The journey continues...

Since my last post here, a lot has happened while not much has changed. What is mainly happening is surrounding my continued reading, researching, and talking with Eric about what to do to prepare for pregnancy (I like that term), how to handle pregnancy, nutrition (both before and during pregnancy), and all kinds of other things. Over the past month since Eric and I have started talking about the idea of starting a family soon, he has slowly warmed up more and more to the idea to the point where I think he is excited now. He's starting to do his own reading now (initially at my request and now on his own) and we're talking a lot about all aspects of pregnancy and how we're going to raise our child(ren).

I have also begun to get off of some of my medications and supplements that I either know I'm going to need to get off of or I suspect it will be a good idea for me to get off of. I'd like to have as much time as possible without these medications in my system before getting pregnant so by starting to wean down and/or stop taking them now, I'm hoping to give myself as much time as possible. The biggest issues I'm having now that I've stopped or weaned down on some of them are more/worse headaches (one of the medications I'm slowly weaning off of is a headache preventative and I'm trying hard not to take any of my usual “as needed” headache medications) and more trouble sleeping (I've stopped a few “as needed” sleeping meds/supplements and the headache med I've weaned down on also helps me sleep). I see my doctor on Monday and we'll be going over ALL of this stuff so it's likely to be quite an appointment. I know I can live with these symptoms because there's a reason for being off of these medications. But when I have nights like last night when a bad headache and nausea make me feel awful, I don't really have much I can take for them (I do have a nausea med that is fine for me to take but I was already at my maximum dose), and I'm dealing with all of this well before even trying to get pregnant it's a little rough to deal with.

On a positive note, Eric and I had an appointment last Thursday at a birthing center about a half an hour from where we live. We got a tour, met some of the midwives, and had a chance to ask them questions to see if it would be a good fit for us. They have worked with Lyme disease patients before which is great. But I was (and still am) a little concerned that once they realize what my situation is, how extensive my medical history is, and especially that I have a port-a-cath and am on IV medications they'll be scared away or realize that I'm not a good candidate for a birth center or home birth. The tour was great – we really liked the birth center and the midwives we met. The birthing rooms are really nice, both with birth tubs, and on the walls there are all the footprints of the babies that have been born in that particular room with their name and date of birth. That was really neat.

And the midwives were great. We especially liked their view on prenatal testing – they told us all the testing that could be done and said that they will give us all the information about each test with research from both sides, and then let us make the decision on each test for ourselves and support our decisions. Then, if something was a little strange and they thought that a particular test would be more helpful or necessary, they would present that to us and urge us to have the test(s) done. We both really like this since we don't want all kinds of tests done just because they are routine and if the midwives ever told us we should really have a particular test done, we would be more likely to believe that it's important and trust their advice.

After the tour, I called and made an appointment for a preconception appointment with one of the midwives for next Thursday, June 28^th. That will be a chance to talk through all of my medical history as well as talk about nutrition and everything else that we should be doing to get ready.

I also saw my doctor this afternoon to talk through all of this. We'll be switching up my antibiotics to pregnancy safe antibiotics that I will stay on throughout pregnancy and however long I'm breastfeeding. There are a number of options for pregnancy safe antibiotics that will help keep the Lyme from being transmitted (at least as much as possible) but the one that I'll be going on is Ceftin followed by Mepron (not technically an antibiotic but it's apparently one of the choices) when I actually get pregnant.

And then there's getting off of some of the other medications I'm on – medications for headaches, nausea, sleep issues, and various other things. I've already managed to get off of a few of the medications that don't seem safe and I would really like to get off as many other medications as possible. It will be strange and I expect to have some symptoms get worse, but I think it's worth it for me to go as medication-free as possible. There are some that I know are safe during pregnancy that I will be staying on, one of the biggest ones is zofran for nausea which I would have a lot of trouble living without, and we'll see how it goes getting off of as many of the other ones as possible, one by one. For now, we're not stopping any of the things I'm on but some of my “as needed” medications I won't be taking anymore and I'll be cutting down on one other medication.

My LLMD has also ordered some labwork, specifically to test my rubella antibodies to see if I'm protected against it and also to look at my cholesterol level and some of my vitamin levels. I asked about prenatal vitamins and she said that since I'm already on folic acid and a good amount of other vitamins (in my IV everyday) then I don't need to start one now. I was a little concerned about needing to be on iron which I've had trouble tolerating but since I'm not anemic now, she didn't feel that was necessary. This will also be a question for the midwife when I go for my preconception appointment.

This is all getting pretty exciting and feels more and more real the further we move forward with this. I'll be back with more information as I find out more things. I hope there are some who will find this helpful and informative, and I'm certainly enjoying writing about and documenting this process.

And so the journey continues...