The Pregnant Community

Back again. Hopefully for the long haul.

Fri, 24 May 2013 00:59:13 GMT

This is my third pregnancy. The last one ended in a miscarriage so I'm a bit nervous yet trying to stay positive. I'm about 5 weeks. I'm not sure when I'll be able to confirm since I'm not sure when I'll get to see a doctor. I'm in the military. Since my last baby, I'm at a new place and they seem to do things differently here. I have to go to some group thing first then see a doctor. I have to clarify since that didn't seem right to me.

So far it's going like the first one. My symptoms hit around the 4 week mark. The first time I was hungry (bottom-less pit), thirsty and tired all the time. I also had morning sickness for about a week. The second time around I didn't make it to the 4 week mark. This time I'm hungry but it's not as bad, slightly nauseous, continuous headache, some sinus congestion, and achy like I have a cold.

The hubby and I are super excited. Our families will probably be more excited than we are since they've been asking since the first one turned a year when we planned on having another. Like last time we plan on waiting until we make it through the first trimester. We'll be going to visit family and it'll be around my mom's birthday. Our son will be three by the time this one is born. Presuming this one is born around his due date, their birth dates will be a month apart. The holiday season will be a very expensive time of year.

I'm sure I'll have lots of questions about being pregnant and dealing with a 2 year old.

Take care.

Scabies Treatment While Pregnant

Wed, 22 May 2013 14:58:35 GMT

Has anyone had any experience with scabies treatment during pregnancy? Is permethrin safe?

12.5 weeks. My son and I both have it and my husband will probably be quick to follow. First time. :(

ETA: Walgreens just told me that there is no over the counter treatment available, even just until I can get in to a doctor. Is this true? Any alternatives to help in the meantime? I have an appt. for 9am tomorrow. The thought of another itchy night and waking up with bites all over is icking me out.

december 2013 due date community?

Wed, 22 May 2013 04:28:07 GMT

hi all,

im pregnant with my 6th child, due this december...are there any communities for babies due at this time?

thanks.

Gestational Diabetes and A Little Rant

Wed, 22 May 2013 02:58:41 GMT

Good Evening, Ladies.

So, just found out that I have gestational diabetes, and I'm only 18 weeks right now. I'm meeting with my OB's nurse tomorrow to go over all the business of testing and such, and am meeting with a nutritionist soon. I looked through the tags and found lots of great into here on GD, but I was also wondering for those of who you have dealt with it, what sort of changes did you make to your lifestyle and diet? I understand that this is a different journey for everyone, but I'm just looking for a heads up, and am generally curious. :)

And then the rant...

I'm getting real tired of people always asking me, "How are you feeling?" This is our third pregnancy; after the first one landed us with an emergency c-section at 36 weeks and a week long hospital stay, and much the second pregnancy's coinciding with a military deployment... It seems all I hear out of certain family members is that incredibly annoying question. Part of me feels guilty when I know their intentions are good. But they just. don't. stop. And they're the type of people who politely asking them not to ask will have them on the defense, and/or they'll get the impression that I'm hiding something that is truly wrong. Sigh. It's simply not good enough for me to on the whole, be feeling fine.

Okay, /rant.

Thank you kindly for any input on the GD stuff, and thanks for humoring my mini rage. ;) I hope you're all doing well and having a lovely evening!

Mon, 20 May 2013 20:30:58 GMT

UK ladies who already have kids - Did any of you not go to your antenatal classes?
My first (of 4) is on the 3rd June but I might cancel. Both of my birth partners work nights and the classes clash with their hours (while they'd leave work if I went into labour, this isn't worth losing money for!) and I'd rather not go alone. There isn't really anyone else I want to go with. Are there any online videos I can watch at home that will teach me what the classes would have? Or are they really important?

Posted via LiveJournal app for Android.

Micro preemie

Sat, 18 May 2013 00:48:58 GMT

Hello everyone!
There's a chance we may be taking in an infant who was born around 24 weeks. The baby has a diagnosis of chronic pulmonary disease and hypothyroidism. As far as I know the baby was released from the hospital around 5 months/adjusted age 3 weeks I think. Not 100% sure).

We are in the early stages of taking baby in and do not have a clear picture of needs or severity of medical issues. We do know that the baby does not require any medical interventions other than medications (steroids, another drug I am unsure of and med for hypothyroidism).

