On Getting Knocked Up

Check out my Trans VAGINA!  This is how we announced our pregnancy on Facebook (the foetus scans look just like any other foetus scan).  My friend Helen pointed out, it looks kinda like a monster.  Yay!

Firstly I apologise to this blog and its small readership for not posting recently.  I can tell you right now this is directly due to being knocked up and its bearing my ability to work my brain good.  There has been a LOT going on, and much I’d love to have written about had my brain been willing. 

Now that apology is out of the way, I have to say this has been one helluva year.  And as is always the way, the timing for this fantastic occurrence was, interesting. 

As with my last pregnancy my boobs were a fairly good indicator that I was pregnant.  As you will have read in my previous blog, I was ovulating around the time I started having pain and ended up in hospital requiring surgery.  We noticed my boobs had blown up about three days after I got home from hospital.  We confirmed the pregnancy eight days after my last surgery.  So I was pregnant when I had surgery.  Freaky.

So many thoughts travelled through my brain when I found out.  My first thought was ‘Holy crap! That basal thermometer reading stuff actually works!’  The second thought was ‘Yay!  Now I don’t have to stress about trying to get knocked up any more!’ And then I thought ‘Crap!  I can’t drink in Melbourne’ then ‘This could be ectopic, and we won't be able to go to Melbourne.’  And then I worried about the impact of the pregnancy on my body so close to having had surgery.  And having to tell people and them being gooey and me being grossed out by it but it not being polite to make gagging noises when people think they're being nice.  And a bunch of other stuff.

Because of my previous history, the doctor organised for me to have an early scan to catch any possible ectopic early.  Unfortunately, the best time to see things on the scan was going to be when we were already in Melbourne, so we had to organise to have this just before we left. 

The other thing I haven’t been able to post about (cos brain) is that Mum had major surgery the day before we left for Melbourne (this year has been one of just horrible timing).  It was a long awaited surgery to improve a long standing, debilitating problem, but the risks were high, and recovery difficult, so it was scary.  Our scan was booked in the day before Mum’s surgery.  If things went badly at our scan, not only would it mean facing another ectopic, and more surgery, but it would mean not being able to support my mum, or have her support me.  Both Mum and I were very worried about this.  It would also mean no Melbourne trip, which we were really looking forward to after a crazy year.

The day of the scan came.  Because all of my recent scans have been in emergency, I forgot about the horribleness that is having a full bladder and someone press on your stomach.  Here is some advice: if you ever need a full bladder scan, you honestly don’t need to drink the whole litre of water.  I only drank 700mls for this scan, and my bladder was too full (which is bad because you have to let some out).  I drank two glasses for the most recent scan, and that was sweet.  Sitting waiting for a scan is uncomfortable with a full bladder, but kind of good as it's hard to stress about the scan when all you can think about is not pissing yourself.

There were a number of odd things about the scan (the technician seated Murray in an odd place so he could hardly see what was happening) but I didn’t notice at the time.  As soon as I could see my uterus on the screen, I knew things were ok.  Because there was an obvious something in it.  In fact, because of how the yolk sac sits by the embryo, Murray thought there were two somethings in it, so I had to tell him several times it was not twins.  This scan showed I was less pregnant than we thought by 5 days, which was not technically possible (severe pain requiring eventual hospitalisation = no nookie) and made me question the skills of the technician.  Regardless, the pregnancy was not ectopic, which was the most important thing.

The cool thing we learnt in that first scan was that the egg had come from my left side which has no fallopian tube (they can see the burst follicle on the ovary in the scan).  This means that my single fallopian tube is doing double duty, and my chances of getting pregnant are the same each month.  This is awesome.  This means that unless this remaining tube stuffs up, we probably won’t need IVF.  There is nothing at all wrong with IVF, but it is nice to know we won’t need it all the same.

