Health, Mental and Otherwise

I haven’t written a decent blog entry in a while. I’m all scattered and unfocused (placenta brain? anyone? helloooo?) and therefore this entry is going to be a mish-mosh of all that’s currently going on in my head. Warning: loads of pregnancy talk ahead.

My pregnancy seems to be going along about the same with some changes. My morning sickness is still awful (I’ve now been puking for 14 weeks! yee-ha!), but sometime last week I switched from plain nausea to nausea + immediate and overwhelming hunger. I’ll been fine for a while, then BAM! I am so hungry I start chomping on the leg of the coffee table. Sometimes I’m both—hungry and nauseous—and I have to eat something sweet, very, very slowly, and then I’ll feel better.

I was reading about pregnancy on Dr. Andrew Weil’s site (you’ve probably seen him on public TV—he looks like Santa in a Hawaiian shirt—and he’s an MD and a naturopath, but not a militant naturopath, and often has really interesting suggestions/info about things) that “most” morning sickness leaves by 16 weeks. That’s the latest date I’ve been told so far—and I’m not holding out much hope. I was excited to cross the 12 week mark, thinking the sickness would abate, then the 14 week one, and since I’m still sick, I’m beginning to think I’m doomed to be one of those women that is sick throughout the entire pregnancy.

While I resent this (who wouldn’t), I’ve come to the realization that I can live with it. It’s strange—I’m absolutely exhausted with feeling sick, but since it’s gone on so long, I’ve come to accept it. Especially now that I’m not getting ultra sounded every couple of weeks at the RE’s, the sickness provides proof that the babies are still in there. Of course, hearing the heartbeats with the Doppler during my prenatal appointments helps too. And last week, during the Doppler session, we actually heard one of the babies kick! Very funny.

Speaking of ultrasounds, I get my next one next Monday at the Maternal-Fetal Medical Center (sounds good and official, don’t it?). Immediately following the ultrasound is my consultation with the high-risk OB.

I’m really hoping that the OB will be able to provide me with some relief from the awful water retention and feet swelling (yeah—the new thing to complain about, now that I’ve accepted the morning sickness!). On Friday, I was on my feet a lot at work, and then had to go to a party (the launch party for a new literary magazine I’m a poetry editor of) and I had to stand for another two hours before I could go home and lay the fuck down. By the end of the night, not only were my ankles so puffy and swollen that they actually had folds, but even my thighs were puffy and I had to walk like I had a stick up my twat. Fun!

I no longer think my 20lbs weight gain is related to anything other than the fluid I’m retaining (some of it might be the twins, but not much, seriously, with what I’ve been eating).

Back in the good old days when I was a vet tech, we used to treat dogs with congestive heart failure (at a less-then-reputable clinic) by tapping their bellies (in severe congestive heart failure, fluid back up in the lungs and abdomen) with a 16 gauge needle and letting the fluid drain into a bucket. The dogs would leave anywhere from 10-40lbs lighter and feeling much better.

Since these days my toes are so puffy I actually worry that they will split open, I’d love to get drained like that. Just stick a needle in me and let it all drain out. For God’s sake.

On the high blood pressure front, someone has recommended that I try the Brewer’s Diet. The woman who recommended it said it cured her blood pressure issues. The diet has a large emphasis on protein, something I’ve struggled with thanks to the nausea (carbs are always easier to get down). I’m going to give it a try, although eating two eggs a day sounds so gross I could throw up just thinking about it…

In other health news, today I returned to therapy for the first time in a few years.

I was stuck picking a therapist from my crappy-ass insurance’s list. Thankfully, I found one right in my neighborhood, and when I called him, I knew I’d like him because of his voice (yeah, I’m like that). He was clearly older, Jewish, and sounded pudgy and sweet.

When I finally arrived at the appointment today (I was late due to address confusion), I was surprised to see a tan, fit middle-aged man wearing shorts and a t-shirt and no shoes, with a bike in his office.

I still liked him, and he says what he thinks (instead of that therapist thing of “What do YOU think?”) which could be great or could suck ass—depending, of course, on how often he agrees with me.

I’ll keep ya posted as to how it goes!

Comments

[Susan]

1.

Who's the therapist, he sounds very cool? I went back to one I'd seen a few years ago and she made a disturbing comment about my many miscarriages. She said "So you want to know why you keep expelling the fetuses from your body?" I took it as her saying I/my body was having m/cs on purpose- WTF?!
Needless to say, I quit.
I hope you resolve your retention issues.

[Jen P]

2.

Your therapist sounds very cool!! The water retention sounds miserable!! Hope your scans go well and babies are super big and strong! Hope you feel better!

3.

Yuck I’m so sorry to hear about the persistent nausea but I understand how you have sort of gotten use to it. As a result of working in food service for over 10 years I found myself practically a vegetarian (I still eat meat but for a long time I was sort of grossed out buy it and now I find anything over a few bites worth to be too rich for me) and as a result I wasn’t getting a lot of protein in my diet. About 2 years ago I decided I needed to work protein back in and seeing as how I couldn’t really stomach the thought of eating eggs every day I started using smoothies as a way to do it. I don’t know if this would work for you but you may find it helpful.

I will usually have a chocolate, peanut butter, banana smoothie made with a ½ cup of soy or skim milk, ½ cup of plain no-fat/low-fat yogurt, a banana, creamy peanut butter, ice, and usually Slim Fast chocolate shake mix or some health food store brand of smoothie mix. I’ll also use a vanilla mix along with OJ, yogurt, and various fruit (fresh or frozen) in the same way. I have found that by adding the banana, using yogurt vs. just milk, and adding lots of ice usually the smoothie is nice and thick and much more filling than just having plain old Slim Fast. I’ve never tired this as a loose weight (despite using Slim Fast as my main shake mix) thing just as a try to work more protein into my diet thing and will usually have a little cereal or toast along with it. I guess it’s done the trick because I’ve noticed since I’ve actively tired to consume more protein in the morning along with good quality carbs I find that I’m not as hungry during the day and less likely to run off and have something greasy or full of sugar to eat. There is also the added benefit of feeling like I’m having a treat or something sweet so mentally I’m kind of rewarding myself not to mention I can make the smoothies ahead of time and freeze/thaw them as needed. I also do things like have a banana with peanut butter on it or some string cheese with a few almonds and V8 juice for a snack.

Don’t know if adding more protein will do anything for the nausea but it cant be bad for the babies, so I hope this is a help.

[Moxie]

4.

It makes sense to me that upping your protein and lowering your simple cards would help you lose some of the water, which would help with the blood pressure. I peed like I've never peed before when I was on South Beach, because the carbs make your body retain the water.

I hope you can find some relief for at least one of these symptoms.

[Ellen]

5.

Oh Cecily, I hear you about the morning sickness. At fourteen weeks, I thought it was gone and yahoo! But nope, about a week or two ago, it started sneaking into my life again. I still don't have an appetite worth speaking of. I can't remember what it feels like to enjoy food...

[Angeleyes]

6.

He may be tan and thin on the outside, but I'll bet he's pudgy and sweet on the inside!

[Robin]

7.

This just brightened my day! I am almost 17 weeks and still sick. I kept hoping every week that it would be my week to be done! It does get better, but then it seems to creep back up when you least expect it.

I never realized all these "joys of pregnancy" would be so miserable!

We just have to suffer through until we get the final reward!