Morning sickness, etc

So early on I was having a lot of constant headaches & burping. There were some other minor things-changes in my skin, etc, but nothing major. I was considering myself lucky.

But alas, my stomach has decided to not cooperate anymore as of a couple of days ago. I have not vomitted at all & I am grateful for that. But eating in general is very difficult right now.

Being in the kitchen is hard for me. I can't really explain the feeling, but it's not good. A lot of smells are getting to me, too. I actually feel like I'm eating alot, but I haven't gained any weight, but that's ok, according to my book in the first trimester you only need to gain 2-4 lbs, it's later on that you really need to gain more, mostly in the 2nd trimester, so I guess I'm still on track for now. (I am 6 or 7 weeks according to the doc, but this may change whenever I finally get an ultrasound done).

I feel like a horrible wife/stepmom cuz making meals for my family is extremely difficult for me right now. I am so grateful that Vincent just went back to school yesterday cuz his last couple of days here I wasn't making very good food for him. At least he was polite & understanding about it & hubby has been too.

I did learn quickly that if I go too long without eating the nausea will get much worse. So eating frequently is crucial. And of course it's at it's worst first thing in the morning cuz I went all night without food. So now each night right before I go to bed I eat something--usually a piece of cheese or celery with peanut butter or something like that, to hold me til morning & so far that is working well. For breakfast I usually do corn flakes, they really feel good on my tummy. A couple of hours later I do crackers with cheese. The three best foods right now to me are egg salad, canned yams (with butter & alittle salt), & Trader Joe's canned chicken stew. So I usually choose from those for lunch & dinner & I usually have a quesadilla as a snack between lunch & dinner. And sometimes I squeeze in watermelon or celery with peanut butter as a snack too. Like I said it feels like a lot of food, feels like I'm eating almost constantly.

As for my sleepiness, it's still there a little but it's much better. I have struggled with my iron level since I was 15. Off & on I have to take extra iron supplements--I can always tell--I get very sleepy, but no matter how much I sleep I don't feel rested & I cannot concentrate or focus on anything, there's other symptoms, but those are the main ones. So I took a lot of extra iron for a few days there & am doing better now. My prenatal vitamin only has 60 mg of iron in it for each day, so I just might end up taking extra iron separately through this whole pregnancy. Yesterday I did fall asleep during the day, but it was more just an escape from my stomach than actual sleepiness I think.

I've been taking a prenatal vitamin for along time now, I heard it was better for your hair & nails & I heard you should take it ahead of time if you're hoping to get pregnant. BUT I was taking one a day & in reading the label again shortly after finding out I was pregnant I realized I'm supposed to be taking 4 of them each day. So that's probably also why my iron level dropped, I was only getting 15 mg!! But I'm doing good now, taking 4 of those & 2-4 iron (25 mg each) each day.

Earlier this month (before I knew I was pregnant) hubby had decided to take this last week of August off for a vacation, our last chance to take Vincent somewhere before he started back to school. So I had scheduled it off as a vacation. Then hubby ended up too busy at work & couldn't get it off, BUT it worked out perfectly cuz it gave me this week off right after finding out I'm pregnant & gave me time to get my iron level back up & learn what I can/can't eat, etc. It was really a valuable week for me. But alas, on Monday & Wednesday I go back to my registry job & Friday & Saturday I am back at my regular job.

I read that the baby is currently the size of the a lentil, so I affectionately call it 'my little lentil' for now..........

I guess that's all I have to report now........please pray for my stomach to ease up

addendum to Dr. appt 1

Ok, so I spent my day thinking over my doc appointment & it was bothering me more & more. I was trying to tell myself this is a temporary situation (9 months or so) & I can survive it.

Hubby had a doc appt himself today & I went with him. So I was telling him how I was feeling & he was getting really pissed off. He was so upset that we had given in & gone with the HMO to save $$. He said there has to be something we can do. We decided maybe we should give the other doc that takes our insurance another chance first. We realized the other doc was really close by to where we were for hubbies appt (they had moved actually, but the original building knew where they were, just one more building over) so we went in (very nice looking place & much nicer class of clientelle in the waiting room than the other doc & WAAAAY nicer staff to deal with) & explained to them what happened. They were extremely polite & listened & said they did take my insurance & the earliest they could see me is the 9th (2 weeks away). I filled out papers so copies of the blood work I had done will be transferred over to them as well. And there are actually 2 docs in this office, a man (the one I know of) & a woman. I made my appointment with the woman.

So worst case scenario if I don't like this doc I can still keep my appt on the 16th with the other one, but something tells me I'm gonna like this one better. And hubby insists that if I don't he's gonna put up a fight with the insurance.

So that's about all I have to report for now.

Dr. appointment 1

So I had my first dr. appt for the pregnancy today.

I never actually saw the doc though, just the nurse practictioner (NP). She couldn't answer a single question I had, she just kept telling me that she was new to the field of OB/gyn.........not comforting at all I must say...........

They didn't do much, just dipped my urine for protein & glucose (negative for both). Took blood pressure & weight. Took down my whole medical history. And sent me for blood work.

I have to admit I didn't care for the feel of the office overall. They were very rushed, a little argumentative (I said I wanted to deliver at Riverside & NOT Corona & they kept insisting my insurance was Corona & it's definitely not, it's Riverside, but they didn't believe me & they ended up just giving up & telling me we would deal with the issue later; I asked for copies of tons of papers I signed saying I was informed of 'such & such' & they were really bothered by that & said they would have it for me at my next visit--there was A LOT of good info in those papers & if I'm saying I was informed I'd like copies cuz I'm certainly not gonna remember all that after speed reading it once in a noisy waiting room). And just the overall feel of the other patients there wasn't very good, kinda ghetto, not trying to be rude, but it really was. And I think I was the only person speaking English in there...... But of course we're stuck with an HMO insurance right now, so there were only TWO docs I could choose from & the other one I know & don't like, so I was kinda stuck with this one.

Anyways, not much was done really. Based on my LMP my estimated due date is April 22nd. BUT my periods are soooo irregular that I don't really think that's very accurate & I told them that several times. They said on the next visit they would do an ultrasound & be able to determine the baby's age better then.

And then I had a lot of blood work done & urine work too. But of course I won't get any of those results until my next visit.

They did, however, place me as a 'high risk' patient based on my age, heart problem, & gyn history. I asked about working out & they said no weight lifting (I figured, but since I love it I had to ask) but I got the green light on biking, walking, & pilates. They even said running is ok, but I kinda don't agree with that one & I'm not a big runner anyways, so I'm not gonna be doing that!

I think that's it............not much went on really. I'll be posting an update in 3 weeks at my next visit...............

Pregnancy

Hello friends & family. I am very excited to announce that we are expecting a child.

For those who know me well you are probably very surprised, as are we. For YEARS I have been told that I would have a very hard time conceiving if I ever did. In more recent years I was told without fertility treatments I would NEVER conceive. The list of reasons goes on & on--endometriosis, tilted uterus, non-functioning ovaries, etc, etc.

Since getting married I've been to at least 3 OB/gyns trying to find out more specifically what was wrong, but none of them wanted to find out what was wrong, they only insisted that I see a fertility specialist, which I refused. Then they look at you like you're crazy, like why are you here asking if you don't want help...........

I felt (& hubby agreed) that you could easily force things outside of God's will & we didn't want to do that. If God wanted us to have a baby we would have one, no matter what. And if He didn't, then we wouldn't. We were content to leave it at that.

But we are very happy to announce that God has decided He wants us to have a baby & we are expecting despite refusing fertility treatments & truly doing nothing out of the ordinary on our own. :)