My question is- what is your experience with preemies/micropreemies/children with chronic pulmonary disease and pets; specifically cats. We have five and are unsure what it will mean for them if the baby comes to us. I'm sure we will have a better picture once we gain more information but just want to know some experiences or if there are any online resources someone could point us to!

Thanks!

Edit: add more info/remove some info

Posting this question for someone else

Wed, 15 May 2013 21:56:27 GMT

Hi ladies warning a bit of a vent and on the other hand wanting to know if any of you have been thru the same..., I'm 28+1 pregnant ( high risk of going some what early as it is my first time pregnant with graves disease and all my other three kids were born before 37 weeks) two days ago I lost my mucus plug and had a bloody show amd lots of pain and braxton hicks. Had a couple of internals yesterday ( swabs and to check dialation) I'm not dilated but cervix seems soft, had braxton hicks all day night from the internals and then today had ultrasound and have felt hard and bruised all day. Apparently I'm not in immediate danger of preterm labour but that doesn't mean I won't go into premature labour so im to take things very easy - dr's words. But now tonight I have woken up again with severe diahrea. I just want to know what the hell is going on with my body ( not necessarily the baby to come out coz that will be a nightmare in itself) but OMG we are at (Small place out of town) amd tbh i have very quick labours so the biggest fear is by the time i realise I'm in real labour get kids cared for get to town ect ect there wont be enough time to try and stop the preterm labour and it will be straight to (The Capital City). Has anyone else been thru anything like this or lost their plug very early. I've been googling ( bad idea I know) and everything I can find on there says if you loose your plug but no bloody show it can just grow back but I've had the show too... Any advice or tips ect would be greatly appreciated because I am one very scared and unsure mummy tonight

Tue, 14 May 2013 02:11:04 GMT

I'm eight weeks with our first and, given that my spouse is mtf transgendered and about to start HRT, likely only child - biologically, at any rate. We weren't exactly trying (though, to be fair, not trying super-hard not to get pregnant either), and I've never had a super-regular cycle, so my doc (a family practitioner who also does obstetrics) wound up ordering an ultrasound last week to get a firm idea of the due date - it wound up being only four days sooner than what she had originally ballparked.

I have a couple of nagging concerns. First, my wife and I both have Asperger's Syndrome, a high-functioning form of autism, for which we require anti-depressants to keep our seretonin levels stable. My Prozac is safe during pregnancy - the only likely risk is that our child will be born with traces of it in his or her system, but it has a long enough half-life not to suddenly crash the baby's levels, and I'm planning to breastfeed in any case, avoiding that problem. The genetic likelihood of Kidlet having Asperger's is quite high in any case, so getting traces of an SSRI from me might not be such a bad thing. My concern is that I also suffer from a generalized anxiety disorder. I have a prescription for Xanax which I seldom use - I use it as an emergency stopgap measure; my doc writes a scrip for two weeks' worth at standard dosage, and it usually lasts me a year or more. However, swimming in hormones is causing my anxiety to flare up more, and Xanax is not safe during pregnancy, so, obviously, I can't take it. I worry that my freaking out (every cramp had my brain screaming 'ectopic pregnancy!' for a week until the ultrasound confirmed that that was impossible) isn't good for the baby.

The other issue is an epidural. I have an exceedingly low pain threshold and stress-induced asthma, which might make an epidural seem like a no-brainer. However, after emergency surgery for an ovarian cyst a few years ago (and parting company with my wisdom teeth several years before that), I found that I get no pain relief whatsoever from narcotic painkillers. Lorcet, Percocet, Fentanyl, morphine derivatives - they all make me sleepy, but they don't do beans for me as painkillers. Would an epidural even work for me?

Paging Dr LJ

Mon, 13 May 2013 10:10:18 GMT

I'm 12 days post partum and have had two episodes of sudden back pain, first last Monday (5 days post) and just now. Each has lasted 10 minutes and has come on very quickly, causing extreme deep muscle pain in my upper back, sides and stomach. It then disappears just as quickly with no after effects at all.

After the first episode I called the hospital midwife unit who said it sounded muscular and not to worry. I will speak to the health visitor today but was wondering if anybody else had experience of something like this? I know back pain is common after child birth but Google just talks about sciatica and lower back pain/ache, which this does but feel like!

TIA!

Posted via LiveJournal app for Android.

