Now offically third trimester, but am having a few problems.
I'm getting severe pain lasting between 3-5 hours at a go. It starts with breathlessness, then it's joined by a throbbing back, stomach pains and heartburn.
Nothing makes the pain subside. Gavison does nothing and since I am unable to focus on breathing (I can't take deep breathes) I don't really have a coping strategy. Usually the pain builds up till about the 3.30 - 4 hour mark then becomes pretty much unbearable. At this stage I usually shut my eyes and rock back and forth, or start pacing around the house. I have tried baths for pain relief also, lying down and even sitting down seem to make it worse at this stage.
After that I'm sick (which always seems to help) and gradually the pain slows down before completely stopping.
It's the backpain that's the worse, I can cope pretty well with heartburn and whatever else comes my way but the back pain is relentless.
Midwives and doctors seem to think the back pain is just skeletal, but I only have it during these episodes so I don't see how that can be the case. The baby often moves about and shifts during the pain so it's clearly not just a posistion that it's lying in.
:( I've tried keeping my fluids up and my urine doesn't show any signs for concern (although its burnt orange). I've lost about 3 pounds over the last few days just by being sick and not eating very much (I'm scared to eat because I never know if that'll set me off).
I take it this is all some sort of pretty bad acid reflux, but its so hard to cope when nothing eases the pain and I can't even lie down. Sucks that I've had such a good pregnancy so far and then this greets me for the 3rd tri...
Ixxy the Embryo
Monday, 27 September 2010
Sunday, 19 September 2010
Glucose Tolerance Test
I think I should write up on the GTT and how it went really in case anyone was wondering.
I set my alarm for 07.30am, thinking of getting to bed around 10 - when I ended up chatting online to Faye. We did the skype, I found a black-and-white webcam (which has been utterly destroyed by my ex-boyfriend who unsucessfully tried to turn it into an infrared camera) and we talked on the phone at the same time. Somehow much time passed and I didn't end up in bed till (predictably) about midnight. Oh well.
It's worth a mention because it's such a horrible test. My appointment was at 08.30am, so I walked round to the hospital feeling exceptionally tired, when I got there I found outpatients completely empty and I got seen immediately.
My nurse was lovely and thoroughly overshadowed the cruelness of Crazy-Eyes from the day before. She took blood out of my hand as I requested (I love it when they do that and don't make a fuss about it. I know it's more painful than regular blood extraction but I still perfer it) then handed me an entire bottle and a cup of Lucozade.
I am not a lucozade fan. At at half eight in the morning after being unable to eat or drink since the night before it was a hell of a shock to the system. Drinking it was a struggle and I was very nearly sick about half way through. I then proceeded to feel faint, dizzy then sick again. My blood sugar was easily settled within the two hours of waiting though (I actually fell asleep in the waiting room after an energy drink!) and I had my second blood test at 09.45 before leaving.
I knew I had work at 6 that evening and since I still felt shattered I went home and slept for a few more hours.
If there's anything dodgy in the results then I'll be contacted, if not, I probably won't.
Next appointment is back with the midwives on the 4th of October (28 week appointment) fingers crossed I get some different ones this time.
I set my alarm for 07.30am, thinking of getting to bed around 10 - when I ended up chatting online to Faye. We did the skype, I found a black-and-white webcam (which has been utterly destroyed by my ex-boyfriend who unsucessfully tried to turn it into an infrared camera) and we talked on the phone at the same time. Somehow much time passed and I didn't end up in bed till (predictably) about midnight. Oh well.
It's worth a mention because it's such a horrible test. My appointment was at 08.30am, so I walked round to the hospital feeling exceptionally tired, when I got there I found outpatients completely empty and I got seen immediately.
My nurse was lovely and thoroughly overshadowed the cruelness of Crazy-Eyes from the day before. She took blood out of my hand as I requested (I love it when they do that and don't make a fuss about it. I know it's more painful than regular blood extraction but I still perfer it) then handed me an entire bottle and a cup of Lucozade.
I am not a lucozade fan. At at half eight in the morning after being unable to eat or drink since the night before it was a hell of a shock to the system. Drinking it was a struggle and I was very nearly sick about half way through. I then proceeded to feel faint, dizzy then sick again. My blood sugar was easily settled within the two hours of waiting though (I actually fell asleep in the waiting room after an energy drink!) and I had my second blood test at 09.45 before leaving.
I knew I had work at 6 that evening and since I still felt shattered I went home and slept for a few more hours.
