Cheesy Poofs are Awesome

You know, it's funny - now that I've decided to go all Zen-like about my diet and just eat whatever the hell I want, whenever I want...I've been eating a lot better. Been eating more but also better quality than just Cheetos and other orange things. I still heart my Cheesy Poofs, don't get me wrong, but aside from those and chicken nuggets, I've also eaten good stuff, like yogurt and apples and chicken! I'm sure me not stressing over it anymore is also creating a better environment for Peanut, so yay me.

By the way, I quite possibly felt some movement yesterday! The books tell me I likely won't realize it when I first feel it because I'll probably think it's gas. They describe it as possibly feeling like a bubble bursting, which is what this felt like, but you know...could've just been gas. Anyway, possible yay?

Hey, another yay me - I got a $250 bonus from work today for my hard work on a very long, very huge project that wrapped up this week. Cool! And always nice to get a pat on the back like that.

Are you watching Project Runway? I adore this show and have a raging serious platonic crush on Tim Gunn and his giant vocabulary even though I don't have much interest in fashion. I've been reading the recaps at the Advocate and highly recommend them.

All hail the nugget

Some of you will be pleased to know that I have officially accepted the chicken nugget as a legitimate food source. Did you know Wendy's serves an excellent chicken nugget? And I find their honey mustard sauce delightful. Best of all, peanut likes them too.

In other news, as seen on cleolinda : What do Christian Bale and Kermit the Frog have in common? Quite a lot, it turns out.

Dinner of Champions!

Tonight's Dinner of Champions: Pumpkin seeds and a mini Babybel. I did manage to eat three chicken nuggets from McD's earlier, which was quite tasty. I was really hoping not to eat a bunch of crap, but at this point, I'm happy to be eating at all.

Urg. *Achoo! sniffle.* Plague time! Hooray!

Hooray, I seem to have picked up some sort of bug. Sniffling, sneezing, aching, stuffy head, fever...yeah, everything but the cough. Bleargh, I feel awful.

I'm going to have to call my OB, I think, just to find out what medicine it's okay to take. Right now all I know is Tylenol is ok.

My books tell me that it's not unusual to get sick when you're pregnant because your immune system is supressed (so as not to reject the baby.) Plus, the rampant hormones running around my body are making all of my mucous membranes get soft and such, which means it's also common for pregnant women to have the sniffling, sneezing thing going on in perpetuity. Sigh.

In other news, work is making me cranky today. Or maybe I'm already cranky due to plague and therefore it's much easier for people at work to piss me off. Either way...grr. This woman sent me something to review and approve on Friday afternoon. She is already calling and IM'ing me asking if we're done yet. No, lady, we're not done, seeing as everyone, including yourself, took off early on Friday afternoon and so nobody even looked at it until sometime today. Give us five minutes, wouldja?

ETA: Doc says Tylenol for the aches and Claritin for the sniffles. And I'm recommending a nap. We'll give that a try and see how I feel later.

Mmm, orange.

Week 15

Feeling pretty good these days. Still tired - had our Fantasy Football draft today and then went to H3's for family BBQ and to see her newly-remodeled kitchen and great room. It's absolutely beautiful and I'm so jealous of her giant kitchen! We left her house at 7 and I was barely able to stay awake in the car on the way home. Took a nice little nap the minute I hit my comfy chair and am awake now for the next few minutes before I actually get into bed and sleep for at least the next 8 hours. Had a great dinner at H3's - good food and I was actually able to eat a fairly good sized meal (for me, anyway). Tomorrow's weigh day, so we'll see if I've managed to gain any weight this week.

I have determined that Peanut must really have a thing for synthetic cheese flavor or possibly FD&C Yellow No.5 because even when I couldn't eat anything, Peanut still wanted Doritos. Now we seemed to have switched to Cheetos, although Goldfish are also popular as is anything colored orange, except for actual oranges. The excellent thing about being pregnant is that while we're grocery shopping I can throw crap into the cart and assuage my self-inflicted guilt by saying to Mr. F, "the baby wants Double Stuff Oreos!" Unfortunately, this is having a bad effect on Mr. F because inevitably I end up eating three of whatever it is and he eats...more than that.

I've been telling Steve about the weird things Peanut wants me to eat, like ice cream and Cheetos and such, and today he said, "I'm tellin' ya, I like this kid already!" Hee. He is going to be the best Uncle ever.

