This is my second pregnancy. My daughter is 3 years old now, and was a difficult child, pretty much from the second she was conceived. I had just started a new job, and since my husband is 11 years older than me and he was not really a spring chicken anymore, we decided it was time to start thinking about having a kid. But since I'd just started this new job, I didn't really want to, or expect to get pregnant right away. I figured it would take us about a year or so- especially since we weren't actively trying. I wasn't charting my fertility or sticking thermometers up my vag to try to figure out when I was ovulating. We were just going to try to have fun for a while.
Of course, since the Mother Nature of Babies hates my guts (evidenced further by the Hell my life became during my daughter's first year), we got pregnant right away. On the first shot. So two months into my brand new job, I had to tell them that I was pregnant.
Why did I have to tell them so early? Because I was working in the cardiac rehab department of a hospital, where part of my job was to teach group exercise classes. And my morning sickness, which was more like 24/7 sickness, prevented me from teaching any class that involved moving around. Which was all of the cardio classes.
But I was still excited! There was a baby growing in me! My little bean! That euphoria only showed up every now and then. Because I don't make a good pregnant person. And here's why:
-I became enormous. Partly because I had to stop exercising cold turkey because I was sick all the time, and partly because I had horrible food aversions in the first and second trimester, and the only foods that appealed to me were mashed potatoes with frozen peas mixed in, potato salad, and similar high-carb, high-fat foods that did nothing but contribute to my growing waistline. I gained around 60-70 pounds during this pregnancy.
-I was constantly nauseous. Everywhere I went, I carried with me Goldfish crackers, ginger ale and peppermint gum. During the first three and last three months, if the nausea went away, I got worried. That's how infrequently it happened. I was miserable.
-I developed heart problems. They started with palpitations, then I realized that my resting heart rate was 166 bpm. Since I worked in Cardiac Rehab, we would strap me up to the ecg machine and I saw that I would occasionally go into supraventricular tachycardia. Not a good thing. I was given a Holter monitor to wear for a few days so they could see what my heart was doing, and they determined that I had a tricuspid valve prolapse, which was most likely there before I got pregnant, but was aggravated by the increased blood flow. Great. I was given a prescription for beta blockers to slow down my heart rate, but I refused to take them since I'm a paranoid freak about medications.
-At about 4 months along, I got into a car accident with the Wench from Hell. I was going straight through a light, and she was coming out of a parking lot to my left just before I reached the intersection, and making a right turn onto the street that I was planning to cross. Apparently I got in her way. We pulled over and she apologized, and asked to pay out of pocked instead of getting insurance companies involved. Because I'm not a moron, I got her information anyway but said I'd get an estimate first and give it to her. I also warned her that I was 4 months pregnant (wasn't really showing at this time). I told her I wasn't hurt, and that I had a scheduled appointment coming up in the coming week. I didn't anticipate any problems, but I don't know how easily a fetus is affected so I just wanted to put it out there that I was pregnant.
Turns out her husband is a lawyer and wanted me to sign all sorts of crazy things releasing them of any and all liability after paying for the estimate I gave them. I told them that if I went through their insurance company, I would get a rental. He wouldn't agree to that, and he also wouldn't agree to pay supplemental damages should any be found when they actually start work on the car. It was a mess and I was miserable.
-I did stupid things. I dropped a can of beans into a pan of brownies that were cooling on the counter. That I had made to celebrate a co-worker's birthday. I also dropped the back brace used by medics onto my foot while I was doing the morning checks at work. It fell on my toes and I bled right through my sneaker. I was sent home, since even if I broke the toes, the ER probably wouldn't do x-rays on a pregnant woman, and all they could do for a broken toe was wrap it up anyway. I was in an unbelievable amount of pain. All I could take was extra-strength Tylenol.
The nail on my big toe was cracked, and I'm pretty sure the toe was broken. I eventually lost that nail, so I had to keep it wrapped up for the entire summer. When I went into labor, I kept my socks on even though they got all bloody (sorry, TMI) because I didn't want to have to look at my toe all wrapped up. It did eventually grow back, but it's not quite the same.
-My daughter felt the need to lay on my ureter constantly, which causes immense pain in my side/abdomen. I couldn't stand up straight when she did that. And she did that a lot. She also kicked me a lot. Hard.
Her first year was not much better than the pregnancy. She had horrible acid reflux. She was on medication from about 2 days old until about 9 months old. She screamed constantly, refused to breast feed, and would ONLY sleep face down on our chests. Which meant that someone had to be up with her constantly. And since she only slept for about an hour or two at a time, we were useless those first few months. She got better as she got older, but she was a very difficult, LOUD child. And still is sometimes.
But despite all that, we decided to have another. So here I am, at about 9 weeks pregnant, starting to feel the wonderfulness that comes with being pregnant. The morning sickness, the constant bloat, the fatigue and lethargy. And I would, more than anything, like to share it all with you!
Welcome to my world!
I hope this pregnancy is better then the last! I also have runs of SVT-and I'm also not treating it! LOL
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