So yay we’re knocked up!  And although I’m not enjoying this whole pregnancy thing, I am glad that we get the chance to make a person.  And mum is recovering from her surgery, and we did get to Melbourne.  I didn't get to do Poverty Week like I planned as I had surgery a week and a half before it started, and I found out I was pregnant three days beforehand, and everything is a mess.  Still feeling guilty.  I will try and blog about these things more soon.  If my brain will let me.

On Family Health

In the last four months three out of four of those in my immediate family have been hospitalised. I feel sorry for my little brother as it’s been as stressful for him as it has been all of us. Mum’s had ongoing gynae issues which have impacted on other areas of her health. She had to go on the sickness benefit, which is really sad as she loves her job. Dad had a minor heart attack last week. He had two stents put in on Wednesday, and will have a third put in in a couple of weeks. He’s a box of birds at the moment. But his dad passed away when he was in his 50’s – Dad’s in his early 50’s now. Mum’s only 51. It does make you think.

And I’ve been in hospital with my latest ectopic and having my fallopian tube removed. I seem to be following mum in the area of bung gynae bits. And, as they pointed out when visiting Dad at hospital, heart health is hereditary, so Jim and I (and our cousins too!) should be careful.

My main concern with the gynae stuff is ending up with internal scarring from multiple surgeries and having complications down the line like mum. I haven’t had nearly as much surgery as Mum, but I had intermittent chronic abdominal pain for a year following my first ectopic which landed me back in hospital twice. Thankfully, after this recent surgery, I have not had the same issue. Everything appears to be healing fine and the pain is only there if I overdo things. All I can do about my gynae health is follow the rules and have faith in our ever evolving health system.*

I never really thought about the possibility of genetic heart problems until I visited Dad in hospital. Granddad Barry (Dad’s Dad) died of a heart attack young, but he didn’t have the healthiest lifestyle. His (Granddad’s) parents lived healthily for a very long time, so I always thought of Granddad’s heart attack as a family anomaly. I’m not too worried about Dad. Catching things early on and putting the stents in means that with a few lifestyle tweaks (quitting smoking, and maybe knowing when to slow down…), he should be right as rain for quite a long time. It does make me consider the health of my own heart though, which is something I never really thought about before. I don’t smoke, I eat pretty healthy, and my cholesterol is now ok (it has been high previously). I should watch my alcohol intake though…

And I have got a little fat recently. With getting pregnant just after Christmas (binge eating season), and then having surgery I’ve put on about three kilos. Pre-Christmas, I was already at a bit more than I like to be, and with this bit extra it means I’m about 6 or 7 kilos over what I’d really like to be. My BMI is a bit over what it should be and means I’m technically overweight. This is something which contributes to heart health, and is something that I can change.

So this week is my first week on a kilojoule counting diet. I’m naughty and doing it without medical guidance (cos I’m a tight arse) – but I am a sensible person who works in the field of food and nutrition so it should be ok. I’ve made Monday my ‘weigh in’ day – today I had my first one. I’m using the local chemist so I can track my weight loss more accurately. If I’m losing more than a kilo a week, I’ll adjust my diet to suit. I’ve set myself a kilojoule range rather than a number to be under as I think it’s healthier and a bit more realistic. I don’t want to be skinny – I’ve been skinny and I don’t think I suit it. I just want to be healthy, feel good and fit into my jeans again.

Focusing on this aspect of my health while I wait to find out what’s happening with the other area is really useful for my mental health. And, if we do have a good result with the scan, I can start my next pregnancy in better health, which will give us a better chance of carrying a healthy baby to term. Accounting for it is also good for my health, as I can get a little obsessive about these things. So I’m going to post a blog about this each Monday. I promise to also post any awesome recipes, tips and tricks I come up with too, to make it less boring if you regularly read my blog.

Monday 5^th March current weight: 62.6 kilos

Ultimate Goal Weight: 56.0 kilos

Weight to go: 6.6 kilos

*Seriously! Mum and I worked out that between us we've had an ectopic in each decade over the last 40 years. It's amazing how things have changed. Her first two they cut her hip to hip, mine were both keyhole and with the second one everything was glued - so no stitches! I think in ten years time it'll be different again.