Spite's having a field day

I should never have said that I had the vomiting under control. Less than half an hour after posting, spite decided to have some fun with me. Every single last bite of my raisin bran breakfast decided to make an encore performance. You'd think I'd know what was happening by now, but no. I was ignorant of the signs. Just thought I was feeling extra nauseous. Barely made it to the bathroom in time... but of course the toilet seat was down (to keep the little furry one from treating it like a waterpark,)so there was much pukage in the sink. (I'm sure you all wanted to hear that.) Well it gave me that added push to scrub the bathroom. It's cleaner now than before.

Just a note to self. Do not tempt fate. It is mean and spiteful with a bad sense of humor. Definitely going to the doctor's tomorrow morning.

Lactose, Cholesterol, Gluten free, non-dairy alternative to ice-cream...

Lactose, Cholesterol, Gluten free, non-dairy alternative to ice-cream... these are NOT words a pregnant woman wants to see at 2am when she's raiding the freezer for something to make the overwhelming hunger/heartburn of death go away. It's my own fault really. My attention span in the grocery store is so limited these days. I just want out. The look and smell of everything in there makes my belly flop, so when I decided that I needed some neapolitan ice cream for emergencies such as this I wasn't paying much attention. It's not even OKAY like frozen yogurt. It tasted of freezer burn even though I'd just opened it, overall opinion: horrible and not a good surprise.

I may be headed over to the doctor's this week to inquire about medication. I've done a lot of research and it sounds like there's at least 2 or 3 drugs out there that I'd be willing to consider, specially now that I'll be at 8 weeks. All the essential forming of baby organs is complete, they just need to grow now. :) But getting through the day is more than a challenge and I've got my brother-in-law's wedding in 2 weeks and I don't fancy being green in all the photos.

I've been pretty good about not actually vomiting recently. (Don't get me wrong I still WANT to- all of the time) but I've managed to get a handle on it and most of the time I don't HAVE to puke. So at least I know the vitamins are staying down. I've been sleeping for about 12 hours a night so at least that cuts down on some of the sick time. I've been lucky enough that the nausea doesn't wake me up (at least most of the time!)

HOSPITAL

Ahh yes, I'd completely forgot. Well maybe not so much forgotten but was just to ill to mention. We had the tour of the hospital and it's NOT the dungeon I was worried it would be! It has been recently re-done and everything is shiny, new and clean. The maternity hospital is not even kind of attached to the normal hospital so I don't even have to see sick people to get there. I got to see the labour wards which had cd players, yoga balls, and actual corner tubs with showers! (not for crazy birthing purposes, just for relaxation and cleaning purposes) The normal wards, where they shuffle you and baby off to afterward were definitely British. Four beds to a room but they were clean and not as scary as ones I've seen in the past. Baby stays with you in the room unless there's problem. Visiting hours for husbands is from noon to 9pm and they only chase them away during meal times. I got one picture taken when the midwife who was showing us around was busy with the elevators and distracted. I'll upload it when I find my camera. :)

Issues commenting...

Quite a lot of you have said that it's not letting you comment. I don't know why blogger has to be so fussy about commenting. I thought I'd changed all the settings to let anybody comment.

For starters: To leave a comment, click the link at the bottom of each entry that says COMMENTS. Leave a comment in the box then choose comment as Name/URL fill in the name box and leave the URL box empty then hit Post Comment. That should work. It works for me anyway... if you still have issues commenting definitely send me an email so I can investigate further. I love to hear what you guys have to say!!

I've switched from embedded comments over to pop-up. (When you click on comments it should pop open a new window for you to type in.) Please try leaving a comment on this post, it doesn't have to be anything interesting. I just want to check if it's working for people. Thanks!

"I love the smell of cat food in the morning"

Today has been hard. Woke up a few times last night experiencing the overwhelming quease but at least I was able to get back to sleep both times. When I finally rolled out of bed this afternoon I made sure I ate nothing but a granola bar, some crackers and some water. However, I saw the ginger nut biscuits sitting near by so I thought I'd try one of those as well. I'm not sure but I think the cookie was the tipping point. Less than half an hour later I'm upstairs laying on the floor wishing myself into oblivion. I received oblivion not so much as the fun of vomiting. Whoo! Who knew you could throw up so much water? (I was NOT impressed when it decided to come out of my nose as well.)

In short, eating small amounts all day doesn't work. Acupressure wrist bands don't work. The Morning Well cd doesn't work. Ice water doesn't work. Crackers worked for all of a couple hours yesterday but since this morning, have joined the opposing team. The smell of ginger ale has become the enemy. And ginger nut biscuits just cause heart burn.

I think my poor kitten is going to have to suffer with me for a little while. The smell of her wet cat food is enough to make me double over so for at least the next 6 weeks she's going all dry food all the time. (I don't think she's going to be happy.) If she's nice enough to Mark maybe he'll feed her a little wet while I'm upstairs and can't smell it. (They'll have to make sure the bowl is clean before I come back downstairs though if they don't want to deal with the nausea queen.)

I had some toast and milk a little while ago and while it seems to be staying down... I don't feel at all well. Hopefully I can fall asleep soon and it'll all be over again for another 10 or 11 hours.

6 Weeks!

Officially at 6 weeks today... which at this moment in time means only one thing to me, 6 more weeks of morning sickness!

Today hasn't been as bad as the past week, but I'm still completely good for nothing! I can't manage much of anything before the urge to curl into a ball to keep my stomach from turning inside out hits! I've ordered some sea bands (those little wrist bracelet deals that push on your pressure points) and I'm hoping they'll arrive in the next day or so. I'm hoping that with a little positive brain power that they'll work for me! Also, a lovely girl from the babycentre.co.uk boards has mailed me a copy of her Morning Well cd. Morning Well. At this point I'm willing to give anything a go!

