Yes, here we are! Nine weeks and moving right along. I'm not going to claim victory till after the first trimester is completed (and probably not even then - HG has been known to show up unexpectedly later in pregnancy), but each passing day gives a little more hope that HG has been avoided. Huzzah!
This last week is one which I will be glad to forget. We are still phone-less and internet-less, surrounded by stacks of boxes in the most chaotic mess you've ever seen, due to the presence of an active toddler and a mum who is too tired to unpack - and too nauseated to even THINK about unpacking the kitchen! Add onto that an inventory list that was lost until yesterday (so searching for anything meant a random hacking open of boxes in vain and futile searches), a couple of scorpions, various financial tangles, and a really nice version of the stomach flu which hit DH two nights ago! I will be very, very glad to leave this week (and probably the next couple weeks!) far, far behind.
And so I will leave you with this parting rejoinder - NEVER plan a move during early pregnancy! (Or, conversely, never plan a pregnancy during a move!)
Love to all,
Diana
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
8 weeks, 5 days: Move Completed
Yes, we're moved, praise the Lord! It was quite a project. Now we have a home that is hard to navigate due to piles of boxes, but at least we're in. I am too tired and/or nauseated to even THINK about unpacking more than about one box a day, so we'll be lucky to be unpacked by the time baby arrives. But at least life can (hopefully) assume a less-frantic pace now that our deadline is over and done with!
I think my approach to new-home-ownership can be described as something like "panic-stricken" or maybe "terror-filled." I might just have to change the name of this blog to "The Panic-Stricken Homeowner"! I'm just waiting nervously for things to quit, explode, burn, flood, break, leak or cave in. We've gotten through the first 48 hours with no catastrophes and only one scorpion, though, so things are coming along! Hubbie is as happy as a bug - he loves bustling about the house checking on things. It's the male-protector in him, I think! So he is beaming and I'm cowering, and things are moving right along.
I started throwing up a lot more than usual the day after our move and have kept it up - more like every couple of hours rather than just in the afternoons. Maybe I overdid it? Or maybe it's paint/carpet fumes? Who knows. Hopefully it'll calm down. I'm getting my wonderful stomach muscles back from all the exercise throwing up, but frankly, I'd rather just be a non-muscled and non-vomiting wimp.
I've discovered a big problem with cravings. I'll decide that something sounds good, but by the time that the 24-48 hours goes by for me to send DH to the store to get the supplies to make it, things have reversed and the previously-desired item is now absolutely revolting. This has happened at least five times! So I think I'm just going to give up on it and stick to instant oatmeal (a gooey mess, but easy on the stomach and easy to make).
Well, it's time to head for home! We have no internet or phone at home for the next 3-7 days, so all communication is done from work and/or church. Our email address has been cancelled, too, so if you email me it'll probably come back! I'll post our new address as soon as we have one.
Love to all!
Diana
I think my approach to new-home-ownership can be described as something like "panic-stricken" or maybe "terror-filled." I might just have to change the name of this blog to "The Panic-Stricken Homeowner"! I'm just waiting nervously for things to quit, explode, burn, flood, break, leak or cave in. We've gotten through the first 48 hours with no catastrophes and only one scorpion, though, so things are coming along! Hubbie is as happy as a bug - he loves bustling about the house checking on things. It's the male-protector in him, I think! So he is beaming and I'm cowering, and things are moving right along.
I started throwing up a lot more than usual the day after our move and have kept it up - more like every couple of hours rather than just in the afternoons. Maybe I overdid it? Or maybe it's paint/carpet fumes? Who knows. Hopefully it'll calm down. I'm getting my wonderful stomach muscles back from all the exercise throwing up, but frankly, I'd rather just be a non-muscled and non-vomiting wimp.
I've discovered a big problem with cravings. I'll decide that something sounds good, but by the time that the 24-48 hours goes by for me to send DH to the store to get the supplies to make it, things have reversed and the previously-desired item is now absolutely revolting. This has happened at least five times! So I think I'm just going to give up on it and stick to instant oatmeal (a gooey mess, but easy on the stomach and easy to make).
Well, it's time to head for home! We have no internet or phone at home for the next 3-7 days, so all communication is done from work and/or church. Our email address has been cancelled, too, so if you email me it'll probably come back! I'll post our new address as soon as we have one.
Love to all!
Diana
Thursday, January 22, 2009
8 weeks, 0 days: Upcoming Radio Silence
Hello, everyone! I thought I'd better write another blog entry quickly so that my last incendiary political entry didn't show up first to newcomers. :)
Things are fine here. I grow more confident each day that HG has been avoided through the combination of divine mercy and Zofran/Unisom, but I'll be holding my breath till at least the end of the first trimester. I'm a nice deep shade of green, but nothing worse, and I'm only throwing up every other day or so. My goodness, though, how the world smells! I am avoiding my kitchen like the plague, because just being close to it is nauseating.
