Register a SA Forums Account here!
JOINING THE SA FORUMS WILL REMOVE THIS BIG AD, THE ANNOYING UNDERLINED ADS, AND STUPID INTERSTITIAL ADS!!!

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.
 
  • Post
  • Reply
boquiabierta
May 27, 2010

"I will throw my best friend an abortion party if she wants one"
First time posting, first pregnancy. I'm 4.6 weeks today by LMP. First pregnancy test was positive at 3.2 weeks which I still can't believe was even possible; apparently I have a ridiculously short cycle.

I'm 31 and moved to Barcelona from the U.S. a few months ago with my husband. I'm a registered nurse in the States (my area is actually pregnancy/maternity and abortion care) and I'm starting an absurdly complicated process to get my nursing license validated over here. Which is a fancy way of saying I'm currently unemployed, which is terrifying. We're ok on my husband's salary but it still sucks.

We wanted to get pregnant and actually succeeded on my second month off birth control, which blows my mind. Now that it's a reality, naturally I'm freaking out and feeling ambivalent as gently caress and how could I possibly have ever thought this would be a good idea. I've had anxiety and depression basically all my life and in the week and a half since I've known my emotions have been a roller coaster. I want nothing more than to feel excited and happy. Unfortunately I mostly feel dread and self-doubt about everything from my mental health issues to my unemployment to being so far from most of my support system to navigating the healthcare system here to actually giving birth and oh yeah then having an actual baby.

My first step is to go to an appointment next week with primary care (finally defeated the bureaucracy here to get my health card after like 4 attempts, yay) and get referred to an OB or midwife from there. Then start dealing with my mental health stuff, plan some therapy and self-care strategies, etc.

Not looking for anything in particular except maybe general reassurances and validation. And if anyone has experience with being pregnant/having a baby in Spain in particular that would be awesome.

boquiabierta fucked around with this message at 11:02 on May 26, 2019

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

boquiabierta
May 27, 2010

"I will throw my best friend an abortion party if she wants one"
Had my first primary care appointment here in Spain on Friday, which was disappointing to say the least. Once I told the MD that I'm pregnant and anxious and depressed, she turfed me off to psych and OB without even collecting my full health history, medication list, or performing any sort of exam. I went in with a list of issues I wanted to talk about, unrelated to pregnancy or mental health so relevant for primary care, and she never gave me an opportunity to bring them up. I did mention that I've been having palpitations and what I think are PVCs (a type of irregular heartbeat) and she referred me for an EKG without even listening to my heart. The EKG isn't for another two weeks. I don't know if it's just the system here or her specifically, but even though I'm a nurse and generally feel able to advocate for myself in healthcare situations, I left feeling dismissed, dismayed and totally powerless. Not to mention this is all in Spanish, which I'm good enough at that I can definitely get by, but it's not exactly comfortable.

I can only imagine my midwifery care here will be more comprehensive, because midwifery/OB IS primary care during pregnancy, but still, I thought it would still be worthwhile to establish primary care. My midwife appointment is next week, when I'll be seven weeks. They wouldn't see me before then. In the meantime, I'm struggling over the meds I take and would desperately like to talk to someone about them during this critical time when organs are forming. Oh and for my own peace of mind I'd really like to confirm that it's an IUP and not ectopic.

I would love to complain, or at least give some feedback to this primary care provider, but I'm so out of my element in this unfamiliar healthcare system. I just don't know how things work here and after being an insider in U.S. healthcare it's a terrible feeling. I don't even know if I can switch doctors.

I never did anything but complain about the U.S. healthcare system and romanticize European-style socialized medicine, and maybe it will turn out to be great, but god what a lovely introduction.

boquiabierta
May 27, 2010

"I will throw my best friend an abortion party if she wants one"
^^Not really, unfortunately. My husband speaks very little Spanish and we don’t really know anyone else here. It’s going to be hard enough to schedule appt times that work for him too. My Spanish is pretty good, I can handle myself, it’s just that it would be so much easier and more comfortable to do this in my native language.

