Thursday, May 9, 2013

32 & 33 Week Update: My Health, Baby is Head Down, Thoughts and Feelings, and Baby Shower Preparations


Very long overdue post needed. I know, this has been the most I have ever been late.  And calling this a 32 and 33 week post is probably inaccurate since I don’t remember anything from 32 weeks, although remember having the feeling of having so much to share. So much for pregnancy brain, that has definitely been kicking in and doing lots.

So what the heck has been going on in the past 2 weeks?  A lot!  My appointments have now started to be every two weeks. My next one is this Friday actually, making me remember that at my last appointment I saw Dr. Gildenblatt and I asked him to feel baby and tell me if he can tell what position he is in- and baby is head down! So that was one of the exciting things from 32 weeks I could probably remember. So that was nice to know, and gave a piece of mind. Although I heard baby can still change position if you have enough fluid in there and there is still room. So just to be safe I will ask again on Friday when I have my next appointment.

The past 2 weeks have been a little tough. Overall, the last 6 weeks my body has just not had a break at all. You guys all know how often I get sick with me complaining about it every time. And every time I say “I’m sick” it sounds like old news now because it happens so much. Especially in the last 6-7 weeks I have been sick 3 times already and am on my 3rd course of antibiotics right now- which I HATE!

I mean, I am not a big natural person, I believe it is the best thing, but I don’t avoid medicine if I can have it. But I HATE having to take antibiotics so much! Especially being pregnant. I know they tell me it is safe and what not but still does not make me happy. The first (recent) time I got sick it started with the typical double ear infection and sinus infection. I always try to wait it out for a little, hoping it is just congestion or a cold that will go away, but it never is and only gets worse. So after several days of getting worse I ended up going to the doctor’s, got amoxicillin, and that did not help. I actually didn’t see my primary care provider because he was not in the Ilion office that day and I remember feeling extremely miserable and not wanting to make a trip to New Hartford and they said I would be able to see someone here otherwise. This was some nurse practitioner lady who obviously knew nothing about me. She gives me these antibiotics and I ask her  ( knowing from previous experience of them upsetting my tummy, giving me yeast infections and sometimes just not being strong enough to kill the infection) if there is any other antibiotic she can give me and she  just said “ Amoxicillin is the ONLY antibiotic safe during pregnancy”- which is total BS. But I was sick and miserable and was not in the mood to argue with her. Whatever, I took them, they started to make me feel *slightly* better but not completely and the day after I finished them I started to feel worse- not to mention I got that nasty yeast infection, that I believe I mentioned in my previous posts.

After JUST finishing antibiotics I was not planning on running to the doctor’s right away, that was beyond ridiculous to me. I ended up having a midwife appointment mid week and asked her opinion and she told me if I don’t get better I should go see my primary care provider again. I waited a week, and on top of my ears and sinuses getting worse, I developed bronchitis. It was SO painful, and non bearable. I couldn’t breathe and sounded like a man. I had pneumonia once and it was pretty much feeling the same and I was terrified of getting pneumonia while pregnant. So we went to urgent care and I got Azithromycin. That cleared everything up in a matter of days and I was feeling great. But of course that can’t last long, can it? About 3 weeks later I get sick again! This happened last week; I developed the typical sinus and double ear infection again. I am seriously so over this already. Once again I waited it out and that didn’t help and headed to my doctor on Monday.  I made the trip to New Hartford this time because I wanted to see my doctor and wanted to ask him for advice. I mean, this whole season I have had these infections 8 times at least for sure if not more. It’s ridiculous- nonstop! This is not normal! I asked him if there were any procedures that could be done to avoid getting them so much (like sinus surgery or getting your ears cleaned with tubes or whatever.) He says to get the ears cleaned you have to have a middle ear infection? I don’t remember if it was inner or middle, but either way I don’t have middle I have inner which that procedure is not meant for. As far as a sinus procedure he thinks that may be something to consider but there are other steps to take first.
He explained to me he thinks the reason that I have both of these infections so often is because I have really bad allergies. Which, I do… I mean they haven’t been as bad as I remember them being in general, but I do have allergies. (Although being sick so much I haven’t been able to even observe my own allergies since I am sick all the time.) He says right now I am pregnant and there isn’t much to do. But he truly believes the causes of my infections are these allergies. So, what do I have to do?  Right now kill the infections with antibiotics AGAIN (which I am working on.) And to try to keep my allergies under control. Right now since I am pregnant, I can’t really do that, other than do nasal/saline rinses. After I have the baby he is recommending me to get weekly allergy shots. As awful as that sounds, this is actually a 2nd time a doctor is recommending this to me.