This pregnancy is playing out just like the last one, in terms of likes and dislikes. Last time I had to wait till I could eat before they manifested; now they're here earlier. The things I like best are extremely strong/pungent things - meat-lover's pizza and hotdogs smothered in condiments. If you want to make me gag, on the other hand, show me a salad or a chicken breast.
We are moving on Saturday, so expect a bit of a delay in entries!
Love to all,
Diana
Things are fine here. I grow more confident each day that HG has been avoided through the combination of divine mercy and Zofran/Unisom, but I'll be holding my breath till at least the end of the first trimester. I'm a nice deep shade of green, but nothing worse, and I'm only throwing up every other day or so. My goodness, though, how the world smells! I am avoiding my kitchen like the plague, because just being close to it is nauseating.
This pregnancy is playing out just like the last one, in terms of likes and dislikes. Last time I had to wait till I could eat before they manifested; now they're here earlier. The things I like best are extremely strong/pungent things - meat-lover's pizza and hotdogs smothered in condiments. If you want to make me gag, on the other hand, show me a salad or a chicken breast.
We are moving on Saturday, so expect a bit of a delay in entries!
Love to all,
Diana
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
7 weeks, 5 days: Congratulations J & A!!
I want to issue our biggest congratulations to our friends J. and A., who two days ago gave birth to their first-born son Jude. Good job, A.! I can't wait to hear your birth story and meet your sweet little one! Send pictures!
J. and A. are our first (I think?) personal friends to attempt a homebirth (since we've known them, that is - we've made lots of friends with HB families) - with one of our midwives, no less! Unfortunately they ended up transferring for high maternal blood pressure and so weren't able to birth at home, but it sounds like they had a great experience anyway and are probably at home by now.
Good job, you guys!!
On this end, the world continues a deep shade of green, but no worse, thank the Lord. I am consciously willing these weeks to go quickly - they don't seem to be obeying, but I try.
I attempted to watch the inauguration this morning from the church, but no luck - the networks were just too overloaded on the internet and the best I could get was a few choppy pictures. Bummer. I always like keeping up with historical events, regardless of who's being inaugurated. Regarding the whole to-do, what is there to say? Not much more than I said at the elections - God help us all. I am absolutely disgusted at the sappy and tearful media love-fest over this man (gosh, where was that the two times Bush was elected?). However, he was lawfully elected, and God is not going to protect a country from the choices they make at the voting box. But before I degenerate into political mudslinging (and I have NO desire to start political debates on this blog), I will simply say that President Obama is now in my constant prayers - for his safety and that of his family, for wisdom, and for spiritual growth. I don't envy any man or woman the job that he now faces.
J. and A. are our first (I think?) personal friends to attempt a homebirth (since we've known them, that is - we've made lots of friends with HB families) - with one of our midwives, no less! Unfortunately they ended up transferring for high maternal blood pressure and so weren't able to birth at home, but it sounds like they had a great experience anyway and are probably at home by now.
Good job, you guys!!
On this end, the world continues a deep shade of green, but no worse, thank the Lord. I am consciously willing these weeks to go quickly - they don't seem to be obeying, but I try.
I attempted to watch the inauguration this morning from the church, but no luck - the networks were just too overloaded on the internet and the best I could get was a few choppy pictures. Bummer. I always like keeping up with historical events, regardless of who's being inaugurated. Regarding the whole to-do, what is there to say? Not much more than I said at the elections - God help us all. I am absolutely disgusted at the sappy and tearful media love-fest over this man (gosh, where was that the two times Bush was elected?). However, he was lawfully elected, and God is not going to protect a country from the choices they make at the voting box. But before I degenerate into political mudslinging (and I have NO desire to start political debates on this blog), I will simply say that President Obama is now in my constant prayers - for his safety and that of his family, for wisdom, and for spiritual growth. I don't envy any man or woman the job that he now faces.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
7 weeks, 2 days: Wisdom from the first seven weeks
I've been thinking a lot about what I've learned these first seven weeks, and I wanted to share a few points. These are all based on stupid mistakes I've made, so hopefully none of you will have to make the same errors!
(1) Don't think that Dr. Wonderful for pregnancy/birth is Dr. Wonderful for HG.
All of the traits that make for a Dr. Wonderful with pregnancy and birth (in the natural birth world, that is) - things like patience, faith in natural processes, reluctance to intervene, dislike of using drugs, reliance on natural medicines - are likely to make for a Dr. Awful in HG treatment. While there might be a doctor who's great on both ends, it's my impression that the best doc to treat HG is likely to be the foot-tapping, clock-watching, pitocin-pushing, scissor-happy Dr. Jerk with the 70% c-section rate who never met a labor-augmenting drug he didn't like!