They don’t have any sort of law here requiring interpreters, which blows my mind coming from the U.S. It’s entirely your problem if you don’t speak the language. I’ve already acted as interpreter once for my husband at his dr’s appt, which is uncomfortable and frankly unethical, but he didn’t want to hire a 3rd party interpreter. This is in Barcelona, a major international city.

Koivunen posted:

Palpitations and PVCs are very normal during pregnancy. I had them occasionally before I was pregnant and can feel when I have PVCs, which I confirmed by hooking myself up to an EKG at work lol. During pregnancy I was having palpitations and PVSs nonstop for the entire pregnancy. Now that I’m postpartum I’ve only noticed a few in the past month.

Sorry your experience was awful, I hope your OB goes well and you can get your answers there.

Thanks for the info about palpitations and PVCs in pregnancy, I didn't know. That's reassuring. Honestly I feel like the EKG will be useless because what is the likelihood that I'll throw a PVC in that window? But what am I going to do, demand a 24-hr Holter and to what end? If it's a normal variation of pregnancy and nothing to worry about that's all I need to know, I guess.

boquiabierta fucked around with this message at 20:39 on Jun 3, 2019

boquiabierta
May 27, 2010

"I will throw my best friend an abortion party if she wants one"
Anyone else experience zero pregnancy symptoms? I mean, whatever's going on with me psychologically (anxiety/depression) I understand could be affected by hormones, but it doesn't really feel different from my baseline mental state that I've struggled with all my life. Besides that, I'm in week 6 which is supposed to be the peak of morning sickness. I haven't felt any nausea, zero breast tenderness, no headaches, no fatigue besides my usual inertia, no increased smell sensitivity, no bloating. I don't even think I'm peeing more than usual. I guess I shouldn't complain but is it weird? Am I lucky? Is it probably still to come?

I never experienced any side effects when I used or changed birth control. Can it be chalked up to maybe I'm just not very affected by hormones?

boquiabierta
May 27, 2010

"I will throw my best friend an abortion party if she wants one"
Went to my first midwife appointment in Barcelona. The midwife was much better than the primary care doc I saw a few weeks ago but it was still a disappointing visit. I was expecting an ultrasound to confirm dates and that it's IUP, and found out they don't do ultrasound until 12-14 weeks! (I'm only 7 weeks now.) I don't really understand why they trust my stated LMP enough to not confirm it; in the clinics I used to work at I saw enough patients whose measurements were so far off their stated LMP I would never take it with anything but a huge grain of salt and only consider it a very rough estimate until confirmed. Also I was taught that ultrasounds for dating purposes are more accurate the earlier they're done because there's less opportunity for variation in growth and development. ALSO I'm low-key anxious about the possibility of an ectopic and would really really like to rule one out. I asked the midwife why they don't want to rule out ectopic and she was like "well you'll have pain and bleeding if you have one" EXACTLY I'd like to avoid that life-threatening emergency before it gets to that point.

I can pay out of pocket if I want to get an ultrasound done at a private clinic which I probably will do because I cannot wait five weeks for this information. Also twins run in my husband's family and I'd like to know if it's multiples too. Confirming cardiac activity would be nice as well.

In the U.S. I'm pretty sure it's standard to do an ultrasound at the first prenatal visit, right? When did y'all have your first ones?

boquiabierta
May 27, 2010

"I will throw my best friend an abortion party if she wants one"

A Game of Chess posted:

I actually had an ectopic pregnancy that ruptured last year and can confirm it’s the same here. Even when I was bleeding and in pain they can’t tell from an ultrasound alone — you need to monitor hormone levels.

I've seen many ectopic pregnancies, pre-rupture, diagnosed by ultrasound alone. If it's too early in the pregnancy, like 4 weeks LMP, sometimes you can't tell where the pregnancy is at all because it's just too small and that's when monitoring hormone levels comes in. Maybe after rupture it's similar. But definitely at 6-7 weeks, without rupture, you should be able to confirm if it's intrauterine or not. We had patients come in with pregnancies measuring 8 or 9 weeks, cardiac activity and all, clearly sitting outside the uterus. We called 911 and treated them more gingerly than bombs.


