Feb 2011 -- week of 8/9

[chitown_girl]

EDD:
jenmom2myboys EDD 2/1/11
Jillian15 EDD 2/03/11
wren EDD 2/4/11
Littlesteps EDD 2/5/11
Ophelia Payne EDD 2/4/11
pemmie EDD 2/6/11
Mom2Dillion EDD 2/7/11
erobin1 EDD 2/10/11
cmondwn EDD 2/11/11
Kellys20 EDD 2/11/11
Chitown_girl EDD 2/13/11
FollieQueen79 EDD 2/14/11
DaniConte EDD 2/15/11
GrapeCrush EDD 2/17/11
waiting4now EDD 2/18/11
tarz&jane EDD 2/19/11
Nirmiti27 EDD is 02/19/2011
ErikaM EDD 2/19/11
julieshindel1 EDD 2/20/11
MumInWaiting EDD 2/21/11
country girl EDD 2/25/11
mullinska EDD 2/26/11

U/S or milestone appt:


Our losses:
Two Mommies
Mom2Dillon
lthomp07

[chitown_girl]

Welcome wren! I'm so glad you feel more comfortable with your pregnancy now and are posting over here too. I've not been as active on the FSH thread lately, and I've been enjoying following stories of others who are in the same stages of pregnancy as me. It's still hard to believe it's really happening sometimes, isn't it? Looking forward to being able to feel the baby move in a few weeks, and to looking more "pregnant" -- maybe that will make it feel more real too.

Grapecrush -- don't worry about your NT scan tomorrow. The dr. or genetic counselor will go over what the odds of everything mean with you at your appt and then let you know what the recommendations are as to whether you want to consider further testing or not. Just think, you will get another good look at baby tomorrow!

Country girl -- same note for you on the scan -- you're almost there! And I hope your next shift is not so stressful as this recent one.

LittleSteps and Dani -- hope the nausea subsides for you soon and you can start feeling better! Second trimester's supposed to bring some relief -- hope it kicks in soon for you!

AFM -- my next appt is on Monday and I am hoping to get to actually hear the heartbeat this time! Still haven't used a doppler to hear that precious sound! My mom, aunt and cousin are coming into town today and staying through Saturday, so I'm looking forward to having some fun girl time. Pedis, afternoon tea, shopping, and going to Billy Elliot! Should be a good week!

I'll try to catch up w/ personals soon, but may just be checking in sporadically for the next few days.

[erobin1]

Wren-- welcome!! Great news on your NT scan.

Dani-- Sorry you feel so crummy. Have you tried a prenatal without iron? It is usually the iron that is constipating. You can always add it back if you need to. The Chinese medicine doctor is doing acupuncture once a week, some massage of my neck and shoulders and an herb combination that is: Radix Rehmanniac Glutinosae Contiquitac; Radix Paeoniae Lactiflorae; Radix Angelicae Sinensis; Radix Ligustica Chuanxiong. It is basically a subset of what she calls the "basic pregnancy formula." I looked up these herbs and they do seem to be safe & obviously if they've been given to women routinely for 2000 years that is probably a good test. I did notice that a bunch of prenatals now have herbs in them. Interesting. Anyway, I think it is helping although today I am on the couch with a headache... soo... but, I've had a lot less. And even if you didn't want to do herbs, the acupuncture itself should be safe & can be very helpful, I think. Your old RE might even have a referral. Mine uses an acupuncturist/Chinese medicine doctor (I had acupuncture on the day of my embryo transfer), and one who does that should have lots of experience with pregnancy. (I am not actually using that person, but it would be a safe choice, I think). Oh, and I too want to know why your OB is so set on the CVS.

I mean, who knows... certainly the folks of my own medical tradition have little to offer us for headaches while we're pregnant so I figure... why not try?

Ophelia-- thanks for the due date updates

Littlesteps-- sorry you are so sick. cool on the furniture! I definitely want to find out the sex. Although... it is a little funny b/c this time around I do have a definite preference and so I'm trying to reconcile myself to a boy... don't get me wrong, I could not be more in love with another human being than I am with my son, but I'd love to have a daughter. Still, of course, I'll be happy either way. We are going to have to get all new furniture, pretty much. I have all of Sammy's clothing, which has been lent out and returned a couple of times . But the crib was in our garage and also had been mostly broken by the time he was out of it (it was a good crib but had one slightly defective leg that split), and so we ended up getting rid of it. Everything else has been through a couple of cousins, etc, and never came back.

Jillian-- OUCH!! I was just thinking this morning how clutzy I am at the moment. I hope it is better today.

Grapecrush-- My husband and I went round and round about what our number cut off would be for getting the CVS. It felt really torturous to me b/c I have such an irritable uterus, etc (my OB, who didn't say it beforehand, joked at this last visit "Oh, I bet Hershey (the perinate who does them) was happy not to have to stick a needle in your uterus"). And yet, I'm forty in two months and having another child makes the prospect of DS scarier-- because, it just feels like it isn't just about me and my husband, it is about our son, too, and knowingly having a child he would become responsible for at some point. I don't know. I don't know what I would do, and my husband feels very uncomfortable with the thought of termination--- AHHH, oh, it is just sooo hard. Anyway, so, I thought about it a lot.

