Friday, October 31, 2008

4- 24 weeks (continued)

Ok, blame pregnancy brain but I probably forgot some of this.
*Again disclaimer : this is what I did, but it may not work for you. You have to listen to your body*

How often I stayed down: I worked on my computer for work while lying down sideways - this kinda hurts my back but it worked for me. I didn't like lifting my computer to put on my lap - even with my laptop desk. I would ask DH to put my laptop on the couch daily so I didn't have to lift it. I would get up to go to the bathroom or to heat up a quick snack, but otherwise I would stay horizonal on one side. If I lied down, I would try to stay that way for 30 min as usually I had to go to the bathroom around that time (then I would change positions - lie on other side). Sometimes I have to go to the bathroom every 20 minutes, so it's a lot of getting up. I'm not sure if I lied down more than I should for modified bedrest, but I probably was leaning more towards strict bedrest.

Sneezing: Did I mention this last time? I tried to sneeze lying down as sneezing and coughing puts pressure on the cervix.

My drs: My peri said don't do bedrest and my obgyn said do very little but don't do bedrest. I think I might have mentioned this on the other post, not sure. Both drs never agreed on how conservative to be. My peri is not conservative.

Doppler: I wish I had one sometimes. I didn't want to get one because when my water broke last time, my baby's heart was still beating. Before I started getting regular kicks, I think having a doppler would have put my mind at ease. Even after getting regular kicks, there were times when I didn't have kicks and I worried.

Pelvic pain: I forgot to mention that I had pelvic pain around 20 - 23 weeks. My dr had no idea what it was. The nurse at my peri's office said that sometimes when things get loose down there you hear a lot of popping. It may be my age, but what she described is what I get - popping sound when I get up plus pain really low. She said it was like a turkey bone stretching out and popping. Mine was not sciatic pain, it was more pain related to this. What I did to fix this?: I slept with a pillow between my legs and still do. I find this pain is much better but I had some tough days where it hurt to walk between 21 and 23 weeks. It could have been the baby pushing down too, as I was told a week later that the baby was head down. But my cervical length was fine during this time, it is just that I felt the baby more down in my pelvis. Here's a link to kinda what I was feeling.
http://www.plus-size-pregnancy.org/pubicpain.htm
I'm not sure this is the best website, but what I had was a pelvic pain and not sciatic.

Next wed or thurs. I'll have my 24-28 week update on what I did. Thanks for reading my blog, if you do. :)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

jgirl,
I have been following your progress - I am Lucia on the IC board. We have similar loss experiences (I lost my baby at 16 weeks 2 days because of an infection) and I find your success very encouraging.

I always like your posts, but I had to respond to this one because I also love zombie movies! And I've been watching a lot of horror movies on AMC in the days before Halloween. I don't know anyone else who likes these movies...

Happy Belated Halloween

Lucia

J said...

Lucia, glad you follow my blog. Sometimes I don't think anyone reads it and maybe I should discontinue it. :)
I really wonder if my infection causes IC or the other way around. A lot of girls on the board don't suffer from infection. I've had some this time and had they come earlier-I think I would not have made it this far.
Glad to see there is a fellow scary movie watcher. My husband likes them too, but I hate watching with him as he mutes the tv to avoid the bad parts or sometimes fast forwards. Boo! I like to see the scary parts - he is so chicken. ha!
I hope I can give you some hope that you can do it. I think having the cerclage WITH ANTIBIOTICS helped me to stay infection free for at least 12 weeks after cerclage surgery. You can try again and do it!! I'm so scared everyday and I haven't bought much for the baby.
Happy Belated Halloween! Boo, I want more scary movies on tv.

Anonymous said...

I have the same question about my infection -- but my case was not clear. My doctor says that my cervix opens easily and is MOST LIKELY the cause of my loss. I wish we could be more certain. I just had a second loss in early Oct and hope they can provide us with more info after testing. We'll see...

Also -- when I was on bedrest I bought a laptop stand that you can use while lying down. I also worked on bedrest -- twice. I didn't have it the first time and had lots of aches and pains from using my laptop. I had it the second time and it was one of those little things that made it bearable. I think the brand is laidback laptop -- I learned about it from the IC board.

Hang in there - and for what it is worth, I'm sending you positive vibes.

Anonymous said...

oops - that last one was from me - Lucia