Morning sickness or something more?!:(

Sun, 12 May 2013 09:29:40 GMT

So for over 24 hours now..I haven't been able to keep anything down. I am 6w5d with my second little one. I can't even keep down a sip of water, sprite, or powerade. I literally throw it back up 5 minutes after Sipping it. I have no energy and want to sleep..but as soon as I lay down it makes m stomach actually hurt..so when I did get a couple of hours of sleep I was sitting straight up with pillows behind me to add some padding. I haven't pee'd since about 4pm yesterday(it's 4:30am now). Is it worth a trip to the er? I haven't been to the doctor yet..so I don't have an obgyn to call yet. I jus want to be able to eat. I am so hungry!

Post c-section question

Sat, 11 May 2013 22:13:32 GMT

I had an unplanned but non-emergency c-section seven weeks ago. I had some incision pain obviously for several weeks after the surgery but on the whole it was fine.

Recently, as in the past two to three weeks, I've been getting stomach aches. Sometimes it just hurts, sometimes it's because I have to poop. I also get nauseated fairly often but haven't thrown up. Today the nausea was bad enough that I took a zofran left over from pregnancy and it did help.

I just feel like something is "off" or "wrong" here. I did some research and saw that you can have adhesions from healing. This means scar tissue can form and attach organs to each other. I'm concerned that this is happening and maybe my bowel is being partially obstructed? Or something else, I don't know. I just plain don't feel good.

I would think virus but my kids are fine for now and this has been ongoing for a few weeks on and off. Last night I was aware of pain in my stomach all night while sleeping.

Has anyone had adhesions after a c-section? Or needed corrective surgery after one? Or even just had similar symptoms and know what could be going on?

Thanks

Should I still be concerned about my blood sugar?

Fri, 10 May 2013 18:17:50 GMT

A little backstory: I took my 1-hour glucose screen and 3-hour glucose tolerance test when I was about 8-9 weeks along, during the same week that I was incredibly sick and I hadn't been eating well for days (I think I might've had some sort of infection, maybe sinus, but nobody told me to reschedule even with the illness). I had elevated levels in both tests (two out of four in the 3-hour), so I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes. All of my searching led me to believe that being ill and not eating normally in the days before the glucose test could alter the results, but neither my previous OB nor the maternal fetal medicine doctor allowed me to retake it.

I was put on insulin at about 10 weeks at nighttime for fastings, went up to about 16 units of Humulin N, but I was having some lows for my post-meal numbers - got a handful of 60s - so at the suggestion of my mother, who's a registered nurse, I should decrease my dosage a bit at a time to see if it would make a difference. It did. My fastings stayed stable as long as I didn't test too soon or too long from the last time I ate (8-9 hour window), and my post-prandials became normal, usually 80s to 90s, up to about 110 after an hour.

I had since changed my OB and she knew that I was decreasing my insulin. Eventually, I got off completely at 17 or 18 weeks, numbers staying consistent. When I was past 24 weeks (almost 25w), she asked me to retake the 3-hour 100g glucola test, and miracle of all miracles, all my numbers were well under the limits:

Fasting: 76 (normal <95)
First hour: 155 (normal <180)
Second hour: 113 (normal <155)
Third hour: 87 (normal <140)

I was very consistent with diet and exercise to keep my numbers down before, but admittedly, I haven't been TOO disciplined since retaking the GTT and getting the "all normal" results. I'm still testing fastings twice a week at my OB's request and I get 70s to 80s. I just had my 30-week growth scan and baby is actually a few days behind (but I'm Asian so I was told this was just fine for us), so he/she hasn't gotten too big despite my lax in diet and exercise for the past month. So now, should I still be concerned about my blood sugars at all? It's tough to get the GD diagnosis out of my head and I worry I'm doing some damage every time I eat a croissant!

Any thoughts or insight? TIA!

This is for multiple c-section mamas. Im on # 3. Wierd u/s results.

Fri, 10 May 2013 13:34:47 GMT

Hi everyone! Im currently pregnant with #3… 12.5 weeks. At the 8th and 9th week appointments. The OB wasn't able to see the baby on the u/s, so she sent me to the specialist and I went Wednesday. I wasnt really able to see the screen but from what I saw...I saw the gestational sac w with a not so clear gray mass that looked like a baby shape sort of. I don't know what to think. Maybe I have a lot of scar tissue so it makes the baby hard to see clearly. I've had two c sections. My tummy is growing and I have no cramping or bleeding. Has this happened to anyone? Thank you!

