M was doing some internet research on what to expect with a c-section, and came across this gem, from WebMD, no less:
"What else do you need to think about before surgery?
Questions to consider include:
Do you need to finish any heavy work, such as laundry, shopping, or cutting wood, before your delivery? You will not be able to do any heavy lifting for 6 to 8 weeks."
Cutting wood? Is that really a common household chore, like laundry and shopping??? It's almost as if this came from a different century!
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I'm finding myself less and less sanguine about the idea of having a c-section with every passing day. I wish I didn't have two weeks notice, I feel like it's just given me too much time to think about all the bad things that could happen, how much worse recovery is going to be, all that kind of stuff. I really am excited to meet Phred, but at the moment the excitement is being overwhelmed with dread. Which I don't think is really a good way to be heading into this. It's gotten to the point where thinking about having my baby is bringing me to tears, which in turn makes me feel even worse. Yet another time where I wish life had a fast forward button!
I was just emailing with my sis about this, and I think she had some really good advice. Now I just have to follow it! "Forget about the natural birth. Forget that you are not getting to do this the way you want to, and have expected to. Put aside your previous expectations and come up with a whole new scenario. Plan Phred’s birth, and your birth experience around the knowledge that you are having a C, not that you are not delivering naturally. Get excited about the anticipation of knowing exactly when Phred is coming, and just focus on that moment and on the pure joy you will feel at that second. Your birth experience may not be the one you were looking forward to all these months, but it is going to be your birth experience forever. Make it special and look forward to it. Put everything else behind you and make what is going to happen what you want. You do not want to look back at this day for the rest of your life and wish for something different. Make it a day you can look back at with no regrets."
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I spoke with my MIL last night - she mentioned at one point that she purchased two really cute outfits for Phred to wear home from the hospital, one if it's a boy, one if a girl. It actually seemed like a really good opportunity to me to at least begin addressing some of my concerns. So I tried to be very gentle, and said that we really appreciated her doing things like this, and that I totally understand how excited she is about her first grandchild, but that we're excited about our first *child*, and WE want to be able to buy the cute outfits. She actually took it really well, and said that with anything she gets that we don't want for any reason, she's more than happy to return them. She said she would absolutely return these outfits, she just wants me to see them first, because they're so cute. So we'll see if she actually means it. But on the surface at least, I think I got that part of my point across.
Of course, I am a totally unsentimental person, and as I mentioned quite frugal - some might even say "cheap". I don't see the point for us to spend money on a cutesy outfit to come home from the hospital in, when all it's going to be is hospital, car, house (I totally understand that some people DO want a cute outfit, and I think that's totally cool. It's just not for me). A onesie or sleeper seems perfectly adequate to me. Of course, I won't tell HER that!
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GandKsmom asked for some belly pics. Here's one of me with the obviously unfinished baby's room. And here are a couple of the belly.
Thursday, August 24, 2006
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
In-law dilemma
My in-laws are really nice people. I truly believe that they have the best of intentions, they love their three sons dearly, and are really happy with their daughters-in-law. They are absolutely thrilled about Phred, who will be their first grandchild.
Two issues. First, they do tend to be somewhat overbearing. I'm not sure whether overbearing is exactly the right description. In some ways I think it's because they're lonely - they will often call us (or M's middle brother a lot more), with nothing really to say. Recently they've been calling on an almost daily basis asking "So how's my grandchild?" Ummmmm..... fine as far as I know. I've heard them say, as well, that once Phred is born, they plan on spending two days a week with us. Ack. Again, they're really very nice people, but they're not family to me in the same way that my mom and sister are - I feel like I need to entertain them and keep them busy where with my mom and sis I know that I don't. So that's issue number one.
Issue number two is going to be even harder to deal with. It has to do with gift giving, for birthdays, but way more so, for Christmas. My MIL is a shopaholic. Which is a really bad thing when you are planning on retiring in about six months, have your house fully mortgaged, and over $30K in credit card debt. Christmas at their house is a truly disgusting event, in my mind. Each person gets a stack of presents about three feet high. The first few years we estimated that the total value of gifts amongst the three sons and their spouses was in excess of $2K. It's gotten better since then, but still completely and thoroughly over the top. So much waste, excess, spending for the sake of spending.
A prime example was my baby showers. I had two - one organized by my MIL for her friends and relatives, and another organized by my sis, for our family friends. Similar to my bridal shower, I felt completely embarassed by opening the huge stack of gifts all from my MIL. To me, a single gift would have been more than sufficient, given that she spent all the time and energy to throw the shower. But no. She got us (brace yourself!) 1. the bedding set we had registered for, 2. along with the matching diaper stacker and 3. sheet. 4. A box full of about fifteen different bibs for all sorts of occasions, all individually wrapped in the appropriate paper (e.g. heart paper for "baby's first valentine"). 5. Another pair of sheets. 6. Waterproof bed cover. 7. Two sleep sacks. 8. Hangars. I don't know about you all, but spending fifteen minutes opening presents from one person was a bit much for me - again, I know it's well intentioned... The real kicker for me was at the baby shower thrown by my sis. I was completely and totally taken aback when I was handed a SECOND stack of presents from her! More bibs (we have 29 in total, thank you very much), more hangers, more sleep sacks, another sheet, another set of waterproof sheet covers, three or four sleepers of different sizes, and the Graco stroller we had registered for. All told, around $600 worth of stuff.
After this, M tried very gently to tell her that although it was much appreciated, it was way more than they should have done... and that Christmas is going to have to be *very* toned down, i.e. only one or two gifts. And nothing for Phred (in my mind, it is worthless to give gifts to a child before they're old enough to grasp what's going on, and at 4 months, I can pretty much guarantee that even if Phred is a super genius, that's unlikely). She told him that she has already purchased a bunch of outfits for next summer! Argh!
So that's issue number two.
I feel like I need to address these things with them now. Set expectations up front so that we don't have to battle every Christmas and birthday, and so that they don't expect to be living part-time with us! The rules that I would like to set are one toy and one outfit for Christmas and birthdays. If nothing else, I feel like it's unfair to us for them to do more than that - this may be their first grandchild, but it's our first child, and *I* want to have the enjoyment of picking out toys and clothes! If they're buying dozens of outfits, on top of all the hand-me downs I'm probably getting from various friends and relatives, I feel like I won't be able to have that fun (I am extremely frugal and thrifty, and aside from my car, really don't buy things that I don't *need*. Which makes their excess even worse in my eyes!). And we'll need to figure out how much we actually want them to visit, but I think weekly visits should be more than enough. I don't want to have to plan our lives around them, and also want to have time to spend with OTHER people.
My dilemma is how best to address these so that I can get my point across without getting their backs up and making them all defensive. I thought of a few options - 1) writing a letter, 2) inviting both of them over to dinner this weekend, along with my mom and her husband, and laying this out for all of them, so that my in-laws don't feel as targeted, or 3) taking my MIL out to lunch, just the two of us, and trying to get the point across to her on our own.
Which option do you think is most likely to work (feel free to make other suggestions too!)? Am I completely deluding myself in thinking that there is anything I can do about this?
Two issues. First, they do tend to be somewhat overbearing. I'm not sure whether overbearing is exactly the right description. In some ways I think it's because they're lonely - they will often call us (or M's middle brother a lot more), with nothing really to say. Recently they've been calling on an almost daily basis asking "So how's my grandchild?" Ummmmm..... fine as far as I know. I've heard them say, as well, that once Phred is born, they plan on spending two days a week with us. Ack. Again, they're really very nice people, but they're not family to me in the same way that my mom and sister are - I feel like I need to entertain them and keep them busy where with my mom and sis I know that I don't. So that's issue number one.
Issue number two is going to be even harder to deal with. It has to do with gift giving, for birthdays, but way more so, for Christmas. My MIL is a shopaholic. Which is a really bad thing when you are planning on retiring in about six months, have your house fully mortgaged, and over $30K in credit card debt. Christmas at their house is a truly disgusting event, in my mind. Each person gets a stack of presents about three feet high. The first few years we estimated that the total value of gifts amongst the three sons and their spouses was in excess of $2K. It's gotten better since then, but still completely and thoroughly over the top. So much waste, excess, spending for the sake of spending.
A prime example was my baby showers. I had two - one organized by my MIL for her friends and relatives, and another organized by my sis, for our family friends. Similar to my bridal shower, I felt completely embarassed by opening the huge stack of gifts all from my MIL. To me, a single gift would have been more than sufficient, given that she spent all the time and energy to throw the shower. But no. She got us (brace yourself!) 1. the bedding set we had registered for, 2. along with the matching diaper stacker and 3. sheet. 4. A box full of about fifteen different bibs for all sorts of occasions, all individually wrapped in the appropriate paper (e.g. heart paper for "baby's first valentine"). 5. Another pair of sheets. 6. Waterproof bed cover. 7. Two sleep sacks. 8. Hangars. I don't know about you all, but spending fifteen minutes opening presents from one person was a bit much for me - again, I know it's well intentioned... The real kicker for me was at the baby shower thrown by my sis. I was completely and totally taken aback when I was handed a SECOND stack of presents from her! More bibs (we have 29 in total, thank you very much), more hangers, more sleep sacks, another sheet, another set of waterproof sheet covers, three or four sleepers of different sizes, and the Graco stroller we had registered for. All told, around $600 worth of stuff.
After this, M tried very gently to tell her that although it was much appreciated, it was way more than they should have done... and that Christmas is going to have to be *very* toned down, i.e. only one or two gifts. And nothing for Phred (in my mind, it is worthless to give gifts to a child before they're old enough to grasp what's going on, and at 4 months, I can pretty much guarantee that even if Phred is a super genius, that's unlikely). She told him that she has already purchased a bunch of outfits for next summer! Argh!
So that's issue number two.
I feel like I need to address these things with them now. Set expectations up front so that we don't have to battle every Christmas and birthday, and so that they don't expect to be living part-time with us! The rules that I would like to set are one toy and one outfit for Christmas and birthdays. If nothing else, I feel like it's unfair to us for them to do more than that - this may be their first grandchild, but it's our first child, and *I* want to have the enjoyment of picking out toys and clothes! If they're buying dozens of outfits, on top of all the hand-me downs I'm probably getting from various friends and relatives, I feel like I won't be able to have that fun (I am extremely frugal and thrifty, and aside from my car, really don't buy things that I don't *need*. Which makes their excess even worse in my eyes!). And we'll need to figure out how much we actually want them to visit, but I think weekly visits should be more than enough. I don't want to have to plan our lives around them, and also want to have time to spend with OTHER people.
My dilemma is how best to address these so that I can get my point across without getting their backs up and making them all defensive. I thought of a few options - 1) writing a letter, 2) inviting both of them over to dinner this weekend, along with my mom and her husband, and laying this out for all of them, so that my in-laws don't feel as targeted, or 3) taking my MIL out to lunch, just the two of us, and trying to get the point across to her on our own.
Which option do you think is most likely to work (feel free to make other suggestions too!)? Am I completely deluding myself in thinking that there is anything I can do about this?
Sunday, August 20, 2006
If you can't laugh at yourself...
Thursday morning I was heading to the gym, to do my usual routine of light weight lifting, a few minutes on the elliptical, and some swimming (well, my usual routine since I was allowed to start exercising again at 34 weeks). I grabbed a yellow floral tank top, some pants, and the bella band I had picked up over the weekend, just in case.
Thank goodness I grabbed that band! When I put the shirt on, it was WAY too short in the front. I would have been embarrased to show my face if I hadn't had the band to cover the large expanse of belly that was hanging out. As it was, I think the fashion police would definitely have had shots of me in the "what not to wear" category. Can you buy one of those black bands to wear over your eyes when something like that happens?
The next day I was going swimming again, and this time picked out a button down tank top and a skirt. I thought back to my experience of the day before, and also snagged one of the t-shirts I had just bought at Tarjhay. What a sight when I tried to put on the button down - there was NO WAY the button and button-hole were meeting. There was a good one-ince gap there. Score one more for my forethought in bringing the t-shirt!
Later that afternoon I was having lunch with a friend whom I haven't seen since late last year. Burger and fries. Have I mentioned that I have been eating like crap for the past month? Anyway, I decided I wanted some ketchup on my fries, picked up the bottle, and began shaking. Didn't realize that she hadn't screwed the top back on after using it... shake, shake, then in slow motion the cap dislodged itself, and there was a spray of ketchup twisting through the air... At which point I thankfully managed to arrest my motion. But I got ketchup on my wrist, my knee, and two big globs on my stomach. Looked like an idiot, but I couldn't stop laughing at myself. Typical!
Thank goodness I grabbed that band! When I put the shirt on, it was WAY too short in the front. I would have been embarrased to show my face if I hadn't had the band to cover the large expanse of belly that was hanging out. As it was, I think the fashion police would definitely have had shots of me in the "what not to wear" category. Can you buy one of those black bands to wear over your eyes when something like that happens?
The next day I was going swimming again, and this time picked out a button down tank top and a skirt. I thought back to my experience of the day before, and also snagged one of the t-shirts I had just bought at Tarjhay. What a sight when I tried to put on the button down - there was NO WAY the button and button-hole were meeting. There was a good one-ince gap there. Score one more for my forethought in bringing the t-shirt!
Later that afternoon I was having lunch with a friend whom I haven't seen since late last year. Burger and fries. Have I mentioned that I have been eating like crap for the past month? Anyway, I decided I wanted some ketchup on my fries, picked up the bottle, and began shaking. Didn't realize that she hadn't screwed the top back on after using it... shake, shake, then in slow motion the cap dislodged itself, and there was a spray of ketchup twisting through the air... At which point I thankfully managed to arrest my motion. But I got ketchup on my wrist, my knee, and two big globs on my stomach. Looked like an idiot, but I couldn't stop laughing at myself. Typical!
Thursday, August 17, 2006
Houston, we have a schedule...
After reading a bunch more, thinking a lot, taking all your comments into consideration (I cannot tell you how much hearing all your thoughts really helped! I'm a little too emotionally invested.), we decided that going ahead with the scheduled c-section really is the best course of action.
So, unless I happen to go into labor beforehand, or Phred magically gets the right idea and turns head down, he/she will be joining us on 8/30, at around 8:30. How cool is that? We have to arrive at 6am, so I'm going to ask them if it's at all possible to go up to the OR slightly early so that Phred really can be born at 8:30. If you're going to schedule, you might as well go all out, right? ;-)
It's really bizarre, for me, to know that 8/30 is Phred's likely birthday. Not something I ever thought I would know in advance. I'm going to take a couple of days off work before the birth-day, so my last day will be next Friday. It's funny, I really feel like this has just snuck up on me. I only have six working days left! I okayed all of that with my boss, so we're good to go.
You know what really irks me though? A couple of women at work decided to organize a baby shower (on 8/27) for three of us who are due between now and mid-October. They sent out an evite to everyone. My boss replied that she wouldn't be able to make it, and perhaps since I'm scheduled for a c-section on 8/30, they should make the date earlier. You could have bowled me over with a feather. Am I wrong in finding it completely and totally inappropriate for her to put that on a website for... oh... 20 of my 'closest' coworkers to find out?
So, unless I happen to go into labor beforehand, or Phred magically gets the right idea and turns head down, he/she will be joining us on 8/30, at around 8:30. How cool is that? We have to arrive at 6am, so I'm going to ask them if it's at all possible to go up to the OR slightly early so that Phred really can be born at 8:30. If you're going to schedule, you might as well go all out, right? ;-)
It's really bizarre, for me, to know that 8/30 is Phred's likely birthday. Not something I ever thought I would know in advance. I'm going to take a couple of days off work before the birth-day, so my last day will be next Friday. It's funny, I really feel like this has just snuck up on me. I only have six working days left! I okayed all of that with my boss, so we're good to go.
You know what really irks me though? A couple of women at work decided to organize a baby shower (on 8/27) for three of us who are due between now and mid-October. They sent out an evite to everyone. My boss replied that she wouldn't be able to make it, and perhaps since I'm scheduled for a c-section on 8/30, they should make the date earlier. You could have bowled me over with a feather. Am I wrong in finding it completely and totally inappropriate for her to put that on a website for... oh... 20 of my 'closest' coworkers to find out?
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
This is one stubborn kid!
No luck with the flipping today.
We started with another u/s to do a biophysical profile, as well as confirm Phred's position. I was thinking after the last u/s that calling Phred "complete breech" wasn't quite right, because all the pics you can find by googling show that as the head towards the top of the uterus, the spine basically lined up with your spine, then the baby in a cross-legged position. Phred is in a much more transverse like position, with the head over on my right, spine along the top of my uterus, then feet down near my cervix. Although all the websites seem to say that a transverse baby has their back / shoulder against the cervix. So Phred is upside down transverse. M was joking that it's because I was born in the Southern hemisphere, so all we would need to do is go back there to get our phlip.
I was really hopeful - the u/s tech said that there's plenty of fluid, and Phred is nowhere near engaged, so I figured it would be a snap to get a nice big phlip. Well, not so much. There were two docs there, one pushing up and out of the cervix on Phred's bum, and the other pushing down on the head/back. After the first attempt, although they were pushing down, somehow Phred ended up more like a complete breech. Then back to transverse, complete breech, and back to transverse again. Which was when they decided enough was enough, and it wasn't going to work.