(2) Do your research in advance. Not when you get pregnant.
I really did do my research in advance - a whole year of it. But, frankly, I was going in the wrong direction. I now know just about everything about natural treatment for morning sickness, but, to be quite frank, none of it has worked. I can't say that my pre-HG protocol didn't have any effect, because it might conceivably have mitigated my symptoms and kept it from being worse. But I never experienced direct relief from any of the natural remedies - only the pharmaceuticals. (And I ended up dumping all of my herbal teas/infusions/etc. a couple of weeks ago because the very smell of them was making me vomit! Literally!) The end result is that I had to do my drug research for HG while pregnant and sick, and that is not the best way to do things.
(3) Fight your insurance before you need the drugs.
Preferably pre-conception, but definitely pre-HG. If you've had it before and you know you'll have it again, do your fighting before you need the drugs. I waited until I needed Zofran to start fighting for it - bad idea. It took one week, start to finish, to get the prescription approved, and I had an incredibly, miraculously easy road. If your insurance wants to be stinky, it can take weeks - too long. I survived because I was not super-sick and because I had a store of Zofran to get me through. You might not be so blessed.
(4) Don't assume that "honesty" means "full disclosure"
This point is really obscure, and won't apply to too many people. Anyhow, when I was searching for an OB, my main concern was finding one who would work with a midwife's client (not many will, sadly). So my first question was always, "Are you okay with working with a midwife's client? Will you still take me?" - a question with deplorable results, as you've seen by previous blog entries. I realize now that there is no need for me to disclose everything. If I had it to do over again, I would go to my chosen OB, quietly accept all the ridiculously unnecessary prenatal procedures that she required, get treatment for HG, and then quietly "change practices" after treatment was no longer needed. Possibly not the most straight-forward method, but it would have saved a lot of heartache.
There, you've been instructed! Now don't make any of the same mistakes I did!
Love,
Diana
(1) Don't think that Dr. Wonderful for pregnancy/birth is Dr. Wonderful for HG.
All of the traits that make for a Dr. Wonderful with pregnancy and birth (in the natural birth world, that is) - things like patience, faith in natural processes, reluctance to intervene, dislike of using drugs, reliance on natural medicines - are likely to make for a Dr. Awful in HG treatment. While there might be a doctor who's great on both ends, it's my impression that the best doc to treat HG is likely to be the foot-tapping, clock-watching, pitocin-pushing, scissor-happy Dr. Jerk with the 70% c-section rate who never met a labor-augmenting drug he didn't like!
(2) Do your research in advance. Not when you get pregnant.
I really did do my research in advance - a whole year of it. But, frankly, I was going in the wrong direction. I now know just about everything about natural treatment for morning sickness, but, to be quite frank, none of it has worked. I can't say that my pre-HG protocol didn't have any effect, because it might conceivably have mitigated my symptoms and kept it from being worse. But I never experienced direct relief from any of the natural remedies - only the pharmaceuticals. (And I ended up dumping all of my herbal teas/infusions/etc. a couple of weeks ago because the very smell of them was making me vomit! Literally!) The end result is that I had to do my drug research for HG while pregnant and sick, and that is not the best way to do things.
(3) Fight your insurance before you need the drugs.
Preferably pre-conception, but definitely pre-HG. If you've had it before and you know you'll have it again, do your fighting before you need the drugs. I waited until I needed Zofran to start fighting for it - bad idea. It took one week, start to finish, to get the prescription approved, and I had an incredibly, miraculously easy road. If your insurance wants to be stinky, it can take weeks - too long. I survived because I was not super-sick and because I had a store of Zofran to get me through. You might not be so blessed.
(4) Don't assume that "honesty" means "full disclosure"
This point is really obscure, and won't apply to too many people. Anyhow, when I was searching for an OB, my main concern was finding one who would work with a midwife's client (not many will, sadly). So my first question was always, "Are you okay with working with a midwife's client? Will you still take me?" - a question with deplorable results, as you've seen by previous blog entries. I realize now that there is no need for me to disclose everything. If I had it to do over again, I would go to my chosen OB, quietly accept all the ridiculously unnecessary prenatal procedures that she required, get treatment for HG, and then quietly "change practices" after treatment was no longer needed. Possibly not the most straight-forward method, but it would have saved a lot of heartache.
There, you've been instructed! Now don't make any of the same mistakes I did!
Love,
Diana
Friday, January 16, 2009
7 weeks, 1 day: Continuing the Journey
I have tons to write, and have in fact been writing virtual blog entries in my head rather continuously. However, I've just been too nauseated to write much! And this will, thus, be a short entry. And probably not too coherent of one.