Here was my final conclusion: that if they gave me odds which were higher than the odds of miscarriage from the CVS, then I'd do it. Otherwise, not. Because the flip side for me was the thought of miscarrying a healthy baby... well, anyway, I know you all know and are all thinking about this too. It is a really hard decision.

My final decision was partly based on the fact that that is how they set 35, originally, as the age to recommend amnio (before first trimester screening). They basically just chose the age at which the risk for DS and the risk from miscarriage from amnio were equal and said: "everyone this age or older, we recommend." It is a very basic calculation, and makes a certain sort of sense.

And then, i was thinking, OK, well, if I place my risk of miscarriage at about 1% (which is optimistic), a risk of DS of 1% is no higher than the risk of autism, or the risk of having a child become schizophrenic. In other words, having a child is not a risk free endeavor-- ever. I heard some guy on the radio say once "when you become a parent you heart moves outside your body." And it is kind of cheesy, but also true. So, I felt, well, a 1% risk is something I can live with.

sorry to ramble... Everyone's sense of that is going to be different. I have a close friend who got an amnio with her first baby at age 32. She just felt like she could not bear the risk, even if it was small. And I have another close friend who declined all screening, pregnant with her own egg, at age 44. For her, she'd wanted the baby so long, and she knew she wouldn't terminate so she wasn't willing to risk it.

Grape-- also glad that your OB appointment went well and that you just feel horrible because, well, you're pregnant.... I have several friends who call and ask "how do you feel?" and I say "HORRIBLE!" They say "That's great!" (everyone knows how stressed i've been about miscarrying).

Country-- Golly, girl, I'm sorry. I hope you get some really good rest soon. You make me think about low points I've had in the hospital when I start to look at the patients in bed and envy them because they get to lie down. That's when you know things have gotten a bit golly-wompus. Listen to your body, too, or try. The hospital will survive without you if it needs to-- whereas right now you and your health are all your baby has got.

AFM: Bad day. had a horrible headache in the night which made sleep bad. Am having a couch day. Hence the long post.....

sending out good thoughts to Mum's husband, and to Pemmie whom we haven't heard from in a while, and Follie, who is hopefully still doing well and on her feet, and to everyone else.

love,
Elena

[erobin1]

Chitown-- have fun with your family! Girl time like that sounds lovely. Billie Elliot sounds fantastic. It must be showing in Chicago? I LOVED that movie. Elena

[wrenlklein]

Hi, Chi! Glad to be here. I haven't been posting a lot on the fsh boards either.

Thanks for welcoming me, everyone! And yes, I am a worrier... after what we've been through to have a baby, I figure it's ok! It may take me a little bit to sort out everyone and their stories, so forgive me if I mess it up!

Elena- sorry about the headache. I've had some of those nights too and they do make for a bad next day!

Grapecrush- I think it depends on what your OB's standards are for the NT cutoff. I've read around 1/250 is common. Anything above that is considered normal. Below is considered possible downs or trisomy and they may offer further testing, like CVS or an amnio. The scan itself will measure the neck fold. Higher numbers indicate possible problems. Mine was 1.6, and they said it was normal. Still waiting on the blood work. Yes... it is nerve racking, but I'm glad you got to hear hb! A wonderful sound!!!

Country girl- sorry for the exhaustion! Being pg and working so hard is difficult. I hope you get rest soon!

Littlesteps- yay for furniture! You are way ahead of me on planning. I get overwhelmed too easily!!! Hopefully soon we'll figure out what we need. It's hard though- so much to choose from and wanting to pick the right kind of gear and furniture!! And yes, we want to know gender.

Dani- hope all the results are just fine!

Jillian- OUCH! I cut the tip of my thumb off years ago cutting celery. Same thing- bleeding everywhere! It healed though! Hope yours does soon!

Hi to everyone else!

[DaniConte]

Elena - thank you for the herbs. I think I should look into an acupuncturist too. My cousin swears by them with her last pregnancy.

Grapecrush - good luck on your NT Scan tomorrow! It is nerve racking but seeing the baby on that u/s is so comforting.

Littlesteps - congrats on getting the baby furniture! I am going to wait until we find out the baby's sex.

Jillian - how is your finger today?

CountryGirl - Ugg, what a horrible day today... I am hoping tomorrow is so much easier for you.

Mum - how is your DH today? How was the surgery?

afm - Boy am I happy today. I only had very mild nausea this afternoon and right now, I dont have any. I was able to eat dinner tonight!!!! I know that sounds funny but I havent been able to have a nice sit down dinner with the DH is a while. I made Lemon Chicken -- so yum.

I called the OB office today and they said the first trimester blood results came back negative - which is a good thing. I wasnt able to speak the with doctor but I have an appointment Monday.