They told me I was a real trooper, and took it much better than most. I figured if I couldn't stand this for 10 minutes, there was no way I could manage labor! As others have said, it wasn't exactly painful, but it was also next to impossible to relax. I did find that concentrating on my breathing helped a lot. But yes, it was mighty uncomfortable. I am definitely glad that we at least gave it a shot!
So anyway, now they want to schedule a c-section for 39.5 weeks (8/30 or 31). In a way, at least, I'm glad that Phred is transverse, because even the anti c-section books say that one cannot deliver a transverse baby vaginally, so I don't have to wonder if I should go out and try and find a practitioner who would let me deliver a breech baby.
I'm really torn as to what to do. Go ahead and schedule? Or tell them that I'm not going to, and wait until I go into labor on my own? I know that I had said in my earlier post that I would wait... but honestly I really thought that something would work, at least the version, and I wouldn't be faced with that choice. (Kinda like how I said before IF that if it didn't happen naturally that was the way it was supposed to be. HAHAHA)
Here are the pros and cons of a scheduled c-section as I see them:
Pro #1: Doctor feels it's safer than going into labor, as (especially given I've been contracting for so long) I may not recognize the labor until I'm well into it. Pro #2: Phred is born in August, which means we get a choice of which year to send him/her to school. Pro #3: Easier c-section when I'm not in labor? (must research this one a bit). Pro #4: Labor with a transverse baby can cause cord prolapse if the waters break, and uterine rupture if the labor lasts for a while. Con #1: I don't get to experience any true labor, which you may call me crazy for, but I was actually looking forward to. But then again they probably wouldn't want me to get far enough into it that I'd feel much anyway. Con #2: Phred may want to cook for longer - who am I to say that he/she is ready now? Especially as I was two weeks late myself, and refused to be induced 10 days before that. However, with basically zero pressure on my cervix, chances are that I'd go late just because of that and nothing really to do with how ready Phred is. Con #3: Less time for Phred to flip naturally, as slim as that chance may be, it's zero once I've had the section. Just found an abstract from 1990 that stated that 24/29 patients with a transverse lie at 37 weeks spontaneously converted by the time they went into labor, with 15 of those vertex. That's actually better odds than I was expecting. But the same paper says to perform version at 39 weeks and if not successful, c-section based on "major morbidity associated with expectant management of these patients".
Is there anything I'm not thinking of, either pro or con? What would you do? Yes, I am soliciting advice, opinions, and anything in between. I really can't make up my mind one way or the other at the moment. It probably doesn't help that I feel somewhat gypped by all this. As I said, I really was looking forward to labor and delivery, and I'm sad that I'm most likely not going to experience much if any of it. I know that once Phred is born I probably won't care one bit, but right now I'm a bit down in the dumps.
We started with another u/s to do a biophysical profile, as well as confirm Phred's position. I was thinking after the last u/s that calling Phred "complete breech" wasn't quite right, because all the pics you can find by googling show that as the head towards the top of the uterus, the spine basically lined up with your spine, then the baby in a cross-legged position. Phred is in a much more transverse like position, with the head over on my right, spine along the top of my uterus, then feet down near my cervix. Although all the websites seem to say that a transverse baby has their back / shoulder against the cervix. So Phred is upside down transverse. M was joking that it's because I was born in the Southern hemisphere, so all we would need to do is go back there to get our phlip.
I was really hopeful - the u/s tech said that there's plenty of fluid, and Phred is nowhere near engaged, so I figured it would be a snap to get a nice big phlip. Well, not so much. There were two docs there, one pushing up and out of the cervix on Phred's bum, and the other pushing down on the head/back. After the first attempt, although they were pushing down, somehow Phred ended up more like a complete breech. Then back to transverse, complete breech, and back to transverse again. Which was when they decided enough was enough, and it wasn't going to work.
They told me I was a real trooper, and took it much better than most. I figured if I couldn't stand this for 10 minutes, there was no way I could manage labor! As others have said, it wasn't exactly painful, but it was also next to impossible to relax. I did find that concentrating on my breathing helped a lot. But yes, it was mighty uncomfortable. I am definitely glad that we at least gave it a shot!
So anyway, now they want to schedule a c-section for 39.5 weeks (8/30 or 31). In a way, at least, I'm glad that Phred is transverse, because even the anti c-section books say that one cannot deliver a transverse baby vaginally, so I don't have to wonder if I should go out and try and find a practitioner who would let me deliver a breech baby.
I'm really torn as to what to do. Go ahead and schedule? Or tell them that I'm not going to, and wait until I go into labor on my own? I know that I had said in my earlier post that I would wait... but honestly I really thought that something would work, at least the version, and I wouldn't be faced with that choice. (Kinda like how I said before IF that if it didn't happen naturally that was the way it was supposed to be. HAHAHA)
Here are the pros and cons of a scheduled c-section as I see them:
Pro #1: Doctor feels it's safer than going into labor, as (especially given I've been contracting for so long) I may not recognize the labor until I'm well into it. Pro #2: Phred is born in August, which means we get a choice of which year to send him/her to school. Pro #3: Easier c-section when I'm not in labor? (must research this one a bit). Pro #4: Labor with a transverse baby can cause cord prolapse if the waters break, and uterine rupture if the labor lasts for a while. Con #1: I don't get to experience any true labor, which you may call me crazy for, but I was actually looking forward to. But then again they probably wouldn't want me to get far enough into it that I'd feel much anyway. Con #2: Phred may want to cook for longer - who am I to say that he/she is ready now? Especially as I was two weeks late myself, and refused to be induced 10 days before that. However, with basically zero pressure on my cervix, chances are that I'd go late just because of that and nothing really to do with how ready Phred is. Con #3: Less time for Phred to flip naturally, as slim as that chance may be, it's zero once I've had the section. Just found an abstract from 1990 that stated that 24/29 patients with a transverse lie at 37 weeks spontaneously converted by the time they went into labor, with 15 of those vertex. That's actually better odds than I was expecting. But the same paper says to perform version at 39 weeks and if not successful, c-section based on "major morbidity associated with expectant management of these patients".
Is there anything I'm not thinking of, either pro or con? What would you do? Yes, I am soliciting advice, opinions, and anything in between. I really can't make up my mind one way or the other at the moment. It probably doesn't help that I feel somewhat gypped by all this. As I said, I really was looking forward to labor and delivery, and I'm sad that I'm most likely not going to experience much if any of it. I know that once Phred is born I probably won't care one bit, but right now I'm a bit down in the dumps.
Version, fliperoo, whatever - let's just hope it works!
No dice with the acupuncture / moxibustion. (Supposed to heat up the "line" going through my uterus, causing the baby to be agitated and move more... one of the possible results of which is flipping over, and such effects have actually been documented in the medical literature). So I'm headed over to the hospital in about 15 minutes to try the ECV.
I really, really REALLY want it to work! Any turning over, somersaulting, flipping thoughts that you can send our way in the next couple of hours will be much appreciated.
Of course, one of the possibilities is that if something goes wrong (e.g. placental abruption, 0.5% chance) I may have an emergency c-section, and Phred's birthday could be today. That thought is a little overwhelming!
I really, really REALLY want it to work! Any turning over, somersaulting, flipping thoughts that you can send our way in the next couple of hours will be much appreciated.
Of course, one of the possibilities is that if something goes wrong (e.g. placental abruption, 0.5% chance) I may have an emergency c-section, and Phred's birthday could be today. That thought is a little overwhelming!
Monday, August 14, 2006
Phlipping? Not so much.
Our first attempt at moxibustion was on Saturday. It was interesting, basically my acu lit a coal of some kind of herb, and burned it next to my pinky toes for 15 min each. It wasn't painful at all, somewhat to my surprise. And it did do something - almost as soon as she brought it close to my toe, my face got really warm. But as far as encouraging Phred to be more active and/or flip, I'm dubious on the first, and the second certainly did not occur.
We're going to try again this evening, this time I'm going to ask her to use needles as well, based on a couple of papers that I found that used both. She wouldn't do it until I was 37 weeks, though, and most of the papers about it seem to suggest that it be done between 33 and 35 weeks, so it may be too late. (Which really irks me because I had an appointment with her where I was expecting her to try it, at 35 weeks, but she said she wanted to wait because "it could induce labor".) There's also another paper that I found that suggested doing it every day for two whole weeks! Why can't people just agree on a procedure, instead of there being umpteen variations so you can never be sure that your practitioner is doing it "right"?
Speaking of doing it right, I'm not seeing the chiro anymore - when I originally mentioned that I was going to try someone versed in the "Webster technique" for turning babies, one of the commenters mentioned that she had it done, and that the chiro didn't need to touch her belly for it. And then I read the same thing somewhere else. Well this chiro, although she was listed as a chiropractor trained in the technique WAS using her hands on my belly, and it just made me uncomfortable. Although not enough that I didn't go a few times, but it just seems like she wasn't following the technique properly either. GAH!
I'm still keeping hope that tonight's acu/moxi will work, but if not, I have a version scheduled for Wednesday afternoon. If THAT doesn't work either, I'll see if I can find another chiro around here who's Webster certified... and actually spend a little more time talking to him/her to ensure that they'll be doing what I expect they should, instead of blindly going along with it.
We're going to try again this evening, this time I'm going to ask her to use needles as well, based on a couple of papers that I found that used both. She wouldn't do it until I was 37 weeks, though, and most of the papers about it seem to suggest that it be done between 33 and 35 weeks, so it may be too late. (Which really irks me because I had an appointment with her where I was expecting her to try it, at 35 weeks, but she said she wanted to wait because "it could induce labor".) There's also another paper that I found that suggested doing it every day for two whole weeks! Why can't people just agree on a procedure, instead of there being umpteen variations so you can never be sure that your practitioner is doing it "right"?
Speaking of doing it right, I'm not seeing the chiro anymore - when I originally mentioned that I was going to try someone versed in the "Webster technique" for turning babies, one of the commenters mentioned that she had it done, and that the chiro didn't need to touch her belly for it. And then I read the same thing somewhere else. Well this chiro, although she was listed as a chiropractor trained in the technique WAS using her hands on my belly, and it just made me uncomfortable. Although not enough that I didn't go a few times, but it just seems like she wasn't following the technique properly either. GAH!
I'm still keeping hope that tonight's acu/moxi will work, but if not, I have a version scheduled for Wednesday afternoon. If THAT doesn't work either, I'll see if I can find another chiro around here who's Webster certified... and actually spend a little more time talking to him/her to ensure that they'll be doing what I expect they should, instead of blindly going along with it.
Friday, August 11, 2006
Update on the u/s journal article
Despite USA today saying that the article regarding the effects of prenatal u/s on brain architecture was published on Tuesday, it wasn't available to us peons until yesterday. Here's the link, if you're interested.
Reading through the original article I had found, they don't misrepresent anything, but I do feel much better after having read the source document.
For one thing, the mice were exposed to the u/s for a much longer percentage of developing brain time than any of our babies are. Plus, no effect was seen until 30+ minutes of exposure to a stationary u/s beam. Our u/s don't take nearly that long, nor is the beam stationary. Even if cumulative exposure is > 30 minutes, I think there's long enough between exposures that different cells would be "affected" with each scan, not enough to cause the kinds of changes seen in this study.
That said, I still think it's worth considering the value of each u/s before having it.
37 weeks tomorrow. Mind boggling, as many of you commented on my previous posts. And acupuncture / moxybustion scheduled for tomorrow as well to try and get Phred to "assume the position". I'm really hoping that it works!!!
Reading through the original article I had found, they don't misrepresent anything, but I do feel much better after having read the source document.
For one thing, the mice were exposed to the u/s for a much longer percentage of developing brain time than any of our babies are. Plus, no effect was seen until 30+ minutes of exposure to a stationary u/s beam. Our u/s don't take nearly that long, nor is the beam stationary. Even if cumulative exposure is > 30 minutes, I think there's long enough between exposures that different cells would be "affected" with each scan, not enough to cause the kinds of changes seen in this study.
That said, I still think it's worth considering the value of each u/s before having it.
37 weeks tomorrow. Mind boggling, as many of you commented on my previous posts. And acupuncture / moxybustion scheduled for tomorrow as well to try and get Phred to "assume the position". I'm really hoping that it works!!!
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
Ironic timing...
For this article about the potential effects of ultrasound on the development of the fetal brain (of mice) to come out. The natural birth books I've been reading suggest that one should decline "unnecessary" ultrasounds and fetal heartbeat monitoring with a Doppler. So I was thinking this morning at my u/s when the tech was showing me Phred's brain, whether it was a good idea to be doing so or not. And then I read this article! Argh!
The caveats of the article definitely hold true, I think - the study was conducted in mice, so there are a lot of factors that make the relevance to humans questionable. And, I tried to look up the original article in PNAS, and was unable to find it (please drop me a comment if you do find it and I'm just being an idiot). I generally don't like to take what the media write about science as gospel without going to check on the source myself, as it is often sensationalized.
But, the article does make me wonder a bit about the utility of some of the early scans I had done (6wks and 8 wks) - yes, it was nice to see the embryo, and to see the heartbeat, but really, were they both necessary? I can see that an early u/s is good for diagnosis of a possible ectopic pg, or multiples, but most women who aren't with an RE don't get these early scans.
There was another article that I found while looking for this one mentioning that in a study of men born from 1973-78 when ultrasounds first started to be used, there was a statistically significant increase in the number who were left-handed. I kind of laughed at that - who really cares? But at the same time, one has to question what other effects there might be.
I guess that the point is that like just about everything else in life, there are pros and cons. It's a question of weighing between the two. Having read this article I might make a different decision on my early scans than I did - but what's done is done. I think the lesson that I will draw from this is that it is worthwhile to consider, even if there don't seem to be any drawbacks to a particular procedure, how necessary it truly is. There is nothing in life that I can think of that is 100% guaranteed safe. But having considered this and then decided to do something rather than just doing it on the assumption that it's safe would make me feel better, I think.
On the other hand, my u/s today was so totally cool! I could see Phred breathing, eyelids opening and closing, the fuzzy hair on the head, heart going pitter-patter, little tongue sticking in and out of the mouth... incredible.
The caveats of the article definitely hold true, I think - the study was conducted in mice, so there are a lot of factors that make the relevance to humans questionable. And, I tried to look up the original article in PNAS, and was unable to find it (please drop me a comment if you do find it and I'm just being an idiot). I generally don't like to take what the media write about science as gospel without going to check on the source myself, as it is often sensationalized.
But, the article does make me wonder a bit about the utility of some of the early scans I had done (6wks and 8 wks) - yes, it was nice to see the embryo, and to see the heartbeat, but really, were they both necessary? I can see that an early u/s is good for diagnosis of a possible ectopic pg, or multiples, but most women who aren't with an RE don't get these early scans.
There was another article that I found while looking for this one mentioning that in a study of men born from 1973-78 when ultrasounds first started to be used, there was a statistically significant increase in the number who were left-handed. I kind of laughed at that - who really cares? But at the same time, one has to question what other effects there might be.
I guess that the point is that like just about everything else in life, there are pros and cons. It's a question of weighing between the two. Having read this article I might make a different decision on my early scans than I did - but what's done is done. I think the lesson that I will draw from this is that it is worthwhile to consider, even if there don't seem to be any drawbacks to a particular procedure, how necessary it truly is. There is nothing in life that I can think of that is 100% guaranteed safe. But having considered this and then decided to do something rather than just doing it on the assumption that it's safe would make me feel better, I think.
On the other hand, my u/s today was so totally cool! I could see Phred breathing, eyelids opening and closing, the fuzzy hair on the head, heart going pitter-patter, little tongue sticking in and out of the mouth... incredible.
Phred's personality - stubborn already!
Well, I had my 36 week appointment this morning, with an ultrasound to see exactly how Phred is lying in there. The verdict? "Complete breech". If you google it you can find some pictures, although none of them are exactly right. Phred's head is over on my right side, with the back pointing more towards the top of my uterus, and feet right down by my cervix. So maybe a combo of transverse and complete breech? I had been thinking that Phred's head was over at the top left of my uterus, but I was wrong about that - although exactly right about where the feet are!
The u/s tech also did measurements to figure out how big Phred is, and came up with 5lb 14oz, in the 25th percentile. Which is good, as it gives the external version (which will be scheduled for next Weds or Thurs, assuming that acupuncture / chiropracty / lying with my butt in the air haven't worked by then) a better chance of working than if he/she were oversized.
Nothing much else of note to report... I'm finding it harder to move around - sitting down and standing up require a bit more work these days. I also managed to acquire some hemmorhoids over the last few days, and the doc said that I can't expect that to clear up before delivery. Lovely. Ankle swelling isn't quite as bad now that it's cooler outside, but my ankle bones are still a bit hard to find. But all in all, that's not too much to whinge about.
The u/s tech also did measurements to figure out how big Phred is, and came up with 5lb 14oz, in the 25th percentile. Which is good, as it gives the external version (which will be scheduled for next Weds or Thurs, assuming that acupuncture / chiropracty / lying with my butt in the air haven't worked by then) a better chance of working than if he/she were oversized.
