"Just Barely" Pregnant PS''ers

[Huff26]

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Had my first appointment today with ultrasound. About 6 weeks or so measuring. The not so great new is they found blood around the sac and put me on pelvic rest.

Anyone else have that happen before?

 

[Puppmom]

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Hi, Huff. Did the doc refer to this as a subchorionic hematoma? Sounds like what that is. Both DD and a good friend of mine had those. My friend delivered a healthy baby at 39 weeks (her hematoma reabsorbed in the first trimester) and DD delivered early at 31 weeks (they suspect because of the hematoma) and baby boy is healthy.

 

[Huff26]

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Hi Puppmom- yes she referred to it as an SCH I think? She honestly did not go into very much detail. Just put me on pelvic rest and said the closer to bed rest the better. Like that was going to happen with my 10 month old. Not too mention the DH has bronchitis… it's just been one of those weeks.

Of course I googled everything and read the scary stats for miscarriage with this. I'm trying to stay positive but I'm worried that our little bean is fighting for his/her life in there.

 

[amc80]

Hi Puppmom- yes she referred to it as an SCH I think? She honestly did not go into very much detail. Just put me on pelvic rest and said the closer to bed rest the better. Like that was going to happen with my 10 month old. Not too mention the DH has bronchitis… it's just been one of those weeks. Of course I googled everything and read the scary stats for miscarriage with this. I'm trying to stay positive but I'm worried that our little bean is fighting for his/her life in there.

I wouldn't stress too much. They are really common and usually resolve on their own.

 

[Puppmom]

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Huff, do you have a follow up soon? Hopefully that'll put your mind at ease. In pregnancy, the waiting game is so hard. Both people I know ended up with healthy babies so I'm hopeful that'll be the case for you too!

 

[Laila619]

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Huff, I had a SCH. Started bleeding bright red at 8w1d. It was incredibly scary, but my daughter was born at 40 w1d and is now a healthy 3 year old little girl. Hang in there! Try not to read too much, you will scare yourself.

 

[amc80]

I got my Panorama test back- totally healthy (less than 1<10,000 for everything) BOY! Three boys. My house will be loud and smelly.

I'm 14 weeks in two days, so I'm heading over to the big girl thread. See you all there soon!

 

[Asscherhalo_lover]

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Congrats AMC, all boys means you're queen of the house!

 

[ladyciel]

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AF is officially late + my tests are getting darker, so I figured it's time to hop over to this thread!

My expected due date is Nov 16. The date seemed really familiar to me, and then I realized it's exactly a year after my myomectomy, which seems to have made the difference and allowed us to finally conceive! It's also about a week before my 35th birthday. Last year I got surgery recovery and infertility struggles. This birthday could be so much better.

My first OB appt is scheduled for April 6, at 8 weeks. I wasn't able to get in with my doc who did my surgery - her schedule is always ridiculously packed, so I'm not sure how feasible it is to push for her to be my main OB moving forward. I'm hoping I like the doc I'm currently scheduled with (same practice), but I've also asked for referrals from my doc. We're in the midst of buying a house, and their office will be less convenient after we move at the end of April. Would a 25-30 min drive (in good traffic) from both work and home be enough to make you switch doctors? How far is too far from home for you in choosing your delivery hospital/center? Given my surgical history, the fact I still have a giant fibroid on my uterus, my age, and this being my first pregnancy, it's generally more important to me that it's a good doctor I trust and am comfortable with over location/convenience, but I live in a city with multiple well-regarded health systems and don't think it's fair to assume I'm with the one best doc/practice. I'm hoping for insight from my doc, but what have you ladies considered most strongly in choosing your doctors?

No blood tests from my OB to confirm or check anything, but I did go in today to get my TSH checked. I see an endo for a thyroid nodule, and he wants to keep a close eye on things. Fingers crossed it's behaving like it should and I don't have to go on replacement thyroid hormone for the duration.