Wheatgrass?

Fri, 10 May 2013 03:40:56 GMT

Hi Everyone!

Ok so i found this amazing little Vegan spot in my town with fresh squeezed juices, and other nutritious yums that are overpriced yet delicious. I took a shot of wheatgrass, having heard its so amazing for you.

Later, i looked up whether a shot of wheat grass is good for pregnancy-(assuming yes) and am finding mixed opinions which is very surprising to me.

Opinions? Knowledge?

Thanks!

20 weeks pregnant today :-)

Membrane sweeping update

Thu, 09 May 2013 03:05:52 GMT

Thanks to everyone who commented on my earlier post http://pregnant.livejournal.com/17548311.html about membrane sweeping. I'm now 38 weeks and have developed a better rapport with my OB, who I've only been seeing for maybe 3 months due to switching drs late in pregnancy. Anyway, turns out I misheard her or something, which I'm pretty sure I probably did since the preggo brain is in full-force, and she starts *offering* membrane sweeping at *38* weeks, not requiring it at 37. I'll be 38 weeks tomorrow.

However, the situation has sort of entirely changed and it's become pretty irrelevant at this point. I've been having a good deal of cramping, so I had her check my cervix yesterday and yeah, I am closed up tight. Not even an iota of dilation at this point. She said even if I wanted to, she wouldn't be able to do a membrane sweep unless I was partially dilated. And since I have "insulin dependent" GD she is really, really uncomfortable with me going past 40 weeks. So we had to start talking repeat c-section. Le sigh. I would have fought her on this, except all of a sudden my blood sugars are regularly falling a lot, and she showed me the beginnings of some calcifications on the placenta which both indicate it's getting old. Which is the whole reason they don't want me to go past my due date as the placenta generally ages more quickly with diabetes and can slightly increase the risk of stillbirth. So we have that. I do trust that she has my best interest in mind.

Their practice normally does scheduled c-sections for 39 or 39.5 weeks (HOLY CRAP THAT IS NEXT WEEK!!), but ironically, my OB will be on vacation next week. She's pushing me to schedule a repeat csection for the week after that as they also won't induce me if my cervix is still closed up tight before then since I'm VBACing. Even though I'm in there twice weekly for NSTs, I won't be meeting with another dr from the practice until next Friday. My OB is actually on call my exact due date, so I'm thinking of scheduling the section for the day after that. Which will give my body time to get a move on and start dilating so I can avoid the whole repeat surgery thing. They'll do pit induction or a membrane sweep before the 40 week deadline, but only if I'm dilating already.

So at this point, I guess the race is on. I have to do everything I can to wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am my cervix into at least starting to dilate in the next 10 days or so, so they'll let me at least attempt the VBAC. And now, I would LOVE it if she could sweep my membranes lol, but that's not even an option yet.

Anyone have any good stories of how their cervix was jammed shut at 37.5 weeks and then miraculously opened wide before say 39 or so ;)?

Medicated Birth Question

Tue, 07 May 2013 03:24:38 GMT

So, I have been researching my birthing options- they are somewhat limited by the fact that I am considered high-risk, and will be giving birth in a hospital setting. One thing that I have come across is that the use of nitrous oxide is fairly normal in the UK and Canada, but rarely used during labour in the US. Since I will be giving birth in the US, and this seems to be a great option for pain management as it doesn't affect the baby, I was curious. I will definitely be asking my Dr. about this at our next appointment, but I was just wondering; how many of you have used nitrous oxide during labour in the US? Anyone? Has anyone had a completely intervention-free hospital birth? (It seems like a bit of a unicorn.) I haven't made any hard and fast decisions yet regarding what, if any, drugs I plan to take during delivery- but, I also know that things very rarely go exactly as we plan them, so I am just trying to educate myself as much as possible about my options, and the pros and cons of each.

Retreating From the Rest of the World

Sun, 05 May 2013 01:01:48 GMT

I know every person is different, as is every pregnancy, but I’m curious about this, so I’m going to ask. I’m 37w1d with baby#2, and I don’t really remember this happening at all with my first child. Today I feel like shutting myself away from everyone and everything. I just want to crawl into a hole and stay there until baby comes out. I’ve stepped back from Facebook and other social networking, have no desire to answer phone calls or text messages, and generally just want the world to leave me alone. I should add that, while I never had this urge with my older child, I also had a c-section and was never able to go into labor on my own. So, LJ Preggo Land, if you experienced this need to retreat from everyone and everything, was it ultimately a sign of impending labor? How long after beginning your new life as a recluse did your baby make his or her debut? Thanks for humoring my late pregnancy curiosity.

