26 Weeks

I'm currently lying in a bed in the LGH with a drip in my hand, getting an iron infusion and feeling somewhat sorry for myself. It's taken three attempts to get the cannula in my hand and by the time the second guy was poking around in my veins I'd given up being brave. I wasn't feeling entirely confident in him, given that I'm pretty sure I've got a good couple of years on him and how many cannula's could he have possibly done? Not to mention he told me it would be like a sharp scratch and I know damn well that is not what they feel like!! It's an initial sting, followed by this painful pressure on your arm as they tell you not to move, when every nerve is telling you to get away from this horrible thing. The lady who finally got it in did a good job, even if her idea of reassuring me was to tell me the needle they use during labour is much bigger than the one she was using today. I've already asked her to please do any cannula I need in the future. After going through this three times in an hour, it took a while for the tears to stop and my stomach to stop churning. 

So now I wait, while they pump in the half a litre of iron infused saline that's making my left hand very cold! At least one of the student doctors has made me a milo, and someone else filled up my hot water bottle for me. I'm glad I brought that with me, since the other lady in the room is hot and has the aircon cranked up! 

This all came about after I found a request for a general blood test last week when I went for my glucose tolerance test (more about that later). The midwife called me on Monday, to say that my iron levels were low. Talk about a light bulb moment! That would be why I've been feeling so tired and flat, why I've been getting my post pranial symptoms, even though I've been eating such small meals and why I've been pale and cold! I usually eat heaps of red meat and green veggies, so my iron levels are normally really good. The last few months though, I've really only been grazing, and steak and broccoli aren't really things I snack on (who does?) so between that and baby draining me of everything, it's really not surprising. Ellie did suggest to me that my baby is a vampire and that's why my haemoglobin is low, but given the amount of garlic I eat, I don't see how that's possible. Of course there are some people who would argue that vampires don't exist. 

So, back to the glucose tolerance test (GTT). They test everyone for gestational diabetes when you are pregnant. It's a series of three blood tests over two hours, with a horrible glucose drink in the middle that makes you want to vomit. On top of that, you have to fast for at least ten hours before, so for pregnant ladies who normally eat little and often to prevent nausea and heartburn, a GTT on top of a fast is just asking for trouble. I felt so awful by the end of it!! At least today I have a massage to look forward to when they are finished with me!! 

Ok, so no longer dealing with the iron infusion- it sometimes takes me a couple of days to finish off a post. I had some pretty impressive bruises for a couple of days after the infusion, particularly where the student doctor didn't know when to quit. 

No wonder I almost punched him...

Thrown in amongst my feeling rubbish, is Tim. He's been having a bit of trouble with pain in his right shoulder this month. Last week he's had a MRI and we thought confirmed a slap lesion. That would have required him to have surgery on his shoulder, after which he would have 6 weeks in an immobilisation sling before being allowed to start gentle Physio on it. He wouldn't be able to drive during that period either, so he would be basically be relying on me to go anywhere. The catch though, was that the orthopaedic surgeons and the radiologists couldn't agree on a diagnosis, so we have been left somewhat in the air. They have tried a quartizone injection, which has helped a bit, but he could still end up needing surgery anyway. If that's the case, the timing becomes even worse than had they operated straight away. It's very much a case of wait and see, for now.

I've been trying to get my feet up as much as I can, but they get so fat so quick! I took some photos throughout the day earlier in the week to try and show how quick they change. There is a big dent in my foot from just pressing on it, much like play dough. I think I'd been out of bed for about two hours by this stage.

I have measured my feet a few times throughout the day and found they swell about 2cm from morning  to afternoon! Not to mention the size and shape of my toes. And my ankles and legs and everything else!

Morning

Afternoon

The iron infusion I had last week will take about 2-4 weeks before I start to feel the benefits of it. That's how long before the iron is effecting the haemoglobin levels in my blood. So I'm still feeling really lethargic and flat. I took my resting heart rate before I got up yesterday and it was up around 90 beats a minute. No wonder I'm so tired if my body has to work that hard to provide oxygen when I'm asleep! I've had a few mornings where I've felt really awful after eating and had to go lie down, much like I did when my post pranial hypotension was at its worst.

The other thing that is making me feel really awful is heartburn. I actually haven't been using my pillow fort for the last week or two and it's been nice, but I think I'm going to have to reassemble it. I'm finding I'm really uncomfortable when I go to bed and waking up heaps through the night. I'm tired enough already without having trouble sleeping.

Tomorrow will be my last day at work. I feel in some ways like I'm piking out, finishing up so early, but at the same time, I know enough to listen to my body and right now it's screaming ENOUGH!! Had I not become anaemic, I might have been able to keep it up a bit, but at this stage I'm more than ready to finish up.

We had another appointment with Dr D last week. She is happy with my progress. We will continue to see her every 3-4 weeks and after our next appointment we will meet the anaesthetist to talk about what my options will be when it comes to actually getting baby out.  We also have our classes coming up in a few weeks, talking about parenting newborns, breast feeding and so forth.

There have been a couple of exciting things happen over the last few weeks. Exciting for me anyway. We were all raised in cloth nappies and it's something I've just always assumed I'd do too. I found out when my cousins were both having babies last year, cloth nappies have changed somewhat from when I last changed one. So there has been much discussion with various mums and mums-to-be over the past few months and I finally have got some. They are very cool! Now I just need a baby to try them on...

The other very exciting thing was my baby shower over the weekend. Again. it's a little early, but with one of my sisters about to head interstate for several months, I wanted to have it while she was still here. We ended up with a bit of a dragon theme going on, basically because I had some adorable dragon paper I wanted to use on the invitations. So I did the invitations and the guest list, my sisters and their helpers did the rest. I am somewhat terrified at the prospect of helping plan Ellie's bridal shower/hens party now, they both did such an amazing job! They managed to carry the dragons throughout the whole afternoon. My little brother Keygan even made balloon dragons!

