Memories of your life in me.

Since yesterday I have in my mind the thought of when I got pregnant. I was finishing my internship for the internal medicine service at my local hospital Aad I was arranging my parents to go to the capital of my country to do a diploma in ultrasound,

But in the back of my mind I was hoping that everything would turn out as I had planned. Being pregnant, studying, and then in my vacations during July and August I would have my baby.

In Caracas I have relatives and I would be staying there, and so began my odyssey with my pregnancy.

One day I was waiting for my cycle to be fulfilled and it didn’t come. That was the first sign that I was pregnant. Then an unpleasant metallic taste settled in my mouth, water which has always been the best liquid I can drink now gives me a very unpleasant iron taste. I can no longer drink water, at least not a glass in one gulp like I used to. Now it's a sip because it's like I'm smelling iron all the time.

Days go by and now it's the smells, the pleasant aromas that were so necessary in my mornings are now totally unpleasant. Coffee, my nectar of the gods, is now such an unpleasant smell that it makes me nauseous.

I am already in Caracas with all these unpleasant symptoms. I started my ultrasound classes, I have nausea and from time to time I’m vomiting, but I can take it. The days went by and so did my torment.

I could no longer continue with the classes. My rejection of the maturine smells in the classroom was too strong, I couldn't stand them anymore, they make my vomiting uncontrollable. I can't even go shopping anymore and what's the point of going out if everything I eat goes out in 5 seconds.

I quit my classes, moved out of Caracas and went to Maracay where some friends were staying. I stayed there until I could control the vomiting a bit and drove back to a relative's house in Barcelona.

In those days there had been a big flood in the towns near Caracas and on the way back to my city. So I took courage, my things, my car and drove long hours, crossing paths that had been opened so that the cities could communicate again.

The flooded and totally inaccessible roads were the only communication from the central region of the country to the eastern region where I was headed. Therefore, the authorities had to work hard to open soon the communication between the regions and the surrounding towns.

From time to time the vomiting prevented me from driving and I would stop to take out everything I had in my stomach. I didn't eat or drink, what could I get out of there?

I am now 3 months pregnant and my friends told me, in order to console me, that it was only during the first 3 months that I would feel this discomfort and then I wouldn’t have any more.

After 8 hours crossing roads, being 3 months pregnant, and vomiting every half hour, I arrived to my city.

I was already dehydrated, but I was able to take some small ice cubes. I hydrated with solution in my veins and then continued vomiting.

By now I have a new obstetrician who is giving me intramuscular injections as a treatment to calm the vomiting, with the promise that if my hyperemesis continues he would hospitalize me for treatment with alternative drugs.

I didn’t go to the obstetrician. I stayed at home enduring my 5 months of pregnancy and my vomiting.

I had to sleep near the bathroom. My sister-in-law, who took care of me for a few months until I moved back home, would make me little sips of oatmeal. I was happy because after 5 seconds they were still inside my stomach! …But they wouldn't go past 6 seconds, everything would come out again.

I went back to my OB and told her I was better now, by this point I am now 6 months pregnant. The vomiting and rejection of smells still continues. The bad taste in my mouth won't leave me alone. My friends told me that I was lying to them because instead of having a pregnant belly I was thinner than when I left.

My obstetrician told me that I was pregnant with a girl and I believed her. All the things they gave me as gifts came with lots of pink, few in yellow and green.

I made it to the seventh month and now I was no longer vomiting, I was finally able to leave the house. Now I am getting ready to work again, I ran out of the money I saved for my studies, housing and baby. It all went away with what seemed like a terrible 7 month illness and not a pregnancy as desired as mine.

While on call another colleague looked at my abdomen and told me it was a boy. To which I replied that my obstetrician confirmed a female and she just rebuked me and said... "No, that belly looks like it has a boy" She then asked me to come to her office after my shift and so I did. In two seconds I had the frozen image of the two little balls of my baby, it was a boy. My best gift, just as I asked my God, a boy.

I worked for two months. Then my abdomen grew so big that I couldn't even breathe and then came the date of my cesarean section. I was close to 40 years old so it was not a good idea for me to go to the delivery room.

My son was born one morning at the end of July. He wasn't crying, he had the umbilical cord wrapped twice around his neck… He had suffered a little and he pooped himself in my uterus. The obstetrician got him out quickly and the pediatrician resuscitated him. It took him a few seconds to cry, but after he started he didn't stop crying all day and night.

It has been 21 years since those days and I still remember it like it was yesterday.

Thanks to all my readers and above all to those who comment and give me their gifts. Thanks also to my sponsors. Especially to those who are resuming their sponsorships, my dears @ARTicLEE and @Mictorrani .