Hopsital Visit-by Catheryne

On Friday the 13th, I went in to Vanderbilt hospital for heart issues. I have a heart arrhythmia, which sometimes causes me to get palpitations. Usually my palpitations only last a couple of seconds to a minute and then I am fine. Well on Friday I got a bad case of palpitations and after still have them for half an hour, I decided to call the OB nurse line and ask about them. They immediately told me to go to the E.R. John was playing a gig for Habitat for Humanity so I was unable to reach him, I left him a voice mail telling him where I was going and why. I got to the hospital around 5:00 pm and checked in, with my palpitations still occurring. Within 5 minutes of checking in I was brought to the triage room and they took my pulse, and blood pressure, they also did an EKG. My pulse was 180 beats per minute. I was placed in a room in the emergency department. Within a few minutes I had two cardiologists, two e.r. doctors, and a bunch of other nurses in the room with me. They told me I was a high priority. My heart was not only beating too fast, but it was stuck in an off beat pattern. The doctors tried several methods to naturally get my heart back to a normal rhythm (normal for me), but it was unsuccessful. They had to give me a drug that shocked my heart into a normal pattern. This was all very scary and John was still unable to get to me. After a couple of hours after the drug treatment, John was finally able to get to me. My rhythm was regular, but my pulse was still way too fast. John walked in to me in abed hooked up to three heart monitors, and I.V. and an oxygen tube in my nose. A very scary sight for him. The doctors were trying to figure out what caused this and though that it could have been due to a blood clot in my lungs. We had to make the agonizing decision to allow for a ct scan. We decided to go ahead an have one because they were going to place me on blood thinners without knowing if I had a clot, which would not be good for the baby. So we took the risk to expose the baby to the radiation hoping that I would not have a clot. Luckily I don't. The doctors knew that I would have to be admitted because my hear rate was still too high and they wanted to watch me. I was finally moved to room at 5 a.m, 12 hours after coming in. We were able to get some sleep in the room. Saturday afternoon the cardiologists came by and said they wanted to keep me another night and to also put me on a beta blocker to try to slow my heart rate down. Before I agreed to take the medicine I knew I wanted to talk to an OB to see the risk it would have to the baby. The OB came by and brought an ultrasound machine so we were able to see the baby for a second time while in the hospital, she was also very good at answering our questions. The beta blocker would not affect the baby, so I agreed to take it. The medicine worked and my heart rate finally dropped Saturday night. On Sunday I was discharged. We had great care while there, they pulled a chair that folds out to a bed by my bed so John could stay by my side. They also brought him food when they brought me food. We could not asked for better care during this scary time. We are also very grateful for the baby being OK during this all.