Oh the Changes

Earlier this week I read Jenny McCarthy's, "Belly Laughs." So many people rave about the book, but I didn't really find it as funny as I expected. There were however, a few things that made me laugh out loud. It seems that some of her pregnancy side effects were the same as mine, only exaggerated by 100%. For example, her cravings and mood swings were far worse than anything I have experienced. I, on the other hand, am having a bunch of side effects that I have never even heard about.

Before I get into the list of all the not so great things, one of the most amazing feelings that I have experienced is the baby kicking. I was lucky enough to recognize the first sensation at around 16 weeks. Now that I am 19, I feel him all of the time. The other day, Larry felt him kick as well. It was a one off, but I am thinking that by week 20 Larry will be able to really feel him moving more often. It is such a great way for him to be able to share in this experience.

Now without further ado, here are the not so great side effects in no particular order:

• VEINS! They are popping up everywhere. We are not talking crazy vericose veins. Just those annoying spider veins. Unfortunately, the place they seem to keep popping up most is my face. I had to go to the mac counter for a whole new makeup regime. I now wear foundation and concealer daily.
• RED SPOTS/BLOOD BLISTERS! These little guys are popping up everywhere too! I have the on my hands, arms, breasts, cheek, legs, and more. It seems that no territory has been left behind.
• MOOD SWINGS! Now mine haven't yet been as crazy as some that JM had, but they are enough to make my husband's existence difficult. Sometimes I'll take the most minor things out on him, but of course when I do, I am reacting as if they are a huge problem. One second I am the greatest, nicest wife in the world. The next I am Satan.
• MOOD SWINGS PT 2! I cry like I have never cried before. The other day I watched a movie called, "Glitter." I don't know if you have heard of it, but it stars Mariah Carey and it really is a bad movie. Well, it didn't matter that it wasn't good. I got mad at Larry for trying to talk to me while I was watching and by the end of the movie I was hysterically crying. Same thing happens whenever I talk to Larry and he offers me a great solution to something that bothers me. The waterworks just start flowing. Then I laugh because I realize how stupid it is that I am crying.
• MOOD SWINGS PT 3! My tolerance for people has reached an all time low.
• HEART BURN! Well, this just started yesterday but I can already tell it is gonna be a doozie. I was laying on the couch when I suddenly thought my chest was caving in. After a few minutes I realized that it was what so many women complain about during pregnancy: Heart Burn! I have never had heart burn before, but let me tell you it isn't pleasant. I am 19 weeks today an suddenly I feel nauseous every time I eat. Then the burn comes.
• DRY SKIN! I lube up with a great moisturizing cream everyday but that hasn't stopped the chap from taking over. I am talking all over the place, my arms, my boobs, my face -- all of them are ashy. I hydrate as much as possible, but it just doesn't matter. I also have dry flaky scalp. Yes DANDRUFF. Head and Shoulders is my new bff.
• HOT FLASHES! One second I will be sitting comfortable and the next I need to take off layers of clothing. At night I start off wearing pjs and often times wake up with no covers on and completely naked. That is with the thermostat set at 71 degrees and the air blowing.
• OH MY HAIR! I don't know where to begin with my hair. The first trimester it just plain fell out. Now it is thicker but the texture is different. It used to be curly, then wavy. Now it is both or neither. Everyday I have no idea what I am going to get.
• CRAMPS! Not everyone gets them, but I always have with my periods. Now that I am pregnant that hasn't changed. It seems I always am informed about when my uterus is growing because my cramping alarm goes off. The cool thing is now that I am further along, I can see a difference in my belly size a day or two after the cramping/growing.
• CAN'T REMEMBER SQUAT (CRS)! What was I gonna say? Oh, I don't remember.
• MY BACK!!! This one has got to be the most difficult for me right now. My mid back will go into spasm and the pain is awful. I think it is because I have been on bed rest and my body is sick of laying down, but really I have no idea. Last night I got out of my comfy bed and slept on the floor for more support. It actually was quite comfortable and my back didn't hurt as much. I just hope sleeping on the floor isn't necessary every night.