 

[ladyciel]

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Darn it. TSH came back at 3.5, and he wants it under 2. He's putting me on synthroid, which is a pain in the butt to take. Has to be taken on a completely empty stomach, no eating for an hour after, no significant amounts of calcium or iron ingested for 4 hours before or after, etc. The one perk of eventually having to get up in the night to pee will be I can take it then and not have to wait an hour for breakfast in the morning!

 

[amc80]

Darn it. TSH came back at 3.5, and he wants it under 2. He's putting me on synthroid, which is a pain in the butt to take. Has to be taken on a completely empty stomach, no eating for an hour after, no significant amounts of calcium or iron ingested for 4 hours before or after, etc. The one perk of eventually having to get up in the night to pee will be I can take it then and not have to wait an hour for breakfast in the morning!

I'm on it as well. It is hard to take when pregnant, mostly because I want to eat right when I wake up.

 

[evergreen]

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Ha, I moseyed slowly but I guess I belong here as well. 22dpo, aka 5+1 weeks, due Nov 7th. I don't feel particularly pregnant, except for filling out my bras better (yay) but no longer being able to sleep on my stomach (ouch!). Also sort of low appetite though no nausea yet.

LC, that's so lovely that you're due 1 year after that surgery. A tough thing for your body to go through, but hopefully it did the trick & you can have a much more positive association with that time in future!! Too bad the Synthroid has so many rules but it ought to help you feel a little better and of course is essential for your bean - I'm not surprised he's being conservative with his TSH targets.

I've been dealing some similar issues in choosing an OB... unfortunately all my real options are a 30-minute public-transport ride away from home or work -- and, of the two hospitals which are highly-regarded around here & take my insurance, I work at one (the academic medical center), in a department where I would DEFINITELY receive care from someone I know during delivery, so that's a bit too awkward for me when legs are up in the air and you're screaming at everyone.

I'd say you're OK to choose a delivery center that's a little farther away, as long as everything is normal & standard with the pregnancy, since delivery is rarely speedy when it's your first... but if anything is strange, like a placenta previa or any other implications of your fibroid or other things that increase the chance of needing urgent or emergent delivery, I'd want to be closer. Which is kind of the opposite of what you said -- you'd be more comfortable going farther for a doctor who knows your history.

I'd argue you're likely to find a kind and thoughtful OB whose philosophies are consistent with yours in nearly any OB practice affiliated with a good hospital, and any good OB would take the time to know your medical history (which is a little more complex than most, but not tremendously so!). Mostly, I strongly feel that in the event of urgently needing to get to a hospital, it's much better to go to one where they already have your records, so proximity matters! It's also worth weighing the number of deliveries they do per year, which you may be able to find out if you call the OB practice. The more the better. Emergent c-sections are fraught with emotion and if the teams are a well-oiled machine, it can drastically reduce the amount of time between needing to go to the OR and baby out. Not to be scary, but this is a side of OB that I have seen many, many times, and these are the considerations I've strongly weighed in deciding where to establish OB care. Rarely are any of these things important in an uncomplicated pregnancy & delivery, but in the small proportion that have drama, you want to be in the place that is most comfortable with the drama.

Finally, I've chosen to get my OB care at a large community hospital in town, but if anything is found to be funny with the fetus - congenital anomalies, whatever, anything that makes it a higher-risk fetus -- I will transfer my care to the academic medical center (even though I work there ) because their NICU care is better & more comprehensive. At that point, as long as the potential mom-drama is less than potential baby-drama, it makes sense to move to a place better qualified to address baby-drama.

Hope that's helpful.

My first OB appointment is scheduled at 8 weeks, too -- March 31st! LC, we are exactly one week off from each other.

 

[ladyciel]

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Evergreen, you make some really great points, not all of them things I'd thought about in depth yet. When I talked about going further for a better doc, I was meaning further to their office, ideally not further to the hospital. After we move we'll live right around the corner from one of the university's satellite hospitals, but I don't know much about that location's maternity ward or reputation, yet. I work next door to the main university hospital, in one of the medical research buildings, so that location would be super convenient from work, haha. I could literally just waddle over. I believe the docs affiliated with the academic system should all be able to deliver at any of the locations, so that might be a good option if, say, I had to go to whatever the closest location was to me in case of an emergency. However, my surgery was at one of the other hospital network's women's hospital, and it seemed to me that the operating room and recovery room were managed really well. That hospital is 25-30min from both home and work, and if this pregnancy proves to have any complications or higher risks, that might be too far. Decisions decisions. At least I can safely hope I won't know anybody at my delivery, unless I'm unlucky enough to have one of the med students I know on their OB rotation that day.

