The Sea Monkey is REAL!

So Moo and I went today to see the folks at Maternal Fetal Medicine of Atlanta and my OB/GYN's office today.

It's still too early for the nuchal translucency test. They tried to get a good pic of the little monster's neck, but the baby is just too little. So I'll go back in two weeks for another try.

Moo and I can just make out the head and an arm. For those of you interested in this kind of thing: the placenta is up above and the yolk sac is over to the right.

The docs could make out both arms and legs and said they could see a profile with a little nose.

They confirmed our due date. Based on different measurements, we're either 11 weeks 0 days, 11 weeks 1 day, 11 weeks 2 days, or 11 weeks 3 days. Because it's so close they'll stick the with original due date of July 27, 2008.

I really liked the doctor at Maternal Fetal Medicine. He's kind of an old cooter, but he was joking around with us. First thing he said was "You're kind of an old broad aren't you?" I laughed and told him I was!

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Un-Reality

While my pregnancy isn't a secret to most folks we know, I can't help but be afraid sometimes that I should have waited a little longer before I shared the news. I have to admit that I'm afraid that it will all go to hell. I am scared to death that we're going to walk into that ultrasound next week and they are going to say "sorry, it was all a mistake. The baby is completely deformed and won't make it another month."

"You've been sick and nauseous and excited for no reason".

All the books and all the mothers I know verify that this fear is real and they all had it. But that doesn't help much.

We tried for so many months and I was beginning to think that we just weren't going to ever have our own child. Now, I'm frightened for this one.

I can't feel you yet little one. And to some degree you still don't seem real. But believe that you are so wanted. Your momma has wanted you for so long and can't wait to see you.

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Happy New Year

At some point on Thursday, my back went out. It was pretty bad and I was quite lopsided (I get muscle spasms and my left hip goes all funny so that I'm crooked when you look at me from the back). I left work early on Friday and went by my chiropractor's office for an adjustment. He talked at some length about natural childbirth.

In an ideal world, I'd say that I was excited for the day when I would experience the joy and pain of childbirth and the wonder of it all. But the truth is that we live in a modern society and while I believe that pregnancy isn't a disease, that childbirth isn't sickness, that our bodies are well equipped to deal with the pressures - I also believe that we have many years of science that has taught us how to eliminate the pain of childbirth. In other words, I want drugs. I want all the drugs that the medical establishment will allow.

Spent the weekend of New Year's with Moo's parents. They live about 200 miles away on a fairly easy drive. We took our critters with us. We've got a mini Macaw named Cosmo and a Pembroke Welsh Corgi named Indy. Cosmo has been a real butt lately. He's been cantakerous and has been screaming a lot.

I wish I knew what his issue was. It mostly started when I was working a flex schedule of 4 10 hour days and one day off. He didn't like that schedule at all - of course, I didn't like the schedule either. I thought he'd settle down a bit once I moved to a more normal schedule, but he's still screaming a lot.

Anyway, we travelled 200 miles with a parrot and a corgi. Both did quite well on the journey. Once there, we were united with Moo's sister and brother-in-law and niece and we all really had a good weekend. My inlaws are truly delightful people. I don't say they are great people because they might be reading this (hi Mom and Dad!!) but because they truly are. After my folks passed away, they adopted me as their own and they have been just great and I couldn't ask for better in-laws.

As the weekend progressed, my back got progressively better. It's sore today after the long drive, but still much better. I did have one day where the nausea was really bad. I threw up a couple of times and then took some of the anti-nausea medicine the OB/GYN's office called in for me. It worked quite well and it seemed to last into the next day as well.

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Christmas aftermath

Hope everyone had a great Christmas.

We spent a large part of the day at home in the living room opening presents and munching on turkey sandwiches (mmmm honey turkey from Honeybaked Ham Company). Later, we travelled about 50 miles to spend the evening with some friends, who I'll call the Baggin's family.

Bilbo Baggins is Moo's best friend and was his best man at our wedding. Bilbo has an 18 year old son, Frodo, who was home on leave from the Navy. He also has a 6 year old daugther, Tallahassee. Bilbo's wife, Spanky, and I scrapbook together on occasion. Overall, these are good people and I'm glad they are in our life.

Last night, Tallahassee and I were sitting together on the couch watching Frodo playing Guitar Hero when I asked her if she knew that we were going to have a baby. She said yes and then asked me if she could hold the baby when it came. I told her of course she could. This seemed to make her very happy.

Today, I was supposed to go back to work, but I am sooooo sick. I almost barfed when I smelled the toothpaste. I couldn't do it. I am so sick, but again the strange thing is that I'm hungry. A little while ago, I fixed some macaroni and cheese, but then I barfed it right back up. Mostly Coke with ice stays down, which confirms why I'm glad that I stayed home today, since the ice machine is down more often than not.

