Pregnancy: Week 15

Saturday January 28, 2017
I took my car to a new mechanic in hopes that I would be treated better than my last mechanic.  I don’t think I mentioned what happened with the last one.

I needed a new part, they had given me a verbal estimate.  I called them and made an appointment.  When I showed up, they asked me for the part.  I had given them no indication that I had the part.  Apparently there are two of that particular part in my car and they didn’t know in advance which one I needed.  I didn’t know which one I needed, they’re the mechanic.  I waited for about hour, was told that I needed a thermostat in addition. I asked how everything would cost. He gave me a number that was significantly higher than I could currently afford, having had to save up the $250 to pay for the one repair.  Then he told me that that repair was $350, which was $100 more than he had quoted me the week before.  Because it was a verbal quote, I had nothing to back me up other than my almost perfect memory for numbers.  I told him I couldn’t afford the repair now, took my keys, and left, resolving to not come back.  The worst part of moving is finding a trustworthy mechanic, so I was very unhappy with the current development.

So anyway, I tried a new place, run by people for whom English was a second language.  I The receptionist, who looked like a high school student, was bi-lingual and translated.  I decided to start by getting an oil change to see if I liked them.  I also got an estimate for the part that I needed.  They estimated that it would cost $160 for that same part that the other place wanted to charge me $250 and later $350 for.  After I left, I checked my oil, which appeared to have been changed.  I also checked the oil filter, which I had marked ahead of time to determine whether or not they had actually changed it.  They had, so at least they were honest in their oil changes.  The oil change had also cost less than anyone else I knew in the area was charging.  I made an appointment to get the part fixed next Saturday.

I spent the rest of the day working on a knitting project that I had been neglecting for too long.

Sunday January 29, 2017
I got really caught up in my knitting project and spent most of the day on the couch watching TV trying to finish it.  I didn’t finish it, but I did spend a long time getting a lot done.

Monday January 30, 2017
I had to stay for two hours after school, helping my principal out with an after school activity that would have only taken one hour.  As such, I got stuck trying to stretch the activity.  Even so, we still had a good 20 minutes at the end where there was nothing to do.  I did not appreciate having to stay and less so that I had to stay longer than I really needed to.  When I got home, I was in a bad mood, but tried very hard to not treat Kyle poorly as a result.  I succeeded, but he still picked up on the fact that I was in a bad mood and he somehow got in a bad mood too.  I decided to take a nap.  I awoke in a better mood and somehow Kyle’s mood had improved as well.  We had a good rest of the night.

Tuesday January 31, 2017
I decided to let a few select coworkers know about my pregnancy.  I just wanted so see how they would react so I gauge what kind of a reaction I would get from other people.  Thankfully, the response was 100% positive and I got nothing but congratulations!

Wednesday February 1, 2017
I started to notice that my whole stomach area looks fatter.  I’d say that I’m “showing”, but it seems like all of my stomach fat is all of a sudden sticking out.  My upper belly is as big as my lower belly and I know that the baby isn’t that big yet!  As a result, I’m starting to look more pregnant than I am!  I talked to my principal about announcing my pregnancy to the rest of the staff.  I don’t really see them for long enough to tell them.  They drop their kids off at my room and practically run away so they can use as much of their planning period as possible.  I wanted to send an email out, but my principal didn’t want to put it in writing.  She told me to announce it at our faculty meeting on Friday.  While it doesn’t seem like it because I teach for a living, I hate public speaking in front of adults and definitely hate to be the center of attention.  I was not happy.  Why couldn’t I have just sent an email!?

Thursday February 2, 2017
I read in books that people who have had prior pregnancies will be able to feel the baby moving as early as 16 weeks, but that people who have not had prior pregnancies may not be able to feel it until the 18th week or later.  I kept wondering if the various pains or the feelings of heaviness I felt in that area of my body were the baby moving.  Apparently, I was supposed to “just know” the difference between the baby and these other feelings, so maybe I wasn’t feeling the baby quite yet!

Friday February 3, 2017
And finally, the day when I have to tell my coworkers about being pregnant.  I dreaded it all day.  Finally, the time came and I just blurted it out.  I got a ton of hugs and congratulations.  I also had a lot of prying questions, so I was worried that someone was going to be a jerk about it when they did the math, but so far, nobody was a problem.  I hoped it would continue.  It was good to get it all out in the open though!

I went over to Rebecca’s house and hung out there with a bunch of friends.  I started to fall asleep, so I left early, but it felt good to hang out.  I wondered how long it had been to hang out with other people in a social way!  I guess currently

Pregnancy Week 14

Saturday January 21, 2017
I had all of these grand plans for today.  I was going to organize stuff.  Get rid of stuff.  Clean stuff.  And I did absolutely nothing.  I laid on the couch all day, watched various episodes of a TV show on Netflix, and napped intermittently.  I felt really bad because I really wanted to feel well enough to accomplish things, but it just didn’t happen today.  I know Kyle is getting frustrated with my lack of ability to help out and I wanted to do something to counter that, but today I just couldn’t.