Nessa posted:

If they run in your husband’s family, then you’re not at any higher risk for twins. The gene for a higher chance of twins causes 2 eggs to drop from the Fallopian tube instead of one, so your husband having the gene would have no affect on you. That’s why twins skip a generation if the gene is coming from the father’s side.

Is there no genetic factor for identical twins, then?

take me to the beaver posted:

They usually do what they call a viability screen here (groovy groovy California, only state in the US with a dropping maternal death rate :( ) to check for a heartbeat/non ectopic pregnancy at 7-8 weeks or so before scheduling the NT scan at 12 weeks.

Yeeahhh that's what I'm talking about. Wish that were standard of practice.

My friend is an NP who provides prenatal care in Delaware and she says their standard practice is to provide an ultrasound at first prenatal visit too, which is why I thought it was standard across the U.S.

boquiabierta fucked around with this message at 23:00 on Jun 13, 2019

boquiabierta
May 27, 2010

"I will throw my best friend an abortion party if she wants one"
Skechers memory foam have been my go-to nursing shoes for years.

boquiabierta
May 27, 2010

"I will throw my best friend an abortion party if she wants one"
Yeah, I think it sounds totally normal to still have heavy bleeding and clots a few days later. The guidelines you were given sound good. I’d add if you feel dizzy, faint or light-headed at any point you should also call your doc, especially if your bleeding is around 2 pads/hour for several hours in a row.

I’m so sorry this happened. Hugs to you.

boquiabierta
May 27, 2010

"I will throw my best friend an abortion party if she wants one"
So I've been pretty lucky so far w/r/t morning sickness (any nausea I've had has been very mild, I haven't vomited at all) but I am experiencing something a quick Google tells me is common in pregnancy (though more common for people with hyperemesis or at least stronger morning sickness than I've had): a strong gag reflex when brushing my teeth. Anyone else? I'm worried now it's gotten to the point where maybe it's mostly mental; I'm anticipating gagging and so I do. But I didn't used to have this. It happens when I'm brushing my back teeth (expected) but also when I'm just brushing my tongue, not even far back.

It's really annoying, and I'm avoiding flossing and brushing my wisdom teeth now, and I don't want to end up with dental issues. Any tips or tricks for getting over it?

boquiabierta
May 27, 2010

"I will throw my best friend an abortion party if she wants one"
When did insomnia start for you? I thought it was mostly a 3rd trimester thing, but towards the end of the 1st tri I started not being able to sleep at all, even after using sleep aids. Now I’m 13 weeks and I seem to have transitioned to sleep shifts — I can get to sleep ok for a few hours, then around 3:30 am I’m wide awake and need to go watch TV until I fall back asleep around 5. Will I ever sleep through the night again before the kid’s a toddler?

boquiabierta fucked around with this message at 09:12 on Jul 21, 2019

boquiabierta
May 27, 2010

"I will throw my best friend an abortion party if she wants one"
Looking for advice on whether I should find out the baby's sex.

I have a very strong preference for a girl. If it's a girl I think I will be thrilled, and if it's a boy I'm afraid I will be terribly disappointed. I don't want to feel this way; it doesn't jive with my politics or feminism, but I can't help it. I know what genitalia my baby has does not determine what kind of person they'll be, what they can and can't do in life, or even their gender identity. I still want a girl with all my heart.

I was planning on NOT finding out, assuming that after the baby is born and in my arms I won't care what genitalia it has, and will just love it no matter what. But what if I am upset and disappointed in the delivery room? Is it better to process those feelings now? But then what if I spend the rest of the pregnancy disappointed and sad.

I'm 15 weeks, by the way, so I still have a while to think about this before the 20 week ultrasound. Help!

boquiabierta
May 27, 2010

"I will throw my best friend an abortion party if she wants one"

peanut posted:

Just go for it. You don't need to share the results and it's important to discuss names.

I would definitely want to keep it a secret if we found out but I don't think I'd be able to.

