Each day is a little better

This recovery is pretty slow, but all my sickness symptoms have gone, just leaving me with painful lung-lining. I think what has happened is that when you are pregnant, hormones race around and loosen up ligaments and things so that expansion can take place without much effort. While I was sick and had absolutely violent coughing attacks, I think I have over-stretched the ligaments or whatever around my lungs and I just have to wait until they heal properly. Breathing is still difficult and I'm ok as long as I don't exert myself too much. Sleeping is pretty painful though and I wake up feeling like I've been steam-rolled. But during the day I'm ok and I've even been at work today with no major problems. And I'm back to pre-pregnancy weight now - I've eaten a kilo of protein powder and put on 4kg in a week - that's some pretty fast weight gain! It's all gone to my bulging tummy and I definitely look pregnant now :)

And, no morning sickness for over a week! Hooray!

Preston's been reasonably good - he had fun at swimming today with all sorts of new tasks to do, like lying back and pushing off from the wall with his feet, jumping in and swimming around dan and back to the side, and the usual running/jumping/diving fun. Summer time at the pools and beach will be really fun this year! (Except i'll be so pregnant and uncomfortable).

I've just finished my last assignment for my Food Allergies Diploma and I think I have to do an exam and then I'll be done :)

Preston at his computer and with Clifford

Here is Preston at his computer playing games. He's going to be programming before he goes to school!

And here is Preston meeting his buddy Clifford the Big Red Dog (from the stories and TV shows) at the mall. He was so excited to meet Clifford and kept saying things like "Clifford, follow me!" and "Go down the stairs Clifford!" It was very cute.


I'm also feeling much better now - thank you to everyone who has sent me messages of concern. All my sickness symptoms are gone, apart from what feels like a painful diaphragm and I think I may have pleurisy which is an inflammation of the casing around the lungs. Seems time and pain relief is all that can be done until I'm better, but each day is much better so hopefully it wont be long now. Yesterday Preston and I had a really nice day together - we went to Sylvia Park and did some shopping, had a picnic morning tea, played in a few places and had pancakes and a fluffy for lunch. Then after his sleep we enjoyed the sunshine and blew bubbles and decorated the patio with chalk drawings. So things are much better!

On my way to being all better

Things are getting better now - i've put on 3kg in the last 3 days! Yay for no throwing up for 3 days, and also my 3x daily protein drinks with almost capacity powder to water ratio are really helping. My tummy has grown back and I can feel some kicking now which is good.

Preston is very clever these days so I thought I'd write about his latest things. He is extremely computer literate and knows the difference between using the mouse and using the arrow keys for directions in games. He plays lots of online games by himself at www.playhousedisney.com which are games of all his favourite tv shows on the Playhouse Disney channel (the one with no ads, so really good!!) He understands all the instructions by himself and gets through all the games and their varying difficulty levels - it's very impressive to watch. He also likes typing his name and knows how to correct any mistakes! And his current favourite bedtime activity is taking Dan's DS to bed and he gets out the little stylus and plays his game until he falls asleep.

getting a little better today

I haven't thrown up in two days, and i've been having protein shakes 3 times daily containing pretty much maximum powder:water ratio that still remains in a drinkable consistency. I've had nearly half a kilo of protein powder in the last few days! This morning I was very pleased to see I had put on 1.5kg since yesterday, and the way I've been eating and not being sick today, I'm sure tomorrow I'll have some more weight added.

I've been feeling a lot better today, although this cough I have is just so bad and my ribs are aching. Coped much better with Preston today as well because I had a bit more energy.

The results for my tests came in the mail today in an envelope stamped Private & Confidential all over it - the privacy rules are just ridiculous - I wish they'd just given them to me yesterday. So to spite them I opened the envelope in front of Dan and Preston (who are just as entitled to see them as I am, duh!!), and of course everything is fine. Karyotype is 46XY (you can figure out for yourself if that's male or female) with no abnormalities detected. If anyone knows much about chromosomes, let me know as I have the codes for the particular chromosomes with what I think is placement of the centromere perhaps.

Well I had better down my next protein drink before bed. Luckily they actually taste nice!

not having a very good time

I've had a really rought couple of weeks. We had a brownie sleepover and some girls came with germs which then combined to make a supergerm which knocked out a number of girls including me. I had only just had my procedure done so was probably more susceptible to infection. I can honestly say that I have never been this sick in my life and have had no appetite for about 10 days, no energy, i have a terrible cough that keeps me from sleeping (I even slept sitting up on the couch one night which helped a little bit) and doing pretty much anything - every time i cough i feel my uterus get crunched, and i still have morning sickness! I usually throw up in the morning, and then again once i've spent about an hour eating dinner. What a waste! I've ended up losing 4kg which probably makes me technically anorexic now, and i have no fat on my hips, legs, face, stomach anymore. My hips are extremely painful as I can only sleep in one position (to minimise coughing) and there is no cushioning anymore. I am just a bag of skin and bones! Things are very bad.

