Wednesday, January 20, 2010

11 Weeks Along

A lot has happened since I last blogged so I will use bullet points to update:

  • Chiropractor: Evening of first visit = blissful pain-free sleep. Next day at bed time I started getting sciatic nerve pain radiating ALL the way down my left leg after I did the floor exercises my chiropractor instructed me to do. As I lay in bed I was in so much pain it was almost impossible to sleep. I still don't want to take anything, so no Tylenol. After a couple fitful hours of tossing and turning a heating pad finally helped me get some rest. The next morning I went back to the Chiro and told him about my pain. He did an adjustment, and as I walked to my car I felt even worse. Decided that maybe it was these visits that were aggravating (NOT helping) my lower back pain. Chiro = Not not for me right now! I need a new plan!

  • Yoga!! I went to a Beginners Plus class with a good friend last Friday and felt fantastic after the class and ever since. I go back tonight to a prenatal yoga class. I'm hoping that I continue to feel better as a result of this type of stretching, strength building, breathing and inner focus. Yoga = Good so far!! Hope this is the answer to my lower back discomfort!


  • Pregnancy Symptoms: Other than the back pain I have been feeling pretty great. No sickness at all, my energy is returning, and I've had a good appetite! Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and cant stop thinking about Cheerios so I end up heading down to the kitchen to eat a bowl or two of cereal before I can get back to sleep. I have gotten back to walking a lot, which feels good, but my pace has slowed some since I seem to get out of breath pretty easily. Just going up the stairs makes me huff and puff. I've read that its totally normal, but it makes me feel very out of shape. I get a little crampy here and there, sometimes its a sharp feeling when I move too quickly, but nothing too alarming or worrisome. Oh, and my memory....not so sharp these days. Pregnancy brain has totally set in!! :)


  • OB visit: I couldn't wait until Feb. 1oth to see the new OB a friend of mine recommended, so I made an appt with another highly recommended OB group for next week (Jan 28th). I kept the Feb. 10th apt with the first OB too. I will determine which practice I like better and stick with them! If neither of them make me feel completely comfortable I will keep looking. To some I'm sure this may sound a little overboard, but I really want to find a practice who I click with since I never felt a closeness at all with anyone at my IVF clinic. I just want a more personalized type of care. My sister, who's a midwife in Oregon, has suggested that I find a CNM practice and interview with them. I'm considering it. To be honest I'm feeling very overwhelmed about choosing my next provider. Since this is my first baby I have no idea what to really expect, therefor I'm not sure what I really want. Do I want to try an all natural birth with no interventions? Maybe a water birth? Or will it be far more painful and awful that I could possibly anticipate so will I want an epidural and all the drugs they can give me to make it easier? Will I need to be induced? Would that really be necessary? Will I ultimately need a C-section? Obviously I don't know the answers to ANY of these questions and I'm sure it may seem WAY TOO EARLY to worry about them. But I kinda feel like they do matter now because all doctors have different protocols about when its appropriate to induce, or do a c-sections, or administer drugs, etc, etc. I And to make things even more confusing for me is that everyone I know who's given birth has their own stories, suggestions and advice. I feel lost in all the information and options and fear that I've lost my own vision of what I want. I haven't even started meeting with the new doctors yet and I'm already feeling exhausted by the process. Part of me wants to just give up and go to the first practice I see. I am so tired from the fight of trying to get pregnant that the idea of fighting for the birth plan I want seems like to much work. Maybe it would be easier to just do whatever my doctor tells me to do. As long as my baby is healthy then I'll be happy, right? Maybe not? Maybe I'll regret not choosing one thing over an other! Ugh! Why is this so frustrating for me, and why do I feel like I'm the only one who feels this way? AHH! (Sorry for all the venting, it helped to get it out. Hopefully the first doc I see makes me feel really at ease and I can stop feeling anxious about the birth that is still 6.5 months away. Perhaps its just the fact that I've been released from my IVF doc and haven't yet found a new OB that has me feeling so vulnerable...who knows! Maybe its all my hormones!)

7 comments:

  1. First of all, happy 11 weeks!! I love watching the baby grow in your little widget. =) I think it's probably a good idea that you avoid the chiropractor for a little while if your pain is increasing. As for the doctor situation, I wish I was more help, but having quads sort of meant the decision was basically narrowed down to 5 practices (the ones with top-notch high risk OBs and NICUs) and we went to one around the corner that a blogger highly recommended. I really do admire your determination to seek out the OB or midwife that will be your perfect fit, and I think you will end up being really happy that you did that when the big day arrives and that person is willing to listen to you and be there for you. Also, if there are any complications you want someone who is going to pay attention and get you help right away. I know it must be frustrating, but hang in there ... maybe one of these next appointments something will just click and you'll know you've found the right one!

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  2. There are a lot of decisions, aren't there? I kinda just want to sit back and enjoy but there is work to do and you have your head in the right place. Hopefully you'll connect with one of the practices you'll be seeing over the next couple weeks. Other than that i am of no use at all - this is all new to me to as you know. But isn't it fun???

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  3. Yours is the only opinion that matters... While you do yoga or drift off to sleep or walk with the dogs, tune into the inner voice that tells you how to move, when to eat; that part of you that knows to get up and eat cherios.. that is your instictual, authentic voice. That is the voice that will steer you toward your known path; that knows exactly what position you need to birth in. There are no absolutes or 'rights' in labor or pregnancy, or life. There is only one path - your path. And most of the time that path in an inner journey that you do travel alone - regardless of which care provider you choose. Practice building faith and trust, do things that make you happy and secure and less self-concious. Choose a care provider who makes you feel that way too. And remember that this pregnancy and birth preparation is really just parent preparation. Birth is one day (or three in my case), but you parent for the rest of your life. All these desicions are just helping you learn how to be a strong, courageous, confident mother. And this is hard work you are doing and you have had more of an uphill than most - but it is pain with a purpose - just like labor pain - you are being shapped into the mother that this baby needs. And there are times when you will feel overwelmed and need help - learn to ask for it. There are times when you will feel strong and charge ahead on your own - trust that too. The only rules to this parenting job is to put one foot in front of the other and keep going, same with labor and same with life. As Pam England says, It hurts, it takes a lot of work - AND YOU CAN DO IT."
    I love you, you can do it!
    Your sister, Augustine

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  4. LOTS of decisions! I have also bounced around OB/GYNs a lot, and finally settled on one I like right before we did IVF. I don't like her nurse but that's ok because I've never even met her- seems like she's mostly just the messenger when it comes to phone calls. Wow, good luck with all these choices! I hope yoga works out fo ryou better than chiro did!

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  5. Yay for 11 weeks. HOw exciting Pricilla! I don't blame you for wanting to wait to see your little bean again! I would do the same thing. I am sure it is all so overwhelming but it will all fall into place!

    Keep up the good incubating work! Quick question-did you have any signs or symptoms during your 2ww and did you have implantation bleeding?

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  6. 11 weeks already!?! That's awesome! I don't blame you for shopping around. It sounds like you are doing what's the best for you and the little one. You have to make sure that you feel comfy and safe. Sry about your chiro experience, but it sounds like the yoga may help out.

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  7. Great Post.....

    I found your site on stumbleupon and read a few of your other posts. Keep up the good work. I just added your RSS feed to my Google News Reader. Looking forward to reading more from you down the road!

    Thanks for sharing....

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