Thanks, everyone, for the input. Still don't know what we're going to do but this is all very helpful to consider.

boquiabierta
May 27, 2010

"I will throw my best friend an abortion party if she wants one"

Hi_Bears posted:

Those that wanted a boy - why did you feel that way?
I’m so used to craving a girl that it’s hard to wrap my head around why someone would want a boy.

This is exactly how I feel. I keep having to remind myself that I love my little nephew.


Koivunen posted:

I wanted a boy because being a girl in this world is tough.

I hear this 100%, but I feel like it makes me feel the opposite -- I don't want to raise a boy because men are trash and responsible for the world's evils.

NOT ALL MEN OBVIOUSLY

boquiabierta
May 27, 2010

"I will throw my best friend an abortion party if she wants one"

Switchback posted:

Better now than it’s ever been in the past 🤷‍♀️

Uh definitively and objectively getting worse in many ways, have you seen the state of abortion rights lately? Or the fact that maternal mortality in the U.S. is higher now than in the 80s?

boquiabierta fucked around with this message at 07:37 on Aug 12, 2019

boquiabierta
May 27, 2010

"I will throw my best friend an abortion party if she wants one"
^^^ sorry for no response, maybe try the parenting thread?

Anyway, can we talk about pregnancy sex?

I'm super frustrated with how my sexual response seems to be changing for the worse. I thought the increased blood flow would make things better but I'm finding that I have a really hard time reaching orgasm now, and when I do it's not very satisfying, more of a plateau than climax.

I am on anti-depressants, which I would like to blame, except for a while on them I had no libido at all, and now I actually do want to have sex and do get aroused but then just... have a very difficult time. And then I get in my head about it and it makes it even worse.

A friend of mine who was not on anti-depressants mentioned that it was harder for her to orgasm during pregnancy too, so I am wondering if it might be A Thing.

Thoughts/advice?

edit:

small bird pudding posted:

Does anyone have suggestions on good pregnancy books that are available as audiobooks? My husband prefers them to regular books and I'm looking for options for him. I'm not sure I want to suggest dad-specific books though; the negative reviews of the top rated ones I looked at suggest they trade in gender essentialist bullshit.

I don't know about books that are available as audiobooks, but I would definitely not get any books that are dad-specific for exactly the reason you cited, unless it was vetted by a trusted feminist source. It won't kill them to read about what's happening to us, it'll be good for the partnership and will benefit them too. I just read "Like a Mother" by Angela Garbes and it was amazing and I'm making my husband read it too. Amazon does have it available as an audiobook! It's an excellent summary of a lot of important pregnancy and birth and postpartum stuff while not being overwhelming or judgmental and keeping a feminist, race-conscious lens too. Highly readable and enjoyable, recommended for anybody going through this and their partners.

boquiabierta fucked around with this message at 11:36 on Aug 21, 2019

boquiabierta
May 27, 2010

"I will throw my best friend an abortion party if she wants one"
Should I start putting anti-stretch mark cream on my abdomen before the skin is all tight and itchy, or just wait until I feel it? Recommendations for specific products?

boquiabierta
May 27, 2010

"I will throw my best friend an abortion party if she wants one"
Had my 20 week scan yesterday which was not entirely reassuring. Sprog (our fetal nickname) has two secondary markers for trisomies: an echogenic (calcified) spot in the heart and some dilation of the renal vessels/accumulation of urine in the kidneys. Haven't looked this stuff up, don't particularly want to. The doctor said neither marker on its own would be cause for concern, but the two together constitute an increased risk, so they recalculated my risk for Down's and other trisomies. In the first trimester my risk was 1 in over 3000, now it's 1 in 419. Still low risk but I'm kind of freaked out by how much it changed. We're considering the chromosomal analysis screening bloodwork, although I'm concerned about the rate of false positives and if I would feel pressured into getting an amnio based on the results. Anyone have experience with the chromosomal analysis? What kind of results do you get? If it's just going to tell us "your risk is actually 1 in 800" or whatever I don't know if it's worth it, but if it'll be more definitive (and if the false positives are relatively rare) then I think we should do it for peace of mind.

