TobyJoe and I got up early this morning and drove to Whole Foods at Union Square. We brought the Bjorn and the baby and did some early morning shopping. The city is so nice in the morning. No one is out (except for maybe the people still drunk from the night before) and the stores are empty. Even the street vendors are still at home wrapping up their dreams.
We shopped. And Emory did really well. A lot of ladies came over to see him. One really adorable woman stopped us to talk about how cute he is. She called him Pumpkin Head, which made me laugh because I call him My Pumpkin Pie all the time. There’s something pumpkin-like about Emory.
We spent a small fortune, double the rent I used to spend per month while living in State College. We grabbed our bags and headed back to the car. We got everything in. I turned around to ask Toby something. (He sits in back with Emory.) It was at that very moment TobyJoe noticed my eye, my big red bloody eye.
It’s a subconjunctival hemorrhage, bleeding in the eye that happens if the eye is hit or scratched. I didn’t get hit. (It’s the opposite eye from the one I smacked running into a car door.) Nothing scratched it. I would have known. That leads me to believe it’s from a third cause: high blood pressure.
Of course, now that I’m all worked up, I’m having a slight panic attack, which causes shortness of breath, dizziness, and tingling, which are all telltale signs of high blood pressure. You see the dilemma?
I have always has stellar blood pressure up until I was 41 weeks pregnant. What the hell is going on? First it was the basal cell carcinoma, which led to the MOHs surgery. Then I got hit in the face with a car door. And now this? I look like a monster.
Edited to add: I just took a bath and was thinking about stuff about things. Pregnancy is the only thing I can think of that causes all sorts of weird (and negative) side-effects yet is still positive. Like, your hair may fall out (a common problem for breastfeeding mothers), your skin may sag, you may find new skin tags, moles, or (in my case) cancer cells. Pregnancy can ruin your eyesight even (another discovery I had recently). There’s joint pain, weight gain, hemorrhoids, stretch marks; the side effects are endless.
I was just thinking about everything that has changed since having Emory, all the physical oddities I’m still discovering, some of which are really painful and life-altering. I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
They are the greatest side-effects ever.
don’t freak just yet! that happened to me once just from sneezing. sneezes, coughing, straining to poop (sorry – had to be honest) all cause it. my eye doc told me to put an ice pack on it a couple of times a day for a few days and it turned yellow and went away in no time. for your own mental sanity, you may want to get your BP checked, but maybe it’s just something really simple as a wicked sneeze.
You’re beautiful. You’re fine. You could’ve scratched it when you were sleeping. Life could be so much worse, so be happy you or your adorable munchkin don’t have strep or the runs and enjoy your day! I heart your blog. Emory makes me want to have a baby.
People have told me a million times not to exaggerate. ;]
Normally, this wouldn’t bug me at all but I am getting lightheaded and dizzy every time I stand up. I think I just need to take her easy and see my OBGYN for a checkup.
Lie down, cold compress on your eye, try to sleep for a while. You’ll be fine, promise. :)
(I got one of those from coughing too hard)
handsomest huzby, pumpkin, and exploding eye ever!
I don’t think you’re over reacting to get the BP checked. That’s scary. I’m sure you’ll be fine but you’ll be so much more fine once you get it checked and know.
Lady, you can cover it up all you want, but I know you’ve started some sort of badass chica fight club, and when my pregnancy is over, I want in. ;)
Yeah and it just gets worse after each kid too! When I was 6 months pregnant with my first daughter all of a sudden I couldn’t see, everything was blurry. I went and got my eyes examined and come to find they were bad as heck. Had to get glasses. I started wearing glass after 29 years of stellar eyesight. And I still have a receding hairline after my latest 10 months ago. The hair coming in to replace it is thin and gray and sticks straight up like horns.
I had forgotten about the first born and the early morning grocery trips – nothing but new mamas and little blue haired ladies shopping.
One once stopped me and tried to coax my kid into smiling. After about 90 seconds of unsuccessful attempts she said, “well don’t break your face trying!” and huffed off. It got me laughing at least.
I hope the eye thing is flukey. Babies kick your ass in ways medical science never quite understands. But then you recover.
Take care. Sorry for the hijack.
“First it was the basal cell carcinoma, which led to the MOHs surgery”…not to ignore your bloody eye, but glad to see that your MOHs surgery turned out so well, saw your pictures on your site. Told you everything would be ok.
K Davis