Not much to tell here, this appointment took less than fifteen minutes. She acknowledged that I'm gaining weight, which is a good thing. She asked about my asthma, which has been inactive for years, and about my depression, which has reared its ugly head this last week. She measured my uterus, but didn't tell me the measurement. She found the baby's heartbeat with no problem, and it was in the 140s, which is what it was on the 20th. We talked about traveling, since the cutoff for my insurance is 34 weeks. The trip Bryan and I have planned puts me back home at 34 weeks and 4 days, so I've got to contact the insurance company about getting authorization for that. But the nurse said she'd be willing to write a letter attesting to the fact that I am not showing any risk factors for early delivery, and she also mentioned that it might be good for my depression to get home and see everyone. So I emailed my insurance company when I got home, and am just waiting for word back now. I mentioned the pain in my upper abdomen, and she started talking about pre-eclampsia, because right upper quadrant pain is one symptom of it. She did say that I'm not showing any signs of it, I'm not swelling majorly anywhere, and my blood pressure is low, where high blood pressure would be a worrisome symptom. But she gave me a pamphlet on high blood pressure anyway. We managed to get a lot done in the ten or so minutes I was in there. I went to the appointment desk and made my next appointment for April 20th, which would be the day before Bryan and I are supposed to leave for our trip home. That is 32 weeks and 2 days along at that appointment. So we'll see. I really don't want to be stuck at home if they don't clear me for travel... I really want to go home and see some of my family and friends. We'll see, though. It all depends on Tricare. Yay...
TTFN!!!
Monday, March 26, 2007
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
The Baby isn't Just "The Baby" Anymore!
First, I have to tell you about my last doctor's visit. I had been having this pain in my upper abdomen, just under my right breast. It felt like a bruise, but it didn't go away for over a week, and there was no discoloration. So I decided to make an appointment on March 14th with my primary care doctor, and see what was going on. I mentioned it to the last doctor I saw, in Women's Health, but she dismissed it as likely being bowel pain. That didn't sit right with me. So I went in, and my doctor palpated the area and said that she thought I might have a small hernia. She said that it could be caused by my uterus pushing my intestines up against my ribs, and that as my uterus continues to get bigger, it could shift and go away. But if it doesn't, I'm to let the clinic know. I also asked her about my iron pills. The box says to take one, but the doctor in WH told me to take three. I asked my primary care doctor if that was entirely necessary. She asked me how anemic I was, and when I didn't know, she checked out my numbers in the computer. They were 10 and 29. I don't know exactly what they mean, but the first number is supposed to be 12 or over, and the second 37 or above. So she said I should indeed be taking three. I told her about the scheduling conflicts with them. I can't lie down within 30 minutes of taking one, and I have to take it one hour before or two hours after eating. I'm hungry every two hours, not three. But she told me to ignore those directives and just to take it when I can. If they bother my stomach too much, then we could try something different. She also told me that if my heartburn got intolerable, to come back in, and she would put me on Zantac to help. So far, Tums have been wonderful. So that was fun. But I really like my primary care doctor. I hope our baby can be seen by someone in that clinic, because everyone there is so nice.
Speaking of our baby, we had our ultrasound this morning. The nurse at my 24-week class scheduled it because of my asthma (lovely excuse :) ). But the day started out horribly. I'm working a different schedule now because Julie's dad got fired from his department, and is now on call to take over gaps in other shifts. But he's had this class he's had to go to the last two days, and I have to be at work at 7:00am. So I woke up at 6:00 this morning to take a shower, and I was in immediate, constant pain. I felt horribly constipated. I'd been having an average of one to two bowel movements per day, so I didn't think that was the case, but that's surely what it felt like. It lasted all through my shower, and got to the point I could barely stand up straight. I made it to work, managed to get Julie up and dressed, but that was it. The pain got so bad I was in tears. Thank God I had made plans with Sam for her to pick Bryan up when she got off work. I couldn't have gotten Julie into the car without doubling over in pain. I took some Tylenol as soon as I got home, but it didn't kick in until we were over halfway to the hospital. I told Bryan that if it continued through the ultrasound, I was going to Women's Health afterward. I managed to get through the ultrasound pain-free (Thank You God). We got to see so much of the environment our little one is living in. The head was way down into my pelvis, and the legs and knees were up around my belly button. The tech took measurements of nearly everything. She measured the circumference of the head, the length of the arms and legs, and marked various different parts of the brain. We had told her at the beginning that, if possible, we would love to know the gender of the baby. According to the instructions we were given, she wasn't able to tell us much of anything, and we weren't going to be given any pictures. But she talked us through nearly everything, including measuring the amount of amniotic fluid in the placenta. She also got a very good picture of the baby's behind and genitals....