I'm the complete opposite of you - I've woken up the last few mornings completely starving, despite going to bed on a rather full tummy the last two nights. And, if I don't eat right away, I'm rewarded with an upset tummy until a while after I do. If I get hungry during the day, I'm not just hungry, I'm STARVING, and again, if I don't eat, my tummy gets upset. This will be a GREAT combo with the Rx I just picked up. If it's bad the next couple days, I will probably consider setting my alarm an hour earlier just to take it and go back to sleep for the hour before I can eat. I do understand why my endo is being conservative, and despite the inconvenience I'm very glad that's his approach. I'm only under his care because of an incidental thyroid nodule found during an MRI a couple years back, so I count myself one of the lucky ones. I think it would make sense to screen newly pregnant women for undiagnosed thyroid issues, but for whatever reason it isn't standard practice.

I think it's neat we're so close in our timeline! We also seem to have similar approaches/backgrounds, so we can be data/knowledge driven junkies together.

 

[mousey]

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Ladyciel- just wanted to say congrats. I remember you from the ttc thread. It's lovely to see you got your big pos result. Good luck for your pregnancy.

 

[ladyciel]

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Thanks, Mousey!!

 

[evergreen]

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LC , do the OB practices you're interested in work with a "team" model -- i.e., whoever's on call when you're ready to push will deliver your baby -- or more a longitudinal care model, where the OB you see in clinic is the one who'll deliver you, barring inconvenient vacations or illnesses on her/his part? That's something to consider, too, if you strongly prefer one model over the other.

Further to the office is a bummer but probably manageable as long as your work can be semi-flexible with letting you go to appointments. For me, the OB offices are at the hospital where I'd deliver (or across the street) though I dearly wish there was an OB satellite office closer to where I work! Oh well. It's a temporary relationship, anyway, despite the oppressive number of visits in the weeks leading up to delivery. Focusing on proximity to the hospital where you'd go if you were in labor or had any scares is what I meant. I assume the OB's office uses an electronic medical records system, such that all the records from your visits as an outpatient will be easily accessible when you arrive at a hospital where they provide care? Portable medical records are KEY especially if it's a practice where your clinic OB may not deliver you depending on staffing patterns.

Darn Synthroid. If I could take yours for you, I would. I weighed myself this AM and I've lost 5 lbs since getting my BFP. (!) Now, it's normal for my weight to go up and down a couple pounds, but that much of a change in a week is usually due to a really significant stress (like a week of night/emergency shifts... ugh). I do worry I'm undereating. I just go from being unhungry to a growling tummy + shaking hands but STILL unhungry... just learning to reinterpret the signals, I guess! I'll be vacationing next week in a country known for its scones and clotted cream and whatnot, so I think I'll make up the lost ground pretty easily.

Who else is still JBP? Huff? Saw a couple of ladies ascended to the Big Thread recently; congratulations amc and urseberry!

 

[ladyciel]

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Yes, they're team driven and each doc has dedicated on-call shifts for covering deliveries, with all times covered by at least one doc from the practice. I think with the exception of the very small practices, that's the norm around here, from what I can tell. I see pros and cons to both approaches and I'm not for/against one more than the other, at least not terribly strongly. No matter what model the office uses, there is a chance your own doc won't be there to deliver you. Personally, I think it might be easier for me going into it knowing that, and having the chance through the months to meet them all, at least once. My mom ended up having one of her pregnancies delivered by a complete stranger, and she described it as feeling very impersonal and awkward.