Got the results of our first-trimester screening test in the mail this week. All good news, everything within normal limits, so that's great. You get those tests done and then you basically have a low-level worry in the back of your mind for the next ten days until you get the report in the mail. I'm so glad it all came back normal so we don't have to do any more. Although, of course, due to my ADVANCED MATERNAL AGE, they recommend further screening. But even before we got the results, Mr. F and I decided not to do any further testing regardless because it's riskier than just a blood test and ultrasound.

This week Peanut is as big as a navel orange and weighs a little more than two ounces. Apparently, baby is moving around like crazy this week but because he's so light, I still can't feel it. Books say that should start happening about week 19 but I wish I could feel it now! Right now the only indication I have of actually being pregnant is feeling bloated all the time. So my pants are starting to get a little tight but my belly's still soft and so I mostly just feel like I'm getting fat. Which, logically, I know isn't happening because the scale isn't moving. Sigh. Next appointment is 9/10, although I don't think I'm having an ultrasound then. Maybe we'll hear the heartbeat again.

Also scheduled for an "EGD consultation" on 9/8 as follow up to the bellyache situation. Not really sure what all that entails - I'm assuming we're just going to talk about it as opposed to doing the actual procedure at that time. Which means I have to wait longer to see if they think anything's wrong when I'd really like to come to some sort of conclusion. Arrgh, voodoo.

Sweet! Obama

My cousin Dan got to meet Barack Obama this morning! Unfortunately, even though he looks like a slavering fangirl in the picture, he is still a Republican. *shakes head sadly*

Hm. Well, no news is...no news.

Finally heard back from my doctor regarding Monday's gall bladder ultrasound. Basically, they can't see anything remarkable or any reason for me to be having pain. So, on the one hand, no gall stones and I don't need my gall bladder out...but on the other hand, what the hell? It's not like I'm making this shit up. I would like to find out WHY this has been going on. I'm scheduled for an endoscopy around Sep 8, and my doctor said he wants to wait until after that to decide on next steps. Well, great. That's entirely unhelpful to me right now. Sigh.

At least I've been able to eat, although I'm not really eating a lot - still haven't managed three protein drinks in one day yet. But I have gained back a pound of the six I lost, which means my total weight gain so far for the pregnancy is -5. Meh. I'm working on it.

As for Peanut, we've just started week 14 and he's about the size of my clenched fist and might possibly even be growing hair. My skin is clearing up, my boobs hurt much less and I'm less tired. Still peeing a lot, though.

Say cheese! Or not.

Got to hear Peanut's heartbeat at this week's 3-month appointment - 151 beats per minute. Was very exciting and of course made me all teary eyed because I am a giant sap. Also got an ultrasound, although we didn't get very good pictures. They were trying to get some measurements and the girl kept pressing harder and harder with the thingy - I swear eventually Peanut got fed up with it, because at one point you could actually see him get all huffy and flounce over onto his side, turning his back to us. Aww, my little angel is camera shy! That must come from the Fantastic side of the family because you know it doesn't come from mine! Next ultrasound's at 20 weeks.

Sadly, Dr. Murahata told us she won't be doing deliveries after the end of this year, so I decided to change over to the practice she shares an office with - Consultants in OBGYN, where my old OBGYN used to be until she moved to Parker. They have a number of doctors that I'll rotate through, hopefully getting to know each of them so I'll be comfortable with whoever does my delivery. I'd have preferred Dr. M but I'm sure I'll be in good hands.

Saw my surgeon, Dr. Snyder, this week also. He and Dr. M both say the baby's fine and my trip to the ER is a totally separate issue. I'm scheduled for a gallbladder ultrasound on Monday, which will hopefully give us some conclusive answers. Plus, judging by the quickie look they took at my gallbladder in the ER, I'll also get to see Peanut. Apparently, he's got the condo next door.

Bellyache aside, I'm feeling pretty good - able to eat again, sort of, not as tired and best of all, I think my skin really is clearing up. HOORAY. However, the whole bellyache thing has blown the food plan entirely out of the water, so I guess I need to try and get back on track. I've lost 6 pounds since Sunday - not a very good start on gaining 15! Now I have to gain 20.

One of my books tells me Peanut is about the size of a lime this week, the other says he's the size of a plum. I don't eat either of those things so now I have no concept of the size. Both books affirm that all systems and such are formed and for the next 28 weeks, Peanut'll be concentrating on getting bigger and putting the organs to work.