If there's anything dodgy in the results then I'll be contacted, if not, I probably won't.
Next appointment is back with the midwives on the 4th of October (28 week appointment) fingers crossed I get some different ones this time.
Tuesday, 14 September 2010
25 Weeks Appointment (My Nemesis Lazy-Eye Midwife)
Much like my 16 week appointment my 25 week went astondingly quickly. I was seen as soon as I arrived (10 mins early) and my appointment was over well before my actual appointment time.
I knew there was something significant about 25 weeks - the maternity leave forms and the HIP grant.
So after they measured me and checked babies heartbeat (I measure 24 weeks but apparently that's all good) they asked if I had any problems - the answer being yes I had severely painful trapped wind last week for about 3 days, but it's passed now.
So I asked was there something about forms I got at this appointment, and they said they'd run out of HIP grant forms but that I could get it next time. Not the news I wanted, as that money would really be quite useful now, but I tried to put on a brave face and get on with it.
Then, the main midwife (whom I've seen about 3 times and get just a little taste that she's not that keen on me. She has a lazy eye that's just lazy enough that you can't work out if she's giving you eye contact but subtle enough so that you don't immediately notice) then flippantly mentions the Mat1blahblah form but I don't need that because I don't work.
To which I retorted (feeling a little offended) - Yes. I do have a job.
I'm sorry? I can't think of ANY real reason you would make that assumption. Just because I could do with £190 doesn't mean I'm unemployed! - Hell, I know a LOT of people with jobs that could always damn well do with £190. The only other reason I can think of is that they can both painly see my date of birth on their computer and am assuming that I don't work because I'm 20. That obvious bothers me more, but both reasons still make me feel like I'd unjustly been given a label of some sort going in there today. Was it wrong of me to ask about an awesome grant to give me free money? Does that make me unemployed? No it bloody doesn't.
I'm also left wondering to myself, if I hadn't asked about the grant and the forms would they have mentioned it? My employer NEEDS that form, quite in advance. It's a darn good job I'd read up about all this before hand, I feel so ill informed.
To top off my appointment, I mentioned that I had a glucose tolerance test booked (probably for around 28 weeks) and could they check the date for me. I got this really scolding answer about how it was my responsiblity and that I should've written it down. I'm sorry? The doctor HAD my appointment card, printed me off all the blur - forgive me for making the simple assumption that the date was on that paperwork! Why would it not be? I'm not even sure if I HAD been given the date.
Surely it's better that I ask now so that I don't waste the hospitals time by missing it or am I missing something here?
Anyway, took them quite a while to find it (which I am grateful for) so I waited in the waiting room. Turns out my GTT is TOMORROW, at 8.30am, SO glad I asked. Could've sworn it was in October!
So I'll not be eating past midnight tonight or tomorrow morning, hopefully everything'll be grand and I'll get a much nicer nurse/doctor to cheer me up about my care. I haven't had any problems with anything so I'm quitely confident that I'll show up as not having gestational diabetes - but you never know, better to have the test and know what's going on
Anyway. Rant over. :P
I knew there was something significant about 25 weeks - the maternity leave forms and the HIP grant.
So after they measured me and checked babies heartbeat (I measure 24 weeks but apparently that's all good) they asked if I had any problems - the answer being yes I had severely painful trapped wind last week for about 3 days, but it's passed now.
So I asked was there something about forms I got at this appointment, and they said they'd run out of HIP grant forms but that I could get it next time. Not the news I wanted, as that money would really be quite useful now, but I tried to put on a brave face and get on with it.
Then, the main midwife (whom I've seen about 3 times and get just a little taste that she's not that keen on me. She has a lazy eye that's just lazy enough that you can't work out if she's giving you eye contact but subtle enough so that you don't immediately notice) then flippantly mentions the Mat1blahblah form but I don't need that because I don't work.
To which I retorted (feeling a little offended) - Yes. I do have a job.
I'm sorry? I can't think of ANY real reason you would make that assumption. Just because I could do with £190 doesn't mean I'm unemployed! - Hell, I know a LOT of people with jobs that could always damn well do with £190. The only other reason I can think of is that they can both painly see my date of birth on their computer and am assuming that I don't work because I'm 20. That obvious bothers me more, but both reasons still make me feel like I'd unjustly been given a label of some sort going in there today. Was it wrong of me to ask about an awesome grant to give me free money? Does that make me unemployed? No it bloody doesn't.
I'm also left wondering to myself, if I hadn't asked about the grant and the forms would they have mentioned it? My employer NEEDS that form, quite in advance. It's a darn good job I'd read up about all this before hand, I feel so ill informed.