18 weeks as of 11.10.09

Here are some pics that my husband took a couple of days ago. We haven't been the best at documenting each month, but we are going to start taking pictures every 4 weeks. These are of me at 18 weeks. Please excuse the outfit and hair. Larry decided that we NEEDED to take these pictures just as I was getting into bed.

The Great Leak of 09

This post is going to be another copy and paste situation. Long story short, we had a leak after it rained and it ended up being much bigger than we had anticipated. We rent a townhouse and unfortunately it took a lot of arguing and grief to get our landlord to take care of the situation correctly. Below are some quick notes I took while it was happening.

10/13/09

I am pregnant on bed rest. My mother in law is here taking care of me. In the afternoon she walked on the carpet near our kitchen and noticed a wet spot. We put a towel down but didn’t think anything of it as it was raining outside and thought maybe we stepped on the ground with wet shoes.

A couple of hours later my husband came home from work and noticed the wet spot as well. Only this time it was bigger. We put down towels and called the landlord to let them know we had a leak. Underneath our kitchen is the laundry room. When my husband went to the laundry room he noticed that the leak had come down through the ceiling and was soaking up the ceiling.

10/14/09

My husband went downstairs to find that the wet floor had spread about 4 feet across our dining area. When he went to the laundry room the ceiling was now dripping water. We had to put down two buckets to soak up the water coming from above. We called and left a message for the landlord who said they would take care of it. At this point the house smells like mildew.

First, the landlord sends over her husband who built the building. He searched for the source of the leak, but didn’t know for sure. It wasn’t coming from the roof because we live in a 4 story building and the leak started in the floor of the 2nd level.

A few hours later, they sent the building handyman to pull back the carpet. He pulled the carpet back and put on a fan. He propped the carpet up with a honey dew he took from our kitchen. The padding was left on the ground. When we talked to the landlord she said the was all that needs to be done and that we are overreacting.

We decided to call ServePro to find out how they would deal with this type of situation. They obviously did not see the leak, but gave us what they would generally do. They said that we needed to pull the padding up from the carpet, get professional fans, a dehumidifier and heaters for the drywall. None of which was being done. At this point it is 9pm and we leave a message for the landlord telling her that more needs to be done because we do not feel safe.

10/15/09

The landlady came in the morning to check out the place. She said that everything was being done the way it needed to. They would poke a couple of holes in the ceiling to let out the moisture and then it would all dry in a couple of days.

Larry and her got into a conversation about safety and how what she is suggesting is not safe for a wife on bed rest. We told her what ServePro said and told her that we would accept nothing less. We even offered to pay her $300 to just get it done right.

A little while later someone came to assess the situation and gave her an estimate. Then we heard nothing for a couple of hours. Eventually, she came back with someone else who gave an estimate that she was happy with. Isabelle, the landlord, said the guy would be here before 4pm or after 6pm, but when we called him personally he said he would not be coming until the morning because Isabelle is jerking him around with cost. He said he would come at 9am to start work if she would sign the papers needed to begin.

10/16/09

The specialist and Isabelle arrived at 9am. Isabelle got mad at us because we told the specialist, Gabriel, that I was pregnant on bed rest. She complained that he was going to hike up the price now. All we cared about was that he did it safely. He promised that he would and said that his reputation is important to him.

After a brief inspection they found the situation was more than just drying out carpets and drywall due to a leak. There was mold in our kitchen and dining area. They spent the day putting up plastic to block the spores from releasing when they cut into the drywall. Our pantry had to be removed from the kitchen and all of the food is in boxes in our living room. Our refrigerator is in the middle of the kitchen and it was recommended that I do not go down there. Even better would be that my husband doesn’t either.

The place looks like it is under quarantine. In the morning, they will be back to block off the basement/laundry room area so that they can cut into the drywall without releasing any spores into the air. It doesn’t look like the mold is down below.

Gabriel has recommended that all the carpet be replaced where it got wet because it is not healthy.

