Tuesday was my monthly OB appointment and although fairly uneventful for the most part, I had lots of questions and practically talked Dr. P's ear off during my appointment, which probably isn't that surprising for those who know me, ha! Overall, the appointment went very well and I left feeling a lot better than I did going in even though everything wasn't positive or completely good news. This was the last of my monthly appointments and now I will start seeing Dr. P every TWO weeks for the next couple / few visits. I am really excited about this as I think it will make the time seem to go by faster, but more importantly it will also give me more opportunities to hear our little one's heartbeat which is one of my favorite things about being pregnant! (Besides the obvious point of it being better to monitor both my progress and baby's progress during the last weeks of pregnancy) I've always felt like hearing his heartbeat helps substitute for the fact that I cannot yet see, hold or kiss my little boy yet, but I can hear him and that little heartbeat brings such joy to my heart every time I hear it.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Once again had great blood pressure, which was a relief since I had experienced some bouts with swelling over the past month. Although, that does seem to be subsiding more and more especially on the days it is cooler. I really am mostly swelling on the warmer and more humid days.
- Baby was measuring exactly as he should be (based on my belly measurement / fundal height)
- He had a beautiful and healthy heartbeat of 154.
- Dr. P reconfirmed that I had great results from my 1 hour glucose test that I had taken the month prior.
- Dr. P only had one big concern for me and I *knew* it was coming since the nurse warned me when she called with my glucose test results, but little did I know about how serious the problem was until I actually discussed it with her during my appointment.....ANEMIC - highly anemic that is. So, our conversation went something a little like this....
Me --- Yes, the nurse mentioned that I was showing to be "slightly anemic" when she called to give me my results.
Dr. P --- Are you taking the iron pills THREE times a day?
Me --- No, I can't swallow pills (we've had this conversation countless times, but she always forgets, which I guess isn't abnormal seeing how many patients she has, but jeesh, I get sick of going through it so many times!) and was waiting to talk to you to see what you would recommend since this seems to always be an issue with me even though I don't understand how or why. She only said it was slightly low, so I didn't want to get insanely concerned or freaked out about it until after I talked to you.
Dr. P --- Well, it is actually very, very low....severely low....let's put it this way, your iron count is SO low that if I was to be having you come in tomorrow for a c-section, I would have you come in tonight early to have blood transfusions BEFORE the c-section. That's how bad it is. And you could possibly still have to have more transfusions after the surgery as well depending on your blood levels.
Me -- Oh. (I was kind of dumbfounded seeing that was not at all what I had expected her to say) Well, I don't understand why it's so low and what can I do....
I'll stop there, but basically I'm NOT slightly anemic, but more like severely anemic and if it doesn't improve by the time I schedule my c-section, it's possible that I'll had to have a blood transfusion before the surgery and depending on what happens in the hospital, I could potentially have to have another after the c-section. NOT what I want to hear and definitely NOT what I want to happen. I had to have a transfusion in January after the D&C and also had to have a couple after my c-section with Hudson as well, so I've been there, done that and DON'T want to do it again. When I had Hudson, I ended up having to stay in the hospital for SIX freaking days....count them....SIX DAYS!!! That's a long time to be in the hospital just because you had a baby. Well, of course, my stay was extended because as a result of the transfusions my blood pressure went sky high and understandably so, they would not let me leave the hospital until they could get that under control, but to say the least it was not fun at all and I was pretty darn miserable having to be there for so long. David was too! So, we discussed some options for me to be able to increase my iron intake through my diet and Dr. P was also going to research some other supplemental options and see what chewable or liquid forms of iron she could find and is supposed to get back to me with more suggestions.
In the meantime, David beat her to it!! :) He actually was discussing my dilemma with some co-workers because he was worried about it and someone chimed in about a chewable iron supplement available at the vitamin stores. He actually mentioned this to me either Tuesday night or last night and to be honest, I kind of shrugged it off thinking it wasn't possible or if it was it would be so hella-nasty that I couldn't stomach it, but much to my surprise when I came home from work today he had a bottle all ready for me!!! He had gone today while he and Hudson were out running errands and made a special trip to a vitamin shop in Cedar Hill just to get it for me. Even still, when he gave it to me I grimaced thinking that these "cherry flavored" chewable tablets would certainly have to be no less than disgusting and I was not the least bit thrilled about taking them and of course, I let David know that. He said that maybe they wouldn't be too bad and left on his way for work. Little did I know that they really wouldn't be that bad....yep, you heard it.....I tried one shortly after he left and even though they are seriously large horse-pill sized tablets, they don't even taste bad. They actually do have a cherry flavor and were not difficult for me to digest at all. Not one bit and I was SO grateful! Believe me, I called David almost immediately to thank him and apologize for making an assumption before even trying them and of course, he got a good chuckle out of the fact that I had to "swallow my pride" so to speak and admit that I was wrong and that they were not bad at all. He was of course even more pleased that I now had something that I could take easily every single day to help me get the iron I need and hopefully, *fingers crossed*, that it will bring my iron levels up high enough to avoid me having to have any transfusions when I go into the hospital to have baby boy. I am beyond relieved and optimistic as well and can't wait to talk to Dr. P and let her know about the supplement and see what she says. I'm sure that she'll be thrilled to know that we found something too!
- Weight Gain --- Again....not a concern of Dr. P's, but my weight jumped higher than it should have once again and I was of course in freak-out mode about it. Not crazy freak out or anything, but just disappointed and felt a bit defeated that at 32 1/2 weeks I had nearly gained the entire amount I wanted to gain for my whole pregnancy. I am up 27 pounds already with just shy of 6 weeks left before my c-section, so I will definitely blow that goal of 30 out of the water with that much time left. Oh well, she wasn't worried of course and I know I am doing a ton better then what I did when I was pregnant with Hudson, but I just really wanted to hit my goal and won't be able to do it. Hopefully, that just means I will have a nice healthy baby again and not have to worry about him being underweight, haha! Although, I went 41 weeks with Hudson and he weighed 8 lbs. 1 oz. so seeing that I will be having my c-section at 39 weeks this time around I am really wondering if baby boy will be smaller than his older brother and if so, by how much?!? On the opposite end of the spectrum, I worry that he will be bigger, lol! Especially since everyone keeps telling me how the second born are always bigger and especially with boys! Hmph.....I guess we'll just have to wait and see and hope that he is the perfect size!
- Speaking of baby size.....I did ask Dr. P. when she might be doing another sonogram coming up as well and unfortunately, she informed me that she did not plan on / would not be doing one for the remaining time UNLESS baby does start measuring ahead. For right now, he's measuring as he should, but if it starts to look like he might be getting too big then she'll schedule a growth ultrasound. That kind of bummed me out because I have been wanting to see baby boy again so, so very bad for months now, but I guess I understand and will just have to play by the rules. I wanted to know also because David wanted to make sure that he was there at my appointment when and if she did another sonogram and although, it doesn't necessarily look likely at this point, she did say that I would know ahead of time if she'd be doing one so that I could definitely schedule it to where David could also be there. So, that was nice to know. David was pretty disappointed too when I broke the news of no likely sonogram to him, but I quickly lightened up the mood and joked that we could just go get a 3-D sonogram instead if we were both just Jonesin' to see our baby bad enough, lol! I don't think we'll go there, but hey, it's an option, ha!
Oh, and I did get the seasonal flu shot while I was there too, so that was one more thing that we discussed and I decided to go ahead and get the shot. I had one with Hudson too and I figured it would be better to just get one vs. risk catching the flu. I definitely do NOT want to get sick right now as I can only imagine how miserable I would be. NO THANK YOU!
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