Posted via m.livejournal.com.

Updates and Other Things

Fri, 03 May 2013 13:39:30 GMT

I posted last week about my baby having an irregular heartbeat. The good news is the ultrasound showed it happening but not consistently and the doctor was pretty unconcerned. He said PACs (can you pluralize that?) are common and shouldn't affect my pregnancy just to keep up with fetal movement counts etc. He also said I was fine with my caffeine which I celebrated with a diet Dr. Pepper LOL.

As a side note, he's got his head next to the placenta (I have it smack dab right at the top of my uterus), with his foot right next to his head (he's a flexible little one apparently).

Random question... it's been over six years since my last pregnancy and I was working full time so I just didn't pay as close attention - has anyone noticed their baby on a schedule in the womb? I was wondering if that schedule ended up being the same once the baby was born. This one does kickboxing between 6 and 7 am without fail, every morning - it's been like this for several weeks now. I know some of the schedule is related to when I eat and he gets the nutrients later on, but this particular time period is unrelated to food since I've been asleep all night. Just curious :)

Birth Story

Thu, 02 May 2013 23:31:37 GMT

At 34 weeks 5 days pregnant I had an ultrasound estimating baby was already 8lbs 7oz (type 1 diabetic here, so size *can* be a legit issue).

36 weeks 5 days (Friday, April 12) - I had a routine NST. I'd been having them twice a week since 34 weeks, as is pretty standard for diabetics. As usual, baby wasn't cooperating for the NST so I had a quick BPP done, which baby passed with a score of 8/8. My OB did a GBS swab and checked my cervix. 1cm and "pretty thin" but baby was still a bit high.

Friday night -- went to bed around midnight, after posting here about when I should schedule my "just in case I don't go into labor on my own" c-section. I had a very hard time getting to sleep that night. I had been having increased clear discharge and some cramping, all of which I chalked up to the cervical check.

Saturday -- around 3am I woke up having to pee. I started to get up and realized I had to go worse than I thought. I heard my husband taking a shower in our only bathroom. By this point it was starting to trickle down my leg so I sat on a pile of dirty laundry (gross, I know). I got cleaned up, started the wash, and went to bed. I woke up about an hour later having to pee again (luckily the bathroom was free this time) but I still ended up having to change my clothes again. This happened several more times through the night. I also started to get crampy and lower back aches. After a few short hours of sleep I woke up for the day and went about the day as normal. I started getting more painful contractions as the day went on, but the pain was all in the front of my stomach in the lower abdomen. By the time I hit the grocery store in the afternoon I couldn't walk through the pain anymore. I tried to time them but there was no pattern at all. I sat on the exercise ball for a bit while I tried to finish a final paper for school (which never got done). Sometime around midnight I decided to try to get some sleep.

Sunday -- I woke up at 3:30am in severe pain. Another contraction but it was just in my lower abdomen. I went back to sleep only to be woken up a few minutes later by the same thing. I decided to get out of bed and eat something, walk around, and see what happened. Nothing made them more regular or made them stop -- not exercise, relaxing, a warm bath... nothing! Overall they were getting stronger, but there was still no real pattern to them. I really just thought it was false labor but decided to call my OB anyway. She didn't think I was in labor either, but said if I wanted to get checked out I could come in. I decided to play it safe and go in.

I called my mom at 9am to come watch our son. She showed up at 10am (she lives 4 blocks away... she said she had to dry her hair first... ugh). We got to the hospital at 10:30am and left our half packed hospital bag in the car, thinking surely we'd be sent home within a few hours.

By the time they got the monitors on me I was in pretty severe pain. The nurse checked me and I was 3cm and 80% so my OB decided to keep me. Time gets fuzzy here. They started an IV and scrambled to look for the results of the GBS test that was just done a few days ago. Within 2 hours of being admitted I asked for the epidural. By the time they placed it they checked me again and I was already at 6cm and fully effaced.

