How appropriate to us HGers!
My friend Caroline runs this fun blog: Today is a Holiday.
Each day, she posts info on a new holiday. Today’s post could not be more relevant, since I’m officially done with my pump and am mailing it back on Monday.
Let’s all dispose of our drugs appropriately!
Also, you should subscribe to this blog! It’s lots of fun.
I wanted to take a few moments to let you all know about a brand new blog that one of my HG sisters has started.
I feel an extra-special connection to this particular blogger because she just happens to be the Sister-in-Law to my very best friend.
MommyPonders experienced severe HG. Severe enough to decide for her that one biological child is enough. She and her husband have huge hearts, though, and are starting down the adoption road. I am eager to follow her journey, and I hope you will, too.
I am so excited to update you all on our first ultrasound. Long story short, everything looks great. We have a wee little one in there growing for all she is worth. And the best part is, she’s in the right spot!
Just a quick not on the pronoun usage here. It’s really cumbersome to write “he or she” constantly. For now, I’ll just use the female pronoun.
Ultrasound showing yolk sac and double ring
The doctor said that things look fantastic. We were not able to see the heartbeat, but that is to be expected at this early stage. We did see the her little yolk sac though, and surrounding it is what the doctor referred to as a double ring. Apparently, having this double ring appear is an indicator that this is an actual pregnancy and that there’s a little something that really is growing in there. In the picture below, the dark oval in the middle is the amnio sack and the white lines above and below are the double ring.
A quick look around in my pelvic area revealed no extra babies growing where they shouldn’t be, and Juan was relieved that there is actually only one yolk sac. He had to endure some good-natured teasing from me about that because my hGC (pregnancy hormone) numbers were so high.
Still only the tiniest signs that HG might be on the horizon. The occasional 5 minutes of really needing to just sit very still crop up a couple of times a day. It’s still too early to think that HG will pass me by this time, but I can certainly hope. I feel the most questionable in the evenings. Crummily enough, it’s right around story time for Gabi. So far, though, the wristband and the Unisom/B6 are keeping things under control. I stopped the Zofran due to some pretty specific side effects that I am sure I will gross you out with later. There’s plenty of time to start it again when I need it. I need to get this other… ahem… issue sorted out first.
It was a pretty happy morning. My symptoms have been mild enough so far that it was nice to see that there actually is something going on in there. I’m scheduled for weekly appointments moving forward. Next week’s appointment is on Friday at 9 AM, and we’ll have another ultrasound at that time to make sure we can see a heartbeat.
Aside from that wonderful news, it’s been a pretty emotional 24 hours.
I received word from our friend Charlie, as in Charlie’s Angels, as in Ashli’s webmaster, that this blog got a bump from one of the big Catholic blogs. When I popped on over, I was completely blown away with what I read. They’re talking about me? On the one hand, it felt really, really good. On the other hand, it is really, really intimidating. What if I don’t live up to everyone’s expectations of me? Also, and this is a moment for the good old Catholic guilt to kick in, I haven’t called the group at my church yet. My friend from the office hasn’t had the chance to talk to the group at her church either.
I will confess to not being particularly comfortable contacting a crisis pregnancy center. I maintain a firm, hard line between my religion and my politics. It will definitely be stepping outside of my comfort zone to make contact with one of these groups. That’s why I chickened out and asked my work friend to do it for me. I think, as long as I am able to keep this firmly in the context of HG, I’ll be fine. I need to look at this as an opportunity to get critical information into the hands of women in need. In that context, it seems a lot less frightening. I can do this. One well-placed book may save someone’s life.
Dawn Breaks also posted a very moving message to a fellow HG sister this morning. It was a beautiful read, and I will confess that I shed a tear or two.
My cup is overflowing with love and gratitude right now.
I’ve always been an activist at heart. If my mom reads this post, she’ll laugh at this and nod her head. I burned so much energy as a young person with what my parents lovingly (?) called “righteous indignation.” Getting fired up about something was fun! I wanted to go out and do something! Anything! I wanted to make a difference.
When you don’t have a whole lot of direction (and what teenager does?), it’s hard to channel that energy to really good use. I mostly spent my time getting fired up, ranting, and then simmering down. I couldn’t really find that special thing I wanted to “activate” about. I have an English degree. I’m allowed to make up words like that.
Frankly, I’m not very good at being an activist. As my snopes friends will tell you, I can be… well, let’s face it, I can be pretty balls to the wall about stuff, and that’s not always a good thing when you’re trying to influence people to see your point of view. I sometimes take the barbarian horde approach to diplomacy: conquer, pillage, take heads, worry about the other stuff later. I’ve got a lot of energy and it’s easy to accidentally let that energy go off course and become a little destructive.
I think I’ve finally found my niche, though, in writing this blog. Finally, I’ve found something constructive into which to channel my energy. I feel like I’m actually accomplishing something here! I’m not just feeding the flames of righteous indignation, I’m actually doing something!
I have gotten so many comments from you readers that tell me that I’m helping them. I am so glad. It makes me feel like I’m actually making a difference for people, and not just filling my own need to journal about this illness.