IT'S A BOY!!!
We were ecstatic! I couldn't show it much, because I was starting to feel in pain again. But Bryan was grinning from ear to ear. I went to the bathroom, and then we went back into the exam room to wait for the radiologist. While we were waiting, Bryan told me that he thought he would like to change the boy's name we had picked out. We had settled on Thomas Jennings, or T.J., very early on, but Bryan was wanting some way to factor in his stepdad's name. Randy has been nearly, if not as good of a father to Bryan as his dad, Jennings, and Bryan wanted to honor that. So he suggested the name Jennings Randall, J.R. for short, instead. I had put that suggestion out there, but he didn't like it at first. I guess it grew on him. He talked like he was going to want to talk about changing the girl's name, too, but that's not a factor anymore. I told him that name was fine by me. We started making phone calls as soon as we got out of the hospital. Now my mom can go shopping for the baby. She'd been bugging me about it for a week or so, complaining that she could only buy white stuff until we found out. But, the tech gave us pictures of the baby's face and genitalia. Here they are!!! (Along with pictures of me and my big ol' belly.
(Doesn't he look scary?)
(Sorry I look so upset.
I really didn't feel good.)
Thursday, March 01, 2007
Not Much Going On...
I don't really have much to tell with this post, which is a blessing all in itself. Baby's been moving pretty regularly, liking to hang out right on top of my bladder. I think I've actually been experiencing my first Braxton-Hicks contractions. I'll feel my uterus tightening up about once an hour during the evening. It's a very strange feeling. I've also been getting a lot of back and rib pain. Most people think it's because the baby is up there, but it only heads that direction when I'm lying flat on my back. My theory is that I'm feeling all that pain because of the lack of real estate in my abdomen these days. Everything's jockeying for the most amount of space, and it's all pushing up on my diaphragm. It feels like I constantly need to pop my back, but doing so is usually fruitless. Tylenol doesn't even work. I've finally found a comfortable position to lie in on the couch that lessens it considerably. It seems to be the worst when I'm standing up or walking. So my second theory is that the round ligaments that are attached to my uterus are pulling on my ribs and back. I'm not sure. All I know is that it hurts, and I've been driving Bryan crazy complaining about it. But I've got to go pick him up from work now, so TTFN!!!
Update: 2 Days Later...
The morning after I wrote this post, I weighed myself like I do every three or four days. I always weigh myself right after I use the bathroom in the morning, and in the buff at that, so that I get a relatively accurate view of how I'm gaining. Last Sunday I weighed 143lbs. Friday morning, right after I wrote the first part of this post, I weighed 148lbs. That's gaining five pounds in five days. Not normal, especially when I'd been gaining a max of 2 pounds a week up until that point. So I called the Women's Health nurses' line at my hospital to ask about it, but I could never get through. Then I called Bryan to tell him I wanted him to come home; we were going to go in to Women's Health to ask about this. I was fearing pre-eclampsia/toxemia, both of which can cause the placenta to separate from the uterus, or deprive the baby of oxygen if my blood pressure gets too high. So I took my blood pressure on the BP monitor we have at home. it was fine. It was more elevated than it has been lately, but nowhere near anything to worry about. And my hands were swollen. I looked back on my daily habits from the last week, and decided there was nothing that could explain the sudden weight gain. I hadn't been constipated. Monday night, I had dealt with a bout of diarrhea after some pretty crazy cramps. But since then, I'd been regular. And I hadn't just eaten a huge meal the night before. So Bryan and I went to the hospital. Walking into Women's Health, we noticed a sign saying they had "downtime" on Friday mornings and didn't open until 9:00am; that's why I couldn't get through to them at 8:00 or 8:30 when I called. But I filled out the form to let them know what was going on with me, and the nurse came out to talk to me. She covered everything except the issues I was there for: the weight gain and the swelling. When Bryan mentioned this, she said that's not covered on a walk-in basis, that's for an appointment to deal with. So she made me an appointment for Monday morning. That was the only fruitful part of the trip up there. She refused to even mention the weight gain or the swelling in my hands. I walked out of there so frustrated I nearly cried. We made our phone calls to tell everyone what had happened. I had called the parents I babysit for to let them know I may not be able to work, so I had to call them to let them know how it went. I had also called my mom to see if she knew of any family history of pre-eclampsia, since that's a risk factor, so I called her back to let her know that I learned absolutely nothing. But it also turns out that I may not have anything to show the doctor when I go in on Monday. This morning I weighed 145lbs. I lost three pounds in a day. So we'll see what happens. Yesterday was just so frustrating. I'll update again on Monday, after I see the doctor.
