analytics

December 27, 2009

(Google ads are strange - the one that just popped up for me (on THIS blog) was for anorexia and bulimia counseling - maybe I talk about food too much :)

On Christmas morning I sneezed and wet myself a little bit - such a funny weird pregnancy symptom.

I went into the living room to tell my sister and Darian got a very concerned look on her face, "you have to change your panties, gigi. You have to change your pants."

I wonder if it made her confused or comforted that a grownup did what she occasionally accidentally does.

December 24, 2009

According to a Chinese fertility chart, we'll be having a boy.

hmmmm...we'll see.

December 15, 2009

New symptom: REALLY sensitive teeth

When I eat anything or breath in with my mouth open all of my front teeth hurt. I guess I'll make an appointment with the dentist tomorrow and check with the midwife, but man oh man, now that I can eat, it hurts! Grrrrrr

December 10, 2009

My lovely lady bump? Check it out!

I am either really bloated or I have a little bump. Even if it's bloat, I'm letting it all hang out. Most people just probably think I have a tire around my middle, but it's actually all my organs all smashed up!

December 8, 2009

Starving

So, apparently, when I've felt like I was starving, I actually was! We went to Kaiser yesterday for a quick visit with our new NP (recommended by our midwife team). They always make me pee twice at Kaiser. The first time they stick a long dipstick with about 15 different tests in it. One of the things they test for is Ketones and apparently, there were some in my urine.

This means that I'm not getting enough food so my body is eating the fat I've stored (plenty of it!). The byproduct of this process is ketones. The baby, in it's parasitic relationship with my body, is getting what it needs, but it weakens me and is bad long term for the baby as well.

We were prescribed an anti-nausea medication which scared both Tim and I. For many years there were anti-nausea meds that caused severe deformities and another that caused reproductive problems in the children. But after lots of research and talking with our midwives we've decided to take the plunge and on bad days I'll try the medicine.

We only got 12 pills b/c they are very expensive (our insurance covers them 100%). I read that without insurance they are $25 per pill!

I'm traveling to San Diego this weekend (thurs-sunday) for work, so I'm hoping the pills will make it so I can survive the San Diego Convention Center.

With that bad news though, we then got to go see our muffin! She looks great! She was waving at us (apparently all movement is involuntary at this point b/c it is coming from her spine, not her brain) and measures perfectly. At this point she is about 2.5 inches and the size of a lime!

December 3, 2009

First checkup with our midwife

One of our midwife team, Ami Burnham, came over yesterday for our first checkup. I love so much that they come to our place. We found out first hand when we were interviewing another midwife that driving through city traffic and trying to find parking and the building doesn't leave us feeling so warm and baby happy.

This was an experience like I have never had with any other medical professional. She came over, had a cup of tea and we sat in our living room and she apologized that the first few sessions are paperwork heavy. No problem by me--I was happy that she was explaining why they needed whatever medical info and how it would be used. Also, aside from the normal family medical history questions, she also asked about our relationship and how Regina was feeling and gave us a few things to try for the nausea that we hadn't tried before.

A great example of why we chose to work with these midwifes is our discussion of sonograms. We were debating whether we should have the 13 week sonogram and Ami referenced a study that showed potential side effects from long term and massive amounts of sonogram use. I, being a slightly neurotic research hound had read the study and was impressed by her take on it--that the study used such an extreme case that it was not really applicable, but that the safest thing to do is only have them done if there is specific and important information needed from it.

For the actual checkup Ami had Regina lie down in the window seat and felt around her belly and used the Doppler to try to find the heartbeat. It ended up being too early to hear yet.

The whole process was the opposite of going to Kaiser--reassuring rather than stressful, relationship building rather than alienating, being a person rather than a (medical) number.