How not to be pregnant on Facebook

Maybe I'm just crazy.  Here I am with a healthy pregnancy, almost into the 2nd trimester.  Couldn't be more excited.  And yet.... pregnancy announcements and updates on Facebook still bug the crap out of me.

Now don't get me wrong.  I really am happy for my pregnant FB friends.  It's just the "Hey FB world, check out my pee stick!" or the "We haven't even had our first doctor appointment yet but we're going to announce this pregnancy with a picture of the onesies we already went out and bought", followed by several obnoxious and/or "complaining" status updates.  That's what gets to me.

Of course, I will eventually need to come out on FB, but I am going to hold out at least until this becomes obvious to people IRL.  DH thinks we shouldn't need to announce on FB at all.  But the thing is, I know my family will be uploading a slew of pictures come Christmas time.  So I'd rather make a tasteful announcement sometime before all my FB friends get bombarded with pics that may include Ruth+more.

After witnessing much obnoxious FB behavior from others, I have come up with a list of things I vow never to do once I go public.  Seriously readers, if I break any of these you have my full permission to slap me straight:

I vow to demonstrate an awareness that the majority of my friends do not need to see objects that have recently come in contact with my bodily fluids. 
Hey everybody! Check out this TP I just wiped with.....wait, you mean that's not socially acceptable??


I vow never to disclose the explicit details of what just came out of my stomach.
......or rather, what's NOT coming out.  Status update: "I just wish I could poop.  Oh the joys of pregnancy..."


I vow never to complain of weight gain, or of all the things I'm not allowed to have.
Wishing for a drink? Seriously? Alcohol is the LAST thing I want to think about going in my mouth. Of course there are some things I miss....  Status update: "I just wish I could get freaky nasty with my hubby again, without being uncomfortable.  Oh the woes of carrying a child in my uterus...."


I solemnly swear never to use the word "prego" unless I'm discussing a recipe for chicken parmesan.
Ok ok I know, that's just my own damn problem and I need to get over my disdain for that word.  DH is trying to desensitize me by calling me "prego" and "preggy" and every other name in the book.


Even if this pregnancy consumes me, I promise not to let it consume those on my news feed.
Susy: "I just discovered that I like coffee."
           comment: "I love coffee! But I can't have any because I'm pregnant."
(This was an actual exchange I saw between 2 FB friends)


Sally:  "I'm so happy I aced my psychology exam today!"
            comment:  "Hooray! I aced my exam too...at the OB's office....because I'm pregnant!"


Places: Sammy was at The Grocery Mart on Grocery Avenue.
             comment:  "Hey while you're there, could you get me some pickles? I'm all out.  It's an emergency....because I'm pregnant!"


Selma: "I'm loving this beautiful weather today."
             comment:  "Me too.  Did I mention that I'm pregnant????"

Pomp and Circumstance

Today was graduation day from my RE's office.  Which is great because baby is perfectly healthy, but it was pretty emotional.  I was really choking back tears when they handed me a "graduation present" (a sonogram frame. awww!)  That's ok.  Someday we'll be back to give our other 3 little embies a chance.... someday.

On to the details:  Our little one was totally wiggling and kicking and flipping around today.  I am so in love with watching baby on the screen.  The RE made sure to show us lots of good angles of the baby.  At one point I thought I saw......something *extra* but nobody said anything.  After the RE & nurse left and I was getting dressed, DH goes "....did you see something in between the legs?" (BTW, he reeeeally wants a girl).  I said yes, but I thought it was too early to tell and maybe it was the umbilical cord.  But then when I was getting my blood drawn, the nurse said "Guess what? *I think it's a boyyyy*"  I guess we'll know for sure in a few weeks or so.

Now the next step is to do the NT scan.  My RE wants me to make sure I get it done by 13 weeks, so he gave me a couple perinatology recommendations.  (Just had a hilarious realization: I kept trying to figure out why one of the names sounded so familiar.  Now I know......won't say the name.  Just that this doctor shares the same name as someone who became famous for singing "Pants on the ground! Pants on the ground!"  LOL!!!  Oh well, good thing I already decided on the other doctor.  Otherwise I may not be able to keep a straight face haha!)

