I've started going in for weekly visits about two weeks ago. I hate going to the doctor that much even if it does seem like it's important.
The doctor told me today that I should expect to not have a baby much bigger than about 7 1/2 lbs. That sounds great to me! Not that it matters since they'll take her out C-section. But if they're a little smaller at the outset, they seem to stay babies for a little longer. And I have such cute preemie clothes! I'm such a girl!
He also told me that he's going on vacation next week and will be back February 8th. It didn't register with me for a little bit but then I started to panic. I asked him what if I go into labor next week? He tried to reassure me but I was just so upset - that's what happened to me last time and it made the whole experience awful! I mean, what's the point of a certain doctor following your entire pregnancy and going through your delivery plan with you if he's not even going to be there?
Hopefully I'll just last until my scheduled date and then there'll be nothing to worry about. What's that about the best laid plans?
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
It Can't Be Helped
What pregnancy is complete without full-on pregnancy photos? This is so humbling for me as I have completely sworn off pregnancy photos and literally become a giant freak-o-rama on anyone who so much as walks around me with a camera!The truth is I've just gained so much weight and it's freaking all over my body - not just my belly. I can't help it. I have been addicted to sugar but seriously, I gained just as much with SP and was actually very careful with what I ate. This time I just sort of let it go and didn't end up gaining anymore than I did with SP. So I am what I am - just a girl who gains a crapload when she's pregnant. Thank goodness I'm able to lose it!
So, ta-da. Here's my final picture - taken tonight exactly 3 weeks from my delivery date. I'm not sure why I'm doing this to myself, lol!
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Thursday, November 20, 2008
The Latest On About Everything
The Marshmallow and I still haven't agreed upon a name. I refuse to discuss it because he won't let me have my way (Olivia) and he just doesn't bring it up. So there it stands. I'm sure we'll have a raging argument the day the baby comes when I just won't back down and he won't sign the birth certificate!
I went by Salt Lake Regional the other day to just check it out. I shouldn't have ruled it out completely without even visiting it first. I was pleasantly surprised actually. It is an older hospital and they deliver a lot less babies than the other big hospitals around but I like that. It means the nurses are less busy and able to provide better care for the patients they do have. Speaking of the nurses, they were so nice! I got a personal on-the-spot tour. The delivery rooms were just as nice as any others I've seen and while the recovery rooms weren't quite as nice, they were decent and very clean, and that makes a big difference to me.
They worried about my doctor being so far away though. For my situation, their policy is that the doctor has to be on-site the whole time I am in labor and they said that most doctors resist that. Not that I care but my doctor will have to be with me the whole time and won't have anything else to do but worry about me since he doesn't even have an office on site over at that hospital. I guess that's his problem and not mine but the nurses worried that he wouldn't be able to be there in time to care for me properly. I'm not worried about that since I progress so slowly. I'll give him plenty of notice too. The faster he can respond, the faster I get my epidural, hehe.
Today I went to the chiropractor to find out why my back feels like someone's sticking a knife in it whenever I move. I knew I had back problems before I got pregnant but since, they've only gotten worse and worse. Although the chiropractor couldn't do x-rays on me today, he said he was 95% sure I have spondylolisthesis which basically means that my spine is crushing itself because I have too much of an inward curve in my lower back. He put me on this hydro table that shoots strong streams of water all along my back to warm it up and loosen up my spine. Then he cracked it good and told me to come back Monday, which I'll gladly do. I hope my insurance is paying for this!
I went by Salt Lake Regional the other day to just check it out. I shouldn't have ruled it out completely without even visiting it first. I was pleasantly surprised actually. It is an older hospital and they deliver a lot less babies than the other big hospitals around but I like that. It means the nurses are less busy and able to provide better care for the patients they do have. Speaking of the nurses, they were so nice! I got a personal on-the-spot tour. The delivery rooms were just as nice as any others I've seen and while the recovery rooms weren't quite as nice, they were decent and very clean, and that makes a big difference to me.
They worried about my doctor being so far away though. For my situation, their policy is that the doctor has to be on-site the whole time I am in labor and they said that most doctors resist that. Not that I care but my doctor will have to be with me the whole time and won't have anything else to do but worry about me since he doesn't even have an office on site over at that hospital. I guess that's his problem and not mine but the nurses worried that he wouldn't be able to be there in time to care for me properly. I'm not worried about that since I progress so slowly. I'll give him plenty of notice too. The faster he can respond, the faster I get my epidural, hehe.
