the name game October 10, 2009

So things have progressed quite well so far–our baby has grown a lot and we had a fun 12 week scan last week.  She was wiggling around and had the hiccups during part of the scan, and she kept snuggling down into part of my uterus and falling back asleep.  The doctor kept wiggling my belly with the ultrasound tool to get her to wake up and move around. 

After the ultrasound, they took my blood to assess risk of Downs and Trisomy 13 and 18 (better than 1:10,000 for all three based on the results), and they offered a free gender test using the blood they’d already taken.  We eagerly agreed–every dream I’ve had about the baby it had been a girl–and we couldn’t wait to find out.

At my appointment with my midwife on Tuesday, she told me the results–according to the blood test, we’re having a little girl!  We have a confirmatory ultrasound at the end of October (after which I’ll start buying all kinds of girly items for her), but apparently this test is extremely accurate, so hopefully it will match.

We’ve been debating girls’ names off and on the past few days and came down to the following list of ten: Lorelai, Claire, Eliza, Audrey, Cecilia , Adeline, Alyssa, Natalie, Margaret (nn Maggie) and Lucille (nn Lucy).  Once we had the list of ten, we each chose our top five independently and compared them–we had three in common: Lorelai, Adeline, and Lucille.  My husband really likes Adeline, and I think it’s adorable too, so I think that might just be her name.  We’re going to call her Addie. 

Meanwhile, in other important news, I’m completely in love with this bedding set and think we’re going to paint her room a pale lavender.  My mom was here this week and wanted to buy us the crib, so we ended up with this one that has just a colorless shiny seal over the wood–it’s really pretty in person–so that it’s not too girly.  Plus, my mom pointed out that we’ll be able to easily use it for our second kiddo down the road, whether it’s a boy or girl (second kid! yikes!).

I’m still sick although not as bad–at 13 weeks now, I’m hoping that it ends really soon.  My doctor accidently found a problem with my thyroid–it seemed like I had hyperthyroid, but when I went to the endocrinilogist yesterday he said the results could be caused by pregnancy, but he found a large cyst on my thyroid that needs to be monitored.  He said based on the size that it could have been there since I was 10, so I’m grateful for little Addie for helping them to find that problem.

The sweetest sound in the world September 4, 2009

Even though we met with a midwife practice last week, we went ahead to see my normal ob/gyn at the appointment that I’ve had scheduled since I found out I was pregnant.  The appointment was mainly a disaster–the doctor rushed us out of there, was blase about my vomiting even though it was happening there in the office after taking medicine, and freaked us out by ordering an ultrasound STAT because of some pain I had in the lower right side.  I had a list of questions to ask, including what would happen if I went into labor and she wasn’t available (private practice), but we weren’t able to ask any.

So we went straight over to the attached hospital to get the ultrasound, and they got us in really quickly.  Our technician was this very stern older Eastern European woman.  She started with the belly ultrasound since my husband was only allowed in the room for that one.  She pressed it around my belly for a while, then I hear her say,

“I can’t see anything.  Mother is empty.” 

I start freaking out, crying on the bed, my husband can’t see my reaction but is worried and stressed on the other side of the little room, and I asked why she couldn’t see anything.  Well, it turns out she meant that my bladder was empty and I needed to have it full for this scan.  Sheesh!

She kicked out my husband and gave me a vaginal ultrasound (I’ve heard it referred to as the ‘dildo cam’). After a couple minutes of her silently working, I was panicking and asked in a teary voice, “Is its heart beating?”  She glanced at me, softened up a little, and said, “Of course its heart it beating!”  She turned on the volume so I could hear the heartbeat.  I think that was one of the best moments of my life.  She measured my baby (“embryo” she insisted loudly), and told me that it was measuring perfectly on target and that its heartbeat was perfect as well, around 150 beats per minute (their hearts beat so fast)!  My gestational sack and the beginnings of my placenta also looked perfect to her.  Since she was pretty gruff, I’m going to go ahead and trust her. 

After forcing down 40 ounces of water, we tried the first scan again so my husband could be there, and he got to hear the heartbeat as well.  It wasn’t quite as clear, but it was still amazing.  We got a picture of the baby (the word embryo doesn’t really do it justice, even if it’s scientifically correct), and I’m keeping it by my nightstand to gaze at. 