I did some more research on the two medical centers closest to the house we're buying, and I'm rethinking how important distance to home is to me over other concerns. My options, as I see them:

1) The women's hospital where I had my surgery, which is basically across the street from my current OB practice and where they primarily admit/deliver. 25 minute drive from work, 25 minute drive from new house. I had an excellent experience there for surgery, including the nurses I dealt with during my overnight stay, and the maternity ward is large and very nice. Level IV NICU, excellent high-risk maternity program, and overall probably the best combination of high level mom and baby care I could hope to find all in one building.
2) Switch to a doc, TBD, who is affiliated with the university health system. Advanced NICU is available in the children's hospital, which is near the main hospital. Main hospital is next door to work, but work and hospital are both 25min from the new house. There is a satellite hospital 5 minutes from the new house, but I'm kind of meh on that location's maternity facilities/services, from what I've seen so far. On-site NICU is limited to a special care nursery, so if I delivered there and the baby had more serious problems, it could mean the baby being transferred to the children's hospital 30 min away. That would be torture.
3) Regional hospital 10-15 min from new house, 30min from work. Current OB recommended a particular doctor who practices there in response to my request for suggestions for good docs closer to the new house. Maternity ward looks pretty good, but neonatal care is limited to a special care nursery. I'm not sure where they send babies who need a more advanced NICU, but probably option 1 or the university children's hospital, both 30 min away.

I know I'm at an increased risk of preterm labor as a result of my large fibroid. While I would like to hope for a perfectly healthy full-term pregnancy, I'd prefer to be prepared for the worst. Thinking about that more, I'm starting to lean toward staying with my current OB practice and the women's hospital (option 1), because outside of an emergency where a 10-15 min difference in drive to the hospital might make a difference, it seems safe to say that the outcomes for me and baby would be best insured by delivering at the hospital best equipped for and experienced in handling the trickier possibilities. Evergreen, do you have any feel for the statistics on what percentage of pregnancies result in an emergency race to the hospital resulting in delivery?

 

[evergreen]

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Hm, LC, based on that I'd be leaning toward the slightly-farther-away women's hospital. Yes, it isn't as close, but if they deliver a lot of babies (i.e. have experience with a lot of moms) AND have an advanced NICU (transporting a sick kidlet is scary, not to mention you can't go visit until you are discharged after delivery!), I'd be inclined toward option 1.

I think what you're asking is, how often does a mom show up in OB triage (where you automatically go if you have anything requiring a doctor visit after "viability" - 20-23 weeks) with some worrisome symptom or other, then IMMEDIATELY get rushed to c-section for fetal distress? Where the additional 20 minutes' drive would potentially make a difference in outcomes? Vanishingly rare. The closest I've seen is for bleeding in a woman with placenta previa, which is something (the previa, not the bleeding) you would already know about based on ultrasounds. I think she was in the OR perhaps 45 minutes or an hour after she arrived at the hospital - urgent, but not a desperate race. (I'm not an OB expert, but I've spent 2 months on OB on the anesthesia side, and while we don't always get involved especially for uncomplicated, unmedicated births, we DEFINITELY get involved, as early as possible, for the complicated ones!)

Much more common - and I'm going to tailor this to your history, sorry if it sounds creepy! - would be you start noticing preterm contractions, lie down & drink water & rest like they tell you and they aren't going away, and decide to head to the hospital. Maybe your water breaks early. But in either of those scenarios, no matter what, it's very unusual for someone who's never had a baby before to go from painful contractions or amniotic rupture to delivery in less than, oh, 6 hours. And even if your water breaks, if you are preterm they will typically just observe you in the hospital, or if you are actually in preterm labor they'll give you medications to try and stop the labor, not deliver you right away. So it would be a tense and nervewracking drive, and I'm sure you'd rather the practice be closer if any of those (rare!) possibilities come to be, but in weighing what sounds like an overall better delivery environment, the odds of the longer drive affecting maternal or fetal outcomes are very small. And there's a lot to be said for knowing you're driving to the best place for mama and baby.

There are very few situations where when a woman is *not* in labor she would need to be delivered IMMEDIATELY to save the baby's life. Besides a bleeding placenta previa, most of the examples I can think of involve a specific sort of identical twins, where the umbilical cords can get tangled. Those women typically end up spending the last months of their pregnancy in the hospital, extremely bored, being constantly monitored -- so, again, not a surprise diagnosis.

