Drumroll, Please!

Ladies and gentlemen!

I am extremely excited to announce that - after a year and a half of searching, and completely apart from my own efforts - we have found a church home.

And it just happens to be the most wonderful church in the world. Period, end of story.

And I am extremely happy about it.

Life is wonderful.

HG Blog Goes "Active"

Ladies, if you haven't heard, Sleepwalker over at "It's Just a Liminal Phase" is now in her 6th week of pregnancy. This HG mama over in the UK has done a ton of HG research (search her blog!) and is currently holding her own, and I know she would appreciate your encouragement and prayers! So definitely head on over there and give her some support, as well as subscribing to her blog to follow her journey. She is a very brave mama!

Needing Some Help!

Today I called my OB's office to get an appointment to go over my plan/protocol. I found, to my dismay, that "consultations," not covered by insurance, are rather pricey. I couldn't think up a "reason" to go in, so the sweet receptionist suggested that I email in a document and then we could work on finding a reason for an appointment if it was decided that in-person discussion would be better.

And so, I'd love some advice from HG mothers! Is the following document complete? Am I missing anything? I know I am woefully behindhand on my treatment knowledge, as what I know about HG treatment protocol can be summed up in one word - "zofran." If anyone has any suggestions on that part, or anything else, please let me know! I'm going to send it in over the weekend.

Here it is! (Note: This is substantially shorter than my personal plan/protocol... I have left out all of the practical applications and all of the health items that don't really merit discussion (kefir, etc.).)

Thanks, all!

***

What we would like to do:

Preconception:

- Vitamins I am taking: Multi, Fish oil, probiotic, greens, magnesium, vitamin D
- Would seeing a naturopath be helpful as well?
- Possible bloodwork: H. Pylori, thyroid, vitamin/mineral deficiencies (B, D, magnesium, zinc, etc.), Addison’s disease (listing all known contributors to hyperemesis)

Post-conception:

Upon positive pregnancy test:
- Start weekly vitamin shots, B-complex with B-12, and magnesium (see following article – this was one of the main things I wanted to discuss in person)

Upon first nausea:
- Start Unisom and Zofran on first hint of nausea
- Progress to sub-lingual Zofran or Zofran pump if necessary (hopefully not!!)
- Possibly get prescription to order Primabella wristband

No Dice!

Just heard back from the OB's office that I emailed - no dice! For whatever reason, they do not want to work with me.

Too bad!

But I have been praying for God's will to come through clearly - I'd much rather be rejected now than to find out that it was a bad fit halfway through. And goodness knows, it's much better to get a bad reaction via email than face-to-face in an exam room.

Though, from a birth activist standpoint, it is very exasperating..... This reaction is so very common! It seems that the obstetrical world (in general, with exceptions) has two things to say about midwifery care:

(1) We will not serve as OB back-ups for midwives.

(2) Midwives are not safe because they don't have OB back-ups.

Might I point out the wee problem with this set-up? *Sigh*.

Where to next? Not sure. It may be sticking with the status quo! Which, again, is an excellent option in terms of obstetrician quality. I'll have to see.

Have a great day, everyone!

I Made It!!

I was going to post a triumphal blog entry on the fateful Day 28, but I'm (as usual) a bit late. So here I am, on Day 31 (or thereabouts)! I finished the initial part of Phase II! (This is the very-low-carb diet which supposedly helps with NVP/HG issues.)

I had hoped that I would feel different..... possibly invincible. I don't! I feel just fine, but not really different. Too bad..... That makes me nervous.

At this stage of the game, I have two options: (1) I can progress to the easier Phase III, or (2) I can stay in Phase II indefinitely (with now having the boon of one cheat meal per week). For now, I'm staying in Phase II, because (1) I have more baby weight that I'd like to lose, and (2) I feel safer there!!!

I'd feel a lot better about this diet for pregnancy if I actually knew that it was fail-safe for HG mothers. But I don't know that. I just know that it reduces NVP in normal mothers, and that it's worked for at least one HG mother. But HG is a nasty thing, and it's so unpredictable. There are no guarantees.

I have decided that I'd like to introduce an alteration into the human genome - I want to add a "pregnancy simulator button" to the female form! Upon being pressed, it would release about 24 hours of full-fledged pregnancy hormones into the bloodstream, so that one could test how well one's pregnancy preparations were working. "Oops, not yet, better do some more work" or "Oh yeah, I've finally got it down!" Wouldn't that be fun?

But in the meantime, there are no guarantees. Just human guinea pigs.

A couple of positive things about the VLC diet that I've noticed:

(1) It's forcing me to eat more vegetables! Hurray!

(2) It's been an adventure in getting to know different types of food and different types of cooking.

(3) It's actually easier to feed to the 4-year-old. Not that I'm making him do a VLC diet - far from it - but the dinners that I make now are more along the lines of meat and two vegetables, rather than my beloved casseroles, and I have found that any meal where foods are distinct and separate is much more well-received than those in which foods are mixed or touching (oh, the horror!). (I thought I'd done such a good job with serving a wide variety of baby food that we'd skip the picky stage, but noooooooooo. It's not that easy!)

