heather: August 2008 Archives

I'm sorry for yet another pregnancy blog... I truly intended to post a long movie review one but then some drama happened.

Thursday night I started spotting a little. I was concerned but not really worried. During the night I started bleeding a lot-- to the point of needing feminine hygiene products. I noticed a blood clot but it wasn't too big so I just went back to bed and planned to call the OB first thing Friday morning.

When I got up around 6am to pee I needed a new FHP due to all the bleeding and then I passed a HUGE blood clot. It was about 2 inches long and an inch wide. Looked like grape jelly. Sorry for the gross visual but it's a significant symptom.

Now a little spotting is a perfectly normal thing for a pregnant woman. Out and out bleeding of this level is not. I freaked. Probably should have just gone to the ER then but I wanted to talk to my OB. Passed another clot. At 9am when the office finally opened the nurse said my OB was delivering a baby but after consulting with the on-call doc sent me to the ER.

They took blood, did an ultrasound. The baby was definitely in my uterus and was moving around so that was a good sign. I got to see the lil monkey for the first time. They couldn't hear a heartbeat though but she said not to worry cuz their ER stuff isn't as sensitive as the OB's. After waiting several hours they finally got back to me to do a pelvic. I'm not sure why it took 3 frigging women to do 1 pelvic exam but there I was... They were worried my cervix was open which would pretty much mean miscarriage. After much prodding the ER doc determined it was shut... for now at least.

I'm on bed rest for the next few days, no sex for 4 weeks (not a problem, no mate!) The ER doc said I'm not out of the woods yet-- that the clots could be precursory symptoms and my cervix could open up in the next few days and cause a miscarry. So I just have to take it easy and monitor symptoms, see my OB on Monday. Hope the bleeding stops.

It was all very stressful. My blood pressure which is usually low to normal was high. By the time I was discharged Friday afternoon I was exhausted from it all.

I keep saying outloud, "Stay in there lil monkey! It's not time yet!"

Aside from the absolute fear, I'm perturbed... Part of the reason I didn't try adopting first is I wanted to have the pregnancy experience. Thus far my experience has not been glowy and rainbows and unicorns. This was the first week that my nausea had started subsiding. Mom and I had planned to go shopping Sunday, after weeks of already being housebound. I need clothes like mad (especially bras!) and baby stuff and groceries. But no, no shopping in my future. I'll just prop myself on the sofa for another week. I'm going stir crazy! My 36th birthday will be spent "taking it easy" and watching more DVDs. Great.

True, hardcode nausea has set in. Last Saturday I was practically incapacitated by it-- I didn't move, I didn't leave the house, I just curled up on the sofa in a fetal position with a big bowl on the floor beside me while watching BSG S1 and part of S2. All that Helo-potential-father-protective stuff gets to me but in a good way.

I was livid that my copy of Breaking Dawn didn't arrive Saturday morning but as it turns out, I was too sickly to have given it my attention anyway. It arrived Monday afternoon instead. The first third was difficult for me to get through given my physical state but once I got past the... arrival, all was well. I liked it. I didn't hate it the way some fans seem to. I didn't like it better than Twilight or Eclipse. I'm still undecided on whether it'd rank higher than New Moon. That's all I'm saying though... no spoilers here.

In addition to the perpetual pukeyness, I get WORN OUT. Towards the end of my work day I am so tired that I nap for 2-3 hours. This is significant. I've never ever been a napper in my life. Even as a child, I didn't nap. But now I can't seem to function without some extra sleep. I'm still getting 8-9 hours a night, my body just needs more. Unfortunately between the queasy stomach and the sleeping I've missed working out for about 2 weeks. Not good. Need to come up with a better schedule.

Melissa was in Pismo this week so she and I went to Hearst Castle on Tuesday. It was a good but long day. We had fun. I took some pics but I haven't downloaded them yet. Worried about my tummy, I skipped my normal breakfast of OJ-strawberry-protein smoothie and ate not 1 but 2 McDonald's sausage egg biscuits. Remarkably I felt pretty good most of the day; pukeyness didn't settle in till later that evening. So I've made an adjustment to my eating and am now having 2 eggs w/ colby jack cheese on wheat bread for breakfast every morning. It's filling me up more and delaying the morning sickness. A strange consequence is I can't stand to look/smell/consume protein at dinner with this change. I actually turned my nose up at a filet the other night after 2-3 bites. All I can say is pregnancy is the weirdest fucking thing ever. 

I'm hoping I'm a statistical normality and all of this pukey factor peaks and tapers off at week 12. But I know many women who said the nausea lasted for the first 4 months. Ugh. I'd really like to be enjoying my pregnancy more, thanks.  

That's a classic line from Coupling, the brilliant and infinitely more entertaining British version of Friends. Check it out if you haven't, Netflix has them available for watching online. To elaborate for those of you not in the know... I've decided to announce. The "john hurt way" is a euphemism to Alien when a parasitic lifeform bursts forth from John Hurt's characters stomach. Steve makes this comparison to pregnancy when his girlfriend Susan gets knocked up.

So yes... I'm pregnant. I've blogged a few entries about it in the last month that I hadn't published. But now I'll release them. I'm 9 weeks along, my first OB appt went well. My due date is March 10. And I couldn't be happier.