May 2, 2012 So I’m out of my funk. Yesterday I had my 11 week appointment and things are just trucking along. I went by myself since it was a later appointment and we wouldn’t have been back to Kosy in time to pick up Hill from daycare. So Chip stayed behind since it wasn’t a milestone appointment.
My nausea has been bad but this past weekend I stopped taking my prenatal vitamin to see if maybe that was the culprit. I did feel a little better but then Monday morning it was like my body knew I had to hit the grind and I became puke-ish again. Dr. North got onto me about being a bad medicine taker. You have to understand though Dr. North getting onto you is like your sweet sweet grandmother asking you to turn down the tv a little bit because it’s too loud. He’s not mad, but you just don’t want to disappoint. Having to take folic acid 4 times a day on top of the prenatal vitamin is just so hard to remember! I have been really really bad about it for a couple weeks. I know….weeks. I really need one of those timers that remind me every 4 hours or something during the day. I guess setting the alarm clock on my cell phone would just be too convenient or something? Anyway, I’m doing the best I can with what I’m dealing with…which is me. I’m dealing with me the flip floppy hormonal vomity lump of me. It’s a rough job. Poor Chip.
Dr. North did a Doppler to hear the heartbeat. I remember it taking a few minutes to find at first when I was pregnant with Hill….it took forever and I cried. I was worried. MY BABY! WHAT’S THE PROBLEM?!! But this time I wasn’t worried. It took a really long time to find the heartbeat and Dr. North kept saying, “It takes a minute. It takes a minute.” I said it was ok, no worries. Honestly I was more worried about how sore I was going to be from him pressing so hard than if the heartbeat was there. I knew it was there, but I have lots of blubber and cellulite to Doppler through to hear a tiny 2cm beings heartbeat. I wasn’t worried. Sure enough it pounded on through the Doppler speaker and came in at 158 bpm. Perfect! Just 4 weeks ago it was 140 bpm this time it was 158 bpm. Right on track.
Other topics of conversation at the appointment were that last week my pharmacist / best friend, JJ, called and said my prenatal had been taken off the shelf. Lord have freaking mercy on my soul, only me right? My brain processed so many scenarios of what could be wrong with my medicine from rat poison to bug parts to causing brain damage to me and my unborn child. So I called the company and gave them the lot number on my current box of medicine and they said that nothing is wrong with my medicine that it was the labeling on the box. They forgot to write an ingredient on the box so they took it off the shelf. Seriously, this is my life.
Ok now to the latest and greatest pregnancy problem of the week. My leg. Sunday night I had two little spots on my right thigh that looked like poison ivy, they were about the size of two quarters side by side. This didn’t really worry me because I get poison ivy just by looking at it. I figured that Katie Lou went exploring outside in the back yard then came back in got in bed with me and being that she sleeps under the covers touched my leg and gave me poison ivy. Problem solved. But then Monday during the day it spread a bit. Looked yuck but whatever. By Monday night it was bad. It was hard, hot, raised, itchy and bumpy with tiny blisters. This was severe. Tuesday morning I showered, put cortisone cream on it and decided it was a larger more evasive scale of my chest rash that had gone away about a week before and not poison ivy. The chest rash lasted about a month and a half and itched like crazy – it went away by itself. By the time I got to Jackson on Tuesday midmorning the rash was an issue. The rash doesn’t go below my knee or into my groin area, just consumes my thigh, mostly the bottom half. It is weird and is a sight to see.
Dr. North said he’s never seen anything like that, but if we were in the 1960’s then he’d say it was German Measles but a) I’m immune to German measles b) he’s never seen German measles in his whole career and c) research shows that between 0-3 people in the U.S. annually actually get German measles. My luck I would be one of the RARE people that got it. I DON’T HAVE IT; I am immune to it just like the majority of the world that got their rubella shot at a young age….but I would be the one to get it. The effects on the baby would be catastrophic, deafness, heart defects, if they even survived then learning disabilities and awful things that I don’t want to think about.