Update: After Doctor's Visit
I almost forgot to do this, my friend Lindsay asked me what happened, and reminded me that I hadn't updated like I was supposed to... Sorry!!!
Anyway, apparently the reason for my appointment wasn't put in for the doctor, because I had to inform her why we made the appointment to start with. But, lemme start from the beginning. That morning, I woke up with some pain in my lower abdomen. Not cramping, really, but not bowel pain either. And I've had this spot on my belly at the top of my uterus that has been hurting like it's bruised, but there's nothing visible. To add to my distress for that morning, I wasn't feeling baby moving. Usually the baby is moving around within minutes of my getting up, but that wasn't the case yesterday morning. Finally, after I was up for an hour, baby finally started moving. I did the kick count, and reached 10 movements within 20 minutes, probably making up for lost time. So that relieved that part of my anxiety. We went to the doctor, and she was really hard to understand. She had a really thick accent that I couldn't decipher at first. But she measured my uterus, which measured 26cm, right on target. Then she listened for the baby's heartbeat, which was between 137 and 142 (right in boy range, according to the old wives' tales). She told me that she thought the pain I was feeling was from ligaments, which didn't make sense, but she seemed to have as difficult of a time understanding me as I did her, so I didn't press it. I told her about the weight gain, but she told me that my weight was on target now, and my blood pressure was nowhere near a worrisome measurement (111/66, pulse 82), so it was likely just retaining water for some reason. She told me that was very common in the third trimester, and unless it had stayed that way (I lost three of those five pounds) and my blood pressure started rising, it wasn't really cause for concern. She did inform me that I was anemic (not that it was any surprise to anyone, I've been anemic most of my life) and prescribed an iron supplement. She had to look up the results of my glucose test, but it was 110, which was perfectly fine. Apparently over 130 is cause for concern. She said it was good to be anxious, and to know when things aren't right. She reiterated the reasons to come in, (bleeding, contractions more than 6/hour, no fetal movement) which I had heard SO many times already. But I'll know for next time... walking into Women's Health is useless, and making a doctor's appointment is almost as fruitless. I'll just have to make sure I'm able to call the nurse's line, knowing about their "downtime" on Friday mornings. That might actually give me more answers than going into the clinic.
I tell you what, though, I am already hating these iron supplements. I've felt bowel pain nearly all day today. The directions on the box say to take one a day, but my directions are to take three a day. It should be interesting, since I have to time it around eating and sleeping. I can't do either within an hour each direction of taking a pill. So we'll see.
Anyway, it's bedtime. Poor Bryan, he's feeling terrible today. He's caught my upper respiratory infection, and it's really bothering him. And my abdominal pain's not made me the greatest of company either, so it's been an interesting day. Not so great. But anyway, off to bed with me. I still need to shower.
TTFN!!!
Update: 2 Days Later...