Sunday January 22, 2017
I’m not sure what quite came over me today.  I awoke feeling nauseous, but it faded.  Kyle and I decided to go ice skating.  I used to ice skate when I was a kid, so I was pretty confident that I’d do okay.  However, apparently being pregnant threw off my balance, even though I’m not really showing yet.  I was very wobbly and fell twice.  I made sure to land on  my knees because I thought that would have the least damaging impact on the baby during the split second I had to make that decision.  After the second fall, my knee hurt a lot.  I lifted up my pant leg and saw that I was bleeding from an area about the size of a half-dollar.  We went out to dinner and had a good time together.

Monday January 23, 2017
When I woke up, I checked the weather and they were calling for snow.  In fact, on my drive to work it started to slowly snow.  Throughout the day, the snow steadily got heavier.  I was tired and I hurt from ice skating the day before.  I hoped for an early dismissal, but no such luck.  They cancelled the after school programs, but by the time I left there was at least an inch of snow on the roads.  When I got home the snow quickly changed to ice. I called Kyle at work and informed him that I was picking him up early.  I went to bed early.

Tuesday January 24, 2017
I was hoping for a snow day today or at least a delay, but it wasn’t happening.  One thing I’ve been noticing lately is that my lower belly seems to be feeling heavier lately.  There’s no other way to describe it.  I’ve also been feeling random sharp pains.  I looked it up and the internet says that it’s totally normal.  It’s apparently my uterus and muscles stretching to prepare for the fact that the baby is going to be growing.  The pain doesn’t last for a long duration, but it’s still disconcerting.

Wednesday January 25, 2017
Today was an easier day, as Wednesdays often are.  I had bought a pair of maternity jeans this weekend.  We had a casual day for teachers to benefit some cause or other, so I thought I should have some jeans for the occasion.  For those of you who are not familiar with the concept of maternity jeans, just picture the whole zipper area has been cut off, all the way around the jeans and replaced with a stretchy, lycra fabric.  So the denim part of the jeans is hanging around your lower hips, being held up by a fabric designed to accommodate for a large belly which you do not yet possess. Because the heavier denim material is hanging below your hips and ass, there is literally nothing holding it up.  It felt like my pants were falling down throughout the day.  I kept tugging them up, but that really did nothing because the denim part of my jeans were not intended to go over my hips or my ass.  By the end of the day, I was wondering why I bothered to buy maternity jeans at all!

Thursday January 26, 2017
I’m not sure if I’m just low on energy or my priorities are shifting, because work doesn’t seem that important anymore.  It could be that I’m just preparing myself to leave after the school year.  I have already decided that it is a good idea to move elsewhere.  It’s too expensive to live here and even more so on just one paycheck for a family of 3.  Kyle and I had discussed it and he’s going to stay home, do the chores, and look after the baby.   I am grateful to have someone who isn’t worried about the macho crap and is logical enough to realize that what he makes won’t pay for childcare. There are other areas of the state where it’s cheaper to live and we could easily do it on one income, even though I’m by no means wealthy.

Friday January 27, 2017
As always, I am grateful that today is Friday.  It seems that throughout the duration of my pregnancy, I get much more excited for the weekends, no matter what they entail.  I don’t even think I did all that much when I got home, but that seems to be the norm these days.  Where is all of this second trimester energy I keep hearing so much about!?

Pregnancy Week 13

Saturday January 14, 2017
I woke up pretty early and then transferred from my bed to the couch.  I found myself sleeping on and off throughout the day.  It’s like I wore myself out throughout the week and I had to rest and heal.  I really didn’t have the energy to do anything today.  I laid there, watched movies that I napped through, and tried not to eat so much food.  I failed miserably and ate a lot.  I really did nothing else.

One thing I forgot to mention about yesterday’s doctor’s appointment was that I gained too much weight too quickly.  Because I’m already “obese” (I personally don’t consider myself obese because I’m not round, I don’t waddle, and I can still get up and down stairs okay), they wanted me to only gain 15-20 pounds throughout the entire pregnancy.  In the last month I gained 15 lbs.  It probably didn’t help that last week I ate so much because I was just really hungry all of the time.  As I laid there, I thought about some of the things I could do to lose the weight.  But wait, was it healthy to lose weight while you’re pregnant?

Sunday January 15, 2017
I got up early and managed to get a few things done before I went over to Chandra’s house today.  I had been cancelling on her at the last minute for over a month because I just felt so sick and tired and dizzy.  I was glad to finally be able to go over there for once. She gave me a Christmas present (a towel from India) and I felt bad that I hadn’t gotten her anything.  I immediately resolved to find something to give her.  We meditated and then I helped her promote her meditation classes online.

I had resolved to tackle my to-do list when I got home, but I ran out of steam and I ended up taking a three hour nap instead. I made my grocery list and contemplated going out to buy groceries, but ended up going back to sleep instead.

