Week 24

Week 24

How far along? 24 weeks (6 months pregnant!!)

How are you feeling? My ankles and calves are killing me. We did some heavy duty cleaning yesterday (we donated a TON of clothes to Goodwill and basically an entire house of furniture to a church). I think walking on the hardwood all day really put a strain on my legs. Taking it super easy today.

Baby is the size of a(n): Ear of corn. He is just under a foot long and a little over a pound.

Cravings: Nothing 

Aversions: Smells.

Testing/appts this week? I have a normal Ob appointment either this week or next week. I don't remember at this very second. My pregnancy brain has gotten pretty bad. Haha!

Milestones: 24 weeks is known as Viability Week. This means, starting this week, if God forbid something were to happen and I needed to deliver early, the hospital would take the baby to the NICU. Before 24 weeks, chances of survival for a fetus is about 17%. Once you reach 24 weeks, it rises to 40%. Once you reach 27 weeks, it rises to 90%. This is an important milestone to reach in a pregnancy, especially high-risk. Our baby boy is doing so well!

Levels came back

My Lamotrigine trough levels came back today. They came in at 3.4. Gary said that Dr. L was happy with that number and that she didn't see a reason to make any changes again to that dosage.

That's definitely a relief.

I also asked about the possibility of breastfeeding while taking my medication. It's a topic on my mind since we are going to our birthing class and that's a big topic that is discussed (the instructor actually emailed me about it since it said on my intro paper that we weren't planning to breastfeed because of my medication. We will discuss that discussion later though - possibly).

Dr. L said that even though the medication is secreted in breast milk, she believes that me breastfeeding will be alright. I even had her double check and she said she found an article in American Epilepsy Guidelines for pregnancy and breastfeeding that says that enough isn't secreted in breast milk for it to be dangerous to the baby.

The plan is, if I want to breastfeed, to keep my folic acid high while nursing. After nursing is over, I probably will be brought back down to 1mg. Or maybe not, depending on what they move my medication levels too after birth.

I don't think (well, I know) I wouldn't exclusively breastfeed. I would keep it to a couple feedings a day and the rest would be formula. It would be just enough to give baby boy the nutrients he needs for a few months before switching to solely formula and then introducing solids. 

I'm still unsure how I feel about this. We will talk about and decide before he gets here, but it is nice to know that it is an option for us.

Swollen Ankles

Swollen ankles comes with the territory of pregnancy. However, I never realized how consistent or painful it would be.

I elevate my feet constantly. I've had Dave rub my ankles. I think I'm going to resort to ice packs tonight. Even with all the elevation, they are still swollen and good lord, they hurt.

Now, my feet aren't swollen enough for me to worry about anything greater happening, but it is just enough that I notice it.

I keep repeating that I know my pain is temporary and at the end of all of this, I get a beautiful baby boy. It is so worth it. It's just hard.

I'll quit my whining now. I have to get ready to go to work.

Birthing Class Tonight!

Dave and I are starting our birthing class tonight. I'm a little nervous. It feels so early to be doing this but it will be 6 months pregnant on Sunday. (How on earth did that happen?)

It's through the hospital where I will be delivering. I'm glad we are doing it. It will definitely help us in the long and hopefully improve my labor when the time comes. We also plan on registering for the infant CPR class but that doesn't start until November.

This class will cover everything from breathing techniques during labor to infant care. 

Il update about how it goes. I can't believe we are already close enough to be doing this.

Week 23

Week 23

How far along? 23 weeks

How are you feeling? Sleepy. I need more coffee.

Baby is the size of a(n): Large mango! He's 11 inches tall and a little over a pound. Big boy!

Cravings: Nothing 

Aversions: Eh, not much.

Testing/appts this week? Got my blood drawn for my Lamictal level today. Hopefully, I'll hear the results of that in a couple of days. I feel much better now that they lowered the dose. 

Milestones: I can't think of any right now.

Post-Weeklong Migraine

Okay, I think I'm finally back on my feet enough to discuss the last week. 

Starting on Saturday night, I was getting a lot of auras and searing pain coarsing through my head. It felt like someone was nailing a spike from the top of my head through to my neck. It truly was crippling.

My doctor prescribed me Fioricet and I took that to try and ease the pain since Tylenol wasn't even touching the pain. The Fioricet ended up only taking the edge off and I felt trapped. I was getting absolutely no relief. I actually slept through most of Sunday in order to try and catch up on sleep, thinking that could be the culprit.

Even with the extra sleep, I was finding that nothing worked. I ended up taking Monday off from work (which I was actually pretty upset about). I never take off unexpectedly from work unless it is an emergency, but I couldn't even see to drive. 

After numerous phone falls to my neurologist, Ob and MFM, they've decided that moving forward throughout my pregnancy, they want me to take Demerol for headaches like these since it more than likely will happen again as baby boy gets bigger. It is safe for baby and I will be taking an extremely small dose (it is some powerful stuff).

Here's to feeling better!

Week 22

Week 22

How far along? 22 weeks

How are you feeling? Miserable. I spoke way too soon about the headaches. Since late last night I've been battling a pretty severe headache accompanied by nausea. This is different from my other migraines though cause I'm not blacking out. But, I feel terrible.

Baby is the size of a(n): Spaghetti squash

Cravings: Nothing 

Aversions: Right now, everything.

Testing/appts this week? Just need to get my blood drawn for my Lamictal trough levels.

Milestones: My belly button is currently fighting for its life.