If they prove unsuccessful then I'll call the midwife and beg for some help.


Foods we know are on my no fly list now:
Chicago Town Oven Rise Pizza
Orange Juice
Bean Burgers
Spaghetti Sauce

(eugh!! my jowls feel green just writing them down!!)

"It isn't easy being green"

Oh Kermit, such wise words. It's official, the morning/afternoon/all day sickness has started! It's a strange feeling, being so excited about something that makes you feel so awful. Everything I've read has said that women who experience morning sickness are less likely to have a miscarriage because the high levels of pregnancy sustaining hormones are the likeliest culprits behind the nausea. So it's really a good thing.

So now I'm tired, sore, nauseous and dreaming of hamburgers. *laughs* It's wonderful. :)

Hospital sent me an appointment for my first ultrasound, or "scan" and the brits refer to it. Tuesday July 28th at 9:30. If the little meatball holds together till then we'll be at 12 weeks.

Going to try to get to the gym tonight... if I don't fall asleep before we get there that is!

When Pigs Fly!

Basically my sentiment as to whether I'd ever be willing to give birth in a British Hospital... but with the economy being stupid we decided to stop waiting for the next part of ours lives to start and just take the jump. However, that means I'm faced with the dreaded prospect of using a British hospital. I was briefly okay for a day or two... The midwife made an appointment for us to tour the local hospital where she wants me to be booked in at, then 2 days later my mother-in-law's eyes go wide and she tells me I should probably cancel the appointment. Why? This is why: Baby fights for life as swine flu cases rise

This is the hospital the crazy midwife wants me to visit... the maternity unit I'm supposed to visit... the doctors I'm supposed to meet?? When Pigs FLY! Maybe they'll have gotten things under control by the 24th, I don't know. But I'm definitely calling the midwife and asking if this is a smart course of action. (Why do all the swine flu cases in Scotland have to be sent to the same hospital they want to send me to??)

Feeling really tired today but no other symptoms.

Edging into the 5th Week

Only a couple more days till it's officially 5 weeks and other than the super sore chest and the incredible urge to sleep, I haven't had any other symptoms. Let's hope the morning sickness waits as long as possible before nudging its way into rotation!

I've been ogling nursery furnishings with my Mom via skype this evening. So many pretty things. Man, I'm going to be broke! However, Mom has informed me that instead of a bassinet we slept in a cozied up laundry basket and that she used old diaper boxes as drawers for the baby clothes. *laughs*

I'm still kinda worried about the concept of a British hospital and the idea that they're keen to have me standing up to have the baby!! but I guess I have 8 months to get my head around things and write this mythical "birth plan" that everyone speaks of. Am I allowed to write... "I would like to fall asleep and wake up when my lovely little baby has been born." Because if I could choose a plan, that sounds like a good one to me!

My eyes are getting heavy again so it may be time for another nap. :)

Meeting the Midwife

I had my first appointment with the midwife today. It's a good thing Mark didn't try to take time off work because she was running almost 40 minutes late. Her name is Irene McClure but she said someone named Mackenzie normally runs the clinic so it might not be her I see next time.

These appointments are obviously geared towards someone who doesn't know the first thing about anything, at least she wasn't too demeaning when she realized I knew a thing or two.

She did seem slightly unimpressed when I told her I was worried about the state of British hospitals. I think she was hoping I'd be willing to have the baby at the Rankin Maternity Unit in Inverclyde... but they don't even have a doctor on staff there! (So that was an emphatic no from me.) She says that Paisley has recently been upgraded so I shouldn't be worried, but I had her book us in for a tour of the hospital anyway. Tour is on June 24th. I'll definitely be taking pictures. They'll just have deal with it! The only real plus I saw for Paisley as compared to the other Glasgow hospitals that is that while Paisley has about 3000 births per year the Southern General has more like 6000. (She compared it to a production line.) I do wonder whether more women go to those hospitals because they're BETTER hospitals in some way. I guess I have 8 months to investigate! Oh there was one other plus: You get 2 scans if you go to Royal Alexandria Hospital - Paisley(RAH from here on out) compared to only one at the Glasgow hospitals, and you know us. We're all for finding out if this little meatball is a boy or girl!

I have a few books and multiple booklets now. There's a folder with all my information in that I'm supposed to take everywhere with me... I think I may wait until I'm at least a few months before I start worrying about attaching it to myself! :)

The only thing medical they did was to take my blood pressure and it's a normal 118/78.

I'd like your opinion though. Irene told me not to eat peanuts or peanut butter. A few years ago the Department of Health was saying not to eat peanuts when pregnant because peanut allergies may be triggered when tiny amounts of peanut protein cross the placenta, however recently the FSA has recommended that the DOH change its advice because there is not enough evidence showing that avoiding peanuts will affect your child's chances of becoming allergic to nuts. What do you think?? Did you avoid peanuts? Should I avoid peanuts? I don't have any food allergies at the moment.

A jounrney of a thousand miles...

Starts with one Tiny Step!

Welcome to Tiny Step. :) We just found out today that we are actually pregnant! (Well mostly just me, there would be cause for concern if Mark was pregnant too. But he's definitely on board for the wild and wacky ride that will take us from 27 year old kids to parents.)

I thought I might be for a few days but I was just getting faint lines, today I got a loud and clear PREGNANT from the "most sophisticated piece of technology you'll ever pee on."

Wish us luck!