Pregnancy Induced Colic - Continued

Last night it lasted for 5 HOURS!!! I was awake from 12 - 5! And it still kind of hurts. Last night it ended up getting pretty bad. I was really really uncomfortable and sometimes the pain was so bad it made me cry. What the heck is wrong with me? I called my OB this morning and left a message. His nurse called me back pretty quickly and told me it was probably indigestion and to take maalox or mylanta. She also told me if it happens again tonight to call labor and delivery and see what they say. This is some intense indigestion if that's what it is. I am pretty much uncomfortable ALLLLLLLL day with an increase in discomfort at night. Does indigestion ever stop??

I feel like a total hypochondriac even writing this part, but I am a little concerned that it might be gallstones. It runs in my family.... and they all got it in their 20's. When I looked up gallstone symptoms they pretty much matched what I've been going through, but it did say also that the symptoms mimic indigestion and heartburn. My grandma says it sounds like what hers felt like at the beginning. I would just like to know BEFORE it gets really bad. I'm more of a preventing person than a repairing person. I'm sure doctors hate being asked for tests with the educated opinion of google as a source, but would it be that big of deal to just check my gall bladder just to make sure? If it happens again tonight I will ask labor and delivery and see what they say. I sure hope it just disappears!

Pregnancy Induced Colic

I am writing this post at 1 o'clock in the morning. What? 1 o'clock in the morning? Yes. 1 o'clock in the morning. And this is now the third night in a row that I am up at 1 o'clock in the morning with the same problem: Pregnancy induced colic. That is my medical term for whatever it is I am currently experiencing. For three nights in a row now I have woken up at precisely midnight to use the restroom. Afterwhich, I immediately have pretty intense upper abdominal pain - much like you would have if you had a HUGE gas bubble - no make that 100 HUGE gas bubbles. Yet these gas bubbles won't pop and refuse to be burped out. So I lay there for two hours trying desperately to get comfortable. No position helps, no burping helps, no tums help. It's just sharp pain for two straight hours. Then around 2 it disappears as promptly as it arrived and I can drift off to sleep. Hense the term "colic." An unexplainable pain that arrives at exactly the same time every night, lasts for the same amount of time every night, and that has no known cure. I have pregnancy induced colic. No wonder babies that have colic are so miserable. I want to tear to midsection out!

Unfortunately, my newfound discomfort does not allude me during the day. It's not nearly as severe, but it seems as if my pregnancy went from comfortable and easy to uncomfortable and hard over night. For the past three days I've been bloated beyond imagination. My stomach constantly feels distended and every time I sit I feel like my lungs will be pushed out of my chest, through my throat, and into my mouth. Right now my uterus is only a couple inches above my belly button. I still have 15 weeks of growth left here people! How could I possible already be feeling like the baby's head is in my chest? Laying down or standing only slightly alleviates the issue. It has also worked its way into my back where I feel like I have to permanently arch my back in order to walk around. This is not a good sign for lies ahead. Being the worrier that I am, I wonder if this is a problem, feeling this way suddenly and pretty much constantly. Google has failed me. Bloating and pregnancy are perhaps the two worst words you can put in google search as pretty much EVERY pregnant woman has experienced bloating. If only I could put: "sudden extreme bloating during the day leading to intense gas pain keeping me up at night and pregnancy." Doesn't fly. Oh I hope this is a phase!!

Dear Baby,

Stop scaring mommy! If you're going to allow me to feel you move, then do it consistently. Going days with little to no movement is nerve wracking - even this early. And would you please move up a little higher? I know my uterus goes at least up to my belly button now, you could hang out up there. I'd probably even feel you move better. I mean really, it's a win win situation - I'd feel you move and I wouldn't have to pee all the time. I even bet there is a bit more room for you, what with no hips, or pelvic bones, or bladders in the way. In return I'll tell your brother to lay off on using your current home as target practice for all his kicks, punches, and pushes. I'll even make sure he doesn't use your home as a trampoline. Really we are working on it. It's just that my belly is a really convenient and soft landing spot and he's really into belly buttons right now and has yet to learn how to be soft. Don't worry, we're working on that too. Hopefully by the time you arrive he'll have it down.

Love, mommy

Mark the Stubborn

After much, and I mean MUCH, deliberation (aka exasperated arguing) it is decided that none of the afore mentioned middle names will suffice. It is Elizabeth or her name will be Claire. Those are my options: Claire and I can pick the middle name or Clara and Mark picks Elizabeth. Even with that, he still threatens to call her Claire as a nick name. If he does....grrrrr! I've never met someone so dang set on a name! Just watch, after all this we're going to change our minds at the last second. Well, actually I doubt that. Not with Mark the Stubborn around. The only one he even paused on before saying "NO" was Clara Rose and that was only a brief pause, and he might have been yawning or something. Who knows.

I like Clara Elizabeth, I just thought it was long. I wanted to be able to yell it when she was in trouble. Haha! Tyler John is so easy to say when Tyler's in trouble. I'm sure I'll learn to get my mouth around it. :)

MIDDLE NAME!!!