HTH. & sorry if it's too much information -- but I'm guessing you're someone who does well with information.

 

[ladyciel]

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Thank you, Evergreen, that is exactly the info I needed! I'm a PhD researcher in the biomedical sciences - I survive on information. Everything you said definitely fits with what me and DH have discussed - we'd rather trade a few stressful minutes in the car for the benefits of the better delivery environment. Our intuition was the cases where those minutes would matter would be quite rare, and would most often come with some warning signs. Your experience seems to suggest that is true. Decision made, I think!

 

[blackpolkadot]

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Congrats, LC!

I wanted to echo what evergreen is saying. With DS, I worked 25 min from the hospital lived 20 minutes away (with no traffic, which was rare in ATL.) I ended up in preterm labor at 29 weeks and drove from work. 5-10 minutes wouldn't really have made a difference... maybe if I had recognized I was in labor the entire day, ha! I would definitely choose the hospital with the best NICU if you are at risk because you are not going to want to be apart from baby for one extra second if he/she is in the NICU.

With this pregnancy, I chose the hospital with the level IV NICU over the more cushy one where everyone loves to deliver (we moved to a more rural area a couple of years ago.) Of course, I am hoping to not need to use the NICU this time, but I would rather be at the hospital with the best NICU than have a nicer delivery room and have to rush my baby to another hospital and stay behind.

 

[ladyciel]

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Thanks, polkadot! I hope none of us have need of the NICU insurance policies we're building for ourselves, but I really appreciate you sharing your story. It's good to know somebody who was in the position I could face would make the same call. Which hospital was a decision we had to think through and research carefully to be sure we'd covered everything, but at this point, with all of your advice and everything else we've come up with, I don't think we have any doubts that using the women's hospital is the right call. Thankfully, with the 25 min drive to/from appointments, my schedule at work is usually pretty flexible. I can also guarantee my boss will be nothing but thrilled and supportive when he eventually finds out. He is very family focused (3 young kids and wants more) and was nothing but supportive of me when I had my surgery.

Now, I just need this bean to keep growing and for time to move faster.

 

[ladyciel]

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I know that exhaustion is normal for the first tri, but I didn't expect it to hit so quickly. I've gone to bed 3hrs early the last two nights, both times feeling like I'd been drugged I was so intensely sleepy. The first night I fell asleep on the sofa, and DH was almost worried it took so much effort to wake me up to go up to bed. Last night I felt it coming and just got into bed straight away. Other than that, my boobs are just now getting sore and starting to test the limits of my bras. How soon do most women find they have to go up a size, anybody know? Oh, and I've started tearing up in response to touching videos/commercials and slightly sad news stories. I'm taking it as a good sign that my hormones are obv running high, but it is disconcerting to feel so out if control. And tired. So tired.

 

[Asscherhalo_lover]

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Severe fatigue was my number one symptom until about 11/12 weeks. I would fall asleep during my lunch break, even at bussing with 80 loud kids in an auditorium. I would sleep as soon as I got home from about 3:30-6, stay awake from 6-8, and sleep from 8 to 5:30 am and start all over again. Building a placenta is hard work, once it takes over you'll hopefully notice improvement.

 

[evergreen]

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I've heard fatigue from other women, too, as their most significant symptom. While DH was in London I was sleeping 10h/night but I think that's just what my body (pregnant or no) prefers. now that I've joined him here, I can't tell if I'm tired because of jet lag, or excitement, or walking all over London! I do think today - 6+1 weeks - was the first really concerning nausea, though. Please let it just have been poor sleep! Morning sickness would be extraordinarily inconvenient... And assuming that doesn't get worse, what's bothering me most is the breast tenderness, though I'm not sure I've technically changed sizes yet (I'm usually a 32B, with a little extra space, and I've been wearing a 34A that I'm definitely filling out better than I used to!). I think it may also have to do with what you start from... my recently pregnant friend went from 32b to 32D the whole time she was pregnant and nursing...and then when she weaned her baby at 11 mos they went back to 32-scant-B when I see her next I'll ask how soon she started to need to buy new bras.

