PALS in the house! - Page 4

[Llyra]

Oh, chrissy, I'm so sorry.

[celesterra]

Originally Posted by paisley

Celesterra - Did you get the results of your 2nd beta back?

sorry to keep you waiting, and thank you for asking, paisley. i should have listened about the 48 hr beta because as it was i got completely freaked out when i got the "24 hr" results and haven't quite recovered. my last pregnancy had problems right from that 2nd beta.

so, the nurse called, and of course the level was NOT supposed to double in 24 hours, but she'd SAID it, so when she said it was up from 415 to 530 (22hrs), i almost died. BUT she said that she's very happy with it and told me not to worry.

i spent the whole weekend worrying.

i feel somewhat better today, but still cannot keep those dark thoughts from entering my mind. also, the fluxuating symptoms are so scary - i am have stopped eating papaya and drinking "pregnancy tea" just so i can FEEL the symptoms more! i'd rather feel nauseus than not at this point.

today i am 5 weeks. it's still so very early... i can't wait to move on from this stage.

[Arwyn]

Oh Chrissy, no!

[DecemberSun]

to chrissy...

My aunt is a Nurse Practitioner who specializes in high-risk pregnancies. She told me that 1 in every 7 pregnancies result in a miscarriage. I think she was trying to make me feel better, but it actually made me feel worse because statistically some of our pregnancies may not progress... I promise not to be the pessimistic party pooper, though. I am really : that the bad news has ended for this group!

I am so very sorry for your loss, chrissy... I hope you and your DH can have fun TTC again when you have healed from this.

[paisley]

Ugh, I spotted a bit this morning. Just got back from a beta and P check, hopefully will have the results by the end of the day. Dh is out of town until Saturday. Where's the trying-to-hold-it-together smilie?

[Arwyn]

Paisley. It's ok to lose it a little bit if you need to, but I fully believe everything will be ok for you.

I've been spotting (EXTREMELY lightly for the last couple days, but more earlier, including some brighter red and one small clot) for nearly two weeks now. But I feel more pregnant than ever (and my BBT is still nice and high ). It'll be ok.

And I'm so sorry your husband is out of town while you're going through this! That makes it that much harder, I know. I started spotting shortly before I left for Indiana, and I was completely convinced I was going to miscarry while out there and completely bereft of any support (we're not telling friends yet, so the people I was staying with didn't know). It was so scary.

[paisley]

Thanks for the love and reassuring words, Arwyn.

Got my beta back - 34,000 at 27DPO. Phew! Doc said it wasn't necessary to go back for the 2nd draw with a number like that. So I am relieved that everything is ok, but this isn't very reassuring for the singleton theory. Averages for single pregnancies at 27DPO are more like 9500. Ruh-roh.

[celesterra]

paisley, SUCH GREAT NEWS! HOORAY!!!

well, I'm next up. tomorrow we go in for another blood draw and 1st u/s. i'm still not too keen on doing the u/s so early - i'm only 5w2d today, so what's the point, really? i'll talk to the doc about it tomorrow. i am considering putting dh on the afternoon cell phone duty - i dont want to get another call about the beta. i was thinking to ask them not even to tell me.

i just want to quit all this monitoring and be pregnant.

[Arwyn]

Celeste - oh boy do I understand that. Although I haven't done anything really to monitor this pregnancy (other than temping , but I feel like sometime in the last week I decided (not consciously) that I wasn't going to be tentative about the pregnancy anymore - I'm just pregnant. And that rocks.

Paisley and others with progesterone experience - so I finally got the results of my 6dpo prog. saliva test, with low (but not insanely low) results. 71, with a normal of 100-600. Dr had been ready to prescribe sublingual prog., but then I told her about being pregnant, and it was like watching her brain kinda break. She had to shift gears really rapidly, and ended up deciding to call and talk to her favorite pharmacist before we decide whether to supplement or anything. Anyway, I'm not sure - on the one hand, I'm a as-few-meds-as-possible kind o'gal, and was going to go the vitex route for the short LP (which is discontinued after a BFP), but on the other hand, I don't want to lose the pregnancy because the corpus luteum can't quite keep up the progesterone long enough for the placenta to take over, and correcting hormonal imbalances is just a good idea in general... Help? Advice, experience, suggestions?