I know it's still low risk and I shouldn't be freaking out but I was so nervous about the anatomy scan and so desperately wanted to be told everything looked great.

boquiabierta
May 27, 2010

"I will throw my best friend an abortion party if she wants one"
Thanks all. We are decided that we will get the NIPT. Even though it's 550€ :suicide: Hopefully the results are reassuring. If not, guess we'll have to face an amnio. I really really hope it doesn't come to that, but it's the only way to get a definitive diagnosis and we would definitely want and need that.

Guess this is what pregnancy and parenting are -- emotional roller coasters, unanticipated turns, near-total loss of control. What have we gotten ourselves into.

boquiabierta
May 27, 2010

"I will throw my best friend an abortion party if she wants one"
^^ I'm in Spain but thanks anyway.

Got my blood drawn today. They asked me when I had last eaten and when I said about two hours ago, they made a big deal about was it WITHIN two hours because if it was over two hours they couldn't do the test. I was a Bad Patient and panic-lied that I was sure it was under two hours, when really it was probably just over. Apparently recent intake stimulates the baby so that there are more fetal cells in the maternal blood? But I frantically googled it and couldn't find a thing online about recent intake being important before the test. And they do the test from 9 weeks GA on and I'm 21 weeks now -- AND I had just had a fetal echocardiogram which seemed to be pretty stimulating -- so I can't imagine there wouldn't be enough DNA for the test, but now I'm wondering why the hell I didn't just go and eat something and come back to the lab. It was walk-in anyway, no appointment necessary.

Anyone know if freaking out is warranted or if I should chill out? If I just made it so we're going to have to pay another 550€ for an inconclusive test I'm a loving idiot.

boquiabierta
May 27, 2010

"I will throw my best friend an abortion party if she wants one"

boquiabierta posted:

Had my 20 week scan yesterday which was not entirely reassuring. Sprog (our fetal nickname) has two secondary markers for trisomies: an echogenic (calcified) spot in the heart and some dilation of the renal vessels/accumulation of urine in the kidneys. Haven't looked this stuff up, don't particularly want to. The doctor said neither marker on its own would be cause for concern, but the two together constitute an increased risk, so they recalculated my risk for Down's and other trisomies. In the first trimester my risk was 1 in over 3000, now it's 1 in 419. Still low risk but I'm kind of freaked out by how much it changed. We're considering the chromosomal analysis screening bloodwork, although I'm concerned about the rate of false positives and if I would feel pressured into getting an amnio based on the results. Anyone have experience with the chromosomal analysis? What kind of results do you get? If it's just going to tell us "your risk is actually 1 in 800" or whatever I don't know if it's worth it, but if it'll be more definitive (and if the false positives are relatively rare) then I think we should do it for peace of mind.

I know it's still low risk and I shouldn't be freaking out but I was so nervous about the anatomy scan and so desperately wanted to be told everything looked great.

Happy to report I just got my results back from the NIPT and I am low risk for everything (less than 1 in 10,000). Very reassured. AND they respected my request to not include fetal sex in the report, which I wasn't sure they would do. Yay!

In other news I'm 22 weeks and am feeling this kiddo move all the time and it's the coolest weirdest sensation, I love it.

boquiabierta
May 27, 2010

"I will throw my best friend an abortion party if she wants one"
I’m 23 weeks and getting Braxton Hicks. I did not think that would start til much later, drat. At least it doesn’t hurt.

But will I ever poop normally again??!!

boquiabierta
May 27, 2010

"I will throw my best friend an abortion party if she wants one"
Ahh hemorrhoids noooo. I should probably invest in some stool softener huh. I was taking Miralax irregularly for a little while but then I started to be able to poop pretty regularly on my own, with not-insignificant straining, so I stopped because I didn't want to get dependent on a laxative. But the straining is not good.

Met with an English-speaking doula who seems cool and we want to hire her so that's a big thing off our list. Besides all the common reasons for wanting a doula, my husband has only a 101 level of Spanish and I don't want him to have to try to advocate for me in the middle of labor so it will be a big relief to have her.

