Signs and symptoms - Page 2 « Back to Group Discussions

[Ninetales]

The past few days I've had some serious jonesing for onions. At least those are healthy.

[Sol_y_Paz]

How have you fulfilled that craving?  I pan fried some red onions and mushrooms together with a splash of soy sauce, it was heavenly! 

[Ninetales]

Just sautéing them with salt and pepper, then pigging them down. I ate like half of one for breakfast this morning. I've no doubt I'll start smelling soon.

[Thebyr]

So.. I've looked this up in plenty of places and everywhere I've looked says that this is a completely normal symptom.. but it's starting to make me a little nervous. I get a pretty bad case of lightheadedness after every meal. It comes about 20 minutes after I eat and can last for about 30-45 minutes. Sometimes it's even accompanied by little heart flutters. Should I call my midwife? I haven't even met with her yet - so I hate to sound like a worrisome patient already.

[IntuitiveJamie]

When in serious doubt call. That is what they are there for.

As a birth professional myself, I will tell you that my guess is that your body is using it's energy to digest and gestate a baby at the same time and for whatever reason that affects you a lot in the blood pressure area. Your blood volume is increasing as we speak, to be able to supply blood to the placenta/baby. So blood pressure can certainly go wonky. You're apparently super susceptible to this. Are you particularly thin? That may or may not make a difference. Just trying to get an idea of why this may be happening to you. The only thing that would cause me concern is that it's lasting for so long. But again, you would be digesting your food during that whole time. Can you try eating more frequent smaller meals and see if that makes a difference?

My last pregnancy I got a stomach bug and I threw up so hard that my blood pressure couldn't handle it and I almost passed out.  I slithered to the floor and everything went dark except for the stars swimming in my head. It really freaked me out. But I called my mw and I was fine and I didn't go to the hospital or anything.

Again, the range of "normal" in pregnancy is huge. But if you intuitively feel something is wrong, or just need support, that is what your mw/doula are for. Use them.

[Thebyr]

Thanks Jamie - I think you're totally right. Everything I read said it could be my BP dipping. I'm not very thin - but I'm pretty healthy and I know my BP tends to be in the "low-normal" range whenever I get it checked at the doctor. It was 107/64 last appointment so I could see how it might dip into the 90s whenever I eat.

Maybe I should call her - but she might tell me to call my PCP since I haven't seen her yet. I'll just call and see what she says.

Your story about almost passing out - wow! But that is how I feel every time I eat a big meal. I had to lay down yesterday - not so easy at work.

[Knitting Mama]

Thebyr, if it makes you feel any better, I am lightheaded all day, every day. My blood sugar and blood pressure are fine, so I am just chalking it up to first trimester symptoms. But, if you are in any doubt whatsoever that it's normal, see someone! Better safe than sorry!

[Thebyr]

called the midwife's office and spoke to the nurse - she didn't blow me off at all. She gave me some tips for how I should be eating, what to do if I feel faint and then she put a call in to the Midwife on call to see what she says. I forgot to mention I will be going to a CNM that works at the hospital here - I think there are 9 of them and they rotate and work as a practice. I seems like they are going to be attentive and accessible. When I told the nurse I had had a blighted ovum last time, she said - "oh, I'm so sorry - well, we're going to take good care of you and do everything possible to get you to the end of this pregnancy safely and with a baby." AWWWW - that's so sweet. Cause deep down - that's my one and only major concern - that I get a baby this time. I know they deal with mommies and babies all day long so it's nice that they care about lil ol me.

With that said - they want me to see my PCP since I'm so early in my pregnancy. I don't mind - I can get in pretty soon, I think. My friend seems to think that my PCP is going to tell me to see my OB since I'm preggers. oh lord.

Edited by Thebyr - 12/1/11 at 11:24am

[Ninetales]

I'm glad they eased your mind a bit! Sometimes a tiny bit of reassurance can really lift your spirits.

Here's a weird one. Drooling? When I've been trying to sleep I notice more and more that my pillow is getting wet. And just walking around I notice having to swallow all the time. Do we make more saliva?

[Knitting Mama]

That definitely happened to me last time! My husband made fun of me incessantly for my drool-stained pillow.

[IntuitiveJamie]

I don't specifically remember drool, but it did make me . Thanks for sharing.