 

[ladyciel]

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Evergreen, I would love to be traveling, but I don't think I could stay awake to do it right now! My dad was born in London, but I've never made it to that side of the pond. Someday.

I'm still exhausted, tummy has been ok, boobs are getting increasingly sore, but they seem to be holding steady in size now. The last couple of years I've been a 34D, I've lost some weight recently and was noticing my bras getting looser, but that has completely reversed itself the last 10 days. Bras are definitely full again. I'm getting lots of cramping, aches and quick pinching type pains. Not constant, and I think at least some of them are from my fibroid. They are most noticeable if I have any need of a bathroom, to the point I'm starting to go relieve myself not because I feel like I have to go, but because of the cramps/pains drawing my attention. My doc was shocked I didn't have ongoing bladder problems given the fibroid's size and location, so I'm expecting I will just have to deal with more pains/bladder squashing than otherwise throughout pregnancy.

As of today at 4w6d, my wondfo BFP is significantly darker than the control line.

 

[evergreen]

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7+2 days and had to make an urgent appointment with my primary for nausea. Everyone wants to know whether I have an OB -- well, no, not yet, not til the end of next week because they don't want to see me before 8 weeks! Argh, it's just always there. And I almost threw up at the beginning of my "clinical" day yesterday -- if I get sick while in the OR there is virtually nothing that can be done, I'll just have to lie down on the floor or use a trash can and cause a scene -- so was let go at 10:30 when they could find a replacement! So fortunately I'm doing research 4 days a week and while I'm distracted by the discomfort & less productive I"m at least able to lie down if I need to, take a med if I need to, can eat a little every couple hours, etc. But that one-day-a-week is a huge, huge problem... it causes a big problem for the department if someone has to get out early because they're sick, and it's not like this is something that will get better in a couple days...

Boo. And now I think I've got anticipatory nausea worsening the usual nausea of pregnancy... So I'm trying to focus on NOT focusing on the nausea, and, well, that works about as well as you'd expect. (not.)

P.s., LC, my friend always wore sports bras (or sports-style) before/during/after pregnancy so she never really changed sizes, just cut a more impressive figure in what she was already wearing.

 

[ladyciel]

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Evergreen, that sounds miserable! I hope they can give you something to get it under control, at least on your clinical days. Have you tried ginger in any form?

I've had some mild queasiness the last few days but of the variety that quickly passes if I eat something. My desk at work is now stocked with gingersnaps and crackers in anticipation of it possibly getting worse any day now. 5+6 today, first appt is two weeks from tomorrow (at 8wks). Other than the on and off upset tummy, my boobs are still really sore and I've lost all ability to sleep up to my alarm without having to get up early to pee. It is making it easy to take the synthroid, at least. I put the pill bottle and water cup on the front edge of the sink before bed so I can't forget it in my not-totally-awake state, go back to sleep after, and by the time I get out of bed I'm allowed my breakfast. Fewer cramps and random pains than last week, too, which is a nice change.

 

[evergreen]

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I've been eating handfuls of the Chimes ginger candies (plain, orange and mango!), and have been using stuff from this kit -- http://www.amazon.com/Earth-Mama-Angel-Baby-Something/dp/B004Y9D90Q/ref=sr_1_2_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1458854258&sr=8-2&keywords=earth+mama+angel+baby+morning+wellness+spray -- mostly the "Morning wellness spray", ginger & lime essential oils, and have ordered some ginger supplements as well... Trying not to overdo it with oral ginger, though, because I'm sure that could ALSO be bad.

LC, I'm going to put this all down here in case you find it helpful: other remedies are vitamin B6 (I can't seem to remember to take it two-three times a day, but at least it has some evidence behind it) and doxylamine (an antihistamine usually sold as Unisom sleep aid -- must read the package to make sure that's what's in there). Doxylamine + B6 are combined & FDA-approved for treatment of morningsickness as "Diclegis", but much cheaper to buy individually - pregnancy category A, which must be literally the only cat A drug I've ever seen looking for help with this nausea. I've also tried the P6 acupressure wrist bands ("Sea Bands") but they hurt like heck and I have little tiny bruises right over my P6 points - underside of wrist - bilaterally. Apparently in controlled trials they did no better than sham acupressure, so take 'em or leave 'em (unless you believe they'll help, in which case, they probably will ).

