10/18/10: What's next

Well, I didn't get to put my Wisconsin trip together into a blog.  I know that I have to, though, there are some pictures I absolutely must share.  So the goal is to get those pictures uploaded this week and I'll try to make it quick.

Not much going on with me, I'm afraid.  I wound up going home "sick" last Thurs because I was dizzier than all get out and I was literally scared "they" would tell me to do some work, which of course, I'd screw up.  I couldn't believe the dizziness.

Friday was a different ballgame.  I woke up feeling as fine as fine could be.  Like finer than fine.  So I bounced out of bed and through my morning routine and off to work.  And I sat at my desk happily working.  And then I sneezed.  Ooh.  Ouch.  Sharp pain.  But it subsided as quickly as it happened.  About five minutes later I had to go tell my boss something.  Went over, talk talk talk.  Felt fine.  But noticed a sensation I shouldn't be feeling...something I should be feeling if I was on my (.) but only then.

So I went to the bathroom and there's a little blood in my panties.  Wipe.  There's a clot.  Wipe again.  Nothing.

Sorry for being so graphic.

So, back to my desk, grab a liner, back to the bathroom, finish, and straight to a "quiet room" so I can talk to my hubby 'cause now I'm scared!

Luckily, he answers his phone.  He hears the story and gets online to see what he can see.  Goes to APA - American Pregnancy Association.  They say it's very common, actually.

Mind you, there's absolutely no cramping, just that strange thing that happened when I sneezed.  And it's well beyond what might be implantation bleeding.  At this point, I'm over two weeks "late" and decidual bleeding and/or implantation bleeding would have occurred before or right at my expected start date.  I'm seven weeks along at this point so bleeding at all seems like it shouldn't be happening.

He goes to the next website, another reputable association and they say, it's very common but call your doctor anyway.

So my hubby conferences in my doctor's office.  They take notes from me and tell me a nurse will call me back shortly.

An hour later, a nurse calls.  She says, well, if it's a miscarriage, there's nothing we can do.  But since there's no cramping, it's probably ok.  She pulls up my bloodwork results that finally have come in and says, your progesterone is low, we'll probably want to supplemant that.  I'll talk to our on call doctor and call you back.

She calls back like five minutes later and says it's all ok, start taking this progesterone, we just called in a prescription, and take it easy this weekend.

I was a bit freaked out still and so decided to call it a day mid-afternoon.  Hubby and I went straight to the drugstore for the prescription and I took it right then and there (well, after I got home and could drink something to swallow it) instead of waiting until bedtime.  They told me to take it at bedtime because it can make you nauseated and if you're sleeping you are less likely to be bothered.  Most things that work like that for others give me heart burn and are better off, for me, to be taken during the day, with lunch.  Like my prenatal vitamins.

(Still trying them all and they have all been fine, so far.  The one I'm "trying" right now I like the best but I have two more to try.)

And I wound up taking it at lunch time with my prenatal all weekend and it worked out fine.  If I do start to get nauseated, I'll change it.

But I can say, before those progesterone supplements I was feeling twinges and twangs all over the place (in the lower abdomen where I didn't want anything like that at all!).  And by Saturday afternoon, I was twinge and twang free.

I will be curious if this means I get/have to see my doctor more.  I still haven't met him and don't know when I will.  The nurse I was talking to on Friday said she'd make sure my doc sees me chart and results today and that his nurse would be calling me to schedule the next appt.  I hope they do.  I don't like not knowing when I'll get seen again.

So that's my story.

It led to a lot of nothing this weekend.  Saturday I went across the street to a neighbors house and visited with her for hours and talked to her kids whenever they felt like they had something to share.  It was a pretty wonderful morning!  Saturday afternoon was lazy followed by making one of my favorite things for dinner - which is predominantly a crockpot thing so didn't require much of activity on my part until the final 30 minutes.  I could tell you what it is but I'm sure you've never heard of it and it's a blog all in itself, anyway.

Sunday, fairly lazy watching football.

I seem to have this new, ummm, ability to just wake up at 7am and be awake.  Both Saturday and Sunday I was up by 7:30 because to stay in bed begging for more sleep (which wasn't really true cause I wasn't tired at all) would have just been bothering my hubby which would have meant he couldn't sleep in, either.  So I just got up and worked on the DVR.

I don't know that this is an ability I want.  Cause it also means by 10 or 11pm, I'm beat. 

Sunday evening, after a visiting friend left, I crawled into bed and my hubby brought me dinner in bed and we worked on the DVR together.  It was a fantastic evening!

The only thing I do want to talk about today nutrition wise, and health wise, is this notion of picking up 300 calories a day to help the baby.

I can't do it.  Yes, I could eat more.  The band will let me.  But my body will not.  My body says "You've had enough, stop eating".  I say, "But I need 300 more calories and this is a good place to get it".  My body says "Too bad".  It's the weirdest thing.  It's this internal struggle that went on all week last week.

Well.  I have an interesting solution.

You see, I'm also supposed to be getting 1200 to 1500mg of calcium a day.  Through my normal intake and my preferred eating choices, I am averaging 600-900mg a day.  Still low for a non-pregnant woman but something that is workable.  So.  I have learned that 8oz of 1% milk is 100 calories and 350mg of calcium, give or take a bit.  It's also 8g of protein and 2g of fat.  Carbs are there but not anything I care about.  Something like 13g of carbs.

Well.  That means 3-8oz glasses of milk would be 300 calories...and 950mg of calcium.  It would also be an additional 24g of protein and the fat is a filling thing which helps with feeling satisfied.

I would love to drink non-fat but hubby...best he'll do is 1%.  His personal choice would be 2% so 1% is a reasonable compromise.  And I don't hate fat, anyway.  That little bit of fat sure does add a bit more flavor!

But those 3-8oz glasses of milk give me the calories, a good dose of protein, the calcium I need, and then some, and I can do it.  I can eat as I have been for awhile now, since being banded, and I can drink this milk.

So we are investing in stock in milk.  I learned this morning that the gallon we bought on Saturday is going to be gone by tomorrow.  WHA?

Cause yeah, my increase in milk...is leading to an increase in my hubby's milk.

Now the question is, if I get used to this and love me my milk...how I will I stop this post-pregnancy?  Yeah, I'll still need it while breastfeeding...but conceivably...this 300 calories a day shouldn't last forever....

I love me the milk, though.  Couple that with the yogurt in the smoothie...the yogurt I eat for midafternoon snack, and the yogurt in my chicken salad for lunch, and the cheese I love to add to dinner...I think I am getting my calcium!

That's about all I got.  I hope you are having a fantastic Monday and I hope you have a fantastic week!