Nothing much else of note to report... I'm finding it harder to move around - sitting down and standing up require a bit more work these days. I also managed to acquire some hemmorhoids over the last few days, and the doc said that I can't expect that to clear up before delivery. Lovely. Ankle swelling isn't quite as bad now that it's cooler outside, but my ankle bones are still a bit hard to find. But all in all, that's not too much to whinge about.
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
Birth plan
As I mentioned, since reading "Natural birth the bradley way", I've also read a couple of other books on the topic of delivery, and more specifically, the things that your doctors don't necessarily tell you ("The thinking woman's guide to a better birth", and "The silent knife" about C-sections and VBAC. I wouldn't say that reading these has scared me, but they have definitely raised some questions in my mind about standard obstetrical practice that have made me realize that M and I are going to need to be more proactive in our management of Phred's delivery that I would have anticipated had I not read these books, and learned about the possible negative effects of standard care. So, here's what I'm thinking (assuming, of course, that I don't have to have a c-section because Phred is still breech).
Please note that these are my opinions, based on what I've read. I'm not criticizing anyone else's choices!
1. Eating and drinking during active labor. Strongly discouraged by the hospital, in case you need general anesthesia for an emergency c-section. Problem is that it can cause dehydration (leading to the need for IV fluids, see #2), and lack of energy for the second stage of labor. Which can lead to an extended pushing phase, and c-section for "failure to progress". They claim that if you are put under with food in your stomach, you might throw up and aspirate the contents of your stomach = bad. But, if you haven't been eating or drinking, you throw up gastric juices, which to me seems a lot worse. At my hospital, the rate of c-sections is 30%, the rate of general anesthesia is 5%, which means that absolute max, 1.5% of people are having GA with a c-section. And as the 30% rate includes planned c-sections as well, it's actually a lot less than that. AND, if someone's been in a car accident or the like, they almost certainly don't have an empty stomach. So I think that the prohibition on eating / drinking is bogus, and don't plan to follow it. (Which I will let them know if I do end up needing GA).
2. No IV fluids for hydration. The rate of IV's is quite astonishing - 94%! Are that many of us really dehydrated? When I was in for my contractions they stuck an IV in me 2/3 times - the first I managed to convince them that I really was not having the contractions because of dehydration (I had had over 100oz of fluid during the day). The second time they wanted to try it anyway, despite my saying the same thing. And it made no difference to the contractions whatsoever. And then the third was when I was having the magnesium, which needed to go in through an IV. But, our hormones are fairly delicately balanced, and getting more fluid than needed can screw with that balance. Perhaps leading to a slowdown in labor, so pitocin to help... blah blah blah. Slippery slope.
3. No induction. If Phred isn't ready to come out yet, I don't see any reason to force it. Plus, it seems like very few people who are induced end up with a normal, natural labor. I'd rather be pregnant for a few more days.
4. No breaking of waters to speed up labor. The amniotic sac can A) help with opennig the cervix more gently, B) cushion the baby's head, and C) equalize the pressure the baby feels with contractions - less fetal distress.
5. Minimal external fetal monitoring. The standard is to throw those suckers on you as soon as you arrive in the hospital, and keep them on the entire time. However, they definitely seem to lead to a higher c-section rate, because as soon as any kind of issue is seen, the doctors feel like they have to fix it right away. There has been a fair amount of research into this topic, and almost every article says that "intermittent auscultation" is just as effective at catching real problems as the continuous monitoring is, while lessening the c-section rate.
6. No time limits on labor (within reason). First, there seems to be a "you have to deliver within 24 hours of your water breaking" paradigm in place these days. Because of threat of infection. But studies have shown that there is no increased risk of infection just because of broken waters, especially if no internal exams are performed. So I'm thinking that if this happens and I don't start having contractions right away, I'm not even going to bother calling the hospital at that point. I also do not want a c-section just because I've been in phase 1 for X number of hours, or phase 2 for 2 hours. The time limits used seem to be actually quite fast, so I'm not going to let them pressure me into having a c-section just because of those.
7. No scheduled c-section, even if Phred does seem to want to stay breech. I figure the longer he/she is in there, the more chance there is of turning over, however remote it may be.
I think that about covers it!
Please note that these are my opinions, based on what I've read. I'm not criticizing anyone else's choices!
1. Eating and drinking during active labor. Strongly discouraged by the hospital, in case you need general anesthesia for an emergency c-section. Problem is that it can cause dehydration (leading to the need for IV fluids, see #2), and lack of energy for the second stage of labor. Which can lead to an extended pushing phase, and c-section for "failure to progress". They claim that if you are put under with food in your stomach, you might throw up and aspirate the contents of your stomach = bad. But, if you haven't been eating or drinking, you throw up gastric juices, which to me seems a lot worse. At my hospital, the rate of c-sections is 30%, the rate of general anesthesia is 5%, which means that absolute max, 1.5% of people are having GA with a c-section. And as the 30% rate includes planned c-sections as well, it's actually a lot less than that. AND, if someone's been in a car accident or the like, they almost certainly don't have an empty stomach. So I think that the prohibition on eating / drinking is bogus, and don't plan to follow it. (Which I will let them know if I do end up needing GA).
2. No IV fluids for hydration. The rate of IV's is quite astonishing - 94%! Are that many of us really dehydrated? When I was in for my contractions they stuck an IV in me 2/3 times - the first I managed to convince them that I really was not having the contractions because of dehydration (I had had over 100oz of fluid during the day). The second time they wanted to try it anyway, despite my saying the same thing. And it made no difference to the contractions whatsoever. And then the third was when I was having the magnesium, which needed to go in through an IV. But, our hormones are fairly delicately balanced, and getting more fluid than needed can screw with that balance. Perhaps leading to a slowdown in labor, so pitocin to help... blah blah blah. Slippery slope.
3. No induction. If Phred isn't ready to come out yet, I don't see any reason to force it. Plus, it seems like very few people who are induced end up with a normal, natural labor. I'd rather be pregnant for a few more days.
4. No breaking of waters to speed up labor. The amniotic sac can A) help with opennig the cervix more gently, B) cushion the baby's head, and C) equalize the pressure the baby feels with contractions - less fetal distress.
5. Minimal external fetal monitoring. The standard is to throw those suckers on you as soon as you arrive in the hospital, and keep them on the entire time. However, they definitely seem to lead to a higher c-section rate, because as soon as any kind of issue is seen, the doctors feel like they have to fix it right away. There has been a fair amount of research into this topic, and almost every article says that "intermittent auscultation" is just as effective at catching real problems as the continuous monitoring is, while lessening the c-section rate.
6. No time limits on labor (within reason). First, there seems to be a "you have to deliver within 24 hours of your water breaking" paradigm in place these days. Because of threat of infection. But studies have shown that there is no increased risk of infection just because of broken waters, especially if no internal exams are performed. So I'm thinking that if this happens and I don't start having contractions right away, I'm not even going to bother calling the hospital at that point. I also do not want a c-section just because I've been in phase 1 for X number of hours, or phase 2 for 2 hours. The time limits used seem to be actually quite fast, so I'm not going to let them pressure me into having a c-section just because of those.
7. No scheduled c-section, even if Phred does seem to want to stay breech. I figure the longer he/she is in there, the more chance there is of turning over, however remote it may be.
I think that about covers it!
Sunday, July 30, 2006
My brain is mush. Can't think of title.
Wow, I really can’t believe it’s been almost two weeks since I last posted. Where does the time go?? Everything here is chugging along, status quo. Phred seems to be getting bigger by the day, along with my belly! Still breech though. I’ve been doing some of the position exercises, just started seeing a chiro certified in the Webster technique, and have an acupuncture appointment next week. I’ll also have another u/s at my 36 week appointment to check exactly how Phred is positioned, for a possible ECV the following week, if nothing else has worked in the meantime.
The other things I’ve been occupying my time with include making myself a couple of skirts, since I really can’t stand any of my pants any more, my baby shower (last weekend), and doing lots of research about delivery, delivery interventions, c-sections and the like.
I wrote previously about how I read about the Bradley method for natural delivery, and how it seemed like a really good approach to me. I’m too late for the full series of 12 classes, but did find an instructor (thanks for the suggestion, Erin!) who is willing to meet with us privately to hopefully give us some tips and help with practice that we won’t necessarily get from reading the book and going through the exercises on our own. We have been doing some practicing, I’m learning how to RELAX! Also doing stretching and squatting and Kegels…
The above paragraphs were the first part of a post I started at the chiro on Thursday, that has now turned into two full, single spaced pages in Word, so I decided that rather than making you sit through all my ruminations at once (and wonder how I'm doing), I'd break it up into pieces so that I don't end up with a three or four page monstrosity!
The other things I’ve been occupying my time with include making myself a couple of skirts, since I really can’t stand any of my pants any more, my baby shower (last weekend), and doing lots of research about delivery, delivery interventions, c-sections and the like.
I wrote previously about how I read about the Bradley method for natural delivery, and how it seemed like a really good approach to me. I’m too late for the full series of 12 classes, but did find an instructor (thanks for the suggestion, Erin!) who is willing to meet with us privately to hopefully give us some tips and help with practice that we won’t necessarily get from reading the book and going through the exercises on our own. We have been doing some practicing, I’m learning how to RELAX! Also doing stretching and squatting and Kegels…
The above paragraphs were the first part of a post I started at the chiro on Thursday, that has now turned into two full, single spaced pages in Word, so I decided that rather than making you sit through all my ruminations at once (and wonder how I'm doing), I'd break it up into pieces so that I don't end up with a three or four page monstrosity!
Monday, July 17, 2006
I happened to be near an Old Navy this weekend, so I thought I’d go in and see what they had in the way of maternity clothes – any skirts, or long-ish shorts that I could actually wear to work? Of course it turned out that the particular store I went into didn’t have a maternity section at all, but I did happen to walk by one rack of “low-rise” skirts that I thought might fit. In yet another example of the cussedness of the universe, all they had in most of the colors that I would consider wearing were XXS and S. I could just tell by looking at those there was no way I was getting them over my much more ample ass. I did finally find a L, so went into the changing room to try it on. Quite a shock when I looked at my belly – all of a sudden, I’d acquired the beginnings of stretch marks! I was really hoping that I would avoid those. My genetics suggest that I might – neither my mom nor my sister got any. But there they were, in plain light pink. Oh well, nothing I could do about it. Que sera, sera.
I had to laugh at myself when I had M look at my belly later and he didn’t see anything. They weren’t stretch marks, idiot, it was just from the dress I was wearing being scrunched against my belly by the seat belt. He.
Anyway, some other things on my mind… I read on bbycenter that the Bradley method of natural childbirth allows women to deliver drug free 90% of the time! That is really a pretty amazing statistic, so I decided to get a couple of books out of the library and see what I think. Unfortunately, the method is taught over the course of 12 weekly sessions, so I’m a bit late for that. But I did read through the entire book on Friday night, and it sounds well worth trying. Now I just have to get M to buy into it (it requires full participation from your coach, which includes nightly practice sessions). I was hoping he’d read the book over the weekend after I’d said that I wanted him to, but that didn’t happen. I hate to nag, but I might have to! Does anyone out there have experience with this method? I’d love to hear what you thought of it.
Phred is still clearly breech, and although it does seem that breech vag. deliveries are possible, the medical establishment tends to want to do C-sections if the baby stays that way. So I’ve also been looking into methods for turning Phred over. There are a couple of positions that are suggested for encouraging this at home – one where you basically lie on your back at a –45 degree angle, your feet up on a couch, bum supported by pillows, and upper torso on the floor. The second is kneeling on the ground as if you’re going to crawl, but then putting your chest onto the ground, again getting your bum higher than your chest. Some other things include acupuncture, moxybustion (performed by an acupuncturist, burning certain herbs very close to particular spots near your baby toe – the heat is supposed to do something to encourage the baby to turn), or “external cephalic version (ECV)”, where your doctor uses her hands to turn the baby. Anyone tried any of these methods? At the moment I’m trying the two positions, although you’re supposed to do it more often during the day than I can manage, what with working. I thought I would ask my doctor about doing ECV at my next appointment, and perhaps make another appointment with my acu as well.
I had to laugh at myself when I had M look at my belly later and he didn’t see anything. They weren’t stretch marks, idiot, it was just from the dress I was wearing being scrunched against my belly by the seat belt. He.
Anyway, some other things on my mind… I read on bbycenter that the Bradley method of natural childbirth allows women to deliver drug free 90% of the time! That is really a pretty amazing statistic, so I decided to get a couple of books out of the library and see what I think. Unfortunately, the method is taught over the course of 12 weekly sessions, so I’m a bit late for that. But I did read through the entire book on Friday night, and it sounds well worth trying. Now I just have to get M to buy into it (it requires full participation from your coach, which includes nightly practice sessions). I was hoping he’d read the book over the weekend after I’d said that I wanted him to, but that didn’t happen. I hate to nag, but I might have to! Does anyone out there have experience with this method? I’d love to hear what you thought of it.
Phred is still clearly breech, and although it does seem that breech vag. deliveries are possible, the medical establishment tends to want to do C-sections if the baby stays that way. So I’ve also been looking into methods for turning Phred over. There are a couple of positions that are suggested for encouraging this at home – one where you basically lie on your back at a –45 degree angle, your feet up on a couch, bum supported by pillows, and upper torso on the floor. The second is kneeling on the ground as if you’re going to crawl, but then putting your chest onto the ground, again getting your bum higher than your chest. Some other things include acupuncture, moxybustion (performed by an acupuncturist, burning certain herbs very close to particular spots near your baby toe – the heat is supposed to do something to encourage the baby to turn), or “external cephalic version (ECV)”, where your doctor uses her hands to turn the baby. Anyone tried any of these methods? At the moment I’m trying the two positions, although you’re supposed to do it more often during the day than I can manage, what with working. I thought I would ask my doctor about doing ECV at my next appointment, and perhaps make another appointment with my acu as well.
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Things you learn and don't learn in hospital classes
We had the two childbirth related classes we're taking last Saturday, breastfeeding and Infant safety and CPR. I actually got more out of each of them than I was expecting, which was really nice.
One thing that we were told in the bf class, which I'd also read in the LLL book, was that you're not supposed to put soap on your nipples. So I decided that I would try and implement that over the last few days.
Day 1: Washed myself with my usual routine - using my puffy with D0ve bath wash, started with my left arm, then shoulder. Then skipped my chest which usually comes next, and moved over to my right arm. Of course, crossing my soapy left arm over my chest promptly got soap everywhere. After my right arm, then my left upper back, which got soap everywhere on my front that wasn't already soapy. So, scratch that attempt.
Day 2: More involved process - wash left arm / shoulder, and rinse. Rinsing of course sent soap down my front... wash right arm and rinse. More soap. Upper chest - more coursing of soap. Then, M and I usually shower together to save on time and water - while we were switching positions, I happened to rub against his arm - yet MORE soap.
Is anyone actually able to accomplish this???
Then, I had lunch with a friend the other day, and we were discussing her labor experience. She asked if I'd heard / read that one could poop during labor. I said that I had. She then said that there's another part that NO-ONE mentions - not the books, not the childbirth classes, nothing. And proceeded to tell me her story:
When she got to the pushing phase of labor, her sister and husband were in the delivery room with her. Each of them was supporting one of her legs. The first time the nurse told her to push, she pushed very gently, and let go a really loud fart. Since she wasn't expecting that (although it makes perfect sense that it would happen), she had to close her eyes and try really really hard not to laugh. After she was almost in control, she opened one eye to look at her sister, who by her facial expression was in exactly the same boat. After a few seconds, the nurse said "don't worry about it, it's going to happen, but go ahead and get your laughing out of the way", at which point all three of them totally lost it.
I'm really glad that she mentioned it to me, because I am such a giggler - I think it won't affect me as much now that I know it might happen, rather than taking me by surprise.
In Phred news, still having contractions, but still not nearly as much as before the magnesium. I asked at my appointment yesterday about exercising... still no, but I should get the all clear to do a bit after 34 weeks. I'm now measuring a little big for 32weeks, but doc wasn't worried. Although she did mention my weight for the first time at this appointment, after I gained 7 lbs since the last one! I think it's a lot of water though, as my ankles are starting to swell, and my fingers too. Total gain of 23lbs so far (including that 7!), so I really don't think that's so bad.
One thing that we were told in the bf class, which I'd also read in the LLL book, was that you're not supposed to put soap on your nipples. So I decided that I would try and implement that over the last few days.
Day 1: Washed myself with my usual routine - using my puffy with D0ve bath wash, started with my left arm, then shoulder. Then skipped my chest which usually comes next, and moved over to my right arm. Of course, crossing my soapy left arm over my chest promptly got soap everywhere. After my right arm, then my left upper back, which got soap everywhere on my front that wasn't already soapy. So, scratch that attempt.
Day 2: More involved process - wash left arm / shoulder, and rinse. Rinsing of course sent soap down my front... wash right arm and rinse. More soap. Upper chest - more coursing of soap. Then, M and I usually shower together to save on time and water - while we were switching positions, I happened to rub against his arm - yet MORE soap.