[ASusan]

Chrissy - I'm sorry your little one didn't make it. Stay strong

Raversangel - I put the clove of garlic in like an ob tampon (only without a string). YOu can string a thread on it if you wish for retrieval help, but mine worked it's way down over 6 hhrs and was fairly easy to get out. I changed it every 4-6 hours, for about 3 days. I nicked the clove (afterr the first one, which went in whole without nicks), with progressively more nicks each time. Some people find that nicking releases too much juice, which burns. That wasn't the case with me. Felt fine. Worked REALLY well. I love garlic!

Arwyn - no help with the progesterone, only to say that they put me on it today. I took my first dose around noon...


Update on me - It was a day of appointments. Midwife in the am - she was great. Spared me the lunchmeat lecture and got down to business. Took blood for BSU today, and will take it again Thursday and Saturday. Going in for a transvaginal ultrasound on Thurs at 6w1d. Started progesterone orally. Still very few symtoms...She said I had a very nice chart and suggested I keep temping.


My parents are coming to help me pack for my move. They were planning to come tomorrow (Wed) but I called Mom late this afternoon to ask if she would come to a medical appt w/ me on Thurs (DH is 6+ hrs away). She and Dad rearranged their plans, then she asked what kind of appointment.
me: "an ultrasound"
Mom: "of...? what kind of ultrasound?"
me: "a vaginal ultrasound"
Mom: "for...?
me: "Well, hopefully we'll get to hear a little heartbeat, but it may be too early for that."
Mom: "OH!" (general excitement). "That's not my specialty" (Mom's an RN)
me: "well, brush up, because I need you to pay attention, ask questions, and take notes"
Mom: "Oh, this is so exciting. I think I'll keep quiet about it for a bit." (I think she was not going to tell dad...not sure why or why not. Dad's driving down here, too, but he won't go in for the ultrasound! He'll probably stay at my house and take a nap,)

I also told my best friend, who told me a few weeks ago that she was 4 weeks. She was cramping, and nervous, so she called me for reassurance. I haven't talked with her since, so I started the phone call asking for updates and being chatty. "So, you're how many weeks along?" "8 1/2" "Oh, so you just 2 1/2 weeks ahead of me." Then, we griped about lunch meat and hot showers.

I'll post more later - after my ultrasound, probably . Thanks for indulging my chattiness tonight.

ETA - the rest of my appts:

late am = last haircut at the salon I love

noon = acupuncturist. I was so wired that I didn't fall asleep. I always fall asleep. She said i was stronger this time around, that my pulse was stronger. However, it wasn't strong enough to tell me if it is a girl or a boy. I think I'll try to schedule another appt on Monday. If the ultrasound/HSG info is bad, she can help me move on with a miscarriage. If it's good news, then she can help with that, too.

mid-afternoon orthopaedist. They couldn't do an x-ray of my foot, but they discharged me anyway. The dr barely GLANCED at my foot. Just asked me, "the left one, was it?" and when I asked for an update on my PT prescription, he said he didn't think I needed any more PT. So, I guess my foot is healed! (OK, I'm still wrapping it in an ace under my sock, and I"m still a little careful wth it. I still take calcium and vitamin D...)

[Arwyn]

OK, not that I eat it ever anyway, 'cause it's just not good stuff, but what's with the lunchmeat prohibition? And hot showers?

Oh, and Paisley - can I just laugh at you a little? Actually, I was laughing so hard when I read your "ruh-roh" that DP, who was in the other room, asked me what was so funny. Anyway, uh, CONGRATS!

