Weeks 10 & 11

Please excuse the lack of updates the last couple weeks. Honestly, I have not been feeling very good for a couple of reasons, which I'll get to in a minute, and blogging has not been high on my list of priorities.  Baby S is still growing and developing and things continue to look good.  We had our final appointment with our infertility specialist on Wednesday this past week and had an ultrasound.  Baby has grown so much and actually looks like a little human at this point instead of just a blob. It was very active during the ultrasound, moving and squirming all around.  It is fully developed with arms, legs, fingers, and toes. It was truly an amazing and beautiful site to see.

So as I mentioned, the last couple weeks have been kinda tough.  Growing a human is no joke I tell ya.  It definitely takes a major toll on your body.  The first 6 weeks or so after I found out I was in fact pregnant, I did not really have much morning sickness.  There were definitely certain foods and smells that made me think "yuck, I do not want that..." But I really only had some minor nausea a couple times and didn't ever actually get sick.  I thought I was going to be one of the fortunate women who wasn't going to suffer from morning sickness.  Well, in week nine I started getting more nauseated more often and then in week 10, I started throwing up.  People keep telling me that is gonna get better soon since I am almost to my second trimester but I'm not completely convinced.  I think there's a little more going on than just hormones causing me to be sick.  A few days after I had my gallbladder removed in December of 2012, I had to be readmitted to the hospital because my digestive system had stopped moving and digesting food properly.  After several days in the hospital and a lot of testing, and a specialized test in January, I was diagnosed with something called gastroparesis as well as reflux. Gastroparesis is a condition where your stomach is basically really slow in digesting food and moving it on to your intestines.  This causes nausea, vomiting, and a feeling of fullness almost all the time.  My gastroparesis was luckily not severe and while I did take
some medication for a few months, I was able to come off the medication and manage mine fairly well with diet changes.   Your body changes so much in pregnancy, even in early pregnancy.  Hormones slow digestion and the growing of the uterus and the baby pushes up on the stomach.
I think this explains why the past couple weeks my morning sickness has gotten worse.  I have my first appointment on Wednesday with the high-risk OB so I plan on talking to him about it and seeing if I should go back to my gastroenterologist or back on medication. Fortunately, the medication for gastroparesis is safe for me to take in pregnancy.

The other issue I've been dealing with the last few weeks is pain. I mentioned a couple weeks ago that I was going to switch my pain medication from a category C to a category B. I saw my pain doctor and she was okay with the idea of switching. I thought I could start the new medication on the equivalent dose of what I was previously on, but the clinic doesn't often prescribe the medication and when they do, they have a limit on the amounts and dosage they will give. So while the dose that I was given was the most she could prescribe for this medication, it is about 1/3 the dosage of what I am used to on my other medication.  When I have done weans before, we usually only cut my dose by about 25% each time so this was definitely the biggest wean I have ever attempted.  Well, unfortunately my body has not been responding very well and I have been having a lot of pain and I have had to take my other medication many times because the new one just didn't touch my pain.  This has been really discouraging mentally and physically.  Plus, being in a lot of pain only makes my nausea worse and getting sick makes my neck pain worse so it's kinda been a viscous cycle.  I am hoping and praying that over time my body can adjust to the new medication but I also have to be good to myself and my body and maintain my quality of life.  The good news is that really with the doses of either medication and the amount I take on average, my pain doctor feels really good about the baby having a positive outcome and the possibility that the baby could come out healthy and not need to spend much, if any, time in the NICU.

One more bit of good news...no more progesterone shots! I am so, so, SO glad to be done with these. Of course, I would go through it all over again for our little peanut but man, was my butt sore!  I got to wean off slowly last week and had my level checked when we went in on Wednesday and my level was still nice and high so that's great news. It means that the placenta has take over and is producing enough hormones to keep this pregnancy going for another 6-7 months! Again, we have our first OB appointment on Wednesday this week so we will get another beautiful picture of baby Slatery and probably do a lot of blood work and other tests so please be praying that everything goes well.  I'll try to get back in the habit of posting at least once a week.  Thanks for reading! Hope everyone has a great week!

Till next time..