Is anyone actually able to accomplish this???
Then, I had lunch with a friend the other day, and we were discussing her labor experience. She asked if I'd heard / read that one could poop during labor. I said that I had. She then said that there's another part that NO-ONE mentions - not the books, not the childbirth classes, nothing. And proceeded to tell me her story:
When she got to the pushing phase of labor, her sister and husband were in the delivery room with her. Each of them was supporting one of her legs. The first time the nurse told her to push, she pushed very gently, and let go a really loud fart. Since she wasn't expecting that (although it makes perfect sense that it would happen), she had to close her eyes and try really really hard not to laugh. After she was almost in control, she opened one eye to look at her sister, who by her facial expression was in exactly the same boat. After a few seconds, the nurse said "don't worry about it, it's going to happen, but go ahead and get your laughing out of the way", at which point all three of them totally lost it.
I'm really glad that she mentioned it to me, because I am such a giggler - I think it won't affect me as much now that I know it might happen, rather than taking me by surprise.
In Phred news, still having contractions, but still not nearly as much as before the magnesium. I asked at my appointment yesterday about exercising... still no, but I should get the all clear to do a bit after 34 weeks. I'm now measuring a little big for 32weeks, but doc wasn't worried. Although she did mention my weight for the first time at this appointment, after I gained 7 lbs since the last one! I think it's a lot of water though, as my ankles are starting to swell, and my fingers too. Total gain of 23lbs so far (including that 7!), so I really don't think that's so bad.
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
Bits and pieces
Interesting article from yesterday's Boston Globe - early results are very promising for using Omega-3 oils in IV feeding of infants instead of Omega-6, for avoiding liver problems.
Pregnancy notes:
My contractions have calmed down quite a bit - every now and again I'll get a bout of them, but they're never closer together than 10 minutes anymore, and for the most part they're an hour + apart. 42 weeks, here I come!
I think that all the drugs are finally out of my system completely - I haven't had to get up in the middle of the night to use the loo in a few days now. An uninterrupted night's sleep is highly welcome. Although I know I shouldn't get used to it.
I noticed sitting down today that my belly button is starting to stick out just a tiny bit. Up to this point it's gotten flatter and flatter. Now there's a tiny piece in the middle that's puffing out. It feels funny when I push on it!
I'm also getting a bit of the linea nigra. It's faint, but noticeable. I assume it'll keep getting darker over the coming weeks / months?
My hair is finally feeling a bit thicker - at least less of it is coming out in the shower. For a girl used to very fine, straight hair, it's nice to have a little more of it. Although I know that goes away after the baby is born.
And I'm willing to bet my clearer complexion will disappear in short order too!
Pregnancy notes:
My contractions have calmed down quite a bit - every now and again I'll get a bout of them, but they're never closer together than 10 minutes anymore, and for the most part they're an hour + apart. 42 weeks, here I come!
I think that all the drugs are finally out of my system completely - I haven't had to get up in the middle of the night to use the loo in a few days now. An uninterrupted night's sleep is highly welcome. Although I know I shouldn't get used to it.
I noticed sitting down today that my belly button is starting to stick out just a tiny bit. Up to this point it's gotten flatter and flatter. Now there's a tiny piece in the middle that's puffing out. It feels funny when I push on it!
I'm also getting a bit of the linea nigra. It's faint, but noticeable. I assume it'll keep getting darker over the coming weeks / months?
My hair is finally feeling a bit thicker - at least less of it is coming out in the shower. For a girl used to very fine, straight hair, it's nice to have a little more of it. Although I know that goes away after the baby is born.
And I'm willing to bet my clearer complexion will disappear in short order too!
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Paranoia, party of one? Your table is ready....
I am driving myself certifiably insane. Doctor's appointment yesterday, with yet another cervical check (my doctor even joked that she didn't think she'd ever checked anyone cervix as much as mine!), showed once again that nothing is happening. Status quo. Is it okay for me to tell myself to relax? Doc was happy enough with the way everythings been going that she suggested going back to biweekly appointments rather than weekly, until I'm at 36 weeks. So I think I really need to stop being so paranoid.
Phred was also super active last night - dancing away like mad. With M's hand on my lower belly he was able to feel lots of movement, which made me really really happy. There were also a couple of really bizarre feeling movements - if I had to guess I'd say that Phred was rolling over, and his foot was pressing against me as he was doing it, so it was the rotation we were feeling.
(For those of you who remarked upon my use of pronouns in my last post - we don't know if Phred is a boy or a girl, so I alternate between both options, getting myself used to the idea of either:-)
I also wanted to say how much I appreciate your comments on my last entry. Some excellent points in there! I really love this community.
Phred was also super active last night - dancing away like mad. With M's hand on my lower belly he was able to feel lots of movement, which made me really really happy. There were also a couple of really bizarre feeling movements - if I had to guess I'd say that Phred was rolling over, and his foot was pressing against me as he was doing it, so it was the rotation we were feeling.
(For those of you who remarked upon my use of pronouns in my last post - we don't know if Phred is a boy or a girl, so I alternate between both options, getting myself used to the idea of either:-)
I also wanted to say how much I appreciate your comments on my last entry. Some excellent points in there! I really love this community.
Monday, June 26, 2006
Two part post
Part one:
I was so pleased this morning – the contractions really seemed to have subsided; I didn’t have any yesterday until after noon, and this morning only one. So I sent my mom and sis an email saying how happy I was, and that maybe they were dying down and would go away completely.
I really really should have known better.
This afternoon, of course, they started right back up again. And they’re feeling the same way they did on the Wednesday afternoon before I was admitted to the hospital – not every contraction, but about every fourth one I feel low in my uterus, rather than just at the top. I left work early and have been at home on the couch since, but I’m still getting them. I do have a doctor’s appointment in the am, so I’ll wait for that unless they start getting more painful. But I really was hoping that things were settling down in there. Alas.
Part two:
This part is about my sadness that some things with my pregnancy are not going as I had imagined / hoped. If you’re not in a place where you can read something like this, please don’t. I wrote this a few days ago, and I am feeling mostly better, but still a bit… wistful I guess is the best way to describe it.
Let me also preface this by saying that I am incredibly grateful to be pregnant right now, with meeting Phred just around the corner. I am fully aware of what an incredible gift this is, and what a special time in my life (and M’s too).
There are, however, some things that I was looking forward to about being pregnant that just haven’t materialized, or haven’t worked the way I wanted them too, and it all hit me last week.
I was washing dishes, and my back started hurting. The first back pains I’ve had this entire pregnancy. I feel like it’s all because I can’t exercise, I can’t lift weights like I was – I had been feeling so strong and healthy and good about myself and how my body was handling this pregnancy, and now I just feel like crap. I know that exercising makes the contractions worse, and of course I don’t want that, but it doesn’t mean that I don’t miss it terribly.
That (and, I think the Norah Jones CD that I was listening to – not really a good idea if you’re already feeling sad and melancholy) made me start thinking about some of the other things I feel like I’m missing out on.
The whole increased sex drive in the second trimester? What a joke! In my case, that is a complete load of baloney. I’ve never had a terribly active one to begin with, and now it’s gone from, oh I’d say a 2 on a scale of 1-10 (1 = no sex drive, 10 = nymphomaniac) to about a zero. Maybe even a negative number. And that makes me sad, because I was looking forward to being able to share that with M.
I also have never been one to dream. Or at least to remember them. And I was looking forward to all the wild and wacky dreams of pregnancy. That hasn’t come to pass either. I had the one dream during my 2ww that I knew I was pregnant because my nipples were bleeding – since then, nada.
I don’t know how much of these previous two are old wives tales, versus things that most people really do experience. But regardless, I was looking forward to both!
I think the thing that makes me saddest (in fact I know this is what most upsets me because when M and I were talking about it last week I started absolutely bawling) is that because Phred is breech and my placenta is on the front of my uterus, it is extremely rare that Phred’s movements can be seen or felt from the outside. M has felt her a few times, but we don’t get to play with her like so many other people have described. So it makes me really sad that I have this amazingly cool thing going on inside me, and I can’t share it with the person most important to me in the whole world like I want to. He said that he doesn’t feel left out, but somehow that doesn’t make me feel better.
I was so pleased this morning – the contractions really seemed to have subsided; I didn’t have any yesterday until after noon, and this morning only one. So I sent my mom and sis an email saying how happy I was, and that maybe they were dying down and would go away completely.
I really really should have known better.
This afternoon, of course, they started right back up again. And they’re feeling the same way they did on the Wednesday afternoon before I was admitted to the hospital – not every contraction, but about every fourth one I feel low in my uterus, rather than just at the top. I left work early and have been at home on the couch since, but I’m still getting them. I do have a doctor’s appointment in the am, so I’ll wait for that unless they start getting more painful. But I really was hoping that things were settling down in there. Alas.
Part two:
This part is about my sadness that some things with my pregnancy are not going as I had imagined / hoped. If you’re not in a place where you can read something like this, please don’t. I wrote this a few days ago, and I am feeling mostly better, but still a bit… wistful I guess is the best way to describe it.
Let me also preface this by saying that I am incredibly grateful to be pregnant right now, with meeting Phred just around the corner. I am fully aware of what an incredible gift this is, and what a special time in my life (and M’s too).
There are, however, some things that I was looking forward to about being pregnant that just haven’t materialized, or haven’t worked the way I wanted them too, and it all hit me last week.
I was washing dishes, and my back started hurting. The first back pains I’ve had this entire pregnancy. I feel like it’s all because I can’t exercise, I can’t lift weights like I was – I had been feeling so strong and healthy and good about myself and how my body was handling this pregnancy, and now I just feel like crap. I know that exercising makes the contractions worse, and of course I don’t want that, but it doesn’t mean that I don’t miss it terribly.
That (and, I think the Norah Jones CD that I was listening to – not really a good idea if you’re already feeling sad and melancholy) made me start thinking about some of the other things I feel like I’m missing out on.
The whole increased sex drive in the second trimester? What a joke! In my case, that is a complete load of baloney. I’ve never had a terribly active one to begin with, and now it’s gone from, oh I’d say a 2 on a scale of 1-10 (1 = no sex drive, 10 = nymphomaniac) to about a zero. Maybe even a negative number. And that makes me sad, because I was looking forward to being able to share that with M.
I also have never been one to dream. Or at least to remember them. And I was looking forward to all the wild and wacky dreams of pregnancy. That hasn’t come to pass either. I had the one dream during my 2ww that I knew I was pregnant because my nipples were bleeding – since then, nada.
I don’t know how much of these previous two are old wives tales, versus things that most people really do experience. But regardless, I was looking forward to both!
I think the thing that makes me saddest (in fact I know this is what most upsets me because when M and I were talking about it last week I started absolutely bawling) is that because Phred is breech and my placenta is on the front of my uterus, it is extremely rare that Phred’s movements can be seen or felt from the outside. M has felt her a few times, but we don’t get to play with her like so many other people have described. So it makes me really sad that I have this amazingly cool thing going on inside me, and I can’t share it with the person most important to me in the whole world like I want to. He said that he doesn’t feel left out, but somehow that doesn’t make me feel better.
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Better and better!
I only had to get up once last night to go to the loo. Which means I ended up sleeping so much more soundly. Definitely feeling more like myself.
Although when I went to the bathroom when I arrived at work this morning I realized my fly was unbuttoned...
And then when I went again, that I put my undies on inside out this morning!
So I guess I'm not quite as combobulated as I thought.
As I was leaving the bathroom I ran into a coworker who asked how I was doing, so I told her a little bit about it. Then she had the absolute nerve to say to me, "so now make sure you take it easy!" I replied, in a not terribly nice tone of voice, "I *HAVE* been taking it easy". Making me ANGRY is really not going to help, I don't think. People just need to mind their own damn business. It is quite obvious to me that she thinks I brought this on myself - she had definitely given me the sense when I was biking to work that she thought I was overdoing it. Never mind that my DOCTOR said that biking was just fine. Never mind that there is scientific evidence that exercise is GOOD FOR YOU AND THE BABY. She thinks that it is HER place to judge what I've been doing, and then tell me about it. GRRRRRRRRR. And then another coworker made a similar comment to me just afterwards, although in a much nicer way. But still. I have not done any exercise, of any shape or form, for the last 4.5 weeks. They can just fucking bite me.
Although when I went to the bathroom when I arrived at work this morning I realized my fly was unbuttoned...
And then when I went again, that I put my undies on inside out this morning!
So I guess I'm not quite as combobulated as I thought.
As I was leaving the bathroom I ran into a coworker who asked how I was doing, so I told her a little bit about it. Then she had the absolute nerve to say to me, "so now make sure you take it easy!" I replied, in a not terribly nice tone of voice, "I *HAVE* been taking it easy". Making me ANGRY is really not going to help, I don't think. People just need to mind their own damn business. It is quite obvious to me that she thinks I brought this on myself - she had definitely given me the sense when I was biking to work that she thought I was overdoing it. Never mind that my DOCTOR said that biking was just fine. Never mind that there is scientific evidence that exercise is GOOD FOR YOU AND THE BABY. She thinks that it is HER place to judge what I've been doing, and then tell me about it. GRRRRRRRRR. And then another coworker made a similar comment to me just afterwards, although in a much nicer way. But still. I have not done any exercise, of any shape or form, for the last 4.5 weeks. They can just fucking bite me.
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
To appease the hordes clamoring for an update (okay, at least a couple of you asked ;-), we're hanging in there. I didn't end up going to work yesterday because although I slept better than I had in the hospital, just an hour of sitting at my home office computer convinced me that I wasn't quite ready yet. So I spent the day reading books and curled up on the couch downstairs with my computer. Love the broadband internet access! M came home early, and we did go out for dinner to celebrate our seven year anniversary. Do I feel guilty for not going to work, but then going to dinner? Yeah, just a smidge. But I'll get over that soon.
I did go in to work today - got there at around 10, checked email, did about three productive things, then started feeling a bit light-headed and nauseous. Lunch didn't make me feel any better, nor did a Snickers bar (but it's packed with peanuts! It's supposed to satisfy me! HA.) So I left to come home at 1:30. I figure it'll take me a few days before I'm really feeling back up to snuff again.
One of my coworkers asked me if I'd lost weight - she said my arms look thinner. Yeah, thanks for bringing up the fact that my muscle mass has basically gone to nothing! I haven't been gaining much weight the last few weeks, but I think it really is that all my muscles are turning into jello. I'm going to have a lot of things to hold over Phred's head when he/she is older.
I was reading over some of my old blog entries earlier today, and I realized I used to be a lot more entertaining. So I thought I'd regale you with some fun from the hospital.
"Firsts" from my first hospital incarceration:
1. It wasn't really my first time in a hospital. I was in a serious car accident about ten years ago - broke my collar bone, stiches in my face, and a concussion that means I have zero recollection of the accident or about four days afterwards. So this stay was "new to me", but not brand new.
2. They have a portable u/s machine that they can bring right to your bedside. I had no idea!
3. The u/s showed that Phred is, as I have long suspected, happily in a breech position. So I wasn't allowed anything to eat after they admitted me, in case we had to do an emergency C-section. So the last sustenance I'd had was lunch at 11:30 on Wednesday.
4. Thursday morning, much to my surprise, the door of my room opened and a tray was brought in. We weren't sure if I was allowed to have anything on it or not. But just seeing "food" brought tears to my eyes I was so hungry and weak feeling.
5. It was for me - clear liquids. Woo-hoo!!! I got to have jello, apple juice, and chicken broth. It was better than nothing, but still a bit of a disappointment.
6. I got to have an italian ice and a popsicle for lunch. SO much better.
7. When they gave me the initial magnesium bolus, the nurse said that I would quite quickly feel hot all over, flushed, and my heart might start racing. What she didn't tell me was that the place I would feel hottest was my "vajayjay". Boy, was that ever a weird feeling.
8. They won't let you get out of bed once they've started the magnesium, because you essentially have no control over your muscles. So I got to use a bedpan for the first time. It was a bizarre experience. I basically ended up peeing all over my butt. And then sitting in it. After the second time I asked for a catheter, because I just could not imagine having to pee into that thing once an hour.
9. Having the catheter put in wasn't nearly as bad as I would have thought. A little numbing gel, then all I felt was a pinch. I remember reading on someone's blog that she didn't want to have an epidural because of the catheter. I have a tiny feeling that the pain of labor is going to SO far eclipse the "pain" of having that catheter put in.
10. The first time I stood up after the mag was stopped was another truly strange feeling. I still felt really heavy and out of control.
11. I was taken to the antepartum unit in a wheelchair. My eyes were better, but still unable to focus quickly enough to deal with the images flashing by as I was wheeled down the corridor.
12. The first time I peed on my own after having the catheter removed was a little scary - quite a bit of blood. I guess when I rolled from side to side and felt twinges down there it was doing something after all. Fortunately that didn't take too long to resolve.
That's all I can think of for now. Have a good night, all!