And how impressive is this cake!

Tim joined us at the end of the afternoon to help open the gifts. We certainly have an amazing and generous group of friends! It was a lovely day and we were eating Becca's delicious home made mini pies for two days afterwards. Thanks again girls!

I think that covers most of the last couple of weeks. Baby has been very active and can now be seen from the outside when feeling particularly energetic.
This week I'm after pointers on dealing with heartburn. Are there any foods you've found that give you heart burn? Any that are 'safe'? I was talking to Tim about this yesterday, only to be told that 'pregnancy' was what was causing my heartburn. He's a funny one...

Right. Now, I'm going to go put my feet up!

24 weeks

It's been another busy couple of weeks. I can't actually remember a lot of it, but I know I've been busy!

We finally got to meet the illusive Dr D at our last appointment. Tim and I both took a liking to her straight away. She is straight up (except literally, since she's rather short) and to the point. I went in ready to have to explain why I wanted a natural delivery, but when I asked her what she thought, she said she saw no reason why, everything else going well, a vaginal delivery wasn't possible. So that was a bit anti climatic! Not that I mind, I'd rather it that way in this situation. I'm happy knowing she's got my back if I do have to go in fighting. All in all, it was a pretty quick visit (once we finally got in to see her) with just a basic check up and answering a few questions. She had a medical student with her who asked me a few silly questions, so I tried to give her a basic run down on paraplegia and how it effects me, without making her feel too stupid. Baby was being very wriggly, so they had a bit of trouble hearing the heartbeat, although, as Dr D said, we knew it was alive because it kept kicking the Doppler (ultrasound wand used to listen to the heartbeat).

Baby has been super active the last week or so! After being perfectly well behaved at the last ultra sound, it was all over the place for this one. The lady doing the ultrasound printed us off a hand picture as well this time. I've found a few times lately I'll be sitting not even thinking about the baby, but with my arms crossed and then my arms get a pounding. I still don't really feel much internally, but I can feel so much with my hands. I had thought I might feel more internally by now, but being able to feel it anytime with my hands makes it easier to deal with that disappointment. I've worked out a few things to make it move if I want to too, like leaning right over to the side or forwards. Apparently I could tickle a foot through my belly, but I'm not that good at identifying feet yet. I find it so amazing that even though its about 35cm long now and my belly is constantly expanding to accommodate it, it still finds room to do somersaults! 

I've been having a LOT of swelling lately! My feet often swell over summer, but this is a whole new level! And it's not just fat feet and puffy ankles, it's fluid retention all the way up to my knees! I am trying to take some time to elevate them each day, but I am so restricted to what I can do with elevated feet, that it is really hard to stop and go just lay down for an hour. I have so much I'm trying to get done! I did get out my electrode machine today and put that on my legs for a bit, to see if that helps. I'll give it a few tries and see how it goes. It's kind of like a tens machine, but works on the muscle fibres, not the nerves. I think. I haven't noticed any stretch marks on my belly, but I won't be surprised if I get them on my feet, knowing how much my feet are inflating/deflating each day. I wake up looking like my feet have spent the night in the bath!!

Tim and I finally made it out for date night this weekend, for the first time this year (so much for my plan of getting out a bit before the baby arrives). My feet were so fat that literally none of my shoes fit on my feet! I ended up having to wear Tim's wedding boots out to dinner!
Other things have swollen too. I've had a couple of times when I have struggled to do a catheter because things are swelling and changing. I can usually find my urethra in my sleep, but then again, it doesn't usually hide.. My hands have swollen too, so I'm wondering if I might have to stop wearing my rings at some stage. One of my cousins had to when she was pregnant.

Tim and I went in to see the physio at the hospital to have a talk about my changing balance and needs, and how Tim can best help assist me with transfers etc. She had a few handy pointers and gave us a foam slide sheet to take home. They quite often give them to pregnant women to help them roll over late in pregnancy. I'll let you know if it's any good when I actually try it!

We've been in contact with the OT department at the hospital, but they didn't have much to say, just put me in contact with the independent living centre. To be honest though, my experience with OTs has been pretty hit and miss, so I think I'll be just as well of asking the para mums I've been talking to.

I've gone and brought myself a pair of lace up, stretchy sneakers, but haven't given up on boots completely yet. I'm not quite ready to say goodbye to them yet. Or hello to my old day chair, which is now in our shed. It's 4.5cm wider and my current day chair, so it will give me a bit more room to grow. It is also shorter though and makes me feel way more disabled than I actually am. The only thing that I can think of that might actually be better about it is the fact the because the seat has way more camber, everything might stop falling off my lap with quite so much ease. I'm dropping stuff all the time! If it's not my belly pushing it off, it simply rolls off. I don't know if it's a change in posture, if my feet are just sitting lower on my footplate (my strap broke a week ago and I haven't got it fixed yet, so my basket is the only thing holding my feet on my footplate) or if my footplate has dropped (I don't think so). It's driving me mad though!

We have made a decision on a pram and capsule- the Steelcraft ones I've been keen on since the start. So they have been placed on lay by. I took Tim in for a final look at them before I ordered them. He wasn't convinced when we first tried the capsule in the car, but I did it a few times, so he knows I can do it. And as I said to him then, it's better than the others! So time will tell if it works out for us or not!

I can't get on the bike by myself anymore. I went to help Tim move the cows a few days ago and he had to give me a shove up. I got half way up and couldn't go any further!

There is a real bump happening there!

Well, I think that's about it for today, back soon!