Hello again! It has been quite a few
months since I last posted and a LOT has happened.
First of all, if you didn't already
know, I'm now 20 weeks pregnant. I can't believe I'm this far along.
It has definitely been a bit of a roller coaster so far but I'll get
into that in a minute.
Let me backtrack a little bit and fill
in the gap from my last post. I had the appointment with the Maternal
Fetal Medicine (MFM) doctor in July. We really liked him but
unfortunately left the appointment without any answers or decisions.
During the visit we went through my medications and talked about some
that would be a good idea for me to get off of (which I did) and
which ones there are really not a lot of information about in regards
to pregnancy but are probably okay. We talked through my history and
he wasn't concerned with my health issues complicating a pregnancy
and delivery. And then, while talking about my port-a-cath, the
subject of blood clots came up and I told him that I actually dealt
with blood clots last October. That pretty much threw a wrench into
what seemed was going to be an easy decision. Because I developed the
blood clots while on combination birth control (which is similar to
the state your body is in hormonally during pregnancy) and having a
port was thought to be a factor, the fact that I still have a port
was a concern. But before making a recommendation, he wanted to get
the records from my hospital stay to have a better idea of testing
that was done and have an idea of the whole picture.
The records were sent to him and it
took a few months (and many phone calls) before I was able to get
back in touch with him to find out that the hospital records didn't
really help much because I was apparently not tested for clotting
factors. So, that blood work was ordered and it again took quite a
while to hear back about it. By this time I knew I was pregnant and
was anxious to get this figured out so I could start my prenatal
care! The clotting factors all came back normal except for one that
could be explained by the fact that I was pregnant (the doctor didn't
know I was pregnant then and if he had, he wouldn't have ordered that
particular test). It was a relief that nothing was actually abnormal
and we thought we might be in the clear to choose to have an out of
hospital birth. But, in the end, the recommendation the doctor made
was that I should be on blood thinners (Lovenox shots) during
pregnancy and be in a hospital. This was quite a bit of a
disappointment and of course I was upset for a while.
But, at this point I was 10 weeks
pregnant and just eager to make a decision. I dove into doing
research about hospitals and midwifery/OB practices. I had already
done some research knowing it was a possibility that I would need to
go that route so I had some idea of where I was interested in
visiting. Over the next week I visited two midwifery practices and
one OB practice and toured two of the hospitals. The first midwifery
practice was not a good fit for me (much more on the medical side
than I want) but I really liked the second practice and would have
been fine going with them. The hospital associated with them, though,
wasn't quite what I was looking for. I had thought I would prefer to
use midwives but when I visited the OB practice and toured their
hospital, I was sold. The hospital is really what I want – it's
kind of a cross between a birth center and a hospital. They do
waterbirths, they're very down to earth, very supportive of making
sure mother and baby are kept together and bond, support
breastfeeding, and just were a really good compromise.
I had my first prenatal appointment on
October 23rd and it was great! But let me again back up
and now fill in the details of my early pregnancy.
We were on vacation with my parents in
August when I was due to get my period so a few days before it was
due, I decided to take a pregnancy test. I had been in a grumpy mood
for a few days and wasn't sure why but didn't think that was a sign
that I was pregnant. On the morning of Tuesday, August 21st
I went ahead and tested using a cheap strip test. When I looked at it
after a few minutes, I was shocked to see a clear but faint second
line. So I immediately pulled out another cheap strip test (a
different brand) and a target brand regular test. After a few minute
it was undeniably clear that they were positive so I quickly cleaned
things up, went out to the kitchen where Eric and my parents were,
and motioned for Eric to come into the bathroom to see. He was
shocked and unfortunately it took him until that afternoon to start
getting excited so it wasn't exactly the response I was hoping for
but I was super excited. I went out into the kitchen and showed my
parents the target test and they were both so happy for us, it was a
nice way to get to share it with them. Throughout that day Eric
called his siblings but I asked him to wait until the next day to
call his parents and grandparents so I would have a chance to take a
digital test for confirmation. Sure enough, the next morning the
digital test was clearly positive, too! Here's a picture of that
test:
So, with that confirmation, Eric
finished calling his family and I called my siblings to tell them (I
wanted my older sister to be the first of my three siblings that I
told but she lives across the country so it's hard to coordinate
phone calls with the time difference and I ended up waiting until
Saturday). Everyone was super excited for us and it was a really
great time. I started doing all kinds of reading, calculated my due
date (April 30, 2013), and found out that the baby at that time was
the size of a poppy seed. So, we started calling the baby Poppy and
decided that would be his/her nickname for the duration of the
pregnancy.