It's been fun! And not that difficult - thanking God for His grace in helping with that, though! Some of the tougher parts have been getting through Easter - and even worse, a visit to my in-laws' house - completely grain and sugar-free. Yikes!!

Moving on....

Other than that, it's been a busy month! I am up to my ears in lots of music - wonderful! This past weekend I played for a Lutheran church where I occasionally work, and next weekend I am playing for a wedding. So much fun!! I'm currently also getting over a cold, thankfully a minor one - though I like to think that my vigilant use of vitamin C therapy also helped. (Don't ask how much I took.... it was probably a near-lethal dose. Let me just say that if you guessed a number in the thousands of milligrams, you'd be off by at least a factor of ten.) Thankfully I'm on the tail-end of that now, and hoping it's the last for the season!

I have had a blog entry titled "We finally found a church!" ready in my head for quite some time, but I guess it's a good thing I didn't write it yet, because..... we're now again in the "not sure" phase. We originally had let one issue of difference that we had with the church slide, deeming it workable to "agree to disagree," but it has come to our attention that it's a fairly major church doctrine, and we're not sure that disagreement is compatible with membership. Time will tell. May I say that long-term church hunting is not fun? We're now going on a year and a half, and it's very discouraging. Hopefully soon, one way or the other!

I will check in more later - right now I am exhausted, with an early-morning therapy session tomorrow to look forward to for the Chublet, so it's off to bed for me! Night, all!

Taking Baby Steps

I got around to thinking the other day that I had written up a beautiful plan and protocol  - but now I needed to actually do something about it!

I think that I am intimidated by that enormously long to-do list, as well as the dizzying array of options that there is on each of the major points. But still, I need to get busy!

So I did. I got out my list of OB recommendations that I got from Mamapedia a couple of years ago, and I sent an email to one of the doctor's offices to inquire as to whether the doctor would be willing to take a midwife's client. Last time I got that "okay!" by phone, and it ended up with me being kicked out by an OB who had not been told that my case had been approved by management. Not again! This time I wanted it in writing.

That was on Friday, as of today I have heard nothing. I'm hoping to hear something soon! Much as my current OB is a fabulous doctor, I just don't feel that she would be aggressive with HG. I need someone who is willing to tackle the beast and be vicious.  (The waiter, from "Easter Parade": "You must be ruthless!")

I'll post if I hear something!

Now on to acupuncturists, naturopaths, etc. etc. etc. Ack!

The Value of Aggressive Treatment for Hyperemesis

Knocked Up Knocked Over recently posted two articles (article 1 and article 2) analyzing why her recently-fought HG was of such (comparatively!) short duration. While there is always a part that will remain a mystery, she writes about the value of immediate, aggressive treatment in dealing with HG and preventing it from being longer than necessary:

"Can the short duration of the HG be attributed to my very aggressive treatment protocol?  I suspect that was a part of it.  I started taking the Zofran orally from the moment I started feeling not quite right.  Once I started feeling nauseated and having trouble eating and drinking, we started rehydrating very aggressively at 3 liters of fluids per day right off the bat.  While, ultimately, the IVs and PICC didn’t work out, I think having that kind of very aggressive treatment allowed me to reach the point where my mom could push enough fluids orally.  In the midst of all that, I was receiving the Zofran via the pump in very high doses, with my maximum dosage at around 39 mg per day (most doctors are only willing to go up to 32 mg per day).  We did not rely on Zofran alone, but attacked the nausea from all angles: Meclazine for the motion sick aspect of it, Nexium to prevent any potential reflux from contributing, and Benadryl to deal with any potential allergy aspects or side effects."

 She also writes:

"Here is the bottom line:  If you know someone who has HG and you are in a position to help advocate for them, please do.  Early, aggressive intervention seems to have made a remarkable difference for me.  Will every woman respond to treatment the way I did?  No.  But every woman deserves a doctor who is willing to treat her the way mine did for me because that level of treatment gives women the very best chance at relief."

 Absolutely!

I whole-heartedly agree with the concept that aggressively-treated HG can be a shorter-lived monster than the HG which is allowed to spiral out of control, because this was exactly my experience.

(As you know, I had what could be called "borderline HG" - not the monster that some of you have had to deal with (*shudder*).)

With my first HG pregnancy, which was completely untreated and allowed to get out of control, the "begging for death" part only lasted for the first 20 weeks or so, but the nausea and vomiting stayed strong and present up until birth. I also dealt with extreme exhaustion that didn't really go away until baby was about 15 months old. I also had residual postpartum nausea that stayed around for a good two years.

With my second time through, I was prepared and was able to receive homemade Bendectin and Zofran. Even though the NVP presented sooner and stronger, it did not spiral out of control into that ugly place of fear and despair that HG mamas know so well - it stayed in the "I feel like death" range, as opposed to the "somebody please kill me" range. Moreover, it left sooner, my energy levels returned sooner, and I dealt with little to no residual nausea (except for the parts I have written about in the past that I think are permanent changes to my body).

So my conclusion is the same, namely, that early, aggressive treatment of HG can make an enormous difference in outcomes for HG mothers. Unfortunately, so many, many doctors require a woman to be at a certain level of illness (i.e. should have started treating weeks ago) before handing out a prescription. It's unfortunate.

Thoughts?