AHHHH! Picking a middle name for this child is impossible. Well, picking a first name hasn't quite been a picnic either. Mark likes a total of 3 girl names: Jennifer, Elizabeth, and Claire. Thanks for the plethora of options.... I like Claire, but it's too popular right now for my taste so I suggested Clara, which I decided I like better anyway. So now our fight is Claire vs Clara. I've already decided I've won so I refer to her as Clara as much as possible to get it into Mark's head. If he says "Claire" I graciously add the "a" on for him. Don't worry, I fill out the birth certificate. Although, as Mark reminds me, HE gives the blessing. Anyway, I think we'll go with Clara...I just have a motherly instinct about that. However, not as many middle names go as well with Clara as they do with Claire. We did talk about Elaina or Elizabeth, but I've decided those are too long. Seriously, say it all together with Andreasen and you feel like you're talking for an hour. Clara Elaina Andreasen....just writing it takes forever. Clara Elizabeth Andreasen...phew! I think I have a hand cramp. I really like that I can say Tyler John and its nice and short. Clara needs a nice short middle name. So I ventured online. Good ol' Google. So here is what I found and what I think sounds good, or sorta good.

Clara Lynn (but do you think it sounds weird and rhymey with Andreasen??)

Clara Jane (or is that too close to Tyler JOHN? I mean if my kids went by their middle names they could be in a 1950's children's book).

Clara Cristine (or kristine or Christine) That's my middle name, the Cristine one.

Clara Ann or Clara Marie (both middle names are middle names of my sisters)

Clara Rose (or is that too many "r's"?)

So those are my favorite as of now. We'll see what Mark the Picky thinks.

Half way

Yesterday I hit the 20 week mark. Half way! I just hope the second half goes as fast as the first half, which I think it will. Now I know for sure that I have a girl to plan for. Time for PINK! So not much to update. I feel her move on a fairly regular basis - some days more, some days less. On my more days I can feel something at least hourly. On my less days I can go hours before I feel a little pop and then hours again with nothing. I know she's still so small that she has to be in just the right position to get a good solid kick in. I love it though! I love my more days most! Its so reassuring and fun to feel her move. I still look small - no surprise there. My weight gain has been quite minimal as of yet. I'm just waiting for it to start piling on like it did with Tyler around this point. If you know I'm pregnant you can tell, but to random strangers I probably just look like I throw back a few on a regular basis. I'm not in maternity clothes yet or anything. Just wear my belly band and force my regular shirts over my belly. I have started to wear a couple maternity shirts/dresses. Maybe I'll get to posting a picture here soon. And that's about it. I'm hungry, rarely rarely gaggy anymore. I can still move easily and bend over easily. Pretty much I'm in the most comfortable stage of pregnancy and I'm enjoying it!

The Good News!

After 4 days of waiting (which I know really isn't that long - it just felt long to me) I had my appointment. I saw the geneticist first. Why do they do that to pregnant women? I had pretty much been able to stay positive and brave up until I talked to her. Trisomy 18 isn't even hereditary. Its a fluke. Yes, its a genetic defect, but it has nothing to do with family history or what genes have been passed on to me or Mark. She told me what I already knew about choroid plexus cysts and their rarity and what they could mean and yada yada yada. That's what google is for - not some frightening trip to a geneticist. And yet, some how she managed to make my 1% chance of trisomy 18 seem much more common and much more likely, while reassuring me it was unlikely. How do they do that? Pretty much I left her office more afraid then when I came and proceeded to cry in the waiting room while waiting for my ultrasound. People probably thought the worst and all that had happened was a "nice talk" with a geneticist. I glared at pregnant women smiling at their ultrasound pictures. Just you wait til you get to talk with a geneticist!

However, this is when the scary stops and the reassurance and happiness comes in. Luckily I had dried my tears before they called me back, but I think the high risk dr could still sense my anxiety. The first thing he said was, "Just so you know, I think this is a mean way to stress out poor pregnant women for no reason!" AGREED! He continued to tell me that they had only seen one cyst on my baby and cysts in growing fetus's mean pretty much absolutely nothing. They have more fluid floating through their ever growing and developing bodies then they know what to do with and its almost for sure that at some point they develop a "fluid bubble" (aka cyst). It just so happens my baby's appeared during an ultrasound. So they sent me in for a level II ultrasound and scared the pants off me for basically nothing. Yes, the baby could have other problems, but most likely she was fine. I wanted to jump off the bed and hug the man. Why didn't the geneticist say that?

Anyway, he continued with the ultrasound and pointed out everything that he was looking at. He said the heart looked fine, the bowels looked fine, the feet looked fine, and, get this, he said he couldn't even see the cyst! He said it might be there, but it was small and he really wouldn't worry about it. I even saw him write the word "gone" on my medical chart. Yay!! Prayers are answered!! He was really nice and even made sure it was a girl for me since I was still unsure. Don't worry, it's a girl. No doubt about that. So, at the end he told me like any baby there was still a chance something was wrong, but from what he could see she was healthy! He even advised not to get an amnio (I wasn't going to anyway) because the risk of getting one wasn't worth it. Whereas, the geneticist told me it was super safe and only 1% of women have complications (aka miscarriages). I left feeling so much better and so so so so so so so so so grateful!

I do have to say that I felt an overwhelming since of support, love and faith coming from all my family and friends who knew about this little scare. I am so thankful for their thoughts and prayers and especially grateful for a blessing from my husband that gave me a lot of comfort and reassurance. I am thankful for prayers and miracles and blessings!