Starting to feel depressed again and am upping my anti-depressant, which I was warned I would have to do at some point because of the metabolic changes of pregnancy. I was hoping to be able to wean off towards the end though to avoid neonatal withdrawal but all the experts seem to think that's not a good idea. I'm very nervous about withdrawal because I also take a benzo and it just seems like a lot for the little one to come off of :( but trying to keep in mind that it's really super incredibly important to keep my depression and anxiety in check for the kiddo's sake too.

Still have not found out the genitalia. After the scare we had with the 20 week ultrasound I think I realized the baby's health matters more to me than the sex so that's good.

I'm 24 weeks today and cannot believe I've hit this first big viability milestone. This is going really fast.

Last night we hit another milestone: for the first time my husband could feel the movement I've been feeling for a few weeks now with his hand on my belly. It was really a lovely moment.

boquiabierta
May 27, 2010

"I will throw my best friend an abortion party if she wants one"
Oh I remembered a question I wanted to ask the group. Can you ever distinguish what the fetus is actually doing when you feel movement? Like I can feel a lot of movement but I have no idea if s/he is kicking, punching, somersaulting or what. Do the movements become more precise and less vague? At what point?

boquiabierta
May 27, 2010

"I will throw my best friend an abortion party if she wants one"
So, how’s everyone else’s pregnancies going?

I’m 25 weeks, feeling huge all of a sudden, and pretty sure I felt hiccups yesterday. Glucose challenge test next week and I’m freaking out that I’m going to have GDM and won’t be able to keep eating ice cream 😭

boquiabierta fucked around with this message at 18:51 on Oct 16, 2019

boquiabierta
May 27, 2010

"I will throw my best friend an abortion party if she wants one"
To clarify, I am not worried about taking the test itself. From what I hear it tastes like kool-aid and I have a wicked sweet tooth already. I am worried about actually having gestational diabetes.

boquiabierta
May 27, 2010

"I will throw my best friend an abortion party if she wants one"
Any advice on what to eat before my glucose challenge?

boquiabierta
May 27, 2010

"I will throw my best friend an abortion party if she wants one"
Ugh this is one of those days when I super hate being in Spain and miss the U.S. system of customer service-based care, even though I am 100% against healthcare being customer service in principle. A good bedside manner from everyone you interact with in healthcare makes a huge difference though and they really do not give a poo poo about attitude or tone here.

I did the glucose challenge (just tasted like overly sweet lemonade, honestly, it wasn't that bad at all) and I didn't have a bad reaction except that I got suuuper sleepy like a bad sugar crash without the high. But I don't have the result yet because my appointment with the doctor isn't til next week and apparently they WILL NOT just tell me the number. I just called for the result and got yelled at by a receptionist who definitely is not concerned with patient satisfaction scores. I got told that "this system of you calling us doesn't exist" and no doctor except my own, who is on vacation, can give me the result. At one point I mentioned I was a nurse and understood how the test worked and that actually seemed to make a difference because she then gave me the number of a midwife who will MAYBE be able to give me the result if I call tomorrow? I try not to pull the nurse card because it's obnoxious and in general I want to just be treated like a patient, but the few times I've brought it up here it really did seem to change their attitude and care so idk.

Here's hoping I passed, I can find out before the weekend, and don't need to do the 3 hour.

boquiabierta fucked around with this message at 14:01 on Oct 24, 2019

boquiabierta
May 27, 2010

"I will throw my best friend an abortion party if she wants one"
I know right? Like even if the one hour isn't diagnostic, I'd like to know what my number is so I can start making changes if needed. I've never been great about eating healthy and would need this fire under me to make healthy changes, and I don't want to wait a week.