About 5 years ago I think, I was really sick. Kind of the way I am sick this year. My mom would never take me to the doctor. The 4-5 years we lived here (at that time)  she never once took me to see a doctor here. She finally took me to a doctor after me having a sinus and double ear infection for 8 weeks. And this was the first time I saw my pediatrician at the time. I took the opportunity and told him about EVERYTHING that was bothering me, not knowing when I will see a doctor again, lol. When I lived with my parents my allergies were the worst they have ever been. All year round. After explaining everything to him in detail he offered the shots too. Which my mom without thought said no. I think one of the big reasons (as most of her reasons were to not even take me to the doctor’s in the first place) was money. Money for the visits, money for the shots, money for the meds. Also I think the idea of getting a weekly shot just was bizarre to her.

Anyway, going back to now time. My doctor- Dr. Syed strongly recommends them to me. I mean, I think I can say I have had allergies really badly now for about 10 years. And he says because I have allergies all the time, they irritate my sinuses and clog everything up creating constant ear and sinus infections. So if we can get that under control that should help with the infection issue. He says that is the first thing to try. If for whatever reason that does not help, that is when they would refer me to an ENT specialist who would do further analysis on my sinuses and do all the needed scans and what not to see if there is something else causing the issue. And I guess in that case if they do end up finding some growth or something else that is when a sinus surgery would be something to consider. Regardless, right now I just have to rinse, after I have the baby I guess the experimentation will start. So this kind of explains why I am so sick all the time on top of my immune system just sucking to begin with.

Now, that the health part is covered let me tell you about what has been going on in the past 2 weeks in general. Well, as you all know we are moving May 27 which is in about 2.5 weeks. Wonderful. Since our house is barely packed. We have a few boxes of books but that is it! Nothing else is done. Oh boy. Also it was our Easter this past weekend. A lot of preparation was put into that preparing the Kulichi, Cheese Pascha, eggs and what not.

I have to say this year’s Easter service was probably one of the most difficult ones I had in a very long time. I feel like such a baby and like I am complaining too much… but I can’t help it… I feel very weak saying all this. I tried to sleep before the service but that was a fail. And not only because I am pregnant and heavy and can’t stand for long periods of time, but I also was SO miserably sick. People thought I was crying I think at one point because I looked so out of it. But I cheated… I was at the service for 1.5 hours, and was literally just passing out and feeling like death. I told hubby I was going to rest in the car and to get me when it was Veruyu, and closer to Communion. That gave me about 1.5 hours of rest in the cold car, lol. We came home around 5 am and passed out, and the  next day  I continued to feel like death.  The weather was so nice and I felt horrible –feeling horrible. I didn’t want my stupid sickness getting in the way of enjoying Pascha!

Anyway, I look at other pregnant girls and feel so weak. They are able to stand for long periods of time; they don’t seem to have a hard time carrying the extra weight, moving around like they don’t even have a belly- staying up all night is a breeze. And then there is me who seems to complain about everything. I really don’t like complaining, I love the fact that I am pregnant, I love the fact that there is a baby inside me growing, our little miracle that we waited for and wanted so much. And when I talk about the things that bother me, I am in no way trying to put down pregnancy or try make it seem like this horrible thing. I love it, I love feeling baby move. I love hearing the heartbeat, I love seeing ultrasounds, and knowing every day we are getting closer to meeting him. It just can be… difficult sometimes. And I don’t know if I am just weak to begin with, that it is harder for me… I don’t want people thinking I am just trying to make a big deal out of nothing and I am just trying to be a drama queen or whatever. I don’t know… just looking at other pregnant girls makes me seem not strong at all and like it really isn’t a big deal and I am just making it out to be.

I try to calm myself down by trying to tell myself that pregnancy is different for every person, and everyone handles it differently. I sometimes even feel slightly ashamed to honestly answer the question of how I am when people ask. I feel like they are just so quick to judge my answer or brush it off or look at me as if I am overreacting.  So I apologize to anyone I have annoyed with my constant complains, I guess. I really don’t enjoy being sick and miserable all the time. I wish I could be full of energy and jumpy and for everything to be smooth, to enjoy pregnancy to the fullest- that is truly what I want, I hope people know that. And as far as for my own sake and sanity, I just have to keep telling myself that other women are stronger and can just handle certain things (like pregnancy) better and I just have to do the best I can and leave it at that.