At one point my OB came in to check me and break my water, but when she went to check she couldn't find my bag of water! They found a few drops of fluid and tested it, and sure enough my water had already broken. My best guess is it broke early Saturday morning when I thought I was peeing a lot -- oops!

I got to 10cm pretty quick but baby was still high so they had me wait on pushing. By 8am I started pushing and they started to set the room up for delivery pretty quick, thinking she wasn't going to take long to be born. Then all of a sudden my labor stalled. My contractions went from every minute to every 5-7 minutes and baby got even higher in the birth canal. They started a small pitocin drip and I kept pushing... and pushing and pushing... for three hours. My OB finally came to check and said baby was a zero station AT BEST. I could keep trying a little longer, or just call it quits.

At this point it was 11pm. We were on babysitter #2 for the night. We really had no other choice but to call it quits and do a c-section. Everyone was very surprised at the turn of events -- even my OB! They all thought I was going to have a successful VBAC. I won't lie, I was pretty upset. Everyone was very supportive though. My OB spent as much time with me in the room as she could, and a few nurses gave me hugs as they wheeled me out.

At 11:34pm, after a lot of tugging/wiggling/pushing/pulling/whatever they were doing to get baby unstuck from my pelvis, our little Miriam was born:

nursing in recovery:

A few days old:

She was 8lbs 4oz and 21 inches long -- so much for that 8lbs 7oz estimate at 34 weeks!! She was face up. The cap of her skull was very swollen from trying to fit into the birth canal, and she had several bruises on her head. Her head was also hitting my bladder, causing me to pee blood for a while. After delivery they were able to wait on feeding her until I was in recovery, where she nursed like a champ. In recovery we both started to run fevers and her blood sugar was a bit unstable. My husband had to leave almost as soon as I got into the recovery room to go home to our son. Because no one was staying in the hospital room with me and I couldn't really move to get baby on my own, she had to stay in the nursery for the first night, but they said they'd bring her into the room for every feeding.

We didn't even make it to the first feeding before her blood sugar went too low, fever went too high and she had to go into the special care nursery. She later ended up developing jaundice as well and was placed under lights. I was disappointed but kind of expected it. They were fantastic though. They never gave her a bottle, and did all feedings through SNS or finger feeds if I couldn't be there. She was the only baby in the special care nursery so we got all of the attention. I even got to educate some of the nurses on tandem nursing! :)

We were discharged, together, 4 days after she was born. I got to be wheeled out of the hospital, carrying my baby, and the nurse helped me into the car. It sounds silly but since I was discharged before my son, I never got that experience with him. So it meant a lot to get it this time.

For a birth they kept referring to as "traumatic" I can't really complain about it. I didn't get my VBAC but it was still a good experience. I'm not sure if we're having any more kids. If we do, I can't say I'll try for a VBA2C (right now I lean towards not). But if we do have any more kids, I know what hospital I'll be going to. I switched care at 24 weeks from a big hospital to a small, baby friendly hospital. It was the best decision I made. PPD is an issue for me this time around, just as it was last time. The severity of it isn't anywhere near as bad as it was last time though, and it didn't come on nearly as fast. I credit a lot of that to the birth experience. I'm just happy I got the chance to try for a VBAC, and most importantly that everyone is healthy.

2.5 weeks old:

Swelling and Swimsuits! Oh joy!

Thu, 02 May 2013 20:55:12 GMT

Hi ladies,

I'm nearing 20 weeks and it is no longer comfortable to wear my rings (like my wedding ring). In addition, every once in awhile my hands feel fat. I know some swelling is normal and such, but is there a way to gage it? Do you remember around how many weeks you had stop wearing your rings? Any tips to get the swelling feeling down?

And I'm going to spend a lot of time at the pool this summer. Any good retailers for pregnancy swim wear? Plus size swim wear retailers are a bonus!

Thanks!

For someone TTC - I have unused OPK to give away

Wed, 01 May 2013 22:00:34 GMT

I bought a 50 pack of these ovulation test strips - http://www.amazon.com/babi-Step-Ovulation-Strips-50-Count/dp/B005B3HH2A/ - and have 35 left that I do not need. Each strip is individually packaged, and the lot expires in Dec 2014. I will mail them for free to the first person (in the US) who comments with their address. I can also send along the instructions.