Greatest Husband Ever August 30, 2009

My husband is being really ridiculously helpful and nice during this pregnancy.  I’ve had zero energy or desire to clean, do laundry, and just the idea of grocery shopping or cooking makes me nauseated.  He’s taken over basically 100% of the chores and insists that I should be taking naps and relaxing while he’s doing all the work.  He runs to the grocery store or pharmacy as soon as I need something, and he never seems annoyed or impatient with my ever-changing needs.  On Friday morning he asked me what special breakfast he could get me–he wanted to surprise me, but with the way my stomach has been, he knew he couldn’t.  He also sends the sweetest, most encouraging emails while I’m at work and struggling with the vomiting and nausea.

‘morning’ sickness August 23, 2009

Well, I’m not longer as anxious about the pregnancy/health of the baby since the side effects have kicked in to full force.  I spent Thursday and Friday at work throwing up constantly the whole day.  The whole ‘morning sickness’ is a crock.  My doctor ended up calling in a prescription of Zofran for me, a drug that’s targetted to people who have nausea after chemo/surgery but that also seems to be used a lot for nausea and vomiting while pregnant.

I’m posting the below as a reference for myself and anyone suffering from nausea/vomiting while pregnant–I suggest trying everything and moving on as certain things don’t work (and retrying other things at different times of the day, etc). 

Here are all the home remedies that I’ve tried over the last week since I started vomiting:

-drinking diluted sour lemonade (I really like this, but it didn’t stop the vomitting)

-crackers in bed fifteen to twenty minutes before waking up (didn’t help at all)

-ginger candies/crystalized ginger/ginger tea–worked if I was feeling mildly nauseous for a time but didn’t stop the nausea/vomitting after a while

-eating a small amount of carbs after peeing around 4:30, then going back to bed, eating some more carbs after waking, then eating breakfast.  I never got to breakfast because I was vomiting so much after the second intake of carbs.

-cranberry juice–no difference either way

-Coke with lots of ice–this one actually seems to make a difference, and I felt much less nauseous after drinking it.

-extra vitamin B6 (though not with Unisom)–threw it up within half an hour

-Zofran disolvable pills–threw up several times within an hour of taking it

-Tums–for some reason, even though I don’t have heartburn, these are working.  I’ve only thrown up twice today while taking them, and they seem to help the nausea.  Yay!

 

PS: It isn’t that I’m not interested in school anymore–I really like my students this year–but I’m more interested in this pregnancy since it’s new and exciting, plus I like blogging about it to read in the future.

Five weeks and anxious August 17, 2009

So, as you’ve probably figured out from the previous post, I’m pregnant.  I’m only five weeks now–I found out really early, at 3 weeks and 4 days through a digital test and then had to go to work right away!  I was smiling the whole time at my meeting, which may have made some of my friends suspicious.

Anyway, as a naturally anxious person, I’m starting to feel really anxious about this pregnancy.  At first I was really happy and excited, but now I’m stressed out.  I’m not so worried about taking care of the baby–due April 17–but more worried that somehow I’m going to mess up my baby and will have a miscarriage.  I tossed and turned last night and couldn’t fall asleep until 4am (this is after passing out every night around nine!) because of my anxiety.  I figured that if I listed my fears, they wouldn’t seem to logical and hopefully won’t keep me up in the wee small hours of the morning.

1) I worry that my baby will have a spinal problem.  I’ve been taking my prenatals after dinner, in the evening, and I’m worried that they don’t last long enough in my system.  Worried enough that I bought an additional bottle of folic acid this morning at the grocery store to take with breakfast.  I guess I don’t understand how vitamins work–if folic acid is water soluble and I’ll pee out any excess, how do I know that I’m not peeing it out before it’s needed?  I am going to the bathroom pretty constantly now.  I’m not worried about taking too much since the March of Dimes states, “Folic acid has no known toxic level. If you ate a bowl of fully fortified cereal (400 micrograms), took a folic acid supplement (400 micrograms), and ate fortified foods and foods rich in folate, you would not get too much folic acid.”  So that’s one less worry. 

2) I worry that when we go to our appointment at 7 weeks 1 day that we won’t hear a heartbeat and that we’ll find out that I’ve had a missed miscarriage (when the embryo dies and there are no symptoms). 

3) I worry that if the baby doesn’t die/have complications early, that it will during birth.  I think this just started because my sister-in-law had to have an emergency C-section yesterday due to the baby’s heart rate being too fast.  The baby was born with a fever and is in ICU right now.  I’m so worried about her. 

4) I’m worried that I’m pregnant with twins.  I don’t know why I’m worried about that–my husband says it would be fun–but it’s in the back of my mind. 