Today I went to the chiropractor to find out why my back feels like someone's sticking a knife in it whenever I move. I knew I had back problems before I got pregnant but since, they've only gotten worse and worse. Although the chiropractor couldn't do x-rays on me today, he said he was 95% sure I have spondylolisthesis which basically means that my spine is crushing itself because I have too much of an inward curve in my lower back. He put me on this hydro table that shoots strong streams of water all along my back to warm it up and loosen up my spine. Then he cracked it good and told me to come back Monday, which I'll gladly do. I hope my insurance is paying for this!
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Allergies
This isn't necessarily a post for human interest. I have to document the actual series of events that transpired after I realized my cat allergy just in case I need to remember at some point, or if some other pregnant lady has similar questions regarding all of this stuff.
So we got the cat during pregnancy...allergic. I took Loratadine (a generic allergy med) to overcome the allergy and it worked but I wasn't taking it every single day, more symptomatically.
After a while I realized I was having trouble breathing and couldn't get a full breath, not to mention my lungs were itching deep in the lobes and driving me bananas. I went to the doctor, afraid I was coming down with pneumonia or something. I was told I had asthma. I was prescribed ProAir for symptoms PRN, and QVar to reduce the inflammation, to be taken twice daily for two weeks.
About a week or two later, I noticed a rash starting to appear on my belly that looked like chicken pocks. It didn't itch yet but I was curious about possibly a yeast infection. I was at the doctor's for a routine check-up at about week 20 or something and I happened to mention the rash. He looked at it and said it looked like a yeast infection.
He prescribed Diflucan, the one-pill yeast infection treatment.
I took it, not realizing it was Class C for pregnant women, but found no relief. In fact in about 4-5 days, I discovered that the rash was getting worse and spreading around my sides, up and down! And it was becoming VERY itchy - I looked like I had fleas sometimes. It was awful!
I called the doctor again and reported the Diflucan hadn't worked and that the rash was worsening. He called in yet another prescription to my pharmacy and I didn't know what it was until I went to pick it up.
It was predisone. Now, I'm a therapist and a lot of my orthopedic patients take this drug to ease the inflammation after a surgery. I'm aware that it's a "big" drug with lots of side effects. So I looked it up. It also is Class C, which means it hasn't necessarily been proven safe for pregnancy, and in fact has been associated with scary things like cleft pallet and Down Syndrome. I looked up Diflucan and that's when I realized I'd also taken it although it too was Class C.
I decided not to take the prednisone. Wondering about the rash...and its timing, I also decided to stop taking the ProAir since the rash appeared shortly after I started taking it (the prescriptions for QVar and ProAir had been filled about 2 weeks apart for insurance reasons and I'd started ProAir later).
About 2 weeks after stopping ProAir, I noticed the rash start to ease up...and now it's nearly gone. I still take the QVar and was also taking the Loratadine religiously until the cat was banished to the far reaches of the earth.
About two weeks ago, I also decided to move the cat out of the house until the baby comes to relieve any other symptoms that might come as a result of the allergy. He's at my grandmother's house now. Since he's been gone, I've no longer felt the need to take Loratadine nor QVar (except once in a great while) since most of my symptoms have been resolved.
I haven't been back to my doctor yet and am curious as to what he felt was offsetting the risk of giving me 2 Class C medications. It wasn't worth it to me, and that's what I'll tell him.
So we got the cat during pregnancy...allergic. I took Loratadine (a generic allergy med) to overcome the allergy and it worked but I wasn't taking it every single day, more symptomatically.
After a while I realized I was having trouble breathing and couldn't get a full breath, not to mention my lungs were itching deep in the lobes and driving me bananas. I went to the doctor, afraid I was coming down with pneumonia or something. I was told I had asthma. I was prescribed ProAir for symptoms PRN, and QVar to reduce the inflammation, to be taken twice daily for two weeks.
About a week or two later, I noticed a rash starting to appear on my belly that looked like chicken pocks. It didn't itch yet but I was curious about possibly a yeast infection. I was at the doctor's for a routine check-up at about week 20 or something and I happened to mention the rash. He looked at it and said it looked like a yeast infection.
He prescribed Diflucan, the one-pill yeast infection treatment.
I took it, not realizing it was Class C for pregnant women, but found no relief. In fact in about 4-5 days, I discovered that the rash was getting worse and spreading around my sides, up and down! And it was becoming VERY itchy - I looked like I had fleas sometimes. It was awful!
I called the doctor again and reported the Diflucan hadn't worked and that the rash was worsening. He called in yet another prescription to my pharmacy and I didn't know what it was until I went to pick it up.