I didn't continue documenting over the following week so I will summarize the rest. It ended up that the leak had been occurring for a while in the ground and that we had a lot of mold. They had to cut out the bottom 2 feet of kitchen wall and they had to redo the pantry because there was black mold underneath it. We had very little access to our kitchen and couldn't turn on the lights because they were under the tenting used to block the spores from releasing in the house.

After Gabriel finished the job (he was fantastic) he called in a specialist to measure the spore count. We had to wait 2 days until we got the results. Unfortunately, they came back positive. So, they had to cut out more drywall so that the inside of the wall could dry out more. Long story short, after 2 1/2 weeks and a short stay in a hotel while they painted, we got our house back on October 30. There are still some things left to be done, but overall, we hve our kitchen back!

Here are some pics of the situation...

The Landlord's Solution: Pull up the carpet and prop with a honey dew

The final solution: pull up carpet, padding and tear out walls for mold quarantine

Making Strides

4 weeks out from my fall and I am doing significantly better. According to the doctor, the lil bean is no worse for the wear. I felt everything that happened but he (that's right, he) had no idea anything was going on. Last week I had an ultrasound at the perinatologist and they measured him to see if he was tracking alright. He is absolutely perfect for where he is supposed to be at this time. Our due date is confirmed as April 10 based on his size.

In other great news, I haven't had cramping or bleeding for 2 weeks! The doctor said that this is great news and if it continues by week 20 that she may move me from "high risk" to a "normal" pregnancy. I don't know if that means I will be able to go back to prenatal yoga, but it does mean that I can be off my feet more than 3 -4 hours at a time.

Bed rest was really a miserable experience. I think it was extra awful because once I passed the clot, my pain went away and the bleeding stopped (thank goodness). After that, my body returned to stasis and I felt fine. To be confined to bed 24 hours a day except to go to the bathroom is not just boring, but it is depressing. To top all of that off, it rained the day after we got home from the hospital and the house flooded. I will post a separate quick post on that situation but the good news is that the house is better and so am I.

In other great news, I couldn't ask for better friends or family during this time. Over the course of a month, I had very few days where someone did not stop by to help out or just visit. Even now that I am on modified bed rest I still have people coming by or checking in everyday via phone. Those visits rocked and continue to rock my world. I would have gone insane without them. Now I get out for 3 - 4 hours a day and I could not be more appreciative of the world around me.

Little things like going on a walk or actually doing the shopping for the family are such big deals for me right now. Walking the mall with a friend or even getting to look for baby furniture in person vs online is a wonderful gift. When I thought that I might be on bed rest for the entire pregnancy I was so sad that I wouldn't get to experience the things that many women get to experience while pregnant. I wanted to experience people annoyingly rubbing my belly or commenting on how much my tummy grew. I wanted to register for a shower in person or even have a shower. I wanted to experience shopping for maternity clothes. At one point, those little hopes were taken away. Now they are a reality and I am so thankful.

From Bad to Worse to Not-So-Bad

This email was started in the hospital and finished at home. I'll start the email by saying as horrible as things sounded in the hospital. I feel that much better now. This email was not proofed. Sorry for all the switching of tenses and grammatical errors. :)

Written from Hospital

Well I have to be honest, I never expected pregnancy to be like this. Up until week 12 I was having a relatively awesome pregnancy. Yes, I know the first trimester is when most people have their hardest time, but I am no normal gal. Right when I hit the second trimester my pregnancy did a 180. Let me just start out by saying that I am still pregnant and we are very happy about that!

I'll start from where I left off.

Thursday night - my pain level went off of the charts. I actually started having contractions and my bleeding increased. If memory serves me they were 40 - 60 seconds long 3 - 5 minutes apart. It was absolutely awful. Luckily, I called the doctor on earlier in the day to make an appointment for Friday am.

Friday am - At this poing I hadn't slept in 3 days. Shelli, Lar and I went to the perinatologist bright and early. He took us in right away. I
absolutely LOVE this doctor. I got an ultrasound and the baby was doing great. He said the source of bleeding was gone as well. Unfortunately, with no source of bleeding, my pain level and contractions should have gone away or at least reduced, but they were getting worse. Over the course of 3 days my cervix shortened from 3.2 to 2.8 cm when resting, but when contracting it went down to 1.6 cm. They generally feel a safe cervix is 3.5 cm. We will hopefully cross the cervix bridge in a couple of weeks when we get through this phase. Right now, we need to get over the imminent miscarriage threat. The doctor decided that it was best to check me into the hospital and "snow" me. This means drug me up good so that I can rest.