[ASusan]

OK. the lunch meat prohibition comes from the possibility of listerosis. You should heat the lunchmeat to steaming before eating it. At my first prenatal appt last Jan, the doctor spent an hour with me, talking about my family history, genetic testing, diet, etc. A full 8 minutes - more than 10% of our time together - was spent talking about not eating lunch meat. When I asked if wasn't that (avoiding lunch meat) going overboard, she lectured me a little more and told me that there were three cases (or did she say 3 outbreaks) of listerosis three counties over last fall.

When I said to the midwife today, "You can spare me the lunchmeat lecture. I already had it last time I was here." She said that there were other things she was more concerned about, like all the fish advisories, which go beyond mercury. Farm raised salmon can have more (or fewer) PCBs, depending on where it was raised...She also said that she liked Having Faith. She is concerned about the fish advisories, because of the great benefits of Omega 3s. She asked if I was supplementing with Omega 3s. (I am.)

Somewhere along the way, I remember being satisfied with the idea that lunchmeat was ok if it was from a clean, reputable deli. Around here, Wegmans fits the bill for that. (A student of mine with OCD worked there. She was super-impressed with their food prep hygiene practices. This was a woman who used a new toothbrush every time she brushed.) However, after I move, Wegmans will be a thing of the past for me. I am so sad.

The prohibition on hot showers comes from the warnings about not overheating your body (raising your core temp) because of the potential for birth defects (something with the ear? I'd have to look it up; I can't remember). My girlfriend doesn't take hot showers because of this concern. I would avoid a really hot bath or a hot tub, but I don't think my concern extends to hot showers. I don't think my hot water heater (a) is turned up THAT high, and (B) has enough water for an extended hot shower that would result in a core temp raise.

[Arwyn]

Oh. Well, I knowingly and happily ate raw sushi the other day - I shudder to think what that doctor would say to me. With poor quality lunch meat, I'd be more worried about the chemicals they put in it, nitrates etc. Well, and there's a big difference between high quality fresh sushi and poor quality old lunch meat in terms of risks of infection.

As for hot showers, there was a study quoted in I believe Midwifery Today an issue or two ago that found that even being in a hot tub for more than two hours failed to raise core body temperature enough to be a problem - and the women all wanted to get out before then because they were uncomfortable. I don't have the article with me, so I can't quote numbers, but the gist was that the dangers of hot tubs are completely overrated. So that's another old doctors' tale we can safely discount.

[lotusdebi]

I had a couple drops of red blood in the middle of the night. This was after a day of feeling sharpish pains where I've been believing the baby-to-be implanted. I still feel pinching there.
So, I'm scared. Worried. Freaking out. Checking TP even more. I'm 6 weeks and 2 days pregnant today. I want to stay pregnant!!!
I did have PIV sex last night, before the bleeding. That was after the pain all day. But, I wonder if maybe it had something to do with the blood.
I'm just really scared.

[celesterra]

i'm saying good bye. best of pregnancies to you all.

[Astromom]

Chrissy, Oh no, I'm so sorry for your loss!

Oh Celesterra -- I'm so sad you are saying goodbye!

I'm thinking of both of you in this difficult time.

[Astromom]

I'm feeling bad here because I'm very behind in life and therefore am behind in this thread. But reading through now it looks like there are several of you spotting and I want you all to know that I am thinking the strongest sticky vibes ever to all of you!!!

[lotusdebi]

celesterra
I'm sorry, honey!

[Leilalu]

I am so sorry I somehow lost this thread:

Ok, off to read:


I haven't made the appt yet, sigh, but I neede to. i just hate appointments that could be filled with a confimation of bad news.

I totally FEEL pregnant. But, I don't test well, so I got a negative. I just don't get it.
Ok, off to read and get an appt!

[paisley]

Celesterra - No! I'm so sorry.

Lotusdebi - It could very well have been the PIV that caused the slight bleeding.