My sister is going to be living Gangnam Style in just a couple weeks. Apparently, her moving to South Korea means that I have to start updating my blog more often than every four months. And here I was thinking I didn't have to look up all those resolution articles on exactly how many days it takes to build a habit, because I wasn't planning on any official resolutions this year. But, dangit, I love my family....and if they beg me to write more gripes about my life because they are going to be living on the other side of the planet....I guess I'll put in a little more effort.
First off, an update on my pregnancy is in order. I basically have been feeling like a glorified slug with bad hips. About a month before I got pregnant, I started treating myself for depression with naturopathic suppliments. It was going great! Really great! The two weeks post conception, pre positive pregnancy test, I exercised every. Single. Day. And I had been carefully weighing and measuring my food intake. I was determined to get healthy. But I wasn't losing weight and I was constantly dead tired! Then I found out I was pregnant and it made a bit of sense. And I went off my supplements (just one, actually, that is counter-indicated during pregnancy, but I guess that one was the only one doing jack squat.)
Then my body decided to really welcome me into the first trimester, with 24/7 nausea and a complete inability to ever feel really awake. And the depression was back. The horrible pregnancy nightmares were back. And my hair started falling out. (Which, the hubs tells me that I was just noticing it more because it was getting longer....but I'm not so sure that's 100% true.)
I never threw up during the first trimester, which I am sure plenty of women would envy. But morning sickness sucks no matter what. And I felt like it was worse and longer lasting than I had experienced with my previous two pregnancies. Which is discouraging.
Then the nausea started disappating, and I thought that the second trimester would bring with it rainbows and butterflies, like pretty much every pregnancy book suggests. Not so. My fatigue hasn't lessened at all. My appetite is wishy washy at best. And my Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction (SPD) is near unbearable. And, of course, the heartburn. Plus, it took a lot longer than I thought it should to feel the baby move.
I didn't feel sure and consistant movement until 19 weeks, which is nearly a month later than I felt movement with my first pregnancy! That was so discouraging! Add that together with my depression/anxiety and the lack of formal maternity care, and at 18 weeks I was a complete and total basketcase. I was totally convinced that I had experienced a silent miscarriage and was carrying around a dead fetus. (I want to briefly apologize if this seems insensitive, and extend my love to any women who have actually experienced a late silent miscarriage. Even though it wasn't my reality, my brain was making it seem so, and it was terrifyingly horrible.) A couple days after my biggest breakdown, I started feeling movement. And it was a sweet relief, even through all the other complaints of pregnancy.
So, in other pregnancy related news, I am doing my own prenatal care in preparation for an unassisted home birth. Midwife attended home births are, unfortunately, not legal in North Carolina at this time. I know the thought of an unattended birth is alarming to many, but I am comfortable with the decision. We have a sympathetic family doctor who I can go to, if I decide I want any formal medical advice or attention. But for now I feel like the pregnancy is progressing without the need of any special attention.
Hopefully, in the days and weeks to come, I will be able to continue updating on life and family and motherhood....for Korea.
4 comments:
Good luck! And I can definitely relate to the emotional drain early on. I played a lot of video games for a while.
Your a trooper - hang in there!
How hard was it to find a sympathetic family doctor? And how did you find one? I always read in these books about how family doctors can treat a woman during her pregnancy, but I've never heard of anyone who actually had a family doctor who would, so I started to think maybe that only happened in England or somewhere. America just seems so ruled by OBs.
Good luck with your unassisted home birth! :) I am excited to hear about it.
I was thinking the other day how glad I was that I ended up not choosing a home birth for the reasons I did, because now it wouldn't be possible for me to have one. (Jeff accepted a job in Virginia, my house is for sale, and I live at my in-laws'.) I was thinking how crushing it would have been if I had ended up picking a home birth and then had it taken away from me because of the new job and move. I am glad I don't have to deal with that.
Although I am a little up in the air right now. My birth center birth that I am SO excited about might not get to happen. I get the results back on Friday from a blood test, but both of my kids got fifth disease, and I don't know if I've ever had it before. (I have a 50% chance of having had it before, because it's so common.) If I've had it, then I'm fine. But if I haven't had it and I have it right now, then I'm worried the possible complications might kick me into the Labor & Delivery part of the hospital. :( I shouldn't worry about it until I know for sure which way it is, but I can't seem to stop thinking about it. Darn my worry brain. At least I'm not in my first trimester, then the risks are greater. Although still small. Everything most likely is perfectly fine even if I did get the infection. Sigh. Why did my kids have to get it right now??
I found our sympathetic family doctor through a local natural moms group on the Internet. I started out looking for a family doc (to treat all of us, so not just a ped). Since we don't want our babies to have all the regular dr visits and we don't do vaccines, I needed a doc who was ok with that. Most doctors who are friendly toward non-vax families seem to be friendly toward home birth families. I haven't actually seen her for anything. (Scotty had a work physical done with her, and talked about our natural parenting style, specifically home birth, and she was just fine with that.) I'm just assuming she would be willing to help if I needed.
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