My RE also gave me a few recommendations for OBs at the hospital I want to deliver at.  I gave him the name of one I'd heard good reviews about (ok ok, so I yelped doctors.  Is that so bad?).  Let's call her Dr M, but he didn't recognize the name and said before I left, he wanted me to look up a list of OBs in that hospital group that would be covered under my insurance, so he would recommend a few.  Because, he said, he would rather I go with somebody that he knows.... Ok that's probably the one weird vibe I've gotten from this doctor.  And the funny thing: his "#1 recommendation" was someone I already really did not like judging from his online reviews (Let's call him Dr. B). This afternoon I was talking with a coworker who recently had a baby at that hospital and said she really loved her OB there.  She had to have 1 encounter with Dr. B and she really did not like how he talked to her.  Guess who was her regular OB: Dr. M!  However, Dr. M is on maternity leave now.  So I figure I can go with one of the other names my RE gave me, and if I don't like that OB, I could always switch to another one in the same group.  Besides, I know that when it comes to the actual delivery, it could be anybody doing it.  I've already started talking with DH about how I think it is really important that we hire a doula.  That's a topic for a whole other post.  :)

Still alive and well

I guess it's about time I write a little update.  Didn't mean to leave any of you readers hanging with the fifth disease scare.  I have been sooooooooooooooo busy with school.  Anyway, this is what's been going on in the life of Ruth:

Fifth Disease:

I went in for the bloodwork, which came back negative (I've never had it).  They want me to come back for some follow-up bloodwork in a couple weeks to make sure I haven't been exposed since the first test.  I haven't had any symptoms, and I rarely ever come in contact with the "little kids" at my school, so I think I should be ok.

Ultrasound:

My last u/s was on Oct. 1st (at almost 9 weeks).  It was awesome because our little one was actually starting to look human.  At previous u/s, my RE would point out the head forming, and it still just looked like a blob to me.  This time, I could recognize the head and body as soon as baby came on the screen.  Of course, my eyes are still very untrained.  When I asked "are those the little arms and legs?" the RE zoomed in to show me.  "See, here's an arm.  Look! Here's a knee."  A knee???!!! Seriously, how can he see this?  We also saw the baby move a little bit at one point. So exciting! My next u/s is this Thursday (it's been a long wait).  Tomorrow will be my last day taking estrogen & progesterone, then on Thursday they will test to see if my body is producing enough on its own.

Symptoms:

Well, 3 weeks ago when I last posted, I was having the week from hell.  The antibiotic I was taking made me soooooo sick.  I threw up twice that week, missed another day of work (in addition to the Monday I was on "bed rest"), and even had to stay behind at school with a student rather than go with my class on a field trip to the beach because of how nauseous I was.  That whole week I felt like it was a chore to eat anything, like I had to try really hard to just swallow food without gagging.  

Since then, I haven't been as nauseous, but I've definitely developed some food aversions.  For instance, at the beginning of pregnancy I always wanted spinach.  Now the thought of any leafy green makes me sick.  Also boiled eggs; I don't even want to think about that texture going down my throat. Oh yes, and there are some definite smell aversions.  DH likes to keep cooking seafood for himself & his friend, which does not make my nose happy at all.  Last weekend I was so mad when he made the whole place smell like clams.  Gotta count my blessings though: at least he hasn't brought shutki into this house (look it up).  And last night he made me some chicken korma, after I begged him to please stop the experimenting and make something I know I like.

Sleep: It's getting pretty uncomfortable.  At least I am no longer going for hours at a time without being able to fall asleep.  But I do wake up several times feeling uncomfortable and having to switch over to sleep on my other side.  Before pregnancy, I was a tummy sleeper, but now have learned to sleep on my side.  I know they say the left side is best, especially later on, but right now I feel much better to sleep on my right side.  The last few days I've been feeling a sharp pain in my left hip, so I try not to put pressure on that side.  I read about sciatic nerve pain in early pregnancy, but I'm not sure if that's what it is.

