Just Trying To Do The Right Thing

So let me just rant about my vet right now. All I want to do is keep my dog healthy, which to my knowledge has always meant giving him monthly heartworm medicine. I placed an order on 1800PetMeds since he's not due for an actual heartworm test. They responded quickly saying that my vet will not release the prescription to them, the I need to call the vet and have them fax it or mail it. "Some offices require you to pick up a copy of the prescription. If this is the case you should request that it be ready for you when you arrive and you may mail it to us."

I called the vet and asked them to mail it to me since it's pretty inconvenient for me to go there unless I actually need to take my dog in. Thus the use of the online pharmacy. They said sure, no problem.

Two weeks went by and I didn't get anything in the mail. I called and explained the situation. "Sure, let me put you on hold while I get the girl who takes care of that." la la la la "Um actually she's not here. Let me get your phone number and she'll call you back when she gets back." Right. End of the day and, surprise, no phone call.

The NEXT DAY Brian got the mail and there was an envelope from the vet with the script in it. Conveniently postmarked the day before when apparently the girl who does that wasn't there.

All this to find out that you actually don't need to routinely give heartworm medicine in Southern California because we don't really have mosquitoes. Ha.

Pass The Tylenol Please

This pain in my side is killing me. I've had this nagging discomfort for over two weeks in the same spot on my right side. I blew it off because pregnancy is just uncomfortable. But then it turned into pain. After two days Brian finally convinced me to call the doctor. She said it was ligament pain. I told her it felt like a kidney stone. She told me to drink more water and take tylenol.

Unfortunately there is nothing you can do for a pregnant lady with a kidney stone. All the diagnosis and treatment options involve radiation which is not safe. The only thing left to do is wait until it passes. Ouch.

My doctor did a test to make sure I didn't have a UTI, I didn't, and she checked for blood in my urine. None. That combined with the fact that when I saw her yesterday I happened to be feeling a little better drove her to the decision that it was in fact ligament pain.

Today I am laid up on the couch again struggling to find a position that doesn't make my side hurt and then holding as still as I can because moving makes the pain so much worse. Sorry I thought it was a kidney stone, doctor. I've only had 4 of them and didn't know they feel EXACTLY like ligament pain.

ugh.

What Are The Odds?

I wasn't sure I was going to blog about this. I wasn't really sure we were going tell anyone about the stressful issues we've been having with this pregnancy. We just talked to my dad the other day for the first time about anything that could be wrong. But, as a sort of stress therapy, I feel like I need to just get it all out. Here's what we've been dealing with for the past few months.

On top on my already high risk for preeclampsia and pre-term labor my routine 1st trimester blood work came back abnormal. Specifically, it indicated a 1 in 52 chance of having a baby with downs syndrome. So what do you do with that information? You cry, and you wait, and you get your second trimester blood work done.

It came back with a 1 in 15 risk of downs. That pretty much did it for me. I will have a downs syndrome baby. Or will I? The additional part of my blood work was a relatively new test called Maternity 21. It is a very sensitive test for chromosome abnormalities 13, 18, and 21 (which is downs syndrome) and is only offered to moms that are at risk. That test is supposed to be 99.2% accurate and it came back negative. So on the emotional scale I was all over the place. I was offered an amniocentesis to be 100% sure but I declined it. It's just not worth the 1:400 chance of miscarriage for me to be .8% sure. But I did accept the offer for genetic counseling and a high risk detailed ultrasound at The University of California San Diego.

That appointment was on Thursday. The genetic counselor was very nice and spent an hour going over our family histories and talking to us about risks and odds. She actually recalculated our risk for having a baby with downs syndrome at 1:1,050 since the Mat21 was negative. Wow. I felt so much better. Then we had the ultrasound. Baby girl looks absolutely wonderful... except for one little thing.

The tech left and went to get the doctor who explained to us that our peanut has echogenic bowel. Basically her bowel just showed up really bright in the ultrasound. That's an indicator for downs. But it's also an indicator for a few other things. Maybe she swallowed some blood (harmless) early in the pregnancy. But I didn't have any bleeding. Maybe there was an infection that could cross the placenta, but I was never sick. The genetic counselor came back in and recalculated our risk again. 1:350. They offered me the amnio again for peace of mind. Brian and I just looked at each other and knew it wasn't worth it. No.

