Changes

I've been slacking lately on writing a new post. Not for lack of thoughts but more like too many. I also haven't done much cooking of new things with recipes & what I have done, I haven't taken the time to take many pictures if any at all.

So since after my last post one of my friends said it would be really interesting to see and hear about the differences between this pregnancy & when I was pregnant with Keegan I think I'll start with that.

There are already so many things that are different. We're really hoping that it means that this is a girl. I knew almost right away with Keegan that I was pregnant. I just felt completely different. This time my only real clue was I felt like I was missing a small portion of my brain. I kept saying the wrong thing & doing stupid things. I was really tired so I just attributed it to that fact. I also was wanting to eat a lot of eggs which is a bit odd in itself since I'm not a huge egg fan but still didn't think anything of it.

After I found out I was pregnant those things made sense but there was still not much different between the two pregnancies. I started craving oranges like crazy & getting little girly vibes here and there. By about 5-6 wks I already couldn't zip up a pair of pants. I thought that it really called for a shopping trip for some new clothes. Now those of you that know me, know that if I want to go clothes shopping there must be something wrong. I wear my clothes until the holes are too bad that they're almost showing in the wrong places. Then I go buy the bare minimum of what I need. I still had maternity clothes that I saved from Keegan, plus I could still fit into a few of my pants anyway!

When I was pregnant with Keegan the first two trimesters were great. I had no real problems. I think my only problem was some indigestion. Once I got to about 5-6 months I started to have a few days here & there where I was just so wore out. Just walking at a slow pace exhausted me & I needed to sit as much as possible. We thought nothing of it at the time. Close to around the same time I start having bad sciatic pain that just seemed to get worse. By the end of my pregnancy I could barely walk. At 37 weeks I went into SVT (Supraventricular tachycardia) where my heart suddenly sped up to 190 bpm and I had to be taken by ambulance to the hospital. They gave me a medication that actually stopped my heart for a second & once it started back up it had slowed down some but it was still fast. For the following two weeks I had someone with me almost all the time, I did not drive, did not do much in fact. I was mostly stuck on the couch because if I did much of anything most days my heart rate would start climbing. Just sitting down it was running around 110-115 and just a short walk would sometimes throw it up to 150 or so. Needless to say the whole thing was kind of scary but I figured I had to pay the price somewhere since most of the rest of the pregnancy was so easy. That was the first time in my life that I did not get sick when everyone around me was getting sick. All in all it was a pretty great pregnancy.

Since I hit about 8 weeks I've started having heart problems. That first week it was 1 day but it was enough to prompt the call to get a cardiology referral to just make sure there's nothing severely wrong. The following week I had another episode. Unfortunately I didn't seem to recover from it as quickly as I did the week before. It kept on or then I'd have a day where I felt great and the next I could hardly walk down the hall. I stayed home sick that first day, dragged myself into work the next & had my first cardiology appointment the following day. I was put off work for a few days but returned to work for 2 days the following week. Unfortunately during the whole time I only had 1 day where I felt good. I was excited that finally I was going to be better just in time to go back to work. Then the next day I was worse again.

Those two days at work were pretty bad. The first day I couldn't even make it halfway to the bathroom before I felt like I was trying to walk up a big hill. I also started having a lot of dizziness and nausea. I felt like I might just pass out a few times & I almost fell a few times. I was monitoring my heart rate and blood pressure so I could try to figure out why I might be feeling the way that I was. My blood pressure was really low, almost too low at times but my heart rate was still kind of high running right around 100 or more. I called my various doctors because I was really concerned about the blood pressure. I got a bit of a the run around by the two people I talked to at 2 of my doctor's offices & left a message at my OB's office. The next day at work was pretty much the same except that I was able to walk a bit farther before I was exhausted.

I was up and down the whole weekend and still extremely dizzy. The next Monday morning I could barely make it to the bathroom so I called in sick again. I made a doctor's apt for the afternoon when my mom could drive me because I just didn't feel safe trying to drive like that. While I was waiting for the afternoon to get there my OB's office called me & told me that the doctor was concerned about what was going on with me. With the ups and downs & the low blood pressure they wanted to make sure I saw a doctor right away and wanted me off at least two weeks to rest. They said they didn't want me returning to work until I was doing a lot better.