(FWIW, they worked like a charm for me. I happened to have an ultrasound of my ovaries and uterus the morning that the OPK I took was positive. We actually saw the mature follicle on the ultrasound, and I had sex that night and the next, and now I'm 21 weeks pregnant).

My family is complete, but I think I am pregnant after MIRENA removal, but before vasectomy...???

Wed, 01 May 2013 02:40:06 GMT

I had my mirena taken out almost 2 months ago due to some bad side effects,--not to try to get pregnant, in fact my husband has a consult for a vasectomy next week. I am a nurse, so I feel like I should have known better, but just didnt think of it, and my doc didn't say anything about it. We had unprotected sex all week prior to removal knowing we would have to use condoms for a few months. We had sex the night before it was removed too (it was removed in the am). I lightly bled more like spotted for a day or two. The doctor said within the next month I would have a heavy period like your first one after giving birth. I have not gotten it. Approx 3 weeks after removal I have this strange pressure or sense of fullness in my lower abdomen almost pelvic region. I don't remember feeling this way with my last pregnancy, but somehow this full feeling is familiar and in my gut I feel like I am pregnant, I just sense it in an odd way, but am having conflict about it in my mind since we have decided to stop at one child becasue we feel it is best for our family. (Even though A mommy always will want more if she thinks only with her heart) I was having frequency urinating, and tested negative at work for UTI and at a couple random points never consequetive days have had faint pink on the tp that looked very light with a clearness to it. (Bare in mind that with my daughter I had symptoms very early on and actually knew I was pregnant for a few weeks before the test showed up positve, I even "showed" at 6 weeks) This fullness/pressure is constant and seems to be heavier on the right. I have been having pretty intense food cravings, waves of dizziness and nausea. My lower abdomen is tender at times to applied pressure and is signaificantly bloated/swollen looking. I am having discharge from my nipples too when squeezing. ( I only looked because I had that immediately when I was pregnant with my daughter, but my breasts also hurt terribly with her and don't hurt too bad now.) I am pretty sure I should have gotten my period around April 14th, which would mean that I would have been ovulating (going by the 12-15 day theory) when it was removed. But, it is hard to say because having it removed will produce hormonal and possibly menstrual changes anyway. I have another test to take in the am but am kinda scared to take it. I called my doc to make an appoinment for my day off, but she said she wants to see me immediately because of my symptoms she fears an ectopic pregnancy, so I am going in tomorrow afternoon. Has anyone had this sort of experience?? Is it possible? What do you think, am I pregnant? Does anyone have any insight as to the different feelings of regular pregnancy verses ectopic? I would also mention that any sex after removal was with the use of a condom--except the third time using a condom the entire top ripped off, at 3 days after removal, but I think If I am pregnant I was pregnant before the condom incident. I think I was ovulating at the time of removal becasuse my breasts were swollen and I was having increased mucous, but have trouble deciphering my schedule. I just want to add that with my daughter, I became pregnant from missing only one day of the nuvaring... Any thoughts would be really appreciated! Thanks!

Spotting w/Cramps

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 04:45:09 GMT

So, I am 21 weeks right now, and everything has been fairly normal so far, however, today I noticed some bright red blood spotting and some cramps which felt like menstrual cramps. It was pretty fleeting (less than 5 minutes) and both symptoms are now gone.

Should I be worried?
Should I call/go in to my dr?

I don't want to go in if this is not something to be worried about, but I'm just not sure.

Any advice?

IS CRAMPING A SYMTOM OF PREGNANCY??

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 03:27:17 GMT

The month I discovered I was pregnant, I was surprised because I was experiencing the worst "pms" ever. I was irritable and very crampy. I assumed I wasn't pregnant and I was taking motrin every 4-6 hours...thats how uncomfortable I was. Even after the pregnancy test was positive, I kept expecting my period to come because of the cramps and back pain/pressure. This feeling went away eventually, but I started to feel crampy again at about 18 weeks (ligament stretching). Talking to my friends, this seems to be a common early pregnancy symptom, that many women don't know about.

14 weeks post c-section stitches pull

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 23:35:23 GMT

Hey folks anyone else had a significant stitches pull 14 weeks post c-section. Significant meaning I am still in significant pain 20hrs later, hurting to walk, feel it when breathing, hurts to lift the new baby (let alone the toddler who is on crawl duty today) and so on. I've had a normal easy recovery until now. Ring the doc (who is a massive 350km round trip away so don't want to go in for nothing)???