Very Very Thankful

I'm pretty sure I've never felt as bad as I did a few weeks ago. At the very least, I haven't felt that bad for that long. So comparatively, I'm feeling downright wonderful now. It still takes me a while (too long, really) to get out of bed in the morning. Someone still has to bring me food before I sit up or I start heaving. I'm still taking more zofran than I'd like. I'm still spending quite a few afternoon and evening hours in bed. And all of this is absolutely wonderful. Every day, I mention several times that I'm SO glad that I feel SO much better than I did.

These days, I can take the girls to the splash pad for a few hours. I can go through a drive-thru and pick up lunch (which is good, because I still can't stomach actually preparing food). I can run one or two errands as long as I keep a Luna bar in the car to snack on along the way. I even taught a lactation educator training this weekend--I had to apologize for sitting on the couch the entire time, but I got through it. (And just as an FYI, 17 twizzlers contain 500 calories and 64 grams of sugar...slowly snack on them throughout a day and it's almost like having that dextrose IV drip back).

On my midwife's advice, I started using a free website called Nutrimirror.com to track my food intake. It's been a HUGE help and lets me see how many calories I'm eating (versus how many I need) as well as how I'm doing with the specifics like protein, iron and vitamins.

We've got an incredibly long to-do list to get through and 13 days to do it, so it's good I'm feeling well enough to at least help a little bit. The next month or so is going to be incredibly busy as we work on transitioning. It's all a bit daunting, but I just keep focusing on the significantly larger paycheck at the end of the tunnel ;-)

Ooof....We're Moving

I had my first official appointment with my midwife today (don't worry, we'd been in touch--a lot--and I'd seen the backup doctor--a lot). Big difference between the care I got from my OBs and the care I get from my midwife: Initial OB appointment for pregnancy? 15 minutes, tops. Oh, plus an hour in the waiting room. Initial midwife appointment for pregnancy? TWO HOURS (and no waiting room). Two hours to thoroughly discuss any and all questions that had been weighing me down. Two hours to discuss the importance of nutrition and what my goals will be as I get back to eating normally. Two hours to rehash how the other pregnancies and deliveries went and how this one might be similar or different. And none of this was unusual, all initial appointments are scheduled to last 2 hours. All other appointments are a solid hour. If you don't have concerns and you're ready to leave after 15 minutes, no problem, but if you have things to discuss, the time is scheduled without anyone else waiting to make everyone feel rushed. Love. It.

Until we got to the end. Normally, appointments are once a month this early in pregnancy, but since we're moving, Toni asked me if I'd like to see her again one last time before the move just to be sure things were going well (keep in mind, there is one global fee you pay for the entire pregnancy and delivery, she's not getting any extra money for more appointments, just giving exceptional care). I said sure, we're leaving in 3 weeks, so it'd almost be a month anyway. She scheduled the appointment, wrote it in her appointment book, and wrote it on a reminder card for me. Then she pointed out that we are most definitely moving in LESS than three weeks. That was harsh Toni. Way harsh.

"I'm not dead...I'm getting better"

Any Monty Python fans out there? I'll admit, it's kinda just "eh" to me, but Josh loves it and pulled the above quote on me the other day. I'd say it's a fairly accurate description of how I'm feeling. If I had just been normal preggo sick all this time, I might be thinking I feel pretty yucky right now, but compared to how I WAS feeling, I'm doing fabulous. I'm not dehydrated anymore and I'm snacking in the night. Josh has been secretly tracking my calorie intake periodically and it's still pitiful, but getting better...I'm probably around 1500 calories a day, which is "only" about 1000 short of where I should be. I'm throwing up more, but I feel better. This is more of a regular "I'm pregnant and feel yucky" thing--yesterday I threw up, but then ate a whole roast beef sandwich. I keep saying next week will be better, but I really think next week will be better. I need to focus on gaining weight now (healthy weight, which is always harder than fast food and ice cream weight!)....I'm down 11 pounds, so I need that back plus some. Since I'm already at risk for preterm labor/delivery and being underweight and having inadequate weight gain may be a factor in early or low birth weight babies and it's something I actually have some control over, a good diet is definitely going to be one of my focuses just as soon as I can push myself to eat normally again.

Winner! Yoplait Greek Yogurt

I closed off comments and picked a winner for the Yoplait and My Blog Spark giveaway (I move fast when I'm too sick to do anything but lay in bed with the computer!):


Comment number 7 was the winner:

Luvdaylilies said...I'd love to try the Honey vanilla, sounds delicious! Thanks so much=)

I will be sending an email to the winner and they have until 6pm CST on May 5, 2010 to respond before I will pick a different winner.

Stay Tuned! I have another giveaway I'll be starting as soon as I get the post written!