When I saw the doctor that afternoon he put me off work for the two weeks but he also discovered I had a double inner ear infection. Aside from the moments of low blood pressure that was what was responsible for the severe dizziness & almost falling. He scheduled a follow up for the next Monday, went over what test results I had so far from the cardiologists office & off I went. The next week was still not so great. I had a few days where I didn't feel too bad at one time or another and by the end of the week most of the dizziness was gone.

That Sunday night I was pretty sure I had a urinary tract infection & it was confirmed at my doctor's appointment the next day. Now this was right before Easter and I was supposed to go back to work the Monday after. Since I still wasn't doing that great I wasn't too sure about if I should go back or not. He told me to let him know & if I still wasn't doing good to call & he'd put me off longer. I spoke to my OB's office later that week and filled them in on what was going on so far. Since one of my cardiology tests had been delayed and I still wasn't doing that great they said I should take another two weeks. Now I'm supposed to go back to work on May 9th. The hope is that just getting out of the 1st trimester will help. Also there has been the theory ever since I was pregnant with Keegan & had this problem that the hormones from pregnancy were causing an abnormal circuit in my heart to turn on. Well for the first 13 weeks of my pregnancy I was on an extra hormone supplement. Since I stopped taking that last week, we're hoping that might make a difference as well.

I went and saw my doctor again this Monday because even though I was taking the antibiotics last week to clear up my latest infection I started getting sick. Usually when I get a cough, congestion & fever I end up with pneumonia so I wasn't taking any chances. My lungs were clear but he sent me to the lab for some tests just to be sure. They called me yesterday to let me know the lab work all came out fine. For now it just appears to be a cold virus & hopefully it goes away soon.

Seriously though, not only is there the heart garbage going on but this is the 3rd week in a row that I've gotten sick with something. Major difference from when I was pregnant with Keegan.

The girly vibes have been growing more and more & Saturday morning I talked my mom into taking me shopping for a dress. I didn't end up buying a dress but I got 3 skirts and some tops as well as some matching jewelry. Everyone thinks the world must be coming to an end because I think I may have worn a skirt once since I got married but other than that the last time I wore a skirt or a dress was my wedding day. While we were shopping I said "Oh my god! That's sooo cute!" a lot which scares me. Thankfully Saturday I felt pretty good because it was a busy day but I seem to have paid for it the next day. It was a good thing I didn't need to do much on Easter except sit around because I couldn't manage much more than that.

Over all I'm starting to feel better, it's just still very frustrating to have such a hard time doing simple things that I used to do with no problem. I've spent time in my wheelchair again recently which is a bit depressing but at least I own it now and have it available when I do need it.

My craving for oranges has faded but now I'm craving fish all the time. I don't really like fish all that much but thanks to an amazing store that opened in Turlock called It's Gluten Free, I have been able to feed that craving. They have some great gluten free fish sticks there and I think in the last 2 weeks I've gone through several boxes. Now I've got them ordering me a whole case.

It's just so odd & interesting looking at the differences between the two pregnancies. I think the only things I craved when I was pregnant with Keegan was like mexican food, WeinerSchnitzel and bacon. This pregnancy I've had 3 major things, 2 being things I don't really even like that much.

So for now we'll just have to wait & see what happens next & if the theory that this is a girl is correct or not. I have an apt May 14th at Womb With a View to find out. I also haven't actually seen my OB since the beginning of this whole heart fiasco started but I go for another check up with him next week. Hopefully as long as nothing crazy happens I'll actually get to go back to work on the 9th as planned. There's only so much sitting around at home I can stand. It's pretty boring. Thankfully Facebook & my TV make it bearable but I can't wait until 5pm each day because I get lonely. Ugh so anyway here's to positive thoughts of me back to normal or close to it by the 9th and for this being a girl!

Maybe next week before I'll get together the recipes for the few things I did try over the last few weeks & get some new things posted up here. In the meantime if you're looking for good gluten free recipes check out my favorite website www.glutenfreely.com