Alright enough of this sad emotional stuff… moving on to happy thoughts! BABY SHOWER! That was next on the list of things happening. Easter, Baby Shower, Moving, DUEDATE!  First one down, 3 more to go ;) 10 days left and I am probably annoying the HECK out of everyone on facebook but trying to get a guest count is getting a little bit difficult. I feel like we are just going to have to wing it, and hopefully have enough food and drinks for everyone who does show! I mean, we’ll see! But I’ve been prepping for that by hunting everyone down handing out invites, stalking everyone :) All the fun stuff! And we were trying to figure out a sitting issue but luckily our church is letting us borrow some of their long benches! So that is a big weight off our shoulders and we won’t have to worry about that. I just hope it doesn’t rain, but I think the Monastery has those tent things too in case the forecast decides to be fun that day. And hopefully they won’t mind us borrowing that too! After this weekend I am really hoping to get a better understanding of how many people are coming to then go shopping for utensils and food and drinks and stuff. Exciting stuff going on!

I still haven’t shared my maternity photos on here but that is on the to-do list as well as this week’s belly shot! Which I already posted:)  Late and behind but with so much happening I think it is understandable!

Oh, I of course I didn’t weigh myself last week, but I weighed myself yesterday and I am  167.6 pounds!

Here is the infamous chart of weight gain!

10/25/12: 5w 140 lbs
11/5/12: 7 w 135 lbs(5 lbs loss)
11/12/12: 8 w 133.8 lbs(6.2 lbs total loss, 1.2 weekly loss)
11/26/12: 10 w 133 lbs( 7 lbs total loss, .8 bi-weekly loss)
12/17/12: 13 w 131 lbs( 9 lbs total loss, 2 pounds tri-weekly loss)
01/14/13: 17 w 133.5 lbs(6.5 lbs total loss, 2.5 lbs four-week gain)
01/28/13: 19 w 135.8 lbs(4.2lbs loss, 2.3lbs bi-weekly gain, 4.8lbs total gain)
02/04/13: 20 w 136.5 lbs (3.5 lbs loss, 1.3 lbs weekly gain, 5.5 lbs total gain)
02/11/13 :21 w 137.2 lbs ( 2.8 lbs loss, .7lbs weekly gain, 6.2 lbs total gain)
02/18/13: 22 w 139.4 lbs ( .6 lbs loss, 2.2 lbs weekly gain, 8.4 lbs total gain)
02/25/13: 23 w 141.0 lbs ( 1 lbs gain pre-pregnancy weight gain, 1.6 weekly gain, 10 lbs total gain)
03/04/13 : 24 w 147 lbs ( 7 lbs gain pre-pregnancy weight gain 6 lbs weekly gain, 16 lbs total gain)
03/11/13: 25 w  147.8 lbs ( 7.8 pre-pregnancy weight gain, .8 lbs weekly gain, 16.8 lbs total gain)
03/18/13: 26 w 150 lbs (10 lbs pre-pregnancy weight gain, 2.2 lbs weekly gain, 19 lbs total gain)
03/25/13: 27 w 152.4 lbs (12.4 lbs pre-pregnancy weight gain, 2.4 lbs weekly gain, 21.4 lbs total gain)
04/01/13: 28 w 156.2 lbs (16.2 lbs pre-pregnancy weight gain, 3.8 lbs weekly gain, 25.2 lbs total gain)
04/08/13: 29 w 159.4 lbs (19.4 lbs pre-pregnancy weight gain, 3.2 lbs weekly gain, 28.4 lbs total gain)
04/15/13: 30 w 159.6 lbs (19.6 lbs pre-pregnancy weight gain, .2 lbs weekly gain, 28.6 lbs total gain)
04/22/13: 31 w 163.5 lbs ( 23.5 lbs pre-pregnancy weight gain, 3.9 lbs weekly gain, 32.5 lbs total gain)
05/05/13: 33 w 167.6 lbs ( 27.6 lbs pre-pregnancy weigh gain, 4.1 lbs bi-weekly gain,  36.6 lbs total gain)

Anyway, that sums up this post. Until next time! At this point I shall not make any promises when that will be since life is going to be hectic for the next few weeks!

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