I did go in to work today - got there at around 10, checked email, did about three productive things, then started feeling a bit light-headed and nauseous. Lunch didn't make me feel any better, nor did a Snickers bar (but it's packed with peanuts! It's supposed to satisfy me! HA.) So I left to come home at 1:30. I figure it'll take me a few days before I'm really feeling back up to snuff again.
One of my coworkers asked me if I'd lost weight - she said my arms look thinner. Yeah, thanks for bringing up the fact that my muscle mass has basically gone to nothing! I haven't been gaining much weight the last few weeks, but I think it really is that all my muscles are turning into jello. I'm going to have a lot of things to hold over Phred's head when he/she is older.
I was reading over some of my old blog entries earlier today, and I realized I used to be a lot more entertaining. So I thought I'd regale you with some fun from the hospital.
"Firsts" from my first hospital incarceration:
1. It wasn't really my first time in a hospital. I was in a serious car accident about ten years ago - broke my collar bone, stiches in my face, and a concussion that means I have zero recollection of the accident or about four days afterwards. So this stay was "new to me", but not brand new.
2. They have a portable u/s machine that they can bring right to your bedside. I had no idea!
3. The u/s showed that Phred is, as I have long suspected, happily in a breech position. So I wasn't allowed anything to eat after they admitted me, in case we had to do an emergency C-section. So the last sustenance I'd had was lunch at 11:30 on Wednesday.
4. Thursday morning, much to my surprise, the door of my room opened and a tray was brought in. We weren't sure if I was allowed to have anything on it or not. But just seeing "food" brought tears to my eyes I was so hungry and weak feeling.
5. It was for me - clear liquids. Woo-hoo!!! I got to have jello, apple juice, and chicken broth. It was better than nothing, but still a bit of a disappointment.
6. I got to have an italian ice and a popsicle for lunch. SO much better.
7. When they gave me the initial magnesium bolus, the nurse said that I would quite quickly feel hot all over, flushed, and my heart might start racing. What she didn't tell me was that the place I would feel hottest was my "vajayjay". Boy, was that ever a weird feeling.
8. They won't let you get out of bed once they've started the magnesium, because you essentially have no control over your muscles. So I got to use a bedpan for the first time. It was a bizarre experience. I basically ended up peeing all over my butt. And then sitting in it. After the second time I asked for a catheter, because I just could not imagine having to pee into that thing once an hour.
9. Having the catheter put in wasn't nearly as bad as I would have thought. A little numbing gel, then all I felt was a pinch. I remember reading on someone's blog that she didn't want to have an epidural because of the catheter. I have a tiny feeling that the pain of labor is going to SO far eclipse the "pain" of having that catheter put in.
10. The first time I stood up after the mag was stopped was another truly strange feeling. I still felt really heavy and out of control.
11. I was taken to the antepartum unit in a wheelchair. My eyes were better, but still unable to focus quickly enough to deal with the images flashing by as I was wheeled down the corridor.
12. The first time I peed on my own after having the catheter removed was a little scary - quite a bit of blood. I guess when I rolled from side to side and felt twinges down there it was doing something after all. Fortunately that didn't take too long to resolve.
That's all I can think of for now. Have a good night, all!
Sunday, June 18, 2006
Relief? Not so much...
I'm finally back home after 4 days in the hospital (and Phred and I are both doing just fine). Despite the negative fFN test on Monday, my contractions started feeling different on Wednesday - I had mostly been feeling the tightening towards the top of my uterus, but Wednesday afternoon they moved down towards the bottom. So I called the doc once again, and went back to Labor and Delivery.
They checked my cervix when I got in there - still long and closed, and had me on the monitors for a few hours. Unfortunately, a second cervical check then showed that I was 50% effaced (which I will continue to wonder about, but...) so we then went into full prevention mode. (Which included another fFN test, which was now positive again. So much for Monday's result!)
First shot of beta methasone Wednesday night (steroid to mature Phred's lungs in case of pre-term delivery), and they started me on magnesium sulfate to try and stop the contractions / prevent the pre-term labor for long enough to give the steroids a chance to work. That was an experience. The magnesium basically completely relaxes all your muscles - every movement became an effort, including focusing my eyes! (All I can say is thank goodness for the catheter I asked them to put in Wednesday night.) I basically spent all of Thursday and the first part of Friday in a stupor. I did have a book on CD that I listened to to pass some of the time. That's about all I could manage. What was interesting was that despite the fact all the rest of my muscles were rubber, I was still contracting like a champ. Fortunately that stopped on Friday morning - finally!
Once the contractions had stopped for a few hours, they felt comfortable taking me off the mag, so around 1pm on Friday they shut that off. By 4 I was feeling worlds better, and got moved down to the antepartum floor. (i.e. the bedrest floor).
There was one more incident - I woke up in the early morning on Saturday with the contractractions back again, 2-3 minutes apart, and more painful than they had been. Fortunately after I went to the bathroom a couple of times (and got rid of a a full liter of fluid), they calmed down pretty quickly. A full bladder definitely seems to exacerbate the contractions at this point.
The next couple of days I got to experience hospital bedrest. It wasn't actually as bad as I was imagining - I had a stack of books, my computer, a fair number of visitors... all passed the time pretty quickly. I finally got to shower again on Saturday morning too, I cannot describe how good that felt! Probably the worst was the nights - even though the bedrest bed was a lot more comfortable than the L&D bed, it still wasn't nearly as nice as my bed at home.
After another cervical check this morning, with still no change, I was allowed to go home again. Boy does it feel nice to be out of that bed! They're not even keeping me on bedrest, I think because I seem to have the contractions whether I'm in bed or not, so doesn't seem to be much point in restricting my activity to that level.
Hopefully this is the last of the drama, and I'll just keep gently contracting for another 6+ weeks. (29w1d today).
They checked my cervix when I got in there - still long and closed, and had me on the monitors for a few hours. Unfortunately, a second cervical check then showed that I was 50% effaced (which I will continue to wonder about, but...) so we then went into full prevention mode. (Which included another fFN test, which was now positive again. So much for Monday's result!)
First shot of beta methasone Wednesday night (steroid to mature Phred's lungs in case of pre-term delivery), and they started me on magnesium sulfate to try and stop the contractions / prevent the pre-term labor for long enough to give the steroids a chance to work. That was an experience. The magnesium basically completely relaxes all your muscles - every movement became an effort, including focusing my eyes! (All I can say is thank goodness for the catheter I asked them to put in Wednesday night.) I basically spent all of Thursday and the first part of Friday in a stupor. I did have a book on CD that I listened to to pass some of the time. That's about all I could manage. What was interesting was that despite the fact all the rest of my muscles were rubber, I was still contracting like a champ. Fortunately that stopped on Friday morning - finally!
Once the contractions had stopped for a few hours, they felt comfortable taking me off the mag, so around 1pm on Friday they shut that off. By 4 I was feeling worlds better, and got moved down to the antepartum floor. (i.e. the bedrest floor).
There was one more incident - I woke up in the early morning on Saturday with the contractractions back again, 2-3 minutes apart, and more painful than they had been. Fortunately after I went to the bathroom a couple of times (and got rid of a a full liter of fluid), they calmed down pretty quickly. A full bladder definitely seems to exacerbate the contractions at this point.
The next couple of days I got to experience hospital bedrest. It wasn't actually as bad as I was imagining - I had a stack of books, my computer, a fair number of visitors... all passed the time pretty quickly. I finally got to shower again on Saturday morning too, I cannot describe how good that felt! Probably the worst was the nights - even though the bedrest bed was a lot more comfortable than the L&D bed, it still wasn't nearly as nice as my bed at home.
After another cervical check this morning, with still no change, I was allowed to go home again. Boy does it feel nice to be out of that bed! They're not even keeping me on bedrest, I think because I seem to have the contractions whether I'm in bed or not, so doesn't seem to be much point in restricting my activity to that level.
Hopefully this is the last of the drama, and I'll just keep gently contracting for another 6+ weeks. (29w1d today).
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Good news
At my appointment yesterday, my Doc decided to do another fetal fibronectin test, to see if that had changed at all (it was positive at 25 weeks). Called back a few hours later to say that indeed, it is negative now. So that, along with the fact that my cervix was measured at 3.3cm last week suggests that it is highly unlikely that I will deliver pre-term. Big sigh of relief! (I was already feeling better given that I'm 28w3d, this is just icing)
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Further adventures of Nico and Phred
When I went to the loo yesterday morning, there was a big ol' chunk-o-mucus on the tp. Not enormous, but big enough for me to be concerned. Slightly larger than an M&M (Smartie, for those of you across the pond. Or do you have M&Ms over there these days?). I started to write a post asking about what the size of the mucus plug would be, if that's what it was, but then decided I was just being silly, and should call the doctor's office and ask them.
So they had me come in for triage again. A quick check of my cervix... was not as quick as they had been in the past, so I was prepared for bad news. Turned out not to be so bad - still closed, but now 70% effaced. So not great either. Back to Labor and Delivery for more monitoring.
The monitoring again showed that Phred is doing just fine, but my contractions are still on the order of 4-5 minutes apart. This time they decided to try hydration, despite my protests that I was quite well hydrated, thank you very much. A liter of oral fluids and 2 liters of IV fluids later, they said I was right, that hydration was not the problem. Yeah.
Two more checks of my cervix by a different midwife showed no change, but she definitely agreed with the initial estimation that it was shorter. So, they sent me home again, home again, jiggety... no jogging allowed! And made me an appointment for an u/s this morning.
The u/s, thankfully, was definitively good. My cervis was measuring at 3.3cm, where generally pre-term labor isn't thretened unless it's less than 2cm. So I think that we can finally start to relax a bit, although I still plan on being hypervigilant about the symptoms of PTL.
So a few more wracked nerves later, it looks like we'll make it at least a couple more weeks. And every week that goes by is good!!
Thank you all so much for your good thoughts and wishes through these trials :-)
So they had me come in for triage again. A quick check of my cervix... was not as quick as they had been in the past, so I was prepared for bad news. Turned out not to be so bad - still closed, but now 70% effaced. So not great either. Back to Labor and Delivery for more monitoring.
The monitoring again showed that Phred is doing just fine, but my contractions are still on the order of 4-5 minutes apart. This time they decided to try hydration, despite my protests that I was quite well hydrated, thank you very much. A liter of oral fluids and 2 liters of IV fluids later, they said I was right, that hydration was not the problem. Yeah.
Two more checks of my cervix by a different midwife showed no change, but she definitely agreed with the initial estimation that it was shorter. So, they sent me home again, home again, jiggety... no jogging allowed! And made me an appointment for an u/s this morning.
The u/s, thankfully, was definitively good. My cervis was measuring at 3.3cm, where generally pre-term labor isn't thretened unless it's less than 2cm. So I think that we can finally start to relax a bit, although I still plan on being hypervigilant about the symptoms of PTL.
So a few more wracked nerves later, it looks like we'll make it at least a couple more weeks. And every week that goes by is good!!
Thank you all so much for your good thoughts and wishes through these trials :-)
Friday, June 02, 2006
OK, not great.
We're hanging in here. I'm still contracting like it's going out of style (this is one uterus that damn well better be able to handle labor, with all the practice it's getting!) Still no change to my cervix. Which is good. I'll be 27 weeks tomorrow, which makes me feel a lot better than when the contractions started right around 25 weeks. I can't believe I've been having them for two weeks already.
I had my regularly scheduled 26wk appointment on Tuesday, where I got to do the GD test for real this time (at around 14wks they gave me the drink by mistake, but didn't bother to draw my blood), as well as a Rhogam shot. I'm A- and M is O+, so there is a definite possibility that Phred and I will be Rh incompatible. My first butt-shot. It wasn't nearly as bad as I imagined, really just a little pinch.
Also discussed the continuation of the contractions with my doc. I asked about doing a bit of walking or light weight lifting - staying perfectly still doesn't seem to stop the contractions, so I figured doing a bit of exercise couldn't hurt. She recommended against it (although she said I'm a grown up, and can obviously make my own choices). She also even more strongly recommended against travelling - which I'm bummed about because I had three trips planned for work in June, two of which I was really looking forward to. Ah well.
She was totally right on the exercise though. I did take a walk the next day, from my office to the bank so I could make some deposits. Less than a mile round trip. It was really amazing - I do have the contractions sitting still, but boy does walking exacerbate them. So unless my uterus magically decides to become un-irritable, I'm stuck being a lump.
But, much better to be a lump with Phred still cooking than to do something stupid and cause these contractions to actually turn into labor.
I had my regularly scheduled 26wk appointment on Tuesday, where I got to do the GD test for real this time (at around 14wks they gave me the drink by mistake, but didn't bother to draw my blood), as well as a Rhogam shot. I'm A- and M is O+, so there is a definite possibility that Phred and I will be Rh incompatible. My first butt-shot. It wasn't nearly as bad as I imagined, really just a little pinch.
Also discussed the continuation of the contractions with my doc. I asked about doing a bit of walking or light weight lifting - staying perfectly still doesn't seem to stop the contractions, so I figured doing a bit of exercise couldn't hurt. She recommended against it (although she said I'm a grown up, and can obviously make my own choices). She also even more strongly recommended against travelling - which I'm bummed about because I had three trips planned for work in June, two of which I was really looking forward to. Ah well.
She was totally right on the exercise though. I did take a walk the next day, from my office to the bank so I could make some deposits. Less than a mile round trip. It was really amazing - I do have the contractions sitting still, but boy does walking exacerbate them. So unless my uterus magically decides to become un-irritable, I'm stuck being a lump.
But, much better to be a lump with Phred still cooking than to do something stupid and cause these contractions to actually turn into labor.
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
meltdown and recovery
I've been keeping pretty steady through all of this, but had my first meltdown last night, when the contractions were back to 4-5 minutes apart. I had been telling myself over and over again that it was unlikely that I was going into labor, given the length of my cervix and the fact that it was completely closed on Saturday night AND Monday morning. But the damn contractions picking up again really got to me. Especially as I had come home from work early because I did notice that walking up and down the stairs was bringing them on, and all I had been doing since was lying on the couch.
So I had my little crying jag. Then I switched positions, and it did seem to help, so we decided not to call in again. I had already made the decision not to go into work today, so thought I'd see what happened today, and hopefully things would calm down when I really wasn't doing anything. Self-imposed bedrest.
Did not work at all. After I woke up I stayed in bed for about 45 minutes, with contractions about ten minutes apart. Lying on the couch seemed better for a while, but any time I would stand up to go to the bathroom or get some water they would start right back up again, 4-5 minutes apart.
Eventually I called the doc again, both to get the results of my UTI test from Saturday, and also to ask whether I should come in again. They said I should. So, trip number two to the hospital. This one was less of a rush, as I figured an extra half hour probably wasn't going to do anything at this point.
More monitoring (Phred was called a “textbook full term reactive baby”, which was great!), and another cervical check showed once again that nothing is happening in that area.
So this time, the doc said not to worry about the contractions. They are obviously not productive, in that my cervix is just fine. She called them “nuisance” contractions. She was still a bit nervous, given the positive fibronectin test, but said that I should only call if I notice any change from the current affairs. I may just have to live with these for the next three months. Hopefully three months.
I’m feeling much better now, still hoping that they go away, but resigned and okay if they don’t.
So I had my little crying jag. Then I switched positions, and it did seem to help, so we decided not to call in again. I had already made the decision not to go into work today, so thought I'd see what happened today, and hopefully things would calm down when I really wasn't doing anything. Self-imposed bedrest.
Did not work at all. After I woke up I stayed in bed for about 45 minutes, with contractions about ten minutes apart. Lying on the couch seemed better for a while, but any time I would stand up to go to the bathroom or get some water they would start right back up again, 4-5 minutes apart.
Eventually I called the doc again, both to get the results of my UTI test from Saturday, and also to ask whether I should come in again. They said I should. So, trip number two to the hospital. This one was less of a rush, as I figured an extra half hour probably wasn't going to do anything at this point.
More monitoring (Phred was called a “textbook full term reactive baby”, which was great!), and another cervical check showed once again that nothing is happening in that area.
So this time, the doc said not to worry about the contractions. They are obviously not productive, in that my cervix is just fine. She called them “nuisance” contractions. She was still a bit nervous, given the positive fibronectin test, but said that I should only call if I notice any change from the current affairs. I may just have to live with these for the next three months. Hopefully three months.
I’m feeling much better now, still hoping that they go away, but resigned and okay if they don’t.
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
Contractions update
I begged my OB to squeeze me in for an appointment yesterday, I really wanted another cervical check for some peace of mind. So she did. Following my usual routine, I walked over to the hospital from my office, about a 20 minute jaunt. It’s about the same amount of time whether I walk or take the T (subway), so I prefer the extra exercise.
I got there at around 11, and she finally had time for me at about 12:45. Whatever. She theoretically was only working until 11:45, so I was really pleased she stuck around!
Another cervical check gave similar results as over the weekend; long and closed. Whew.
After that, we chatted for a bit. I gave her the lowdown on what happened on Saturday night, she asked me about exercise (nothing since biking on Weds night / Thurs morning), and we talked about a steroid shot if the contractions picked up again. She also mentioned bedrest, but said that we’d give it until my appointment next week, and reassess at that point. In the meantime, NO exercise. Not even walking any more than necessary.
