I haven’t written this week because looking at my computer screen increases my nausea. However, I do have good news to report: I switched midwives at the birth center, and I really like the new midwife I am working with, named Tiffany. In addition to the Cambridge Birth Center, she also sees patients at a location that is much closer to work/home (the Somerville hospital), so I can reduce the amount of time I am out the office. My next appointment with her is February 13.
I also saw a different midwife, Lorrie, for an urgent appointment on Wednesday about my yeast/bv. Lorrie recommended I take Terazol for the yeast. There was a whole deal where the terconazole cream contains propylene glycol as an inactive ingredient, which I am super sensitive to (it stings like a bitch). Eventually, with the help of two different pharmacists at compounding pharmacies who went way out of their way to help me find a solution, I figured out that Terazol also comes in a suppository form suspended in a vegetable oil base without any of the petroleum-based additives present in many vaginal creams. I got the prescription today, so I am set on that front, too.
At my urgent appointment with Lorrie, I also got to hear the heartbeat of my fetus. Yay! It sounds really fast, kind of like a beat machine. A great moment, but I wish Kelly could have been there.
I have one more upcoming appointment (the morning of January 28th), for the “ultrascreen” prenatal testing. This is a combination ultrasound and blood test that screens for the probability of chromosomal abnormalities and neural tube defects. Because I was not taking an adequate source of folic acid during the first few weeks of my pregnancy before I realized I was pregnant, Kelly and I decided that we would go ahead and get the screening. What I think is that the testing will confirm we have little to worry about, but it would be nice to know early if, for instance, our fetus had anencephaly. Kelly and I have talked about “what would we do if…” and for me, it would be much, much harder to terminate the pregnancy past the point of quickening even if it turned out that it like had no brain or something. I’m already pretty deeply attached to the pregnancy.
I thought that the point of “quickening,” or when the mother can first feel movement from the fetus, was significant in Judaism, but the internet seems unable to enlighten me on this point. Can anyone else find info on this or knows what I am talking about?
I appreciate all the comments I’ve been getting lately, everything from support to eating tips to the medical perspective (thanks, Stace). As Laura suggested, I have been eating a lot of calorie-dense foods like olives and avocados, which unfortunately is expensive in the winter. Thank goodness for the global agricultural economy, right? (No, wait…) Anyway, your comments mean a lot to me. Thanks for reading.
The weather is beautiful today, but there is a severe cold warning in effect for the weekend. Bummer. I think tonight Kelly and I are going to go to Grasshopper Restaurant again, and then to services at Temple Sinai.