More Adventures in Medicine

Hoo boy. Ugh, had me another visit to the ER this weekend. Everything was fine, I was minding my own business, doing nothing out of the ordinary, when whammo! Was awoken about 6 a.m. Sunday morning with awful, horrible pain in my belly, just like what happened to me at the end of Februray.

Awful, awful stabbing pain in my front going all the way through to my back, and I couldn't get comfortable no matter what I did - lay down, sit, stand, nothing helped. I thought maybe it was dehydration like last time so I tried to drink some water, but just like last time, even a sip of water gave me a stabbing pain the second it hit my stomach. I was also feeling really bloated and gassy but nothing was happening - no movement, couldn't even force a burp or anything. The pain feels like the worst gas pain you've ever had. Like a constant dull ache with periods of sharp stabbing pain, especially with any food or drink.

I tried to get on with my life and do stuff but it was hurting too much and I sent Mr. F off to his mother's for a BBQ without me. By about 4 I'd had enough and called him to come home and take me to the ER. I was hoping they'd get an IV in me and that would fix me right up.

They were much quicker getting me back this time, but maybe that's because it was Sun vs. Fri night and because I couldn't stand up straight and had Mr. F wheel me in. They got an IV in and gave me some pain killer - fentanyl again - which helped a lot but didn't make the pain go away.

They did some tests and stuff but basically couldn't figure out what was wrong. They sent me home after 4 hours with an Rx for Vicodin and another for Protonix, which I guess treats heartburn, acid reflux, etc. Even with the vicodin that night, I had a terrible time sleeping. The only thing that helped was to sit up cross-legged, hunched over a pillow in my lap with a heating pad on my back. Mr. F helped a lot by rubbing my back and also by pounding on my back - almost burping me like a baby. That helps for short periods of time but isn't lasting.

As before, it just got worse and made me nauseous. Ate nothing at all on Sunday and had a few sips of water. Monday was much the same - felt generally crappy what with both my stomach and back hurting and not having gotten much sleep. Didn't eat or drink anything all day Monday either, although Mr. F convinced me to eat two crackers on Monday night. It hurt but it did help the nausea. Had a lot of Vicodin and Gas-X and what sips of water I could manage. I called my surgeon on Monday but the soonest they could see me was this morning.

Slept a little better Monday night and things felt less bad on Tuesday. I managed to drink a whole Gatorade and some more water and two more crackers. Took less Vicodin but more Gas-X. The pain was still there but not as bad. Stil felt really bloated and gassy, though, and it's hard to explain, but my stomach feels unsupported. I actually put on my swimsuit and slept in that Monday night and Tuesday night. Somehow the slight compression made things hurt less. Maybe I ought to look into some sit ups.

Tried to have some chicken soup on Tuesday but it was an unmitigated disaster that caused hours of pain. Just for spite, later I had a couple oz. of milk and an oatmeal cookie, which, surprisingly, didn't bother me at all.

Finally saw the surgeon this morning. I've lost about 6 pounds since I saw him last week. I know most of that's water weight which is very, very bad. He's not sure what's going on either, especially since it's been four days and hasn't gone away. I'm going to have an ultrasound to look at my gall bladder and also an endoscope to check for ulcers or anything else out of the ordinary. And he told me to keep taking the Protonix and gave me something else specifically for ulcers which he wants me to start taking right away, just in case it is an ulcer.

I have been able to drink quite a bit of water today without too much pain and am now working on a protein drink since I've still had basically no nutrition since Sunday. Still having the pain but it's about a fourth what it was on Sunday. I hope we can figure out what's going on because I seriously don't want this to become a habit. I wish I could figure out if I did something wrong - did I eat something I shouldn't or eat too fast or not get enough water? I don't know and would dearly love to be able to correct my diet if possible so I can avoid ever having to do this again.

From the Conversations with Mr. Fantastic Files...

Today Mr. Fantastic was telling me about a weird Olympic event he saw last night that he was unfamiliar with.

Mr. F: So, it's basically like a horse...walking around in a rectangle.
Me: Oh! You mean dressage.
Mr. F: I can't believe you know that. *facepalm*

And I didn't know, but apparently he thought it was hilariously geeky of me to know immediately what he was talking about and also actually know the name of the sport. So tonight, we were hanging out with my brother and I overhear Mr. F starting to tell this story, making fun of what an enormous geek I am.

Mr. F: *mockingly* So, I'm telling her that it's bascially like a horse just walking around a rectangle--
Steve: Oh! You mean dressage.
Mr. F: ... *headdesk*

LOL! Poor Mr. F, surrounded by geeks.