So great, my rare funky painful rash is unknown and has no name. I was thinking maybe I would get to name it since it was my mysterious rash. Some people find stars or species and get to name them after themselves or make up words to call it…I wondered if I’d get to name my unidentified rash. Instead Dr. North coined it the generic “atopical dermatitis” aka “rash on your skin” and it will go away with continual moisturizing. Hey, works for me as long as it actually works! Today is Wednesday and the rash has officially leaked stuff and when I cough my leg throbs. It’s weird. If I start having any “strange” symptoms or high fever then I am to call Dr. North immediately. This is a broad statement because “strange” to me in a general sense is defined as “THIS RASH.” Not too sure symptoms could get any weirder than this thing looks.
I go back to see Dr. North on the 29th (4 weeks.) At that visit we will do the AFP (alpha-fetoprotein) testing which when I tell people we are having to do that they are so confused because their doctor never recommended they do it. Well neither did my doctor the first rodeo, but then my son was born with a craniofacial deformity which throws a flag in development and the fusing together of face, spine, brain, etc. so they are closely monitoring it this pregnancy. Should something come back abnormal then we will do the amniocentesis. I’ve been warned by other medical professionals and friends that there is a high risk of false positives in the AFP testing so not to worry if it comes back abnormal.
The plan is to do the testing at 16 weeks then at 19 weeks come in for a sonogram to see the formation and development of this sweet baby…and of course find out if it is a boy or girl. So these next few visits are biggies and a little unnerving. Please keep us in your prayers and specifically pray for the baby’s development and formation over the next few weeks. If you want to throw in a side bar prayer for the nasty rash on my leg that would be appreciated too, but don’t let it trump the prayers for the baby….ok!
May 10, 2012 I’m feeling a lot better. My good days are outweighing my bad, which is pleasant for everyone. I told one of Chip’s friends that we may need to start a support group for Chip because I have been so mean to him lately. I honestly can’t help it. I am just plain evil and have been taken over by demons. So, I don’t think I need an intervention because the first step is admitting that you have a problem….and I know I’m being ruthlessly mean. Maybe an exorcism would be appropriate?
Today is Thursday, and I’ve been feeling better since probably Sunday. Last Thursday the 3rd I ended up going to see Dr. Carter because my leg rash had me in tears. I felt awful, my bones ached, my entire leg hurt so bad I had to limp and I was throwing myself a big ol pity party which was a sucky pity party because there was no alcohol involved….or HEB sheet cake. (side bar: HEB is a Texas grocery store that makes boombostic chocolate sheet cakes with white icing and has healed many of my life’s problems with simply a fork and my best friend Mere)
Thanks to my friend Neely who is a nurse practitioner that I bombarded coming out of daycare Wednesday evening. I am sure she hates it when people are like (in my biggest redneck accent) “Neely, Hey Neely, I’ve got this rash, will you look at it to see what you think?” (then I hike up my skirt to show her) She said she’d thought it was cellulitis and it started streaking up my leg a bit so I needed to call Dr. Carter in the morning. Of course I went home researched cellulitis and I had already decided I needed to be hospitalized.
The next morning Dr. Carter confirmed it was cellulitis. A mild case. Which if this was a mild case and I was ready for amputation then I could not physically imagine what a “bad case” would be. I asked Dr. Carter if amputation was an option. He said no because I wouldn’t be able to chase 2 kiddos around. I tried to compromise with a peg leg. He didn’t budge. He gave me strong antibiotics to take 3 times a day which give me a headache, but have started the healing process so I guess I’m going to live. Yay for me! Boo for those that I’ve been mean to lately and were hoping that their death wish to me was coming true.
I asked him if I was being dramatic about it and he assured me I was. I love him. I wish I could carry Dr. Carter around in my pocket every day. He keeps me real.
Now days my thigh just looks like a purpleish/pink skin color with ashy white patches. It’s pretty.
And since I'm on a roll with talking about all my ailments and doctor visits I am glad to announce that my cardiologist contacted me and said that I am going to be alright. I have a double heart beat every now and then but most people do. He said he wasn't worried, that my heart is having to pump blood harder because of my being pregnant so that makes my random heartbeat more noticeable to me, but it's really always there. So that's good. I think?
Maybe I won't fall apart before November?!?
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