The midwife number she gave me was a total clusterfuck, the midwife answered clearly thinking it was an internal call and was like you're not in my system, I can't even find you, no idea why they would give you this number and also I'm with a patient right now.

loving Spain.

boquiabierta
May 27, 2010

"I will throw my best friend an abortion party if she wants one"
Welp. Never did manage to find out my results over the phone. Went to my visit today to be told I failed by 5 points (145) and a fun specialized diet followed by the 3 hour glucose tolerance test is in my future. gently caress.

boquiabierta
May 27, 2010

"I will throw my best friend an abortion party if she wants one"
Day one of the modified diet and I am not going to make it you guys, all I can think about is food, this is not enough to eat, I am so freaking hungry

boquiabierta
May 27, 2010

"I will throw my best friend an abortion party if she wants one"
I don't quite understand it either. Mayo Clinic says it's important to eat and drink normally in the days leading up to the test. That makes sense to me because I'd think they'd want to know how my blood sugar behaves given my usual diet. But I also read that the results of the test are more reliable if your carb intake is controlled in the days before, so I don't really know. Anyone have any insight? Koivunen?

I don't think I'm going to follow this as strictly as I tried to today, though. Probably the most important thing is I just don't eat junk and try for as balanced a diet as possible. It can't be good to be this hungry.

boquiabierta
May 27, 2010

"I will throw my best friend an abortion party if she wants one"
I highly recommend the Emily Oster books (Expecting Better and Cribsheet), and also a book I mentioned elsewhere in the thread called Like a Mother. That’s the only one I had my husband read.

What do you all think of Happiest Baby on the Block? Required reading or is it enough to learn about the 5 s’s online?

Lately I’ve been having pelvic pain. Hard to know where it is exactly. Sometimes I think it’s my vulva and sometimes I think it’s deeper. Nothing looks swollen or is sensitive to the touch. Seems mostly with movement and position changes. Could it be round ligaments? I thought that pain was usually more abdominal but I read it can extend deep into your groin.

Oh yeah the three hour glucose test sucked balls. The one hour solution was like lemonade, the three hour was like syrup and I felt like total garbage. Do not recommend, avoid if possible. (Haven’t gotten results yet)

Also I’m so loving tired and utterly sapped of energy and I’m just barely in the third trimester. Not sure if it’s physical/hormonal or possibly depression rearing its head again. How did you feel around week 29 w/r/t energy and mood?

boquiabierta
May 27, 2010

"I will throw my best friend an abortion party if she wants one"
Three hour glucose tolerance test results (that I had to go to the ED to find out because again I’m getting the runaround on the phone):
60 minutes: 209
120 minutes: 92
180 minutes: 88

My body was shocked by the infusion of pure sugar and took a while to figure out wtf to do but then compensated beautifully.

But because of the 209 I have to repeat the test in 4 weeks which is the outcome I was really dreading. Just diagnose me with GDM and don’t make me go through that again 😫

Edit: apparently the protocol in the U.S. would be to just consider me negative and send me on my way with only one value out of range, so, not the first time I’ve missed American healthcare in my European socialist paradise. Although I did come across this study that suggests the American approach is wrong and maybe I should just consider myself diabetic anyway.

boquiabierta fucked around with this message at 21:41 on Nov 15, 2019

boquiabierta
May 27, 2010

"I will throw my best friend an abortion party if she wants one"
I'm 32 weeks and I've been having a lot of pelvic and groin pain and I don't know if it's normal. I don't remember if I posted about it in here before. It's vaguely located, hard to describe, feels kind of like my whole pelvis is really sore. It comes with movement primarily and is fine at rest. But it hurts a ton to move my legs, like, at all, whether it's turning over in bed, getting up and walking, getting into a car, etc. Sometimes it kind of radiates down the inside of my thighs. Sometimes it feels like it's actually my vulva that's sore, or right inside my vulva.