To top off my appointment, I mentioned that I had a glucose tolerance test booked (probably for around 28 weeks) and could they check the date for me. I got this really scolding answer about how it was my responsiblity and that I should've written it down. I'm sorry? The doctor HAD my appointment card, printed me off all the blur - forgive me for making the simple assumption that the date was on that paperwork! Why would it not be? I'm not even sure if I HAD been given the date.
Surely it's better that I ask now so that I don't waste the hospitals time by missing it or am I missing something here?
Anyway, took them quite a while to find it (which I am grateful for) so I waited in the waiting room. Turns out my GTT is TOMORROW, at 8.30am, SO glad I asked. Could've sworn it was in October!
So I'll not be eating past midnight tonight or tomorrow morning, hopefully everything'll be grand and I'll get a much nicer nurse/doctor to cheer me up about my care. I haven't had any problems with anything so I'm quitely confident that I'll show up as not having gestational diabetes - but you never know, better to have the test and know what's going on
Anyway. Rant over. :P
Thursday, 9 September 2010
Viable, Ducks on the walls and pH tests
My large kicking tummy now contains a human being that could be saved if he or she was born. I have a fundal placenta (at the top) which is great, a strong cervix which no issues/leaking fluid, I'm immune to Rubella (at least mostly) and I still don't appear to be heavier than my pre-pregnancy self. All seems well.
I've made a rather sad decision to rehome my cats. For many reasons, but the main is that I am not really giving them any time and I doubt i'll be able to sort out jabs etc this year. They deserve to be with people who can give them attention and a better level of care.
Ixxy's father came round and finished the nursery, so I now have some lovely humming/whistling ducks on the wall. There's also a couple of mysterious moon-walking ones. Still have no idea how his relationship with the baby will be, it's impossible to know at this stage but we are having basically a 3-month break in communication so that he can settle back into his new home/university and not have to worry, and so that I can get on with planning the future for myself.
I've heard you can get a gender predictor which is urine based and natrually this intrigued me. After a bit of google-research I discovered the test worked simply because it was a Ph strip. Well, I stroked my imaginary beard and decided I would do a little expriement to see if this was accurate.
Of course, I have no idea what gender Ixxy is, that's why it's called Ixxy - so the proof will be in the pudding or in this case the birth.
Supposedly, from as little at 10 weeks the pH of your urine will be akaline or acidic depending on the gender of your child (sounds crazy but bear in mind these are sold for about £40 in America and I find it hard to believe that it's JUST 50/50). Blue/Green is Akaline which is Boy and Orange/Yellow is Acidic which is Girl. It maybe that it's only supposed to work between weeks 10 and 20 but because no upper limit is given I'm going to grab a bunch of pH tests and see if I can get varied results, if I can't then I'll have a 'pH prediction'.
That's all for now, have been in a lot of pain recently so hoping the midwife can tell me more on that, appointment is on Tuesday.
I've made a rather sad decision to rehome my cats. For many reasons, but the main is that I am not really giving them any time and I doubt i'll be able to sort out jabs etc this year. They deserve to be with people who can give them attention and a better level of care.
Ixxy's father came round and finished the nursery, so I now have some lovely humming/whistling ducks on the wall. There's also a couple of mysterious moon-walking ones. Still have no idea how his relationship with the baby will be, it's impossible to know at this stage but we are having basically a 3-month break in communication so that he can settle back into his new home/university and not have to worry, and so that I can get on with planning the future for myself.
I've heard you can get a gender predictor which is urine based and natrually this intrigued me. After a bit of google-research I discovered the test worked simply because it was a Ph strip. Well, I stroked my imaginary beard and decided I would do a little expriement to see if this was accurate.
Of course, I have no idea what gender Ixxy is, that's why it's called Ixxy - so the proof will be in the pudding or in this case the birth.
Supposedly, from as little at 10 weeks the pH of your urine will be akaline or acidic depending on the gender of your child (sounds crazy but bear in mind these are sold for about £40 in America and I find it hard to believe that it's JUST 50/50). Blue/Green is Akaline which is Boy and Orange/Yellow is Acidic which is Girl. It maybe that it's only supposed to work between weeks 10 and 20 but because no upper limit is given I'm going to grab a bunch of pH tests and see if I can get varied results, if I can't then I'll have a 'pH prediction'.
That's all for now, have been in a lot of pain recently so hoping the midwife can tell me more on that, appointment is on Tuesday.
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