An interesting sensation that requires my full attention

Isn't that how Ina May describes a particularly painful contraction, er, rush? Or am I confusing the quote? Anyway, I had a horrible migraine today that fit that description, and all things considered, labor was far more pleasant. I was in class when my vision went all weird. I had blind spots and could only see out of a narrow part of my eye. The rest was some rather psychedelic (maybe that triggered the Ina May thought? ;)) shimmering geometric patterns. I kept thinking it would go away, but after about an hour it was still going on.

Silly me. This is a fairly legitimate reason to dismiss class, no? Did I even think of it? Nope. Not because of any virtuous concern for my students or anything. I was just not thinking logically or rationally. So I call Carlos in Spanish and explain the situation and ask him to pray for me. I've never had vision problems, but I'm wondering what is up with this freak vision thing. Almost immediately, my vision went back to normal. Then the headache and nausea hit. Oh, my. I actually did a reasonable facsimile of teaching for the next 40 minutes before the tiny little cell in my brain that is still functioning came up with the brilliant plan of letting class out. I still can't quite explain why this didn't occur to me earlier, but I feel pretty stupid.

Thank God, getting home, eating (despite the nausea) and a hot bath helped. All I can say is that those of you for whom this is a frequent occurrence have my most heart-felt sympathies. I never want to do that again. Besides, after labor I had a precious, wonderful baby. All I got out of this was a residual feeling of general yuckyness and a wasted afternoon.