Here’s a real life example:
I’ve been talking to a co-worker, who is really active in The Church, about getting a couple of copies of Beyond Morning Sickness into the hands of one of the big local crisis pregnancy centers. Let’s face it, HG truly is a crisis in pregnancy! Yesterday, she came over to my desk and said that, while she hadn’t had the time yet to call her friend who works with one of the big Catholic groups here in town, she did hear about the niece of a friend who is pregnant and really sick and on IVs and in and out of the hospital and is that the same illness that we were talking about?
According to my friend, this woman had bad morning sickness before, but what she’s going through now is a whole new level of awful. Thankfully, I’ve got a few extra copies of Beyond Morning Sickness and Mama has HG lying around for just these occasions. Today I was able to give her those books along with a note and my contact info. I hope it brings her comfort and hope.
It feels so good to be able to give back like this. I feel like I might actually be helping people.
I hope I really am helping. I think I am.
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As a brief pregnancy update, nothing is going on. I’m feeling fine so far. Fine enough that yesterday I skipped the zofran. This makes me a little nervous. At least some kind of symptoms would tell me that there’s something going on in there. I’m not asking for HG, mind you, but a little something to let me know all is well would be nice.
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As a further upate, that previous update was written yesterday afternoon. Dude, I do not wake up at 5 so that I can post at 6 AM! Ha! Anyway, I got punished for not taking the zofran. I had a definite bout of nausea last night at around 8 PM. So let that be a lesson to me: Don’t skip the zofran.
A new HG blogger has joined the blog community.
Island of Grief, Mountain of Joy
Her inaugural post tells her HG story.
Please read it. This story moved me so deeply that I’m left completely without words.
Juliana – You have my love and support. I hope that bringing the words out of your head and onto the screen brings you healing.
Trigger warning: She discusses the loss of her third child to HG.
Thank you all so much for your support. It’s really humbling to know that this many people, most of whom I have never met, are pulling for me.
I had 214 hits on my blog after Thursday’s announcement, and Friday was another huge day with 193 hits. Those have been my two biggest days! I can’t believe it. People are actually reading my blog! Commenting, too. There were so many comments that I could hardly keep up. I try to reply to comments as often as possible, but with that many comments coming in, I just couldn’t manage it! It’s a happy problem to have, but please, please, don’t be offended if I didn’t manage to reply to your comment.
I also got tons of comments on facebook, from KellyMommies, snopesters, and a flurry of twitter buddies. It’s so awesome to have this kind of support.
Starting tomorrow, I plan to go back to my regular posting schedule: Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday, with posts in between as necessary.
I just wanted to give a special thank you to all of you who are out there supporting me. It means more than I can adequately express.
I’ve found another HG blogger out there, or rather, she found me: Chelsea over at Building my Baby: http://buildingmybaby.wordpress.com/
She’s suffering right now in the depths of HG hell, and from the sound of it, she’s not getting much medical support. No home health, no Zofran pump, nothing beyond some pills and telling her to come in 3 times a week to the hospital for fluids. Let me be honest, this kind of thing doesn’t much help an HGer with a serious case of it. Instead of constant hydration, she’s getting peaks and valleys. Instead of healing at home and resting, she’s having to haul herself out of the house constantly. What a nightmare.
The best part? Her doctor told her to… wait for it… take some ginger! Hah!
I’ll be counting down the days with her until she gets to see new doctors on the 30th. Hopefully she’ll feel well enough to update us on how she’s doing. You can follow her progress with me. I’ve added her link over on the right.
Chelsea, you’re on our minds over here. We’re wishing you comfort, relief, and proper medical care.
I think I just swooned a little bit! The Whining Puker, one of the most venerable HG blogs on the net, posted about this blog!
That is so cool. She was one of my roll models for writing this blog. Thanks Diana!
To check out The Whining Puker, follow the link over in the blogroll column.
I’m a big fan of Hobo Mama. If you aren’t familiar with her, she blogs about natural parenting: breastfeeding, gentle discipline, attachment parenting, and all of that other stuff that makes me smile and run to go kiss my daughter. Read her. Love her. She’s wonderful.
She recently announced that she’s expecting baby number two, and she asked on Facebook about ideas for coping with morning sickness. I took the opportunity to mention HG:
“I’ll be on zofran, unisom, b6, plus continuous fluids, and probably several other things. But that’s because I get hyperemesis gravidarum during pregnancy.
I hear good things about the PrimaBella wristband but I’ve not tried it.”
My suggestion actually made it into her post! Cures for Morning Sickness
Unfortunately, it looks like I missed the mark a bit in my Facebook comment. While I did spread some information, I also managed to spread some guilt, which was definitely not my intent. I apologized to Lauren on her blog, but I would also like to apologize here and state unequivocally that my intent is never to cause anyone to feel guilty.
I do feel jealousy toward people who suffer morning sickness. I have to be honest about that. Some days I will probably feel pretty resentful. But we all have our crosses to bear. Lauren, I’m sorry that my Facebook comment made you feel bad. Nausea and vomiting just sucks.
I’m pretty impressed though. Despite the tablespoonful of guilt that I served her, she still dedicated a good portion at the end to Hyperemesis Gravidarum with links not only to the front page of the HelpHer website, but to some specific pages on the site. Man, she really did go in there are do some reading!
Thank you so much, Lauren, for including HG in your post about morning sickness. It sure does mean a lot to this survivor.