I've got to make an attempt to go to work tomorrow. I don't want to burn up a lot of my PDO now when I will probably need it later.

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Pregnancy question of the Day

How the hell is it possible to be nauseous and starving at the same time? hmm???

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Merry Christmas!

I rarely remember my dreams. Or at least before I was pregnant, I rarely remembered. Now, I have crazy ass dreams almost every night. Last night, I was going to a hospital to get 3 root canals. I was a little excited about it and really looking forward to it.

Crazy, right?

I have to work today, Christmas Eve, which really fricking sucks. It's difficult for me to believe that anyone will have to complete their payroll on Christmas eve, but there are dumb asses everywhere.

Next Christmas, I'll be delighted in showing my baby all the joys of Christmas. It's not likely that she'll understand - you know only being 5 months old - but I imagine that she'll like the lights and noise.

Merry Christmas to all!

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Where I am.

I started tapering off the Effexor on Sunday.

I have to say that I didn't feel any side effects at all that day. Generally, if I miss a dose, I get really jittery and my lips go numb and I hear a lot of white noise in my head. But I didn't feel any of these side effects on Sunday.

I am under a doctor's care during this tapering down. I called my medical doctor and told him that I'd been advised to taper off by the midwife at the OB/GYN. I was told to start off with a half dose (I currently take 75mg) every 4-5 days for a week or two and then decrease the days in between from there.

On another note, I have an appointment on January 8 with a perinatologist for the nuchal translucency test. This test will determine if the baby has any indication of down's syndrome or other chromosomal problems. The cool part of this is that it will be the first look we have at the bean! I'll be right at 12 weeks then, so we still probably won't know the sex.

I also found out the results of the bloodwork from last week. My HCG was 12,472 and the progesterone was 13.6 - both within the guidelines of a good pregnancy at this point.

As for how I'm feeling - sigh... I'm exhausted. I fall asleep at my desk at least twice a day. I sleep first thing when I get to work for about 20 minutes and then take a 40-50 minute nap at lunch. I can't stand peppermint and I'm craving iceberg lettuce.

I'm experiencing some morning sickness, but it's more like a mild river of nausea flowing through my world. Basically, I'm nauseated all the time. I can nibble on something and it stops, but within a half hour to hour, it's back. I have to eat something within 20-30 minutes of waking or I am sick as a dog all day.

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A Major Change is coming

When I went to the doctor the other day, the midwife, Michael, encouraged me to begin to ramp down on the Effexor. At the time, I felt positive, but as I thought about it, I decided that I wouldn't scale down. I didn't think pregnancy, especially as anxious as I been, would be a good time to come off the Effexor.

Having done a little research and thought through it, I've changed my mind again.
While Effexor seems to show no signs of causing long term problems or birth defects, when taken during the last trimester, Effexor can cause the newborn baby to suffer from withdrawl and have side effects at birth such as lethargy, crying, not sleeping or feeding well.

So, I have decided that the best choice would be to slowly ramp down from my current dosage of 75mg daily to 37.5 mg daily and from there, slowly ramp down to nothing. I have to admit I'm pretty scared to do this. I dread the withdrawal but I don't want my baby to have this stuff in her bloodstream.

I was put on this med on the day that my mom passed away - am I holding on to it as a crutch? Or do I really need it?

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It's Official!

Went to the doctor yesterday and now it's official!

I'm 6-1/2 weeks pregnant and have a due date of July27, 2008.

I'm considered to be of Advanced Maternal Age - didn't feel old til they said that! - so this will be one of the most monitored babies ever!

I met with a midwife named Michael. No physical examination this time - just a pregnancy urine test and a blood test to check my progesterone levels. Since I'm old and high risk, I'll be having some additional testing to be sure that the baby is ok. The first tests will be during the 12-14 week period. I'm being referred to a perionatologist to conduct these tests. Hopefully, I can avoid an amniocentis by having these non-invasive tests.

They don't want me to gain more than 9-12 pounds. My mom - who was large when she was pregnant with me - actually lost nearly 50 pounds and I was a normal sized baby. Michael said as long as the baby is growing the way it needs to, then weight loss is ok.

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Update

So, we told my in-laws over the Thanksgiving holiday. They were elated! I think they were thinking that we might never give them a grandchild.

Meanwhile, Moo and I are beginning to make plans and think through things related to the baby. Moo has always been convinced that he'd have a girl, so I've mostly been thinking it's a girl. It will still be a few months before we know for sure, but somehow a girl seems appropriate.

So far, we're going with Phoebe Elizabeth or Zoe Jane for a girl. Boy names seem to be trouble - Moo doesn't like anything I throw out there.

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