What really hit me about that was that although I was still feeling intermittent contractions, while I was sitting in the waiting room (after my 20 minute walk), I noticed that they were back to about 15 minutes apart. Later on in the afternoon I was late for a meeting, so hustled from my building over to where the meeting was, about 2/10 mile. And had more contractions during the meeting, now about 10 minutes apart.
So. Given that rather convincing evidence, I WILL be taking it easy for the next week. Rather than walking a report over to a co-worker to sign (different building again), I’ll put it in the interoffice mail. No biking, no weight lifting, and no golf this weekend. Sniff. Hopefully things will calm down, and we can avoid any further mention of bedrest!
My mom is a bit of a vitamin junkie, so she did some research on this yesterday, and came up with an interesting theory. I drink a ton of milk, about 40 oz (just over a liter) in a day. Which means lots of calcium. Which can cause muscles to contract. So she suggested that I take a magnesium supplement, which does the opposite. There is some magnesium in milk, but not nearly as much as there is calcium. I checked with the doc, and although she said she doesn’t necessarily think it will help, it won’t hurt, so she gave me the go-ahead. So I’m going to start that today. I think it makes a lot of sense – magnesium sulfate in an IV is one of the things they give people to stop contractions, so I think a bit of supplementation, especially since I don’t eat a lot of the foods rich in magnesium, is the way to go, since I am still having contractions intermittently. I’ll also go and see my acupuncturist tomorrow if they haven’t completely stopped by then.
I’m still not overly concerned, but I will be paying very close attention!
I got there at around 11, and she finally had time for me at about 12:45. Whatever. She theoretically was only working until 11:45, so I was really pleased she stuck around!
Another cervical check gave similar results as over the weekend; long and closed. Whew.
After that, we chatted for a bit. I gave her the lowdown on what happened on Saturday night, she asked me about exercise (nothing since biking on Weds night / Thurs morning), and we talked about a steroid shot if the contractions picked up again. She also mentioned bedrest, but said that we’d give it until my appointment next week, and reassess at that point. In the meantime, NO exercise. Not even walking any more than necessary.
What really hit me about that was that although I was still feeling intermittent contractions, while I was sitting in the waiting room (after my 20 minute walk), I noticed that they were back to about 15 minutes apart. Later on in the afternoon I was late for a meeting, so hustled from my building over to where the meeting was, about 2/10 mile. And had more contractions during the meeting, now about 10 minutes apart.
So. Given that rather convincing evidence, I WILL be taking it easy for the next week. Rather than walking a report over to a co-worker to sign (different building again), I’ll put it in the interoffice mail. No biking, no weight lifting, and no golf this weekend. Sniff. Hopefully things will calm down, and we can avoid any further mention of bedrest!
My mom is a bit of a vitamin junkie, so she did some research on this yesterday, and came up with an interesting theory. I drink a ton of milk, about 40 oz (just over a liter) in a day. Which means lots of calcium. Which can cause muscles to contract. So she suggested that I take a magnesium supplement, which does the opposite. There is some magnesium in milk, but not nearly as much as there is calcium. I checked with the doc, and although she said she doesn’t necessarily think it will help, it won’t hurt, so she gave me the go-ahead. So I’m going to start that today. I think it makes a lot of sense – magnesium sulfate in an IV is one of the things they give people to stop contractions, so I think a bit of supplementation, especially since I don’t eat a lot of the foods rich in magnesium, is the way to go, since I am still having contractions intermittently. I’ll also go and see my acupuncturist tomorrow if they haven’t completely stopped by then.
I’m still not overly concerned, but I will be paying very close attention!
Monday, May 22, 2006
A wee bit of a fright
M and I babysat for my 7 month old niece on Saturday. It was the first time I'd babysat in the afternoon when her parents weren't around (I'd put her to bed in the evening before while they went out to dinner, but this was my first extended session without Mom or Dad), and unfortunately had an experience similar to Kath's recent encounter with her niece. The first half-hour or so was just fine, she was playing nicely with the two of us. But all of a sudden, the monster came out. She was pretty much inconsolable. I think she realized Mom wasn't coming... I was supposed to feed her a bottle at 4, then put her down for a nap. She wanted NONE of the bottle. Which didn't make sense because she hadn't had any of her veggies for lunch, since we'd been out. So I called my sis in desparation, and she told me that the trick she uses is to put her left hand on my niece's one cheek, hold the bottle with right thumb and forefinger, and lay the other fingrs of the right hand on the other cheek. Worked like a charm! She then took the bottle with no problem, and although she cried a little when I tried to put her down, I just left her in her crib and she quieted down pretty quickly.
During her nap, M went out with her stroller to check that it would fit into the back of the station wagon we're thinking of buying (actually, put a deposit down on it yesterday - item number one for baby finally purchased!). I sat down and read for a while. At around 5, I had my first "Braxton-Hicks" contraction. At the time I thought it was pretty cool, I could really feel my uterus, and how it was much more on the right side than on the left. Neat.
Nuzzles woke up from her nap at about 5:30, played nicely for a little while again, but just before dinner time proceeded to go on yet another screaming jag. She did NOT want to be in her high chair, her bumbo, her exersaucer, and even more vehemently did not want her dinner. Sis and I had discussed whether I should give her a bath, I was so glad that we had decided against that endeavor! Fortunately I did again manage to give her a bottle and put her to bed without too much fuss. I think she really just didn't want to be fed by anyone but mom!
M and I had dinner after that, and I noticed a few more "BH" contractions. On the drive home, though, I started to get a little concerned - they were coming about 6 to 7 minutes apart by this point, which, at 25w1d was not something I was really happy about. When we got home we did a little reading / internet checking, and as the universal recommendation was to call the doc if you were having more than 4 in an hour, I did.
I wasn't *too* worried because I wasn't having any other symptoms of labor - no discharge, no back pain, no real pain with the contractions... but the doc I spoke to said that I should come in just so they could make sure that it wasn't a problem.
So we had our first hurried drive to the hospital, leaving our house just before midnight.
When we got there I was really impressed by how quickly they had me on a bed and hooked up to the fetal heartrate and uterine activity monitors. I had another contraction pretty soon after they started the paper tracing - I was vacillating between being happy that I wasn't imagining things, and being worried that yes, I was in fact having contractions.
A midwife came in not too long after that to check my cervix. The insertion of the spec was somehow a lot more uncomfortable than it had been for any of the paps or IUI's I'd had... but she did get a look, and said that it was "nice and long, and closed". Also took a swab for a fibronectin test.
They then had me drink a liter of water, as one of the causes of contractions can be dehydration. I was pretty sure that wasn't it, given that I'd had over 80oz (2.5 liters) of liquid during the day and my pee was pretty clear, but whatever. Not surprisingly, it didn't have any effect on either the spacing or intensity after about an hour.
Next, a doc came in and said they'd like to give me a shot of Terbutaline to try and stop the contractions. I was a little iffy at first, but she assured me that it would not hurt Phred, and although it might cause me to feel a bit jittery / increase my heart-rate, that would only last for 20-30 minutes. After a little hemming and hawing, I said I'd "give it a shot" when she said she'd feel much better if I did take it. Unfortunately no-one seemed to appreciate my little pun :-(
The shot stung like a motherfluffer (thanks for the eupemism, Kellie), but it was sub-q and didn't last long. And it did slow the contractions almost immediately. I'd only had one more in the half hour after the shot, so they sent me home. Got to bed at around 4am. So much for golf on Sunday!
I did have a few more contractions the next day, but only about one an hour. So that was a relief. The only thing that does concern me at this point is that the fibronectin test came back positive. They were saying that doesn't mean anything, really, and that only a negative test is predictive. But I would have felt / would feel a lot better if it were negative.
So that was my fun for the weekend!
During her nap, M went out with her stroller to check that it would fit into the back of the station wagon we're thinking of buying (actually, put a deposit down on it yesterday - item number one for baby finally purchased!). I sat down and read for a while. At around 5, I had my first "Braxton-Hicks" contraction. At the time I thought it was pretty cool, I could really feel my uterus, and how it was much more on the right side than on the left. Neat.
Nuzzles woke up from her nap at about 5:30, played nicely for a little while again, but just before dinner time proceeded to go on yet another screaming jag. She did NOT want to be in her high chair, her bumbo, her exersaucer, and even more vehemently did not want her dinner. Sis and I had discussed whether I should give her a bath, I was so glad that we had decided against that endeavor! Fortunately I did again manage to give her a bottle and put her to bed without too much fuss. I think she really just didn't want to be fed by anyone but mom!
M and I had dinner after that, and I noticed a few more "BH" contractions. On the drive home, though, I started to get a little concerned - they were coming about 6 to 7 minutes apart by this point, which, at 25w1d was not something I was really happy about. When we got home we did a little reading / internet checking, and as the universal recommendation was to call the doc if you were having more than 4 in an hour, I did.
I wasn't *too* worried because I wasn't having any other symptoms of labor - no discharge, no back pain, no real pain with the contractions... but the doc I spoke to said that I should come in just so they could make sure that it wasn't a problem.
So we had our first hurried drive to the hospital, leaving our house just before midnight.
When we got there I was really impressed by how quickly they had me on a bed and hooked up to the fetal heartrate and uterine activity monitors. I had another contraction pretty soon after they started the paper tracing - I was vacillating between being happy that I wasn't imagining things, and being worried that yes, I was in fact having contractions.
A midwife came in not too long after that to check my cervix. The insertion of the spec was somehow a lot more uncomfortable than it had been for any of the paps or IUI's I'd had... but she did get a look, and said that it was "nice and long, and closed". Also took a swab for a fibronectin test.
They then had me drink a liter of water, as one of the causes of contractions can be dehydration. I was pretty sure that wasn't it, given that I'd had over 80oz (2.5 liters) of liquid during the day and my pee was pretty clear, but whatever. Not surprisingly, it didn't have any effect on either the spacing or intensity after about an hour.
Next, a doc came in and said they'd like to give me a shot of Terbutaline to try and stop the contractions. I was a little iffy at first, but she assured me that it would not hurt Phred, and although it might cause me to feel a bit jittery / increase my heart-rate, that would only last for 20-30 minutes. After a little hemming and hawing, I said I'd "give it a shot" when she said she'd feel much better if I did take it. Unfortunately no-one seemed to appreciate my little pun :-(
The shot stung like a motherfluffer (thanks for the eupemism, Kellie), but it was sub-q and didn't last long. And it did slow the contractions almost immediately. I'd only had one more in the half hour after the shot, so they sent me home. Got to bed at around 4am. So much for golf on Sunday!
I did have a few more contractions the next day, but only about one an hour. So that was a relief. The only thing that does concern me at this point is that the fibronectin test came back positive. They were saying that doesn't mean anything, really, and that only a negative test is predictive. But I would have felt / would feel a lot better if it were negative.
So that was my fun for the weekend!
Thursday, May 18, 2006
Biking etiquette and musings thereon...
I was so happy that it finally stopped raining! I could get back on my bike, and actually get some exercise. I have been having trouble waking up in the mornings this past week, and I wonder if it's due to the sharp decrease in my exercise from the rain (no biking and no golf!).
Yesterday evening I was really psyched to push some pedals, and rode my bike to my acupunture appointment. I was a bit annoyed when I was riding, becuase on three occasions, other people on bikes passed me, without giving me any kind of warning at all.
*I* always yell "on your left" when I'm passing another biker, and generally either yell or use my bell when I'm passing a walker / runner (sometimes I don't if the pathe is super wide and they're staying over to the right, otherwise I will). My feeling is that you never know when someone is going to make a sudden move, and I'd much rather be safe than sorry.
When I rode in to work this morning, I rang my bell to let a female jogger know I was passing her, then we both ended up stopped at a traffic light ahead. We chatted a little bit about the use of bells / yells - she said that in her experience almost every woman biker would do one or the other, where as only about 1 in 10 men would. I thought that was really interesting. Is it that men feel more in control and don't worry about a sudden move? Are they just less considerate? She also thanked me, and said that the warning is much appreciated.
My other pet peeve about this whole endeavour, aside from other cyclists passing me without warning is joggers / walkers / rollerbladers (the last are the worst because they take up so much room) who have their music on so loud they can't hear me! Again, not very safe. For either of us. I once yelled at a rollerblader, because I was trying to pass her and she couldn't hear me - when I finally just did it, she hit me with her swinging hand, and then had the audacity to give me a nasty look.
Then I have a whole different set of pet peeves when it comes to dealing with cars, but I'll leave that for another time.
Any other pet peeves on the subject to share?
Yesterday evening I was really psyched to push some pedals, and rode my bike to my acupunture appointment. I was a bit annoyed when I was riding, becuase on three occasions, other people on bikes passed me, without giving me any kind of warning at all.
*I* always yell "on your left" when I'm passing another biker, and generally either yell or use my bell when I'm passing a walker / runner (sometimes I don't if the pathe is super wide and they're staying over to the right, otherwise I will). My feeling is that you never know when someone is going to make a sudden move, and I'd much rather be safe than sorry.
When I rode in to work this morning, I rang my bell to let a female jogger know I was passing her, then we both ended up stopped at a traffic light ahead. We chatted a little bit about the use of bells / yells - she said that in her experience almost every woman biker would do one or the other, where as only about 1 in 10 men would. I thought that was really interesting. Is it that men feel more in control and don't worry about a sudden move? Are they just less considerate? She also thanked me, and said that the warning is much appreciated.
My other pet peeve about this whole endeavour, aside from other cyclists passing me without warning is joggers / walkers / rollerbladers (the last are the worst because they take up so much room) who have their music on so loud they can't hear me! Again, not very safe. For either of us. I once yelled at a rollerblader, because I was trying to pass her and she couldn't hear me - when I finally just did it, she hit me with her swinging hand, and then had the audacity to give me a nasty look.
Then I have a whole different set of pet peeves when it comes to dealing with cars, but I'll leave that for another time.
Any other pet peeves on the subject to share?
Thursday, May 11, 2006
Random collection
I went out to dinner with a friend last night, and got full way more quickly than I’m used to. I think my stomach must be getting squished now. I couldn’t even finish my dessert. And that has *never* happened before!
I still haven't done anything about setting up a nursery. Despite various people telling me that cribs can take months to get in, if you want to order one. I'm just not ready yet. We were going to go and take our first look at furniture a few weeks ago, but ended up going to a car dealership instead to test drive the station wagon we're thinking of getting. Somehow that is much less frightening to me than going furniture shopping.
I’m also mostly still wearing my non-maternity tops. I know that other people have complained time and time again, but maternity clothes really are awful. They’re just like big tents. As if I should be embarrassed about being pregnant, and do my best to make it look like no, I’m just wearing clothes that are 47 sizes too big for me.
But then sometimes I feel like I should be hiding it. There’s a woman at my office who has been trying to have kids for over 5 years. I had a feeling… she was telling me about her new puppy a little while ago and said something like, “since we don’t have kids, we figured we’d get a dog”. So when I officially came out at work, I happened to mention to her that it had taken us quite a while to finally get here. So we talked about it a bit. But I feel really bad for her – not only am I pregnant, but so are two other women I work directly with, as well as a few others in our department. I imagine sometimes how I would feel if I hadn’t gotten pregnant when I did, having the other two around who both managed it easily. And she must feel ten times worse, given that she’s been trying for so much longer. I don’t think there’s anything I can do though to make it better for her. Which sucks.
I think that Phred is still head up, because I have yet to feel kicks anywhere but way down low, by my “vajayjay” (thanks, Dr. Bailey). I’m looking forward to him going head down so I can actually see the movement, and M can feel it more than just once in a blue moon.
Speaking of Grey’s Anatomy, what a heart-wrencher on Sunday! I bawled my eyes out at the end. And then I almost bawled when Chris was voted off Id0l. What a shame. I *really* do not see what the judges see in Elliot. I completely thought that Chris would win it all. Of course, I never voted, so I can’t really complain, can I?
I still haven't done anything about setting up a nursery. Despite various people telling me that cribs can take months to get in, if you want to order one. I'm just not ready yet. We were going to go and take our first look at furniture a few weeks ago, but ended up going to a car dealership instead to test drive the station wagon we're thinking of getting. Somehow that is much less frightening to me than going furniture shopping.
I’m also mostly still wearing my non-maternity tops. I know that other people have complained time and time again, but maternity clothes really are awful. They’re just like big tents. As if I should be embarrassed about being pregnant, and do my best to make it look like no, I’m just wearing clothes that are 47 sizes too big for me.
But then sometimes I feel like I should be hiding it. There’s a woman at my office who has been trying to have kids for over 5 years. I had a feeling… she was telling me about her new puppy a little while ago and said something like, “since we don’t have kids, we figured we’d get a dog”. So when I officially came out at work, I happened to mention to her that it had taken us quite a while to finally get here. So we talked about it a bit. But I feel really bad for her – not only am I pregnant, but so are two other women I work directly with, as well as a few others in our department. I imagine sometimes how I would feel if I hadn’t gotten pregnant when I did, having the other two around who both managed it easily. And she must feel ten times worse, given that she’s been trying for so much longer. I don’t think there’s anything I can do though to make it better for her. Which sucks.
