Holy Mood Swings
So the good news is I am feeling much better. I am now at week 12 and am not feeling the same nausea and headaches that I was. I still sometimes feel gross, but it isn’t for as long or as intense. I also am still tired all the time. I think it is time to turn the air conditioner on because it is really too hot to sleep properly.
But the new thing is the mood swings, I was in such a grouchy mood yesterday and ended up in tears last night. Now it could be related to the fact that I have not had vacation in two years, or the fact that my manager is playing games with me, or the fact that I find my job dull and boring, or the fact that it is just good to cry once in a while.
I haven’t gained any weight yet. I have been hovering around the same amount. I weigh myself every Wednesday (sometimes Thursday) morning. I was on a diet when I got pregnant, but I reduced my efforts there. It wasn’t an intense diet, just cutting down on portions, and avoiding the foods I know I am not supposed to eat, and exercising more.
I am still playing ultimate frisbee, although I did quit one team because they were just too intense and I am not planning on laying-out(diving to the ground) or running-full-tilt. My other team is more friendly and I am staying with them. My doctor said I could play until week 18. So I can finish the season, but I am going go pass on playoffs because that will be two full days of playing and I don’t think I will be able to handle that in mid-September.
I am meeting my mentor next week so I will ask her what she recommends for the best way to tell my manager. I work in a pool of a few hundred resources (consulting), so there is no job that needs to be back-filled, they will just have one less person in their pool for a while. However I am going to be re-assigned to a new project in September so I will need to tell them that the end date cannot be longer than mid-January.
That is all for now, I am glad some of you are enjoying my blog. Feel free to leave comments.
Wave to the camera
Yesterday we went to see the ob-gyn, (the midwife group never called us back so that unfortunately isn’t a choice we have unless we wanted to travel downtown).
I am now in the 11th week and this was my first appointment with a doctor, not counting the original quick visit with my family doctor to get a blood test. They let my husband come in with me for the whole thing (not like the previous ultrasound).
The baby waved at us during the ultrasound, we were really lucky to catch some movement and we were also able to see the heart beating. My husband keeps calling the baby, “he”, but I keep trying to use gender neutral words. I wish there was a nicer word that “it”. Our baby is now 2.34cm (around 1 inch) and you can see the head and the arms and the cord. My placenta is at the front of my uterus so the doctor said I might not feeling kicking as early as another mother might because the placenta will act as a buffer.
We declined the pre-screening tests since we decided we were not going to terminate anyway, so unless there was something that would help the baby, we didn’t see the point. The doctor agreed with us that it makes sense, but I guess she has to offer this screening to everyone. They did send me for lots of blood tests and I am sure they must have taken 10 tubes! I have a huge fear of needles so I made them let me lie down, but I didn’t pass out this time. I tried to have a conversation with the nurse, but she didn’t really help. Doesn’t she realize that I am only chatting just to keep my mind off the needle?
We will book the 18-week ultrasound soon. That will be really interesting, we hear that you get to see a lot more details then.
I have not been feeling well over the past few weeks. I know I have not had first-trimester-yucks as badly as some women, but I still am having a hard time working since I am not getting enough sleep and I feel nauseous and get headaches and feel lightheaded. I have not actually puked, but the nausea is still annoying to deal with and I have had a difficult time focusing on tasks, especially with the recent headaches. I have had to give three big presentations over the last month and a half which have been stressful, but now they are over so things should lighten up for a bit. I am meeting with my Mentor next week and I will ask her recommendations on how I should tell my manager. I did ask the doctor if I could take tylenol and she said that was fine, that it was the one medication that the allow pregnant woment to take. I will still try to minimize use though sine the books say it can cause Fetal Renal Failure.
The doctor said that at this point the chance of a miscarriage has basically flattened out, it will never be 0, but she said that all the other signs were good so that we could tell more people. It is my grandfathers birthday tomorrow so I am going to call my Uncle now and ask him to tell grandpa. (hearing is not so good so phone calls don’t work so well).
The doctor said not to worry about my low blood pressure, and not too worry too much if I do faint. Even if I have convulsions after fainting, the baby should be fine. Also, she said during epidurals, that they give you extra liquids to offset the additional lowering of the blood pressure caused by the epidural. Not that I have decided on whether or not to get an epidural, but my chiropracter had one and since she is in the medical profession (she is also a registered nurse), so I am going to leave my options open for an epidural.
We also asked about pre-natal classes and she said not to worry about those until the middle of the second trimester.
Isn’t Morning sickness supposed to be in the morning!
I just finished writing a post, but then I lost it. Damn. Let me try to re-write it.
So what I was saying is that over the past few days I have been feeling really nauseous in the afternoons. I feel fine when I wake up, except that I am really tired since I am not able to get a full night's sleep.
My Mum has recommended that I always try to keep something in my stomach, however that doesn't seem to be helping. Although the concept of snacking all day long is very attractive to me, I know I need to be careful not to gain lots of weight, especially so early.
I want to tell people that I am pregnant, but I know that it is still the first trimester and things are not certain. I especially don't want anyone from work to know. I have a female mentor that I am going to talk to about what the best way is to annouce my pregnancy to my manager.
If you read my earlier rant about work, then you will know that they annouced promotions and I didn't get one. However I talked to my manager on Tuesday and he is planning on promoting me later in the year assuming the business is doing well. I am still worried that I might lose my promotion due to maternity leave, but I will make sure that I know all my legal rights first.
I love having an anonymous blog where I can rant about work and pregnancy stuff. I don't even care how many people are reading this blog. I am just writing it for myself and I love it.
We contacted a midwife organization which we found through the Association for Ontario Midwives. They asked if I wanted to have an Epidural or not? How am i supposed to know that at this point? I need to talk to someone about all the risks first. I did some reading and it appears that it can mess with low blood pressure, and since I already have low blood pressure, there may be extra risks I need to be aware of. Anyway, we are on the list and will have to see if we get accepted or not. There is a much bigger demand than supply. I am surprised there are not more in the profession, I think it would be a very rewarding job to see babies being born all the time. Although they must have to work a lot of strange hours since babies arrive when they want to, and it usually is at strange times of day.