I guess most of these are things that I don’t have control over, which is what is so difficult.

I’m an aunt! August 15, 2009

My brother and sister-in-law’s baby was born around noon through an emergency C-section.  The baby girl was due today, but she wasn’t dropping enough and her heartrate was too fast.  She was born with a fever and so is in ICU for the next three days or so.  I hope that she’ll be okay–we already love her so much.

First week–done August 15, 2009

This week has flown by–we had sessions all week targetted towards culture and helping students in ways that aren’t necessarily academic (teambuilding, stress management, why we’re here, etc).  I think it was really effective and the kids seemed to appreciate it overall.

We have a huge improvement at the school now that there’s a middle school and high school principal.  The high school principal is incredible and has been doing a fantastic job.  He used to take on too much and while he worked incredibly hard, he wasn’t always effective as his job because of everything he was doing.  Now that he’s the HS principal and is only teaching one class, he seems so much more focused and is really able to shine in this role.  It’s been a huge relief for all of the high school teachers to have someone actually focused on the high school who understands it inside and out, as opposed to years prior.

My brother and his wife are expecting their first baby–the due date is tomorrow!  My husband is going to Austin for his brother’s birthday this weekend, and I’m thinking about skipping it since the baby might be born this weekend.  I’m also so tired and nauseous and, well, you get the idea.

I’m feeling really good about this school year and very prepared.  I’m ready to have the kids in class next week and get to know them better–this class seems like a great bunch.

School year 2009-2010! August 8, 2009

Yikes, I can barely belive it, but school has started back up for the year.  We’ve had in-service all week, have it again next week on Monday and Tuesday, then the kiddos are back starting Wednesday!  I found out today that my classroom is moving–it will be much better for fitting all my kids.  My AP World class will be around 30 kids and, as we learned last year (with 32), they just don’t fit in the room.  I’m really tired but hope to get some help with the moving.

indian cashew chicken and biking April 27, 2009

I’ve decided to reduce the number of calories I should be eating in SparkPeople because I’m just not doing the amount of exercise that I say I am. I signed up for the gym in March and went twice, but it’s been crazy since then. First I was out of town for a week (worked out twice at the hotels though), then I got the flu. Then I went to Ohio to visit my mom, then I got sick again. Really, I don’t think I was totally better when I visited my mom. Hmm . . . then I was really lazy and busy with work and put off my health. Then my brand-new car got a bumper smacking from a Suburban, leading to a $3500 bill for replacing the bumper, repairing the trunk, etc, and no car for the last week and a half.

I’m very lucky that I live near two friends/coworkers and even more lucky that they were so nice about picking me up and dropping me off. I would have a huge car rental bill without them.

Last weekend Steve and I went biking the usual route along White Oak Bayou near where we live. I felt absolutely great and was doing well, speed-wise, until we stopped half-way through to drink water. I felt incredibly nauseous about five minutes into biking back, making the ride back pretty painful.

After some research, I realized that there could be a couple problems. Number one, I could have heart problems. I don’t think that’s true–my blood pressure, cholesterol, etc, are all pretty good. Another idea I read was that my lungs just aren’t taking in enough oxygen, causing a buildup of carbonic and latic acids in my blood, causing my blood glucose to drop, leading to nausea.  The guy who suggested this said to drink a couple ounces of Gatorade every ten minutes or so. 

Steve and I went biking today along the White Oak Bayou and bought some Gatorade on the way.  I mixed it with the water I had in my water bottle (about half and half) and drank that on the ride.  No nausea!  The ride kicked my ass though because it has small hills and was curvy.  I’m used to our pretty straight ride with few hilly areas, so I had a hard time with it.  Next weekend we’re going with a cycling club that we’ve riden with before.  We like it because we can both go together in the same group at first and then split into different groups since I’m slower than him. 

For dinner tonight I made Indian Cashew Chicken from Cooking Light.  I thought it was pretty good–I added more spices and toasted them to make them stronger.  I’m not in love with the recipe and think it needs some more fiddling, but it was good and much healthier than food from an Indian resturant (no ghee!).  I served it over jasmine rice with peas and we split a piece of naan from the grocery store.

China! April 8, 2009

I applied to a summer institute in China–I never expected to get in since it’s highly competitive and almost entirely funded by the organization. I opened up my email this evening and saw the acceptance letter! I’m so excited-this is almost better than getting into college.

I’ve never been to a non-Christian nation before and can’t wait to go. I’m a little nervous to be that far away from home without anyone I know, but mainly I can’t wait to be there!