I think that Phred is still head up, because I have yet to feel kicks anywhere but way down low, by my “vajayjay” (thanks, Dr. Bailey). I’m looking forward to him going head down so I can actually see the movement, and M can feel it more than just once in a blue moon.
Speaking of Grey’s Anatomy, what a heart-wrencher on Sunday! I bawled my eyes out at the end. And then I almost bawled when Chris was voted off Id0l. What a shame. I *really* do not see what the judges see in Elliot. I completely thought that Chris would win it all. Of course, I never voted, so I can’t really complain, can I?
Friday, May 05, 2006
Pregnancy drive-by… with a Hummer and an Uzi.
I know that a number of other pregnant after infertility folks have mentioned that they still feel some pangs when hearing about newly pregnant people, despite their own change in status.
Well, I got to experience it first-hand the other night. I was talking to my mom, and she told me that my cousin had called and left a message saying that his wife is pregnant.
So you have some of the backstory... they just got married September of last year. He’s 21, she’s 19. They had been dating for only a year before their wedding. She has a part-time job at Petco, and he’s an apprentice welder.
I can't put a finger on how I feel. Flattened somehow. I *know* that it has no bearing on ME, but somehow I just can’t bring myself to be happy for them. Maybe just because it’s such a different life path than I chose to take, and I can’t even begin to comprehend it. Maybe because I was already worried about whether they would even make it, now there’s another worry to add to the pile – what about the baby?. I’m just trying not to think about it at all. Gah.
Well, I got to experience it first-hand the other night. I was talking to my mom, and she told me that my cousin had called and left a message saying that his wife is pregnant.
So you have some of the backstory... they just got married September of last year. He’s 21, she’s 19. They had been dating for only a year before their wedding. She has a part-time job at Petco, and he’s an apprentice welder.
I can't put a finger on how I feel. Flattened somehow. I *know* that it has no bearing on ME, but somehow I just can’t bring myself to be happy for them. Maybe just because it’s such a different life path than I chose to take, and I can’t even begin to comprehend it. Maybe because I was already worried about whether they would even make it, now there’s another worry to add to the pile – what about the baby?. I’m just trying not to think about it at all. Gah.
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
And the ewwwwww factor goes up a little more
One of the things that I did know might happen was the separation of my abdominal muscles. I noticed last week that when I was lying down, and lifted my head up, I could see a little lump going straight down my midsection, so I figured it was starting to happen. (Apparently the lump is the rest of your insides poking through the separation between your muscles)
When I did the same thing last night, though, I got quite a fright! My muscles seem to have separated quite a lot, so I could now see a lump about two inches wide running straight down my middle.
Weird. Really, really weird.
:-)
When I did the same thing last night, though, I got quite a fright! My muscles seem to have separated quite a lot, so I could now see a lump about two inches wide running straight down my middle.
Weird. Really, really weird.
:-)
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
I feel like an idiot.
Last Thursday (20w5d) I felt Phred's first definable "kicks". I'd been feeling movement since 15w5d, every now and again, sometimes every day, sometimes every two or three days. Bubbling, fluttering... I think the best comparison from my point was that it felt like the muscle tics you get in your eyes sometimes. But last Thursday it was three distinct movements, like someone tapping gently on my lower abdomen.
And then, nothing.
I didn't feel anything at all from Thursday morning until yesterday afternoon. I wasn't really worried, I figured he was just moving around so I couldn't feel anything. But yesterday was the five-day mark of not feeling anything, and all of a sudden I started freaking myself out.
Imagining how I would feel if Phred wasn't with me anymore. Imagining what I would post. How I would tell people.
I realized pretty quickly that that was just a bad road to be heading down. So I called my OB. They said to try eating something sweet then lie down and really concentrate on feeling something. And that I should come in the next day (i.e. this morning) for a heartbeat check.
Of course, as soon as I sat down once I got home, I felt more movement than I ever have before. And I felt her when I lay down to go to bed at night, which was a first. And then I felt her this morning after I had breakfast. And while I was sitting in the waiting room at the doc's office.
Hence feeling like an idiot. Fortunately, when I went in for the heartbeat check the nurse was really sweet about it, and said that they much prefer people to call and come in rather than being a wreck at home.
It was nice to hear his heartbeat again, and M came with me and got to hear it for the first time. So that was good. Even though I was pretty sure by that point that everything was fine, it was still nice to hear it. We had some fun with it too - at one point you could hear my heartbeat and Phreds at the same time, which was totally neat. We could also hear her kicking, and she was moving around quite a bit.
The nurse said that it's pretty common at this stage to go for a few days without feeling anything. Particularly if the baby's back is turned towards my front, so that he's kicking on the back side of the uterus. I also only have felt kicks down towards my pubic bone at this point, so I think if she's upside-down I probably can't feel anything from that yet either. So no more worries for the moment. And as he gets bigger it should become less and less of an issue.
And then, nothing.
I didn't feel anything at all from Thursday morning until yesterday afternoon. I wasn't really worried, I figured he was just moving around so I couldn't feel anything. But yesterday was the five-day mark of not feeling anything, and all of a sudden I started freaking myself out.
Imagining how I would feel if Phred wasn't with me anymore. Imagining what I would post. How I would tell people.
I realized pretty quickly that that was just a bad road to be heading down. So I called my OB. They said to try eating something sweet then lie down and really concentrate on feeling something. And that I should come in the next day (i.e. this morning) for a heartbeat check.
Of course, as soon as I sat down once I got home, I felt more movement than I ever have before. And I felt her when I lay down to go to bed at night, which was a first. And then I felt her this morning after I had breakfast. And while I was sitting in the waiting room at the doc's office.
Hence feeling like an idiot. Fortunately, when I went in for the heartbeat check the nurse was really sweet about it, and said that they much prefer people to call and come in rather than being a wreck at home.
It was nice to hear his heartbeat again, and M came with me and got to hear it for the first time. So that was good. Even though I was pretty sure by that point that everything was fine, it was still nice to hear it. We had some fun with it too - at one point you could hear my heartbeat and Phreds at the same time, which was totally neat. We could also hear her kicking, and she was moving around quite a bit.
The nurse said that it's pretty common at this stage to go for a few days without feeling anything. Particularly if the baby's back is turned towards my front, so that he's kicking on the back side of the uterus. I also only have felt kicks down towards my pubic bone at this point, so I think if she's upside-down I probably can't feel anything from that yet either. So no more worries for the moment. And as he gets bigger it should become less and less of an issue.
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
The start of Grosser than Gross
You remember that game we used to play as kids? What's grosser than gross...? I have a vague recollection of some toy company or other coming out with sets of cards that had gross things on them. Or maybe I'm just thinking of the Garb@ge Pai1 Kids.
Anyway. I think I've entered the grosser than gross stage of pregnancy. You know, where parts of my body start doing things that I just never knew they would do. Or wanted to think about. First it was the snot. Then the bloody snot. Then "pink" toothbrush (which is really more like orange). The lastest grossout is that I've started leaking! I know that Megan mentioned squeezing and getting drops of liquid a little while ago, but I never knew about the leaking without any stimulation. I started noticing a little yellow spot in my bra from my nipples about a week ago. Then last night, it was a quarter sized spot! I knew about leaking once breastfeeding started, but I had no idea that it might start sooner than that. I'm only at 20.5 weeks! I did check on bbycenter, and got some reassurance from that, there seem to be plenty of other early leakers out there, so at least I don't have to worry.
And I have a feeling that there are more things that I've never heard mentioned before still to come...:-) (note: I am NOT complaining - it's more like bewildered amusement.)
Anyway. I think I've entered the grosser than gross stage of pregnancy. You know, where parts of my body start doing things that I just never knew they would do. Or wanted to think about. First it was the snot. Then the bloody snot. Then "pink" toothbrush (which is really more like orange). The lastest grossout is that I've started leaking! I know that Megan mentioned squeezing and getting drops of liquid a little while ago, but I never knew about the leaking without any stimulation. I started noticing a little yellow spot in my bra from my nipples about a week ago. Then last night, it was a quarter sized spot! I knew about leaking once breastfeeding started, but I had no idea that it might start sooner than that. I'm only at 20.5 weeks! I did check on bbycenter, and got some reassurance from that, there seem to be plenty of other early leakers out there, so at least I don't have to worry.
And I have a feeling that there are more things that I've never heard mentioned before still to come...:-) (note: I am NOT complaining - it's more like bewildered amusement.)
Monday, April 10, 2006
Bellybutton fun!
I noticed this weekend when I was trying on some clothes that the hole my bellybutton ring was in was getting stretched. So I decided that it was time to take my little friend out.
I've never taken my ring out in the 11 years I've had it. It's amazing how naked my poor button looks now when I look down at it. Really, really strange!
I've never taken my ring out in the 11 years I've had it. It's amazing how naked my poor button looks now when I look down at it. Really, really strange!
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
Phred pics
Okay, so after my saga this morning, and approximately 6 hours (last night and tonight) fighting with my computer to get the scanner working again, I finally managed to scan a couple of u/s pics.
Here's a picture of Phred's phoot (towards the upper right, I have no idea what the stuff on the left is). And here's Phred! I think this pic is way cool - you can see the spine, ribs, arm / thumb in mouth, the other hand, the leg and other knee, and some facial features, including the ear.
It is just so incredible that all that is in my belly - and I really don't feel that different. I am showing a bit these days, which makes it slightly more believable, but it is still so hard to fathom.
Here's a picture of Phred's phoot (towards the upper right, I have no idea what the stuff on the left is). And here's Phred! I think this pic is way cool - you can see the spine, ribs, arm / thumb in mouth, the other hand, the leg and other knee, and some facial features, including the ear.
It is just so incredible that all that is in my belly - and I really don't feel that different. I am showing a bit these days, which makes it slightly more believable, but it is still so hard to fathom.
I hate myself today *more updated*
We got some really lovely pictures of our ultrasound on Monday. Incredible resolution - I took them down to my sister's on Monday night, and we compared with her 18wk ultrasound pics, and ours were much more clear. I was so excited to take them home last night, scan them and email them to people! They gave us the usual strip of pictures on thermal paper, which looked great, and then also blew up a few of them and printed them on regular 8x11 paper. When I was halfway home from work, I flipped through the 8x11 pages to take a quick look at the ones on the thermal paper, which were the ones I was going to scan, but they weren't there. I figured that I must have left them in my computer bag, which is where I transferred them from in the morning, so I would remember to take them home and not leave them in my computer bag at work. ha. Oh well.
But, I came in this morning and couldn't find them! They're definitely NOT in my computer bag. Nor on my desk. Nor in the garage near where I parked, nor in the nearby trash can.
I am so flipping mad at myself. I really can't believe that I could be so stupid as to lose them! I tried calling the clinic, and someone will call me back to let me know if I can get more printed. I really hope that I can. In the meantime, though, I will persist in hating myself.
*update* WHEW! Just heard back from the clinic - the printed me some more pics, and I can get them today. So I can stop with the hating now. But the moral of the story is, don't give me anything important to look after! (Um... like a baby??? Hopefully that's a little harder to lose track of!)
*more update* On M's suggestion I went back to my car to look there again. As soon as I looked behind the passenger seat, I found the pics. They had slipped through the crack between the bottom and back of the seat. So I got myself all worked up for nothing. Sigh.
But, I came in this morning and couldn't find them! They're definitely NOT in my computer bag. Nor on my desk. Nor in the garage near where I parked, nor in the nearby trash can.
I am so flipping mad at myself. I really can't believe that I could be so stupid as to lose them! I tried calling the clinic, and someone will call me back to let me know if I can get more printed. I really hope that I can. In the meantime, though, I will persist in hating myself.
*update* WHEW! Just heard back from the clinic - the printed me some more pics, and I can get them today. So I can stop with the hating now. But the moral of the story is, don't give me anything important to look after! (Um... like a baby??? Hopefully that's a little harder to lose track of!)
*more update* On M's suggestion I went back to my car to look there again. As soon as I looked behind the passenger seat, I found the pics. They had slipped through the crack between the bottom and back of the seat. So I got myself all worked up for nothing. Sigh.
Monday, April 03, 2006
18w2d
We had our "big" ultrasound today, and found out we're having a ..... baby! We were really glad that we had decided not to find out the sex - it just seemed like it would be very anti-climactic to be told by the ultrasound tech. Not the right choice for everyone, but definitely for us.
She looked at all kinds of things, starting with the brain, which measured at 18w5d, so we're basically right on target. The next organ for examination was the heart - it was so cool, we could definitely see all four chambers of the heart moving in sync as the heart beat (and the heart-rate was 147bpm... according to the old wives, that indicates a girl). She looked at the kidneys, but I couldn't see those. The stomach was a black hole in the middle of the baby. The ribs and spinal cord were really obvious, as were the hands and feet when she pointed them out - you could see the bones in each very clearly. We got a really cute picture of one of Phred's feet! We also have a picture of his/her whole body, some shots just lying there, then a few more with the thumb in the mouth.
After the u/s tech was done, a doctor came in to look at a few more things. He wasn't nearly as playful or informative though - he turned the screen so I couldn't see it anymore, and basically just clicked around pretty quickly. He said he was checking the same things the u/s tech had looked at, as well as looking for additional abnormalities.
He gave us his little lawyer speak "Everything looks perfectly normal, but of course, there are things that can't necessarily be caught on an ultrasound". But the good news is that everything did look normal, no areas of concern whatsoever. Phew!
Aftter I wiped the gel off my belly (my belly button was full of it! and my belly ring did kinda get in the way, so M was angling again for me to take it out. We'll see...), we hung around for a while until my doc was ready to see us. She told us that the blood test we had done (the quad screen) for various abnormalities came back normal as well. Another phew.
And that was about the extent of the appointment. All around good news :-)
The other thing that my boss (who's also pregnant) mentioned to me the other day was that her belly button feels flatter than it did before. I immediately stuck my finger in mine, and sure enough, she was right! I've been making daily checks ever since. hehehe. It feels so funny!
She looked at all kinds of things, starting with the brain, which measured at 18w5d, so we're basically right on target. The next organ for examination was the heart - it was so cool, we could definitely see all four chambers of the heart moving in sync as the heart beat (and the heart-rate was 147bpm... according to the old wives, that indicates a girl). She looked at the kidneys, but I couldn't see those. The stomach was a black hole in the middle of the baby. The ribs and spinal cord were really obvious, as were the hands and feet when she pointed them out - you could see the bones in each very clearly. We got a really cute picture of one of Phred's feet! We also have a picture of his/her whole body, some shots just lying there, then a few more with the thumb in the mouth.
After the u/s tech was done, a doctor came in to look at a few more things. He wasn't nearly as playful or informative though - he turned the screen so I couldn't see it anymore, and basically just clicked around pretty quickly. He said he was checking the same things the u/s tech had looked at, as well as looking for additional abnormalities.
He gave us his little lawyer speak "Everything looks perfectly normal, but of course, there are things that can't necessarily be caught on an ultrasound". But the good news is that everything did look normal, no areas of concern whatsoever. Phew!
Aftter I wiped the gel off my belly (my belly button was full of it! and my belly ring did kinda get in the way, so M was angling again for me to take it out. We'll see...), we hung around for a while until my doc was ready to see us. She told us that the blood test we had done (the quad screen) for various abnormalities came back normal as well. Another phew.
And that was about the extent of the appointment. All around good news :-)
The other thing that my boss (who's also pregnant) mentioned to me the other day was that her belly button feels flatter than it did before. I immediately stuck my finger in mine, and sure enough, she was right! I've been making daily checks ever since. hehehe. It feels so funny!
Thursday, March 30, 2006
Two things I hate about myself
I'm sitting at my computer, at work. It is godawful hot in here - my thermometer at the moment says 77.7 degrees. Lovely. (And that's not the worst it gets, by far - most day's it's close to 80 by the time I leave, at one point last summer it was 86.5!) My problem is that I'm a sweater. I don't glisten, I don't perspire, none of those nice girly things. I sweat. Usually my deodorant controls it relatively well, but when I get nervous, for example when I'm giving a presentation... well, not so much. When I'm presenting I also get sweaty *everywhere* - I can often feel the sweat running down the backs of my legs. Ugh. Anyway, despite the short sleeved shirt I'm wearing today, or perhaps because of it?, I've been sweating. And I get a whiff every now and again. Double ugh. I'm hoping that it doesn't worsen with pregnancy, although I'm not holding my breath. But perhaps I'm going to need to!
The other thing I hate is that I blush on a dime. Whenever attention is focused on me for any kind of personal reason (although fortunately not when I'm, say, presenting at work - then I just sweat), I can feel my face turning beet red. For example, one of my coworkers just came in to congratulate me on my pregnancy, having found out through the grapevine. We were having a perfectly normal conversation, what's my due date, how nice to be pregnant in the summer because clothes are less expensive, blah blah blah. And I can just feel the heat exuding from all the blood in my face. It's so annoying and embarrasing. As if I need to be more embarassed when I'm already there!