[Grapecrush]

1st trimester screening went well, although inconclusive. My do-it-yourself bloodwork was not yet received by the lab in NY, so we couldn't get actual odds today - so the whole option of getting a CVS right away if the odds were indicative of a problem kind of went off the table. The u/s was amazing - and lasted for about 30 minutes, because baby didn't want to cooperate with movement and positioning. So we really got a long, high-resolution look, which was extremely cool. Genetic counseling was very thorough, and we've just opted to wait until we get the blood results before making any decisions on CVS or amnio. Nerve-wracking, but the u/s results were good and all well within the normal range, so some relief there. And now we wait...seems like that's a lot of what IF and pregnancy are all about!

Not nearly as nauseated today - wondering if it's because I've been off the antibiotic (Macrobid) for 24 hours now.

[erobin1]

Grapecrush-- Congrats on the NT scan! Aren't those high resolution U/S machines incredible? And just the fact that the baby already has all of its organs? It seems almost impossible somehow that it could go from clear-clover-cell ball (we have a photo of our embryos on the wall that I sometimes marvel at and wonder... which is you?) to fish to miniature all-my-parts fetus so quickly... I've often wondered about that and the way we all feel during our first trimester. The training in me says that it is all of the hormonal and biochemical shifts which make us feel bad. But part of me wonders whether, despite the fact that the baby is minute, there is just some kind of monumentalness to the effort, a monumental expenditure of energy that requires all of our energy too.... almost as if even all of our mental and psychic energy must go, unconsciously into the project and so we are left strewn, prostrate, turned inward by nausea, just... kind of immobilized and taken out of the world so that our inner beings can dedicate themselves fully.

Ok, a bit romantic, maybe.

I hope your blood work comes back well too. And so glad you are feeling better. Maybe it was just the macrobid. It can make a person feel bad & pregnancy makes everything different....

Dani-- great news about your blood work and your ability to eat chicken!

Country-- keep thinking of you out there. I hope you got some cough-free sleep.

AFM-- My headache is really out of control. blugg. On the good side, my sister is visiting. She's been working in my living room all day and we had a lovely lunch with my dad to talk about school sites (I have founded and co-direct a school with my mother-- one of my hats... my life has been a bit crazy in recent years). However, it was hard for me to focus with the ice pick in my left eye. Now I'm lying down again. Feeling a little freaked out. Can't nap or sleep b/c of the pain. Anyway, sister is going to cook dinner from the farmer's market for us and for littlest sister (she's 21 years younger than me) who has been here all summer (yeah!) but is about to leave to go back to school, which is on the east coast. Which is sad, although also kind of fun for me too b/c she is going to my alma mater and she is considering medicine....

Argle. I hope everyone else is well. Worrying about your trip to Italy Mum... I hope your DH is ok.

Elena

[erobin1]

Grapecrush-- Congrats on the NT scan! Aren't those high resolution U/S machines incredible? And just the fact that the baby already has all of its organs? It seems almost impossible somehow that it could go from clear-clover-cell ball (we have a photo of our embryos on the wall that I sometimes marvel at and wonder... which is you?) to fish to miniature all-my-parts fetus so quickly... I've often wondered about that and the way we all feel during our first trimester. The training in me says that it is all of the hormonal and biochemical shifts which make us feel bad. But part of me wonders whether, despite the fact that the baby is minute, there is just some kind of monumentalness to the effort, a monumental expenditure of energy that requires all of our energy too.... almost as if even all of our mental and psychic energy must go, unconsciously into the project and so we are left strewn, prostrate, turned inward by nausea, just... kind of immobilized and taken out of the world so that our inner beings can dedicate themselves fully.

Ok, a bit romantic, maybe.

I hope your blood work comes back well too. And so glad you are feeling better. Maybe it was just the macrobid. It can make a person feel bad & pregnancy makes everything different....

Dani-- great news about your blood work and your ability to eat chicken!

Country-- keep thinking of you out there. I hope you got some cough-free sleep.

AFM-- My headache is really out of control. blugg. On the good side, my sister is visiting. She's been working in my living room all day and we had a lovely lunch with my dad to talk about school sites (I have founded and co-direct a school with my mother-- one of my hats... my life has been a bit crazy in recent years). However, it was hard for me to focus with the ice pick in my left eye. Now I'm lying down again. Feeling a little freaked out. Can't nap or sleep b/c of the pain. Anyway, sister is going to cook dinner from the farmer's market for us and for littlest sister (she's 21 years younger than me) who has been here all summer (yeah!) but is about to leave to go back to school, which is on the east coast. Which is sad, although also kind of fun for me too b/c she is going to my alma mater and she is considering medicine....

Argle. I hope everyone else is well. Worrying about your trip to Italy Mum... I hope your DH is ok.

Elena

[country girl]

hi everyone....
just off for my nuchal scan...nervous.... not sure when I will get results... the bloods are all back as they were done last week.... Im hoping today...since its just a matter of plugging numbers into a computer program....
day off today, done the work stuff...free until monday...YAY..!!!


will do longer personals later...