I figure this is probably something normal like ligaments stretching in preparation for birth, or idk, something else normal for third trimester aches and pains, but it's getting worse and I can't imagine how I'm going to get through labor if I'm already feeling this kind of pain. Any thoughts?

boquiabierta
May 27, 2010

"I will throw my best friend an abortion party if she wants one"

marchantia posted:

I had this really bad - it sounds like SPD (symphysis pubis dysfunction). It's pretty common and normal but sucks A LOT. The biggest thing that helped me was sleeping with a pillow between my knees (I had a big C shaped pregnancy pillow) and a small wedge pillow under my belly so the weight of my belly wasn't pulling my hips weird. Try to train yourself to use the power of your arms to help you turn over in bed (I would pull myself up to sitting, adjust my hips/legs, then go back down) and keep your knees together getting in and out of cars and other similar movements. I had an epidural so I can't say much about it during labor but it definitely went away right after birth. It sucked though and always hurt a little bit (up to a lot) doing anything.

Koivunen posted:

It does sound a lot like SPD. I had an SI belt from a previous hip problem and wearing that over the widest part of my hips helped a lot. You can get an SI belt on the Internet, or your provider could write you a prescription for one and you can see if your insurance will cover it. Make sure you get one that you can pull to tighten, and not one that just Velcros one time. During labor that pain was not on my mind at all, you will be much more focused on contractions.

Thanks, this is helpful. I told my doctor about it today and he had nothing useful to tell me and I think thought I was just describing round ligament pain. But I'm glad to know what it is at least. I do have a supportive belt that I'll try wearing.

Does anyone else experience weird hormonal side effects with Braxton Hicks? My face feels really flushed and/or I get this tight, panicky sensation in my chest. It was hard to identify as coming with a contraction for a while because I have anxiety anyway, but this felt different and eventually I realized whenever it happened I was also having a contraction. I did a quick google and can't really find information on OTHER side effects that come with Braxton Hicks besides the actual contraction but since it's all hormones I figure it makes sense.

boquiabierta
May 27, 2010

"I will throw my best friend an abortion party if she wants one"
^^^ ugh I'm so sorry yours got so bad. I hope that doesn't happen to me. I'm already noticing a huge difference with wearing a belt, my pain has decreased significantly. Hoping it doesn't get worse through these last weeks.

boquiabierta
May 27, 2010

"I will throw my best friend an abortion party if she wants one"
Should I be counting kicks? My providers haven't mentioned it. The Sprog is very active and I would notice if the level of movement were to decrease, I think. But is it really important to be counting kicks every day?

boquiabierta
May 27, 2010

"I will throw my best friend an abortion party if she wants one"
It's finally happened.

I got the 'rhoids.

hemorrhoids nooooooooooooo

edit: omg whoever changed my avatar I love you

edit 2: I'm 35 weeks and feel like the fetal movements have diminished a bit. They're still there, regularly, but I feel like a few weeks ago Sprog was kicking up way more of a storm than now. Is it just less room to move around in now, or should I be concerned?

boquiabierta fucked around with this message at 17:22 on Dec 24, 2019

boquiabierta
May 27, 2010

"I will throw my best friend an abortion party if she wants one"

Nessa posted:

So it kinda feels like I’m pregnant again. My boobs have been firm and tender for the past week and I’m getting cystic acne again. I haven’t had either of those things since I was pregnant. I understand it could just be PMS, but I’ve never experienced PMS symptoms before. The pregnancy test I took was negative, but my period isn’t expected for a couple more days, so maybe it wasn’t accurate?

Frustrating either way.

Hey there. The pregnancy symptoms like breast tenderness are caused by hormones, and by the time the hormone levels are that high they should be showing up in a pregnancy test too. But wait a few days and repeat the test. It should be accurate by about two weeks after sex or by the time your next period is due.

Keep us posted! I hope you get the result you’re hoping for.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

boquiabierta
May 27, 2010

"I will throw my best friend an abortion party if she wants one"
36 weeks and starting to get realllll nervous about this whole giving birth thing. I'm anxious about the pain, the unknown, potential emergencies, how I'll be treated... oy. Any words of support or encouragement or reassurance much appreciated.

also per my favorite lactation consultant who I used to work with, I'm starting to hand-express and collect colostrum to have as a backup supply in case baby and I have trouble establishing breastfeeding in the beginning. Got around 4 mLs yesterday it is the coolest superpower ever.

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • Post
  • Reply