So, are there any physical quirks like this that drive you batty?
The other thing I hate is that I blush on a dime. Whenever attention is focused on me for any kind of personal reason (although fortunately not when I'm, say, presenting at work - then I just sweat), I can feel my face turning beet red. For example, one of my coworkers just came in to congratulate me on my pregnancy, having found out through the grapevine. We were having a perfectly normal conversation, what's my due date, how nice to be pregnant in the summer because clothes are less expensive, blah blah blah. And I can just feel the heat exuding from all the blood in my face. It's so annoying and embarrasing. As if I need to be more embarassed when I'm already there!
So, are there any physical quirks like this that drive you batty?
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
Cake top
And here's the top of the cake. I was pretty proud of how straight I managed to get the writing, and how I made it all fit without obvious squeezing (I usually start out too big, and it just doesn't go well from there), but it looks a lot messier in the pic than I thought at the time. Oh well!
Monday, March 20, 2006
Top ten things I learned on Saturday.
I spent ALL DAY on Saturday baking cakes for my FIL's 65th birthday party, where we expected about 80 people. I was planning on baking four 12x12 square cakes - to make a two layer 18x12 cake, and an extra 6x12 just in case the first wasn't enough. Top ten things I learned during the day:
1. Never, never, EVER take my wallet out of my pocketbook. I got up bright and early (8am) to go to the shops to pick up the various ingredients I needed. Had a nice drive over to Wh0le Foods, picked up the 5 packets of maple sugar, maple syrup and maple flavoring that I needed (making a maple cake). Put them on the conveyor. Then realized that I'd taken my wallet with my credit card and bank card out of my pocketbook the day before and put them in the pocket of my coat. Which I hadn't worn. Argh! Add an unnecessary half hour of driving on to the day.
2. When the recipe tells you to add things in a certain order, they really do mean it. The Cake Bib1e (best cake cookbook EVER!) tells you to add the butter, then the milk, to the dry ingredients. For my first try I added the milk first. The butter never mixed in nicely. So although the cake didn't taste bad at all, the texture just wasn't right. Nor did it rise properly. Gah.
3. Don't jiggle a cake that really looks like it's not cooked! My first attempt cooked in 25 minutes. Which was less than I was expecting, but it was definitely done. So on my second attempt, where I mixed the batter correctly, I opened the oven to check the cake after 25 minutes. It was still looking pretty pale, so I didn't think it was cooked. I gave it a little jiggle just to check. Bad, bad idea. The whole thing just went phbttttttt. Number two relegated to the vultures at work.
4. Don't turn off the oven in the middle of baking a cake. Fortunately this happened for the second cake, so I didn't ruin a third one! After it fell, I was trying to shut off the oven timer. By mistake I pressed the "off" button for the oven instead of for the timer, and didn't realize it for another 10 minutes.
5. Don't invite people over for afternoon tea, assuming you'll be finished with your baking by then. I had been trying to get together with my sister and niece, and a very good friend of hers with her 1.5 year old daughter for ages. We all finally had Saturday free - I thought! Needless to say, with two more cakes to bake than I had originally thought, I was not a very good hostess.
6. Putting 60 egg shells down the garbage disposal all at once is a VERY bad idea. I had been piling them up throughout the day (each cake took 6-7 eggs, each batch of frosting another 6-7), and shoved each pile down the garbage disposal with little time in between. Just as I put the last batch down, the water in the sink started backing up. Turns out I had basically filled the entire drain from the sink to the trap with egg shells. Took us almost an hour to clean them out the next day.
7. Showering before going to a birthday party really is optional. So my choice was between getting the cake done on time and being clean. I went with the cake. tee hee.
8. Don't let the serving staff take the cake away from you. There should have been a fair amount left over... yeah.
9. Don't put on your going out clothes before frosting the cake. I ended up with a big splotch of frosting on my stomach, and didn't notice until about half-way through the evening. Fortunately it washed out pretty easily.
10. No matter how much trouble it is, the accolades at the end are worth every bit :-) I'll post a picture later today.
1. Never, never, EVER take my wallet out of my pocketbook. I got up bright and early (8am) to go to the shops to pick up the various ingredients I needed. Had a nice drive over to Wh0le Foods, picked up the 5 packets of maple sugar, maple syrup and maple flavoring that I needed (making a maple cake). Put them on the conveyor. Then realized that I'd taken my wallet with my credit card and bank card out of my pocketbook the day before and put them in the pocket of my coat. Which I hadn't worn. Argh! Add an unnecessary half hour of driving on to the day.
2. When the recipe tells you to add things in a certain order, they really do mean it. The Cake Bib1e (best cake cookbook EVER!) tells you to add the butter, then the milk, to the dry ingredients. For my first try I added the milk first. The butter never mixed in nicely. So although the cake didn't taste bad at all, the texture just wasn't right. Nor did it rise properly. Gah.
3. Don't jiggle a cake that really looks like it's not cooked! My first attempt cooked in 25 minutes. Which was less than I was expecting, but it was definitely done. So on my second attempt, where I mixed the batter correctly, I opened the oven to check the cake after 25 minutes. It was still looking pretty pale, so I didn't think it was cooked. I gave it a little jiggle just to check. Bad, bad idea. The whole thing just went phbttttttt. Number two relegated to the vultures at work.
4. Don't turn off the oven in the middle of baking a cake. Fortunately this happened for the second cake, so I didn't ruin a third one! After it fell, I was trying to shut off the oven timer. By mistake I pressed the "off" button for the oven instead of for the timer, and didn't realize it for another 10 minutes.
5. Don't invite people over for afternoon tea, assuming you'll be finished with your baking by then. I had been trying to get together with my sister and niece, and a very good friend of hers with her 1.5 year old daughter for ages. We all finally had Saturday free - I thought! Needless to say, with two more cakes to bake than I had originally thought, I was not a very good hostess.
6. Putting 60 egg shells down the garbage disposal all at once is a VERY bad idea. I had been piling them up throughout the day (each cake took 6-7 eggs, each batch of frosting another 6-7), and shoved each pile down the garbage disposal with little time in between. Just as I put the last batch down, the water in the sink started backing up. Turns out I had basically filled the entire drain from the sink to the trap with egg shells. Took us almost an hour to clean them out the next day.
7. Showering before going to a birthday party really is optional. So my choice was between getting the cake done on time and being clean. I went with the cake. tee hee.
8. Don't let the serving staff take the cake away from you. There should have been a fair amount left over... yeah.
9. Don't put on your going out clothes before frosting the cake. I ended up with a big splotch of frosting on my stomach, and didn't notice until about half-way through the evening. Fortunately it washed out pretty easily.
10. No matter how much trouble it is, the accolades at the end are worth every bit :-) I'll post a picture later today.
Tuesday, March 07, 2006
Psyche!
Had my 14 week appointment today (14w4d). When I was taken back, the nurse told me that I had to have an early GD test. I was a bit surprised, because I thought that didn't happen until 28 weeks... but whatever. She apologized for not having the drink ready for me, and went away for a couple of minutes to get it. When she returned, she told me to take my time, and let her know when I was done. It wasn't nearly as bad as I had anticipated (although this anticipation was for 14 weeks from now). It was only about 6 oz, and tasted like super-sweet coke. She then said that I'd have to hang out for an hour, and have my blood drawn at that point.
The rest of the appointment was pretty fast. Checked on the heartbeat (nice and strong!), weighed me (up 5lbs since the last appointment. I'm telling myself that at least a bit of it is because this time I was wearing clothes whereas last time I was wearing a fancy johnny :-), and took my blood pressure. The doc came in to see me after that.
I didn't have many questions for her, except to ask about whether I need to modify my weight-lifting routine at all (answer - as long as I'm not getting dizzy or light-headed, and feeling fine, I can keep up exactly what I'm doing), and about the whole lying on the back thing (answer - try not to sleep on your back if you can, but don't worry about it if you do happen to wake up that way. Also, okay for shorter periods of time (like for situps), again, as long as it's not causing any dizziness or light-headedness). And finally, is it okay for me to ride my bike out on the road? (answer - as long as I feel balanced and okay with it, totally fine for as long as I'm comfortable).
I was so happy to hear that. I stopped playing ice hockey at 12 weeks, and have moved to using a stationary bike and elliptical instead. It flipping sucks!!! I'm so used to having FUN while I exercise, either playing ice hockey, volleyball, or riding my bike to/from work (the latter is not exactly fun, but it has a purpose). The whole stationary thing is for the birds. I wasn't sure I could keep it up throughout however long this lasts, much as I want to for my health and Phred's (I highly recommend the book "Exercising through your Pregnancy" by Dr. Clapp for a scientific dissection and debunking of many of the arguments against exercising while pregnant). But if I can keep commuting on my bike, I can definitely handle it. Whew!
My last question - why exactly am I doing the early GD test? answer - psyche! I didn't actually have to do it. Apparently they normally will do the early test if you have any signs of glucose resistance (or is that insulin resistance) such as might be seen with PCOS. But since I don't, no need for it. Hahahaha. At least I didn't find the drink too bad.
On a different note, I went shopping for shoes on Saturday at some outlet stores near here. Don't go getting all hot and bothered - these weren't fun shoes. My daily brown and black shoes are over two years old, and definitely worse for the wear. Time for new ones. There also happened to be a maternity store there. I thought I would go in and get a pair of jeans - my regular ones don't really fit any more, and the larger sizes my sister had given to me were too small for my hockey thighs. I couldn't do it though. Walked in, flipped briefly through a rack of jeans, and totally freaked out. I told M "I'm not ready for this yet", turned around and walked out. I don't know exactly why I was so uncomfortable in there, but all those clothes frightened me. I guess I've never been one for shopping in the first place, and seeing all that stuff just overwhelmed me. I might have to get a personal shopper for it instead ;-)
The rest of the appointment was pretty fast. Checked on the heartbeat (nice and strong!), weighed me (up 5lbs since the last appointment. I'm telling myself that at least a bit of it is because this time I was wearing clothes whereas last time I was wearing a fancy johnny :-), and took my blood pressure. The doc came in to see me after that.
I didn't have many questions for her, except to ask about whether I need to modify my weight-lifting routine at all (answer - as long as I'm not getting dizzy or light-headed, and feeling fine, I can keep up exactly what I'm doing), and about the whole lying on the back thing (answer - try not to sleep on your back if you can, but don't worry about it if you do happen to wake up that way. Also, okay for shorter periods of time (like for situps), again, as long as it's not causing any dizziness or light-headedness). And finally, is it okay for me to ride my bike out on the road? (answer - as long as I feel balanced and okay with it, totally fine for as long as I'm comfortable).
I was so happy to hear that. I stopped playing ice hockey at 12 weeks, and have moved to using a stationary bike and elliptical instead. It flipping sucks!!! I'm so used to having FUN while I exercise, either playing ice hockey, volleyball, or riding my bike to/from work (the latter is not exactly fun, but it has a purpose). The whole stationary thing is for the birds. I wasn't sure I could keep it up throughout however long this lasts, much as I want to for my health and Phred's (I highly recommend the book "Exercising through your Pregnancy" by Dr. Clapp for a scientific dissection and debunking of many of the arguments against exercising while pregnant). But if I can keep commuting on my bike, I can definitely handle it. Whew!
My last question - why exactly am I doing the early GD test? answer - psyche! I didn't actually have to do it. Apparently they normally will do the early test if you have any signs of glucose resistance (or is that insulin resistance) such as might be seen with PCOS. But since I don't, no need for it. Hahahaha. At least I didn't find the drink too bad.
On a different note, I went shopping for shoes on Saturday at some outlet stores near here. Don't go getting all hot and bothered - these weren't fun shoes. My daily brown and black shoes are over two years old, and definitely worse for the wear. Time for new ones. There also happened to be a maternity store there. I thought I would go in and get a pair of jeans - my regular ones don't really fit any more, and the larger sizes my sister had given to me were too small for my hockey thighs. I couldn't do it though. Walked in, flipped briefly through a rack of jeans, and totally freaked out. I told M "I'm not ready for this yet", turned around and walked out. I don't know exactly why I was so uncomfortable in there, but all those clothes frightened me. I guess I've never been one for shopping in the first place, and seeing all that stuff just overwhelmed me. I might have to get a personal shopper for it instead ;-)
Friday, February 24, 2006
Don't get caught!
I noticed last night that I can feel the top of my uterus now (12w6d today), right around where my panties sit. I'm so fascinated, I just can't stop feeling it. Just have to make sure no one sees me!
Thursday, February 23, 2006
All's quiet on the western front...
Thanks so much for your reassurances, everyone! I had read in various places that one could expect any nausea to go away around the twelfth week, but never that ALL 'symptoms' go away. But it does sound like it's pretty normal for that to happen.
I also stopped taking the Prometrium suppositories last weekend. No more pantyliners, no more goop, no more sticking my finger up my... well, you know. It wasn't actually too bad, especially since I was only taking them at night time, but still, it's nice not to have to deal with it.
Another week and a half until my next DA. Getting to go every two weeks was so nice. I'm used to the two week wait. Four weeks seems to pass so much more slowly. Especially when nothing is happening!
I also stopped taking the Prometrium suppositories last weekend. No more pantyliners, no more goop, no more sticking my finger up my... well, you know. It wasn't actually too bad, especially since I was only taking them at night time, but still, it's nice not to have to deal with it.
Another week and a half until my next DA. Getting to go every two weeks was so nice. I'm used to the two week wait. Four weeks seems to pass so much more slowly. Especially when nothing is happening!
Thursday, February 16, 2006
DBTs
So I woke up this morning, and realized that I haven't had to get up to pee during the night for a few days now. And my boobs aren't sore anymore. Unless I pinch really hard. And, well, I think that would hurt regardless. So basically every "symptom" I have had has disappeared. I know that it's normal for nausea to subside around 12 weeks - is it normal for all the rest of it to go away as well? Am I being paranoid, or might my DBTs (Dead Baby Thoughts) be justified?
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
Odds and ends
I have been a very bad blogger. And I owe an apology to other IF bloggers who have gotten pregnant and stopped posting - it always made me sad that so many seemed to stop posting on a regular basis. But now I understand. 1) Being pregnant is pretty boring, 2) going to bed two hours earlier each night has significantly cut into my internet time!
Not much news on the Phred front - although I did have my first OB appointment last week. I felt like such an imposter in the waiting room with all the HPW. Maybe someday I'll feel like I belong. It was a THREE HOUR appointment. And what torture! Going over my medical history yet again (all my doctors are at the same hospital, with an electronic system - you would think that the information would be automatically transferred. But no.) It also took me about half an hour to get the nurse to understand that my pregnancy should not be dated by my LMP. And they spent ages going over all the what to do and what not to do in early pregnancy - none of which was new to me - hello, people, I can read! It was worthwhile in the end though - I could hear Phred's heart on the doppler. I was surprised - I was at 10w3d, and wasn't expecting that they'd be able to hear it, but the nurse found it almost immediately. Cool.
The previous Sunday we'd had our Boston blogger gathering. It was totally fun. Really nice to meet everyone, and to just talk about stuff, knowing that while we were in different places, we all got it. We went to the Temple Bar in Cambridge, a really fun, chic place, with great food. (I highly recommend it if you're ever in the area). We sat down not too long after 11, at a perfect table - it was round so we could all converse with each other, and it was right on the end so we didn't have to worry too much about being overheard. Except by the ?cook? whom we heard sneezing (or something) behind the curtain that was on our other side. That was slightly disconcerting! The wait staff were fabulous - let us take our time ordering (I don't think we ordered 'til we'd already been there for about an hour), and then let us sit some more after we were done. T, Pixi, Amy, NCD, and her friend are all absolutely amazing women.
Not much news on the Phred front - although I did have my first OB appointment last week. I felt like such an imposter in the waiting room with all the HPW. Maybe someday I'll feel like I belong. It was a THREE HOUR appointment. And what torture! Going over my medical history yet again (all my doctors are at the same hospital, with an electronic system - you would think that the information would be automatically transferred. But no.) It also took me about half an hour to get the nurse to understand that my pregnancy should not be dated by my LMP. And they spent ages going over all the what to do and what not to do in early pregnancy - none of which was new to me - hello, people, I can read! It was worthwhile in the end though - I could hear Phred's heart on the doppler. I was surprised - I was at 10w3d, and wasn't expecting that they'd be able to hear it, but the nurse found it almost immediately. Cool.
The previous Sunday we'd had our Boston blogger gathering. It was totally fun. Really nice to meet everyone, and to just talk about stuff, knowing that while we were in different places, we all got it. We went to the Temple Bar in Cambridge, a really fun, chic place, with great food. (I highly recommend it if you're ever in the area). We sat down not too long after 11, at a perfect table - it was round so we could all converse with each other, and it was right on the end so we didn't have to worry too much about being overheard. Except by the ?cook? whom we heard sneezing (or something) behind the curtain that was on our other side. That was slightly disconcerting! The wait staff were fabulous - let us take our time ordering (I don't think we ordered 'til we'd already been there for about an hour), and then let us sit some more after we were done. T, Pixi, Amy, NCD, and her friend are all absolutely amazing women.
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