

He was so patient with me, y'all.

He explained that it's a good first place to start, and that for some patients vitamin B-6 in combination with doxylamine succinate, the active ingredient in Unisom, is a nausea cure for them. Plus, obviously, it's not the same as blitzing the baby with all these weird chemicals (because B-6 is a vitamin found in nature, obviously, and doxylamine succinate is safe in pregnancy) so let's start there.

I did not run right out and get them, because I honestly didn't think there was any chance they would help. But the next day, on our odyssey from Virginia to the Jersey shore (from whence this story comes to you), we stopped at our favorite place on Earth: Costco in Delaware, home of tax-free shopping. (Can you hear the choir of angels singing? They also sell booze. TAX-FREE BOOZE.) On our way out I wandered to the pharmacy on a whim -- which is a miracle in itself because we had just had Mexican food for lunch and I was seriously feeling nauseated -- and the nicest pharmacist ever helped me. She got me the Vitamin B-6 from behind the pharmacy counter and  even though they didn't carry Unisom she found me the Kirkland generic with the doxylamine active ingredient (and thank the good Lord for my chemistry background or else I would not for the life of me have remembered what to ask for!). When we got back in the car, I popped a vitamin.

Inside of an hour, I felt 80% better than I have in weeks. When I went to bed, I took the generic Unisom and slept like a champion. When I woke up, I was a little queasy because I was hungry, but I was able to face eating in a way that I'm usually not able to and I took more B-6 with breakfast. When Keira was having lunch several hours later and I smelled it without having eaten again myself, my stomach turned over a little but two days ago that would have sent me running to throw up.

I feel human again.

God is so good.

He put the right doctor in front of me at the right time, to push past my resistance -- 100% born of frustration -- and convince me to give this ridiculously-simple-sounding remedy a try. Even if it stops working in a week, I will be so grateful that I got a low-nausea Memorial Day weekend with my family at the shore. I'm sure I'll still hit the occasional wall, where I have to stop chasing a toddler and sit down, but my life until yesterday was all wall.

I even stayed in the house while my mom cooked meatballs today, and that is amazing. When I was pregnant with Keira, Michael was cooking meatloaf and I had to hide upstairs in our bedroom with a rolled towel under the door.

This is a miracle in my life. I am so grateful I could cry.

Sts. Gerard and Gianna Molla, ora pro nobis.