My big praise is that my insurance approved the Zofran - thank the Lord! I think it took the prayers of my entire church and assorted friends to accomplish that miracle. It is keeping me sane, though it doesn't take all the nausea away (bummer!).
I'm just trying to hold the line and keep going one day at a time. I still do not have HG, praise God, just miserable round-the-clock nausea. Thankfully, the Zofran seems to have taken care of the vomiting, which is a big relief. I'm grateful to have passed the seven-week mark, and I'm trying to stay with the present and be grateful for an easier road. After all, what I am now considering "miserable" was better known as "heavenly" last time - after all, I'm typing at a computer, right? Not huddled on the bathroom floor praying for an early death.
I wish I could speed up the time and get out of the first trimester to a time when I could actually enjoy my pregnancy. I'm really looking forward to that. But I'm also thinking, "Okay, this is the last time I'll ever be at [seven weeks, six weeks, etc.], so enjoy it." But I'm also enjoying the thought of the end of the road, too!
I'll write more coherent thoughts later, but I wanted to check in. Please continue to pray for me - that the nausea would be manageable and that it would pass quickly!
My big praise is that my insurance approved the Zofran - thank the Lord! I think it took the prayers of my entire church and assorted friends to accomplish that miracle. It is keeping me sane, though it doesn't take all the nausea away (bummer!).
I'm just trying to hold the line and keep going one day at a time. I still do not have HG, praise God, just miserable round-the-clock nausea. Thankfully, the Zofran seems to have taken care of the vomiting, which is a big relief. I'm grateful to have passed the seven-week mark, and I'm trying to stay with the present and be grateful for an easier road. After all, what I am now considering "miserable" was better known as "heavenly" last time - after all, I'm typing at a computer, right? Not huddled on the bathroom floor praying for an early death.
I wish I could speed up the time and get out of the first trimester to a time when I could actually enjoy my pregnancy. I'm really looking forward to that. But I'm also thinking, "Okay, this is the last time I'll ever be at [seven weeks, six weeks, etc.], so enjoy it." But I'm also enjoying the thought of the end of the road, too!
I'll write more coherent thoughts later, but I wanted to check in. Please continue to pray for me - that the nausea would be manageable and that it would pass quickly!
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
6 weeks, 5 days: Waiting for Insurance
Today is a day off from the insurance fight, thankfully! Right now I'm waiting for my OB to fax in her paperwork to the insurance company. Then we have to wait for their response. If they reject it, there's another appeals process to try. This won't be over anytime soon!
If it gets too difficult, I'm thinking of trying for Phenergan rather than Zofran. It's supposedly not quite as effective but easier to get. HG mums, any advice?
Right now I'm having reverse morning sickness. I wake up feeling fine (probably because I set my alarm for 5:30am to take a Zofran to combat early-morning nausea) and then progressively feel worse till bedtime, at which point I'm just looking forward to morning! I've been having a lot of trouble with nausea waking me up. Oh, and I am having some CRAZY dreams! I think that's typical of pregnancy. Last night it was an X-files type car chase through some crazy government warehouse, with houses burning down and mystery documents and all the fixings. Goodness!
So we're holding the line. No official HG yet (I think I'd be where I was last time but for the Bendectin and Zofran - thank goodness for them!), just bad morning sickness. Seven weeks will be a big milestone for me because at that point last time I was really, really sick - and miserable as it occasionally is over here, we're not at that point!!
I'll keep checking in! Keep those prayers coming!!
Oh, and I've really started utilizing the forums at www.hyperemesis.org - they are the BEST. If you haven't checked them out yet, definitely do!
If it gets too difficult, I'm thinking of trying for Phenergan rather than Zofran. It's supposedly not quite as effective but easier to get. HG mums, any advice?
Right now I'm having reverse morning sickness. I wake up feeling fine (probably because I set my alarm for 5:30am to take a Zofran to combat early-morning nausea) and then progressively feel worse till bedtime, at which point I'm just looking forward to morning! I've been having a lot of trouble with nausea waking me up. Oh, and I am having some CRAZY dreams! I think that's typical of pregnancy. Last night it was an X-files type car chase through some crazy government warehouse, with houses burning down and mystery documents and all the fixings. Goodness!
So we're holding the line. No official HG yet (I think I'd be where I was last time but for the Bendectin and Zofran - thank goodness for them!), just bad morning sickness. Seven weeks will be a big milestone for me because at that point last time I was really, really sick - and miserable as it occasionally is over here, we're not at that point!!
I'll keep checking in! Keep those prayers coming!!
Oh, and I've really started utilizing the forums at www.hyperemesis.org - they are the BEST. If you haven't checked them out yet, definitely do!
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