Weight gain: I think I have gained a total of......1 pound....maybe.  Although it feels like so much more.  I feel so bloated all the time.  Fortunately, I had lost about 15-18 pounds after moving to LA, and kept a lot of my old pants, so those are coming in really handy.  However, I did invest in a pair of maternity pants for work.  I also bought one of those stretchy bands to wear over my regular pants, but I still feel too constricted when I wear it.  I'm just ready to actually start "showing" so I can have more proof that this is actually real. :)

Now what?.....

After getting the all-clear from the RE yesterday, I thought I would be able to come back to work today drama-free.

Not so.

I had just gotten to my class and then 5 minutes later, our clinical supervisor walked in and says "Hi, I heard that you might be pregnant?"  (What? I have hardly told anyone at work but now it's going through the grapevine).  She went on, "I have a reason for asking: there's been a child here diagnosed with fifth disease, so you need to call your doctor to let them know there's been an exposure in the school."

Great.  Something new to scare me.  Though from what I've read, the chances of getting serious complications from an exposure are very low.  But still not any chance I want to take!  I called the RE's office, and the receptionist said she'd pass the message on and have one of the nurses call me back.  Well I waited all day for them to call, but in the meantime I just made sure to keep a good distance (as much as possible) from the kids and made sure to wash my hands plenty.  The nurse finally called again around 2:30 and said that they wanted me to come in tomorrow for a test to see if I've been exposed before.

I think my RE's office might be sick of seeing me after this week, lol!

All is well

I went in for my follow-up with the RE this morning.  Took a look at the area that the ER doctor was talking about, but my RE says he's not even sure if it's really a hematoma.  Bottom line, it's definitely nothing to worry about.  However, he did tell me to stop taking the baby aspirin, just in case.  And no GOFO allowed.  Don't really feel like that anyway since this UTI and the antibiotic I have to take for it make me feel blehhhh.

Next u/s is Saturday morning.  My uterus sure is getting a lot of attention lately lol!

Little Scare

Yesterday was quite an eventful day for us.  Fortunately, baby is still perfectly ok, but we did have a little bit of a scare (I will warn you it is TMI):

It started yesterday morning when I did my first suppository.  I noticed a little pinkish discharge on the applicator afterwards, but thought maybe I just pushed it in too far and irritated my cervix...or something like that.  I was using the bathroom a lot throughout the morning, but didn't see any more pink.

DH and I had planned to have a day at the mall window shopping for baby stuff (and maybe to buy some comfy work pants because I am quickly running out!).  We ate at the food court first and then I had to go to the bathroom again.  I had a lot of white discharge from the suppository, but there was also a little glob of dark bloody mucus.  Since there was no more blood when I wiped, I again thought maybe it was from my cervix being irritated by the suppository.  But it definitely killed my mood to walk around the mall so we went home.  

We both took a little nap at home, but when I woke up I noticed some strange cramping on my left side.  Even though I was not bleeding anymore, and I know cramping can be normal, we decided to go to the ER just to be sure and to put our minds at ease.

Of course, we all know how very quickly thinks move in the ER (ha!).  So long story short: after giving a urine sample, getting some blood drawn, and getting an u/s,  they determined I have a small subchorionic hemorrhage.  And also a UTI.  

As I said earlier, the good thing is that the baby is still measuring fine and the heartbeat is still good.  They said the hemorrhage does not seem to be affecting the baby at all, so the threat of miscarriage is very low.  However, I am on bedrest until I can get in to see my RE (hopefully tomorrow).  

....and growing!

The good news is... only 3 more days of PIO and then I get to switch to suppositories.  Hooray for booty relief!


Now, the GREAT news is....baby is still perfectly healthy and growing strong! Nearly doubled in size since last week (now 9mm).  And the heart rate is 144 bpm. I could spot it flickering away as soon as baby came on the screen!

The RE made sure to print out a few good u/s pics for me today.  This one is my favorite because even though I know the head is just beginning to form, it totally looks like baby is chowing down on yolk sac lol!

    

"Mmmmmmm....delicious!"

My next u/s is in 10 days, and the RE says we will be discussing invasive vs. non-invasive options for prenatal testing.  Oh boy will this be fun.  :)