I am having major hot and cold flashes. I remember the general heat of pregnancy last time, but this is straight up hot flashes. Talk about pregnancy "glow"; during a heat wave I look like I'm blushing really hard and I stay like that for awhile. I have to start stripping clothes or removing blankets. But then other times, I become freezing. The hot I understand, but the cold is a bit strange.  Brrrr...I've got to go warm up right now.  (And then as soon as I do, I'll get piping hot!)

[Thebyr]

I don't produce any extra saliva yet - but I did read it could be a symptom. I hope I don't have that problem - I thoroughly get grossed out by drool (sorry).

I'm hot all the time Jaime - yesterday I went shopping and had to leave my coat in the car. I need something really lightweight these days. I'm naturally always cold, so I like to layer.. and it's failing me these days. I'm always sweating.. and the smell of sweat makes me ill - so that's not going to work. lol

[Sol_y_Paz]

Thebyr, what tips did they give you about eating?  Please share.  I don't have my appointment for awhile and can use all the tips possible.  This is my first too and I am so happy and want to do all the right things as much as I can.  I did read in a pregnancy book just last night that you will make more saliva and that is totally normal.  No worries there.  

[Thebyr]

No problem - here they go.

Eat three small meals and have at least two snacks in between.

Make sure you have protein in at least two of the meals.

Never have just fruit or just nuts for snack - always add a fat: have an apple and some string cheese, have triscuts and cheese, eat nuts and cubed cheese. She didn't give me another example of a fat because I like cheese - maybe someone knows another one for the vegans.

Make sure you have at least 64 ounces of water.

Try taking prenatal at night instead of in the morning.

If it's a BP dip - you may need a little more salt in your diet. Stay away from sugar.

If I think of anymore I'll let you know.

[Thebyr]

So - I'm 4wks4days today and I think I feel my nausea settling in. Up til now it's just come in waves - but as I type this I realize that I've been nauseated the last 30-45 minutes. That's the longest I've been nauseous so far this time. Maybe that's why I've been so hungry - so I could get a lot of calories in before my 24/7 nausea kicked in. This is NOT going to be pretty. I've gotta get some ginger chews tomorrow. Altoids are my bff right now.

[IntuitiveJamie]

I had a longer spell of nausea yesterday as well. But so far, it's just sort of an annoying mild sensation. Nothing that has me running to the bathroom. I never had morning sickness with my other two, so I will be very interested to see what this one brings.

I do, however, have pregnancy insomnia. Last night was no good. I def. need sleep in order to improve my mental stability during pregnancy.

[Thebyr]

Yeah - it's kinda weird - it finally subsided around 4am (I know this because I was also wide awake and couldn't get back to sleep). I know what you mean about annoying. I haven't actually needed to regurgitate. However, I recall with my first pregnancy I was just extremely nauseous and never had anything actually come up. Time will tell how bad it gets, I guess.

[eleuthia]

I've been having uterine & cervical twinges; earlier this week it was a crampy feeling in my uterus & some ovary pain. My breasts already seem bigger and my nipples are hard & sensitive all the time. I am BLOATED. I feel like I already have pregnancy brain - but part of that is probably just me being distracted by the idea of being pregnant! I'm feeling less enthusiastic about food and I'm pretty thirsty (& thus peeing all the time). I can smell EVERYTHINGGGGGG! At this point, good-smelling things still smell good, but I can also pick up on bad-smelling things more easily. Not a good thing since our refrigerator stopped working (the freezer still works at least; landlord is having a repair person contact us) so there is a fridge full of spoiling food that needs to be dumped. I think I'm just going to have my partner do it since he can't ever smell anything! 

[Knitting Mama]

I had some cervical twinges today, too. I definitely didn't have them this early last time-- I didn't even know I was pregnant at 5 weeks along last time! 

[IntuitiveJamie]

eleuthia- I'm bloated too. I  can't hardly suck it in sometimes. I admit to having some belly before pregnancy, but I could usually disguise it by certain clothes and/or sucking it in. I can still do that sometimes, but sometimes I can't at all and it looks like I'm much more pregnant than I am. I like to let the belly and the bloat all hang out comfortably at home at least. I'm not trying to look pregnant at 4.5 weeks like I was with my first.