Sorry for the lack of a Wednesday-fruit-week post! I ended up staying home from work yesterday. After not being able to keep ANYTHING down (no solids, no liquids, no nothing!) from about 3pm Tuesday on, I was hoping that it would be better after getting some sleep. But no such luck. I got up, took a shower, and stumbled back to bed, sick and dizzy. At about 9am I finally called my midwife and begged for help of some kind! The nurse called in a prescription for Zofran (an anti-nausea/vomiting drug) and things got better after lunch.
I've never been so thankful to not be throwing up in all my life!
Beyond the stomach acrobatics, yesterday officially started our 11th week! Here's what my tracker says:
This week your baby is officially developed enough to be called a fetus. The good news is that the most critical part of your baby's organ system development is over. Your baby will grow very rapidly and will double in size by next week. On your baby's head, the ears are moving to the side of the head. Reproductive organs are becoming more distinguished.
This has been by far the most challenging week. According to the research I've done, I'm experiencing what is called SSRI Discontinuation Syndrome. It's essentially my brain freaking out while trying to adjust to not having the anti-depressant to help level out the brain chemistry. It can last anywhere from a week to several. My psychiatrist said that the symptoms should lessen over that time though. Well, I'm hoping for a week which will make the end around this weekend. If I'm not feeling better by Monday, though, I'm going to call my psychiatrist and insist that we do something else. What is the solution...? There's isn't one other than going back on the anti-depressant and coming off more slowly.
Everything comes down to a risk-benefit analysis. The problem is you can't really do double blind, scientific research on pregnant women. I mean, who's going to sign up for that study??? Dear pregnant women, we would like to give you this drug, the effects of which on your unborn child are completely unknown. Could be harmless, could cause massive defects. Sound like fun? Um... no. Therefore doctors have to extrapolate from limited data gathered from women who have chosen to take the meds while pregnant.
Some would say to always err on the side of caution, and I'm usually in that boat. But then comes a day like yesterday. Although we don't know what the effects of the anti-depressant are on the Butter Bean... we DO know what the effects of dehydration due to not being able to keep anything down and those are seriously NO GOOD! That is why I knew I needed to get some help, and I'm so thankful I did. It was also the first time I'd called and spoken to a nurse at this new midwife practice and I was so happy with the response. The nurse I talked to was very understanding, helpful, and never made me feel like I was a bother. That is so reassuring knowing that I have another 6 months of this to go.
I will say though, that I know understand to some degree the pull of illegal drugs and alcohol on someone. I find myself thinking, maybe if I could just take like a quarter of a pill or maybe just one today then it will make the dizziness/shakes go away! Amazingly, I didn't have any noticeable symptoms when I quit smoking cold turkey after finding out we were pregnant, and I am very thankful of that. Hopefully, this will pass and soon.
I have another appointment with my psychiatrist in three weeks, although he'll be hearing from me next week if I don't feel significantly better by Monday! A week from tomorrow is my next appointment with our midwife. We will be able to hear the heart beat then! I'm really hoping Jay is able to get off of work for that.
Oh, even though I'm not showing at all, I can tell that my uterus is growing. I sleep on my stomach/side and always have. It's going to be hard to find another position once I get really pregnant. Well, I can tell that my uterus is pushing on some stuff now because when I lay like that, I feel like I have to pee even if I just came back from the bathroom. It scared me the first couple nights. I was afraid I had a UTI and was already dreading the agony. But I soon realized that when I was laying down was the only time I felt like that. I'll probably need to get a body pillow soon as throwing my leg over a pillow seems to help.
I think that's about it for this weekly wrap up. Hopefully next week will be more uneventful! And involve less throwing up! Sorry that this update seems to be chaotic. I think my writing is feeling as dizzy as my head is today. Next week will be better! I'm counting on it! Happy Thursday everyone! It's almost the weekend, which means SLEEP!
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