My primary doctor rx'd me promethazine (Phenergan), an antihistamine with antiemetic properties which has slightly better data re: safety in early pregnancy than ondansetron (Zofran), a serotonin antagonist which I'd been using while in London (some VERY WEAK data for malformations, from cleft palate to cardiac to hypospadias, so not even a clear syndromic pattern, if used before 11 weeks). But it's far more sedating and less effective, for me, than the Zofran was... so just waiting til later in 1st tri til I feel comfortable adding the Zofran back in. (Or, desperation.)

Today has been a good day, though, no meds and I felt pretty OK all morning! Finally got something accomplished at work... And only one week to go til first OB appointment!

LC, so glad that you've found a silver lining in the overnight bathroom trips...

 

[ladyciel]

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Thanks for all the anti-nausea info! I'm nauseated pretty much all day now. Hasn't turned into actual vomiting, but it is relentless and making me miserable. I picked up some sea bands yesterday. I tend to be a skeptic, too, but dare I say it I think they might have taken the edge off yesterday afternoon. They aren't causing me pain, so I will probably keep wearing them for now. At least until it gets too warm to wear long sleeves to hide them, anyway. I think the ginger helps a small bit, but now I can't stomach the taste when I feel really green. I'm still eating, but definitely not healthy stuff. Bagels with cream cheese settle me a bit in the morning, nothing helps much at lunch, and dinner last night was a take-out burger. The thought of vegetables makes me gag. Oh, and I can drink milk ok, but water is starting to taste weird to me. I end up guzzling it, which then just makes me feel awful. I need to pick up some lemon to see if that helps cut the weird plasticy/metallic taste so I can sip it through the day.

Good luck at your appt, evergreen!

 

[evergreen]

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Rats, LC, I'd hoped you'd be spared! I'm still in the same boat though maybe a little improved vs last week - nauseous, practically all the time, but still without vomiting. I feel sick and all I want to do is lie down and be passively entertained, but I swear watching TV makes it worse, too!

I've started to notice what feels like a delayed-gastric-emptying component to it, where it's often worse after eating, so I asked the OB I saw today for a prescription for metoclopramide which has great safety data in pregnancy as a promotility agent (but it's not an amazing antiemetic, unless slow intestinal transit is causing nausea). A study published in JAMA in 2013 looked at almost 30,000 women in Denmark (oh, population-based research in a functional national healthcare system! swoon!) who used metoclopramide during pregnancy, compared with 111,000 who did not, and saw no increased rates of malformations - and a trend toward lower rates compared with controls (not surprising since nausea is a "good sign" of a healthy pregnancy... even though it's miserable). So, I'm hoping between that, the promethazine, and the ondansetron I'll be able to get through this weekend's 24-hour in-hospital Saturday-Sunday call...

I also feel guilty about what I"ve been eating, all processed carbs, string cheese, canned chicken soup, and minimal vegetables, but TOUGH because at least I'm eating something! I just had a fruit smoothie for breakfast and I think I'm onto something with that -- cold, refreshing, and can be consumed veeeery veeeeeeery slowly, like over 2 hours. There's a Jamba Juice at my work, so maybe their smoothies with kale and wheatgrass and whatnot can substitute for real vegetable intake. I felt like having pizza and ate two pieces right in a row last night, which just sat grumpily in my stomach for the next, like, 3 hours until I fell asleep... but they tasted good, even if I was left regretting it! I figure, the good nutrition stores I was managing before pregnancy will probably last for a while, and hopefully will outlast the nausea...!

But the fun part of today was, of course, the "first baby picture!" Measuring 8+1 weeks, 8+3 weeks by LMP, saw the heartbeat and everything, looks just like a big-headed gummy bear with a spinal cord. My mother-in-law is OVER THE MOON excited.