The doctor made it clear, to put things into perspective, that if my initial blood work had come back with a 1:350 risk they wouldn't offer any further testing, counseling, or amnio because they don't consider that risk high enough. Ok. I feel a little better. But still scared.

It doesn't matter. We love this little girl already, and so what if she has downs syndrome? But what would have caused the abnormal blood work in the first place? Apparently there are trends that show that when certain hormones are elevated (the ones that were high in my labs) you end up with a greater risk for preeclampsia and preterm labor. Which we knew anyway. I guess we just didn't know how high risk I was.

With all this evidence I will be followed closely at the placenta clinic at UCSD to make sure baby girl is growing and getting enough nutrients and oxygen. At any point my placenta could just stop working and she will stop growing. I could go into preterm labor, my already high blood pressure could get completely out of control and put me on bed rest. So many things could still complicate this pregnancy beyond my control. And we still don't know if she will have downs syndrome or not. At this point I don't even care. I don't care if she has low set ears. I don't care if she is short and maybe walks a little funny. If she is healthy and full term I will gladly take her in my arms and love her no matter what her chromosomes say.

Worth Every Penny

I stumbled across a local event over the weekend and I decided Caleb just HAD to go. Touch A Truck sounded like something he would just die over with fire trucks, police cars, military vehicles, fire trucks, dump trucks, fire trucks, garbage trucks, did I say fire trucks? They also had camo face painting applied by Navy SEALs.

As if seeing the trucks up close wasn't enough he got to climb up in them and honk the horns, press buttons, and crawl all over them. He even figured out how to use the real working loud speaker in the police car. He loved shouting garble to the entire crowd at the event.

What's even better? The whole thing was a fundraiser for neuroblastoma and childhood cancer. I cried like a baby (or like a pregnant woman) while reading the story of the boy, Max, who inspired the annual event. He passed away at age 7 and his parents help put on the fundraiser in his name. That's all I'm going to say or I'm going to cry again but you can read all about Max and Touch a Truck and donate if you wish here. 

Caleb had so much fun and I had so much fun watching his excitement and awe at all the big rigs. Definitely something we will do again next year. 

Tylenol Just Doesn't Cut It

I never used to get headaches. Even when my doctors discovered that I had chronic hypertension I didn't have any of the typical symptoms, including headaches. The past year has been one giant stabbing pain through my cranium. Ouch. Now when ever my blood pressure gets really really high, I get a headache. Once it sent me to  urgent care  with a BP of 180/120. 

Since I've been pregnant I've been getting headaches. Now, my blood pressure isn't exactly perfect but it isn't so high that I should be getting debilitating  pains in my grey matter 3-4 times a week. It seriously puts me down. I don't really know what a true migraine feels like but this might be it.

I hope it's just pregnancy and not a brain tumor. I already have one of those.

Don't Judge Me

My Top Ten Favorite Things Right Now subject to change at any time without notice

1. Unsweetened black tea lemonade from Starbucks. This has always been a summer staple for me but I can't see to get enough of it lately. Literally, every time I get in the car I contemplate where the nearest Starbucks is and if I have time to get one.

2. Fruity, chewy candy. Almost any kind will do but the most satisfying are the Target brand tropical flavored gummy snacks and Swedish Fish.

3. My grey cotton shorts. They are so comfortable and light. I get home from work (in scrubs) and the first thing I want to do is put on those shorts. Ah, so much better.

4. Body pillow. It makes all the difference in the world to support my hips and back while my belly expands by the minute. Even if I think I'm comfortable laying in bed I can't get any quality sleep without that thing next to me and intertwined with all my limbs. Sorry, hubby.

5. Butter flavored popcorn from Starbucks. I know it's not fresh and it comes in a tiny bag. But.It's.Delicious.

6. Watching Caleb play. Seriously, this kid is amazing and I can't get over how much he learns and grows every day. He's the best thing about my life.

7. Honey mustard and Ranch dressing. Together. On almost anything.

8. Naps. I can't even explain how good an afternoon nap feels. It doesn't happen often but when it does I am like a whole new person.

9. Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal. I don't care if it's 70% sugar. It's my guilty pleasure.

10. Minesweeper. Yes, the old school computer game. I play on my phone and it's ridiculously addicting.