It was predisone. Now, I'm a therapist and a lot of my orthopedic patients take this drug to ease the inflammation after a surgery. I'm aware that it's a "big" drug with lots of side effects. So I looked it up. It also is Class C, which means it hasn't necessarily been proven safe for pregnancy, and in fact has been associated with scary things like cleft pallet and Down Syndrome. I looked up Diflucan and that's when I realized I'd also taken it although it too was Class C.
I decided not to take the prednisone. Wondering about the rash...and its timing, I also decided to stop taking the ProAir since the rash appeared shortly after I started taking it (the prescriptions for QVar and ProAir had been filled about 2 weeks apart for insurance reasons and I'd started ProAir later).
About 2 weeks after stopping ProAir, I noticed the rash start to ease up...and now it's nearly gone. I still take the QVar and was also taking the Loratadine religiously until the cat was banished to the far reaches of the earth.
About two weeks ago, I also decided to move the cat out of the house until the baby comes to relieve any other symptoms that might come as a result of the allergy. He's at my grandmother's house now. Since he's been gone, I've no longer felt the need to take Loratadine nor QVar (except once in a great while) since most of my symptoms have been resolved.
I haven't been back to my doctor yet and am curious as to what he felt was offsetting the risk of giving me 2 Class C medications. It wasn't worth it to me, and that's what I'll tell him.
Friday, October 17, 2008
The Big Ultrasound
It was confirmed today that we are having a girl for sure. Everything looks normal, in fact it seems that I might be a week or two further along than what we originally thought.
The doctor looked at all anatomical structures and functions and found everything to be normal. They have a new machine in their office that can show the 3-D picture so I saw her little face right before she stuck her little fists up in front of it.
For the past three weeks I've been having what I finally realized were small contractions, verified during the ultrasound. She was actually able to see my uterus having a contraction. I had early contractions with my first pregnancy but not this early. I was given a medication to stop them so I wonder if I'll have to take it again. Since my appt today was only with the lady who does the ultrasound, I'll need to make another appt to talk to the doctor.
So if I'm 24 weeks like the ultrasound says, then I've only got 16 weeks left! Yeah! I suppose that changes the due date that much. 16 weeks from today is January 30. Cool!
The doctor looked at all anatomical structures and functions and found everything to be normal. They have a new machine in their office that can show the 3-D picture so I saw her little face right before she stuck her little fists up in front of it.
For the past three weeks I've been having what I finally realized were small contractions, verified during the ultrasound. She was actually able to see my uterus having a contraction. I had early contractions with my first pregnancy but not this early. I was given a medication to stop them so I wonder if I'll have to take it again. Since my appt today was only with the lady who does the ultrasound, I'll need to make another appt to talk to the doctor.
So if I'm 24 weeks like the ultrasound says, then I've only got 16 weeks left! Yeah! I suppose that changes the due date that much. 16 weeks from today is January 30. Cool!
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Halfway!
Well, I'm halfway along now and in some ways, it seems my belly growth has sort of stagnated which suits me just fine thank you very much.
My only real complaint lately is this ridiculous sciatica which is usually isolated in one leg or another for most people - but in me, oh no. It picks a different leg each day. And my tailbone gets so sore too!
Today, I was on my feet more than usual and I noticed that the sciatica was a lot more painful than usual. I attributed it to being on my feet but later in the day, I decided to change my clothes and as I took off my pants, a-ha! - somehow the pain was reduced by like 75%. It was those pants! I noticed they put a lot of pressure on my lower abdomen as they have a tight elastic band but I had no idea the tightness was also affecting my lower back too - duh! What's my degree in?
I retired the pants of course. They still fit and look decent but aren't worth it if they're going to cause me that much pain every day.
On another note, I have finally decided to go with the VBAC vs. a volunteer C-section. It freaks me out but I'm going for it. I'm just thinking of the recovery - I want to be back on my feet quicker.
My only real complaint lately is this ridiculous sciatica which is usually isolated in one leg or another for most people - but in me, oh no. It picks a different leg each day. And my tailbone gets so sore too!
Today, I was on my feet more than usual and I noticed that the sciatica was a lot more painful than usual. I attributed it to being on my feet but later in the day, I decided to change my clothes and as I took off my pants, a-ha! - somehow the pain was reduced by like 75%. It was those pants! I noticed they put a lot of pressure on my lower abdomen as they have a tight elastic band but I had no idea the tightness was also affecting my lower back too - duh! What's my degree in?
I retired the pants of course. They still fit and look decent but aren't worth it if they're going to cause me that much pain every day.
On another note, I have finally decided to go with the VBAC vs. a volunteer C-section. It freaks me out but I'm going for it. I'm just thinking of the recovery - I want to be back on my feet quicker.
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