Friday afternoon - after an hour wait in the labor and delivery waiting room (not the place you want to be when you are told that you are more than likely going to miscarry) we were admitted into the hospital. That's when
the good stuff happened. For the sake of my fingers and your time I am going to keep this short. I ended up with some kind of infection and had to be put on antibiotics. I ran a fever, chills, body aches. It was awful. They had me on morphine for the pain and a crazy strong antibiotic to fight whatever else was going on. Here I was avoiding caffeine. :) By the end of the day I was bleeding worse than ever and the pain was off the charts. I was having constant contractions and was kinda miserable, but felt better being in the hospital under constant care.

Saturday - I woke up with worse pain! I was having contractions every 1 - 3 mins. The nurses told me that this was the baby coming out and as soon as it did I would feel better. Lar and I were so sad, but I also felt that if this was going to happen, then please just let it happen because it was so painful. I ended up passing a huge clot (Lar called it a scorpion), but no baby. My
doctor said to expect the contractions and bleeding. I would know if I was passing the baby because a 3 inch baby would come out. She gave me an ultrasound and said the baby is actually super happy and in a great place. It hadn't descended at all. We were so glad, but couldn't believe the rollercoaster of emotions. I am so glad that my doctor came in on her weekend off to check in. It was so nice to see and hear from her vs the nurses and residents on staff. She made us at least a little more hopeful. After I passed the clot, the contractions and bleeding reduced. I felt great!

Sunday - the migraine kicks in. I am finally off morphine, only to be put on vicodin. But, nothing else. I actually felt great all things considering. the doc said the migraine is normal and to expect it for up to 4 weeks. Here I am the girl who decided not to read any maternity books because I didn't want to psychosomatically take on what I was reading. I end
up getting everything you can get. My doctor did visit again and sat down with us for about 20 minutes to discuss any questions. She told me the specialist would come in on Monday morning to determine whether or not I could be discharged based on my ultrasound.

Written from home

I actually wrote a lot more from the hospital but I guess it wasn't saved. Better off.

Sunday evening - Besides the headache I feel great! The only negative of the night is the woman in the room next door kept knocking out her IV so it beeped every 5 minutes. I didn't get a good nights sleep and my head ached, but all things considering I am in a good place.

Monday am - The specialist arrived bright and early for the ultrasound. The baby looks and is doing great! WIth all of the bleeding and contractions, the baby was not impacted. In fact, it had grown since Friday! When I asked him about my cervix, he told me it was smaller but he didn't give me the measurement. He said that he is no longer worried about me and that I can resume seeing my OB regularly and if I need to I can see him when worried.

Today - I feel sooo much better. I have absolutely no cramping and very little bleeding. In fact, I had no bleeding for almost 18 hours, but just had a little. I'll take the spotting as a little reminder to take it easy and appreciate how far I have come. Larry and I were saying that last week may have been one of the worst of our lives. The unknown is and was awful. The fact that we have made it home with a baby still in tact is very promising. My hope is that I will be taken off of bed rest in the next couple of weeks. I'll definitely keep you updated as I get more info.

Now what?

As it stands, I am still labeled a "high risk" pregnancy. I am on bed rest until further notice, but if things go well there is potential to be taken off. A nurse will come to the house weekly to administer a progesterone
shot, which helps smooth the uterine muscles.

I am camped out upstairs in my bedroom until we get a bed delivered for the main level. Lar set up my desktop on a breakfast in bed tray so now I have access to internet! Visitors are welcome anytime! I plan on being as productive as possible with my time. Maybe I will take a few online courses and learn a language. Has anyone tried Rosetta Stone?

in general, the best place to reach me is on my home phone. The cell is annoying me to use while laying down.

Thanks for all of your love and warm wishes.

xoxo,

Sam