Poor Preston has taken the brunt of my lack of energy and lack of interest in parenting. I've spent days and days just yelling at him and wanting him to get out of my way and leave me alone. He has been particularly naughty but it's probably mostly my fault as I have had absolutely no desire to play with him or do anything at all for him. I've desperately needed family help at times when i've wished i wasn't a parent, but our Auckland family are unreliable/disinterested which is very frustrating.

I thought the pregnancy was all over the other day when after a week of violent coughing i had a few days of spotting, indicating potential miscarriage. Luckily when I went to the midwife today I heard the heartbeat so it's managed to pull through. I've been able to eat for the last 2-3 days and i'm downing protein drinks 3 times a day in a desperate attempt to put some weight back on. And i haven't thrown up my dinner for the last 2 nights so hopefully i'm getting back on track.

Still no final results for my chromosome test - seems like there is a lot of unnecessary red tape surrounding privacy and even though i've given consent, they can't be faxed to me or my midwife - they are finally being posted to me... that's not very secure either. What a waste of time.

Results are in!

Oops I've been so busy emailing and phoning people with the results, I've forgotten to blog them. The preliminary results came back fine! From what I understand, the placental cells are tested directly for about 8-10 known chromosomal problems (which is about 98% of the full results), so we know there is no obvious problem. The full results will pick up anything additional that would be an unusual problem, but we are confident that since the baby's structure is fine that there are no actual problems.

AND.... we know the gender! I know some people (stupidly!!!) don't want to know, so I won't post it here but if you want to know, just message me and I'll tell you.

And for those of you thinking of getting pregnant at some point, just remember that the test I had is standard procedure for all pregnancies once you are 35+ as your risk of chromosomal problems escalates the older you are.

So we are very relieved and can now get on with enjoying the pregnancy. I've managed 5 days in a row with no morning sickness, although that was broken a couple of days ago so I'm hoping it's just about over now.

Just had my uterus stabbed!

Yep, had my Chorion Villus Sampling (CVS) test today which involves using ultrasound to guide a needle through my abdomen, uterus and into the placenta where it digs around to loosen up some villi and then sucks them out to send away for testing. It was the weirdest procedure. Mostly painless, but felt pretty strange, and seeing it on a screen was also interesting. The baby jumped when the anaesthetic went in and didn't seem to like what was going on, but I didn't like it much either.

Good news though - results are faster than I expected and we get some preliminary results on Monday and then full results in 10 days or so.

Also the baby's good structural development and hand movement co-ordination ability makes it less likely that anything is wrong.

Will post results when they are available.

Appointment's set

Finally got an appointment after much mucking around from the inefficient hospital who after 2 days of sitting on my request, can't fit me in until NEXT wednesday! I insisted my midwife find somewhere else and I've now got an appointment this Thursday at Fertility Associates, yay!

To help me calm and relax and destress, I've booked in a two hour session at the beauty clinic tomorrow.

Hopefully the results will be speedy.

Waiting, waiting...

We are currently waiting for news of an appointment to have a chromosome test. It is pretty hard just waiting and trying not to worry. I was hoping to have an appointment today, but it doesn't look like that will happen, grrrr. The more reading I do, the more hopeful I get about a positive outcome, and then I read some convincing studies that make me more depressed.

Preston has had a fun weekend - yesterday he and I went on a shopping/lunch/playground trip to the mall and we had a nice time. I bought him a new pyjama suit, and this morning when he woke up the first thing he did was run into our room and say "Daddy, check out my cool new pyjamas! Mummy bought it at the clothes shop". We also made popcorn yesterday in a popcorn machine, and he exclaimed 'this is the most fun thing ever!'.

12 week scan

Here is our baby at 12 weeks! It is just as squirmy and active as Preston, so I'm sure that's a good sign. We got to see everything in a lot of details - fingers, toes, brain, spine, beating heart, internal organs, all sorts. It was really exciting seeing the baby at last and knowing that I'm not just making up my pregnancy!


Here's a top down view showing the hands (and a bit of a foot).

Everything looks great structurally, but I had an abnormal nuchal test (which calculates risk for certain chromosomal problems) so I have to have another test where they take a piece of placenta to actually check the chromosomes. Results in about 3 weeks. Hopefully all is ok though. Will keep you posted when I know anything.