Mama Bear Is Ready to Rumble

As you may recall, I am at a high risk of getting ICP, aka cholestasis, again, since I got it last time (leading to early delivery for the safety of all 3 of us). At my last appointment I insisted on testing as a baseline.

Well, surprise! My bile acid level (sexy) came back at 11.3. By all reputable sources (Mayo Clinic, Society of Maternal Fetal Medicine, etc.), anything over a 10 should be treated. Anything over 40 is a SEVERE case.

My nurse practitioner was concerned and immediately referred me to the high risk guy. Who I really liked last time I was there. I'm now not so happy with him.

He wants to wait until I'm at 40. And not retest for another month.

ICP literally popped up overnight last time. I'm not waiting a month. I'm not waiting until 40. I will find another doctor who understands how serious ICP can be (hello, life of my baby). Hell, I'll even drive the hour to my old high risk doctor if I have to.

I'm beyond pissed I have to educate my own doctor on what safe levels are and how often I should be retested. He won't even see me? Bullshit.

Mama Bear just woke up and she is not happy.

Visit icpcare.org for more info.

20 Weeks!

My, how time doth fly. 20 weeks today, and finally looking preggo instead of just extra squishy. Maybe I'll brave a bump picture next time.

This is the week we go from measuring crown to rump to crown to toes, so don't let the fact that he's ten inches this week and was six inches last week freak you out. Cyan weighs about 10.5 ounces. He's the size of a paper airplane.

I think we can all agree that I am desperately out of practice making paper airplanes. We shall pretend this never happened.

Four weeks until he could be viable outside the womb, God forbid.

I've gained 2-3 pounds, so the backwards slide seems over. Thank you, avocado and Greek yogurt! No signs of cholestasis yet, so yay! Doctor did test me last week to get baseline numbers, but I don't have those results yet.

And, for fun, here's the size of his hand compared to a full term baby.

Meanwhile, it seems all anyone (women... men are still treating me the same, except my boss, who seems to think I'm going to have this kid earlier and earlier and is now planning on my handing over projects two months before my due date, but I digress) is capable of saying to me at work now is, "How are you feeling?" I'm all of a sudden"Mama" or "Sweetie." It's driving me bonkers. And I'm getting a little short in my replies, or answering with something completely unrelated to being pregnant, or outright avoiding people I once thought were the "safe" ones to talk to. 

Am I a horrible person? Can we talk about the weekend, or my other kids, or your upcoming vacation? Do you really need a daily update on my well being? "Well, my boobs hurt and I have major gas. How about you?"

I'd much rather get into a debate over the Oxford comma or the use if that vs. which.... really.

19 Weeks!

Time is flying! Baby Cyan is roughly 6 inches long (head to rump) and 8.7 ounces. I have my anatomy scan tomorrow where they measure everything and look for any developmental issues. Hoping everything checks out okay.

I'm still waiting for kicks, though I've had a few "was that him?" moments. Soon!!

And I am completely addicted to salt. It doesn't even need to be on anything...

And now I'm going to go eat some Greek yogurt despite not being hungry, because I still haven't gained back anything I lost.

Some Pictures

I've had three ultrasounds so far. Or is it four? In any case, here's what the little bugger looks like, or looked like at 16 weeks. Cutie pie.

I think there's a similarity to Indigo's ultrasound from the same week. What do you think?

Hard to tell, I know. But he doesn't really resemble Periwinkle, right?

I'm 18 weeks now, so probably halfway done, assuming cholestasis gets me again  (90% chance, joy). To refresh your memory, I got crazy itchy at 35 weeks, was tested, and it was found that my liver wasn't working right, and babies were born soon thereafter. It sucked, so I hope I'm in the 10% that gets nothing the second time. Go look up ICP to find out more.

Next week is the big ultrasound where they measure everything, so I'm hoping for some great photos!

As for what color to call him here, I am torn between Garnet, Russet, Cyan, and Saffron. Help!

We're Having Another Fish!

Yup! Because having twins doesn't make life crazy enough, Blue and I decided to go for a third. And almost as soon as deciding that, I got a massive migraine and just KNEW I was growing a baby again.

I must admit, I'd begun to wonder if I was too old, too tired, too past this point in life to go through pregnancy again (which is pretty ridiculous considering I'm newly 33). And while I am still fertile Myrtle, it seems, being preggo is MUCH harder this go around.

Part of that is having two four year olds at home who want mommy to play and craft and be with them. No mid-Sunday naps this time! And part of that is that I am older, and still have various autoimmune issues that are being less forgiving this time.

And part of that is that even before I got that positive test, I had a funny pain in my left leg, below the knee. Which I of course ignored for two weeks. Then I mentioned it to a friend, and did some research, and realized that, holy hell, it's a blood clot!

My friend recommended a fantastic doctor who has taken excellent care of me ever since. And for the past 13 weeks I have given myself twice daily injections of blood thinners. This is not the blissful, easy pregnancy of 2012, my friends. This sucks. This complicates things around delivery (have to switch meds at 35 weeks so I don't, you know, bleed out). This complicates dentist visits. And paper cuts. But I'm dealing with it as best I can, and if it gets me a healthy baby* then so be it.

The fun part is we aren't sure if the pregnancy caused the clot (the timing seems to indicate it did) or if my lupus stuff did.  If the latter, I might be on blood thinners for life. Not cool. Fingers crossed it's just the hormones.

Also worse this time are the headaches (iron seems to be helping), the acne  (nothing is helping), and general lack of interest in food (I lost about 15 pounds, but I seem to be gaining finally).

What makes this go around better than last time is seeing how excited the kids are to have a little sibling, although Periwinkle is still pretty ticked that it's a boy. I'll have more on her and Indigo when I finally write their 4 year old letters. Blogging is harder on your phone...but it seems that it is the only way, what with work's draconian lockdown/stalking of Internet usage, and having no brain power left in the evenings...

Now, to come up with a color for the little guy...

*Yes, it's just one this time.

Adorable feature of my app

Jasper is not his name. Just something that popped in my head when the app asked for a nickname.