I was jolted awake by the sound of my phone ringing.  Kyle had burned himself with hot oil at work.  I picked him up and brought him to the urgent care place, which was closed.  We had to go to the emergency room instead.  He wasn’t burned all that badly.  He wasn’t even blistering.  And because he wasn’t burned badly, we weren’t a priority, so we waited for a few hours to be seen for five minutes and sent home.  We ate and went to bed.

Monday January 16, 2017
I woke up early and went to do laundry.  I got caught up on some other things while I was there. Then I went and dropped off some donation boxes that had been cluttering up our apartment for a while now and went food shopping.  I got home, ate, then went to my endocrinologist’s appointment.

Because my last endocrinologist said she would drop me from her practice if I were pregnant on my specific medication, I found a new one.  She even offered no explanation for it other than stating that I needed to be on a specific name brand.  I had looked online and could find no reason I shouldn’t take my specific medication while pregnant.  In fact, the drug company’s website stated that it was safe to take while pregnant.  So I decided that maybe the drug company was paying her off and either way, I needed to find a new endocrinologist.

My new endocrinologist greeted me warmly and shook my hand.  He explained why it was difficult to treat someone who is pregnant on my current medication.  There are two thyroid hormones that matter with hypothyroidism: T3 and T4.  For whatever reason, most medications are only T4.  The idea/expectation is that once someone has enough T4, they will be able to manufacture enough T3.  However, I only felt better on medications that contained both T4 and T3.  He said that sometime during the pregnancy, usually at the beginning of the third trimester, the thyroid hormones change and the medication needs to be updated.  However, because my medication offers both T3 and T4, it’s difficult to balance because I may need more of one, but not the other.  Finally, an explanation!  Why my old endocrinologist couldn’t say that to me, I don’t know.  The best part was that this new doctor was also willing to try and help me balance things when the time came.  I was extremely happy with him and grateful that he was able to explain some things.  He even made sure to test for T4, T3, and free T4.  Usually endocrinologists test the T4 and that’s it.

When I got home, I wanted to do more things, but again I had run out of energy.  I spent the rest of the night on the couch in front of the TV.

Tuesday January 17, 2017
Being back to work today, I managed to wake up early, do yoga, shower, and even pack a healthy lunch for myself!  I arrived at work and discovered that none of my lesson plans were done.  I came up with some quick easy lessons that allowed me to stay at my desk.  I managed to get several other things done like registering for a childbirth class, making an appointment with a new primary care physician (even though I have a gynecologist and an endocrinologist, I don’t currently have a primary), I caught up on my blog, and I tried to straighten things out with my bill from the lab that I got last week.

I called my insurance company and they only pay 75% of the cost of lab work after a $300 deductible.  If only I had known that, I may not have gotten the NIPT, which costs approximately $1500; 25% of which I am responsible for.  That means another bill of almost $400 plus the other labwork they did in December.  I paid my smaller bill of $5 and started on a payment plan for the other bill I had.  I dreaded getting the others.  I should really keep a running tally of how much this pregnancy is costing me.

I really didn’t get anything done that was work-related.  I still have my lesson plans for the week to do, papers to grade, plus some photocopies to make for some of my classes.  But, but the time school was over, I was exhausted and wondering how I’d manage to drive home.  It’s starting to seem like every day I hit a wall at 3:00pm and just lose all my energy.

When I got home, Kyle wasn’t feeling well.  I cuddled with him for a little while and then fell asleep.  I woke up for an hour or two of intense crankiness, then fell back asleep.

Wednesday January 18, 2017
I awoke early again, wanting to do yoga again.  I got distracted with a game on my computer while I ate my healthy breakfast.  While I was playing, I heard Kyle walk to the bathroom and throw up.  A few minutes later, he did it again.  I guess he has managed to catch the flu that was going around his job.  The flu is going around at work for me too.  It went around the Kindergarten in December.  Now the 1st and 2nd grade has it.  I had decided to refuse the flu shot, even though my gynecologist strongly recommended it.  I know that a flu shot is just an educated guess as to which strain will go around this year.  And I suspect that I have already been exposed to three strains: the kindergarten one, the one Kyle has, and the 1st and 2nd grade one.  In addition to all of that, apparently one of the strains is vaccine-resistant, according to the CDC.  I’m hoping that I don’t catch it.  I don’t need to use up any more sick days this year!

Thursday January 19, 2017
Today was a very long day.  I was not looking forward to it, but I steeled myself and told myself that I would get through it.  It went more quickly than I thought it would.  I was feeling a little off throughout the day, but by the end of the day, I did feel better. I my dance rehearsal went oddly well today. In fact, all of my rehearsals have been doing very well.  It’s almost disconcerting that things are going so well and the kids are learning so quickly.  Even so, I really shouldn’t complain about something that good!

Friday January 20, 2017
I awoke exhausted today.  Every work week seems really long now.  I was told that the second trimester is amazing.  That I’ll have tons of energy and will feel the best ever in my life.  Maybe it’s just because I’m still at the tail end of the first trimester, but I’m really not feeling as great as everyone tells me I should.  When I got home, I laid down on the couch and went right to sleep.