The morning after I wrote this post, I weighed myself like I do every three or four days. I always weigh myself right after I use the bathroom in the morning, and in the buff at that, so that I get a relatively accurate view of how I'm gaining. Last Sunday I weighed 143lbs. Friday morning, right after I wrote the first part of this post, I weighed 148lbs. That's gaining five pounds in five days. Not normal, especially when I'd been gaining a max of 2 pounds a week up until that point. So I called the Women's Health nurses' line at my hospital to ask about it, but I could never get through. Then I called Bryan to tell him I wanted him to come home; we were going to go in to Women's Health to ask about this. I was fearing pre-eclampsia/toxemia, both of which can cause the placenta to separate from the uterus, or deprive the baby of oxygen if my blood pressure gets too high. So I took my blood pressure on the BP monitor we have at home. it was fine. It was more elevated than it has been lately, but nowhere near anything to worry about. And my hands were swollen. I looked back on my daily habits from the last week, and decided there was nothing that could explain the sudden weight gain. I hadn't been constipated. Monday night, I had dealt with a bout of diarrhea after some pretty crazy cramps. But since then, I'd been regular. And I hadn't just eaten a huge meal the night before. So Bryan and I went to the hospital. Walking into Women's Health, we noticed a sign saying they had "downtime" on Friday mornings and didn't open until 9:00am; that's why I couldn't get through to them at 8:00 or 8:30 when I called. But I filled out the form to let them know what was going on with me, and the nurse came out to talk to me. She covered everything except the issues I was there for: the weight gain and the swelling. When Bryan mentioned this, she said that's not covered on a walk-in basis, that's for an appointment to deal with. So she made me an appointment for Monday morning. That was the only fruitful part of the trip up there. She refused to even mention the weight gain or the swelling in my hands. I walked out of there so frustrated I nearly cried. We made our phone calls to tell everyone what had happened. I had called the parents I babysit for to let them know I may not be able to work, so I had to call them to let them know how it went. I had also called my mom to see if she knew of any family history of pre-eclampsia, since that's a risk factor, so I called her back to let her know that I learned absolutely nothing. But it also turns out that I may not have anything to show the doctor when I go in on Monday. This morning I weighed 145lbs. I lost three pounds in a day. So we'll see what happens. Yesterday was just so frustrating. I'll update again on Monday, after I see the doctor.
Update: After Doctor's Visit
I almost forgot to do this, my friend Lindsay asked me what happened, and reminded me that I hadn't updated like I was supposed to... Sorry!!!
Anyway, apparently the reason for my appointment wasn't put in for the doctor, because I had to inform her why we made the appointment to start with. But, lemme start from the beginning. That morning, I woke up with some pain in my lower abdomen. Not cramping, really, but not bowel pain either. And I've had this spot on my belly at the top of my uterus that has been hurting like it's bruised, but there's nothing visible. To add to my distress for that morning, I wasn't feeling baby moving. Usually the baby is moving around within minutes of my getting up, but that wasn't the case yesterday morning. Finally, after I was up for an hour, baby finally started moving. I did the kick count, and reached 10 movements within 20 minutes, probably making up for lost time. So that relieved that part of my anxiety. We went to the doctor, and she was really hard to understand. She had a really thick accent that I couldn't decipher at first. But she measured my uterus, which measured 26cm, right on target. Then she listened for the baby's heartbeat, which was between 137 and 142 (right in boy range, according to the old wives' tales). She told me that she thought the pain I was feeling was from ligaments, which didn't make sense, but she seemed to have as difficult of a time understanding me as I did her, so I didn't press it. I told her about the weight gain, but she told me that my weight was on target now, and my blood pressure was nowhere near a worrisome measurement (111/66, pulse 82), so it was likely just retaining water for some reason. She told me that was very common in the third trimester, and unless it had stayed that way (I lost three of those five pounds) and my blood pressure started rising, it wasn't really cause for concern. She did inform me that I was anemic (not that it was any surprise to anyone, I've been anemic most of my life) and prescribed an iron supplement. She had to look up the results of my glucose test, but it was 110, which was perfectly fine. Apparently over 130 is cause for concern. She said it was good to be anxious, and to know when things aren't right. She reiterated the reasons to come in, (bleeding, contractions more than 6/hour, no fetal movement) which I had heard SO many times already. But I'll know for next time... walking into Women's Health is useless, and making a doctor's appointment is almost as fruitless. I'll just have to make sure I'm able to call the nurse's line, knowing about their "downtime" on Friday mornings. That might actually give me more answers than going into the clinic.
I tell you what, though, I am already hating these iron supplements. I've felt bowel pain nearly all day today. The directions on the box say to take one a day, but my directions are to take three a day. It should be interesting, since I have to time it around eating and sleeping. I can't do either within an hour each direction of taking a pill. So we'll see.
Anyway, it's bedtime. Poor Bryan, he's feeling terrible today. He's caught my upper respiratory infection, and it's really bothering him. And my abdominal pain's not made me the greatest of company either, so it's been an interesting day. Not so great. But anyway, off to bed with me. I still need to shower.
TTFN!!!
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