I'll try to speed a little faster
through the next few months. I felt good, although really tired, for
the next few weeks until I was about 6 weeks along and that's when
the morning sickness hit. And it hit pretty hard. I was nauseous and
queasy all the time, my nausea meds that I've taken for years didn't
help (probably because I've taken them for so long and my body is a
little desensitized to it), and I was just pretty miserable. I
started throwing up some days and started researching natural ways to
combat it. I ended up deciding to start on B6 and unisom which helped
SO MUCH. It was like a switch was flipped and I was finally able to
be comfortable most of the time and eat a little better. That lasted
for a few weeks and it was great, but then the morning sickness and
vomiting started creeping back. On the day of my first prenatal
appointment (at 13 weeks), we had to pull over along the highway so I
could throw up. Not really the best start to that day, but it got a
lot better as soon as I got to hear little Poppy's heartbeat! It was
a strong 170 beats per minute and was the best thing I had ever
heard. A wave of relief came over me as I felt myself relaxing, not
quite realizing just how nervous and worried I was that something was
wrong and there wouldn't be a heartbeat.
After that appointment and hearing
Poppy's heartbeat, we finally made our announcement on Facebook and
it felt like such a relief to know that everything was fine.
I was hopeful that as I got into the
second trimester, the morning sickness would let up but it continued
to be quite an issue until I was 16 weeks and it finally felt like it
was getting better. I still have trouble with it from time to time
and still occasionally throw up, but it's pretty minor and
manageable. I'm still taking the B6 and I will likely continue it for
the duration of the pregnancy just to be safe.
At my first prenatal appointment, the
doctor and I also made the decision to go ahead and start on the
blood thinner, Lovenox. I'm only on 40mg once a day which is a
quarter of the dose I was on after my blood clot. Of course I would
rather not have to give myself a shot everyday, but it is really a
minor inconvenience for the piece of mind to know that we are
(hopefully) avoiding complications. Being on blood thinners shouldn't
affect my options as far as giving birth goes – waterbirth is still
an option, I don't need anything special, so that's a relief. At
about 36 weeks, I'll switch from Lovenox to heparin shots twice a day
because the heparin is shorter acting and can be reversed if
necessary when I go into labor.
At 16 weeks 5 days I felt the first
little flutters but I wasn't completely sure it was movement then.
Later that week, it became clearer and now I feel kicks and moving
around everyday. I LOVE that and it is just such a reassuring thing
to know that Poppy is doing well and saying hello. I've even been
able to see kicks from the outside. Here's a really short video of a kick I was able to capture on my cell phone - watch the lower right side of my belly for a kick towards the end.
We have an ultrasound a week from today
when I'll be 21 weeks and I'm really looking forward to seeing Poppy
for the first time (I declined all early ultrasounds and want this
one to be the only one unless there is an issue that comes up) and
(hopefully) finding out if it's a boy or girl.
I've been feeling pretty well as far as
my illnesses go. There have been some ups and downs and issues with
dysautonomia symptoms getting worse sometimes, but for the most part
I'm able to handle them and have even been able to cut back to only
doing IV fluids a few times a week which is amazing! I've been taking
it easy a lot which helps. And I've started nesting, acquiring the
baby things we'll need (especially cloth diapers which I just LOVE),
knitting some things for him/her, and trying to read lots of things
about pregnancy, giving birth, and newborn care. It feels like a lot
sometimes, but I'm so excited to get myself and the apartment ready
for Poppy to join our family in April or May.
So, there you go. You're up to date on
what's going on.
For the sake of those of you
interested in this blog and my story specifically as it relates to my
Lyme disease, I am on certain medications specifically to reduce the
rate of transmission and I will be on them throughout pregnancy and
as long as I breastfeed (which I do plan to do with the help of an
antibiotic combination to hopefully keep Poppy safe from
transmission). The two antibiotics I'm currently taking are Ceftin
and Zithromax. I was originally trying to take Mepron instead of
Zithromax because I have a history of Babesiosis (another tick-borne
illness) but it proved to be too rough on my stomach right now so we
switched to the Zithromax and that has been much easier to tolerate.
I am also on a few other medications to help with symptoms of my
illnesses/conditions but I would estimate I'm on about a third of the
medications I was on before we decided to start trying. My doctor and
I are both amazed at how well I'm doing given how many medications I
had to get off of, but we're both thrilled that I'm not having more
issues! To give you an idea of how amazing that is, I had previously
been on two migraine/headache preventative medications, both of which
I had to come off of along with not being able to take any of the
regular medications I would take when I actually get a headache. I
also had to come off of the medications and supplements I had been
taking to help me sleep and now I'm able to manage with only either
Phenergan (which knocks me out in addition to helping my nausea) or
Unisom. And there were various other medications for this or that
which I have been able to stop without really having any major
issues. So, other than the morning sickness and fatigue (which I have
anyway, it's just more pronounced now), pregnancy seems to really
agree with me!
I hope to do more frequent updates now
that I have gotten up to date. I'll likely post some belly shots as I
start to show more (right now there's just barely a bump that is
noticeable to anyone but me and still looks like I just ate a little
too much) and check back in weekly with what's been going on, how
things are going with both me and Poppy, and I'm sure I'll be sharing
some ultrasound pictures next week!
So check back for updates. And welcome
to the journey!
