Thursday, October 30, 2014

I'm a 29 Year-Old Again

Isn't it amazing how far science advances in just a few years?  When I was pregnant with my first I believe I was offered the triple screen blood test to test for chromosome abnormalities.  Then, with my second, third and fourth I had a nuchal translucency scan along with some blood work.  I remember that with Maren, my fourth, I asked my doctor about skipping the NT scan and instead doing what was then one of the new blood tests which are nearly 100% accurate in finding the most common trisomies.  He said that insurance companies were not yet covering those tests and so I opted for the NT scan instead.

This pregnancy is a bit unique in that although I am 43, the embryo I am pregnant with was created when I was 36.  That still puts me into a higher risk category, but not as high as that of a 43 year-old.  This time around, I was offered the MaterniT21 test and was encouraged to have that done rather than the nuchal scan.  Unfortunately, the lab used for the test is not covered by my insurance and although the company offers a very reduced rate in those situations, I decided not to spend the money out of pocket and instead decided on having the "old fashioned" nuchal scan done.  I figured that would allow me another look at the baby, an opportunity to have my cervix measured to help calm my fears about it shortening, and if the results came back that our odds being high of there being something wrong, I could always still have the MaterniT21 test done.

I had the scan done last Monday and, thankfully, everything looked really good.  My doctor called me yesterday with the results of the accompanying blood work and that too came back good.  He said I now fall into the same risk category of a 29 year-old.  It sure feels good to be 29 again, if only for statistical results.

Friday, October 24, 2014

Planning the Old School Way

Despite my extreme exhaustion, or perhaps because of it, I actually feel like I am getting more done.  Part of what has helped I believe is going back to using an old school, paper planner.  Years ago I gave up my paper calendar in favor of having an online one.  I found, however, that it just wasn't really for me.  I'd write things on slips of paper meaning to add them to my electronic calendar later but then would forget, or, I just found adding things on my small phone cumbersome.  So, before school started back up for the kids this year, I added their school and activity schedules into my Cozi calendar (which the husband can also view), but I also ordered a paper planner for myself.


I've really found myself being better about getting things done during the week and meal planning now that I have one place to write down weekly and daily tasks along with at least a dinner plan for each night.  Even at work this has been helpful because I have been using it to map out times of the time to work on some of my bigger projects.  It's like all those articles that tell you to schedule exercise because you'll be more likely to actually exercise (okay, bad example, that has never worked for me with regards to exercising.)  Now that I'm writing everything down I find myself more likely to actually do those things.

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Hello Old Friend

I've been pretty lax in updating, possibly because I've been in bed, sleeping by around 8:30pm each night.  To say that I am worn out is a huge understatement.  Some really good things have been happening though.  I've had two ultrasounds, both showing a little baby measuring a few days ahead and with a strong, beating heart.  I've also been able to find the heart beat a few times using my doppler.  At my first appointment with my OB I had a pap and hpv test which, thankfully, came back negative.  I'm not even really certain I knew how worried I was about facing an abnormal result until I saw the good test results.  I just need to not have a repeat of what happened after I had Maren.  

One thing that was amazing me was my lack of morning sickness.  Not that I haven't been feeling sick, but I wasn't actually getting sick.  What? Given my levels of morning sickness in all but one of my previous pregnancies this has really just been shocking to me.  I've been walking around thinking hey, maybe it's finally my turn to be one of the pregnant ladies who get to say "I never even threw up once."  Yea, I should have known that was NEVER going to happen.  Last night I was up in the  middle of the night with Maren and after taking just a few sips of water I started to feel really sick to my stomach.  It took until right before I was ready to leave for work before I had to make a run for the bathroom.  Then, I managed to go the day at work without getting sick again but once home I found out just what a mistake it was to eat a pickle spear with my lunch.  Yuck, yuck, yuck!

So, in the words of Neil Diamond, "Hello, my friend, hello."  I would say it's nice having you back morning sickness but that's not 100% true.  There is a certain familiarity and comfort in having similar pregnancies but yea, throwing up is no fun.