News from the baby world.
Dec. 5th, 2004 07:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rivkaEntry for the baby book: Dec 3, 2004 - first clear response to an external stimulus.
On Friday, for the first time, my physical therapist ended the session by icing my back. As soon as she placed the ice pack against my middle back, I felt a flurry of kicks and pressures on the extreme lower front of my belly. Li'l Critter was trying to move away from the sudden cold sensation.
It was the coolest thing! The first evidence that she senses and responds to her environment. Such a clever baby!
Other than the back pain, which is still intermittently troublesome, I am feeling pretty well these days. Major sixth month symptoms so far: breathlessness, dizzy spells, emotional lability.
Major emotional lability. It's so strange to have these powerful emotions coursing through me and know that they're chemically caused, and yet to not have that knowledge make a bit of difference. It's fine when they're happy and excited feelings, and even sometimes when they're sad - I don't mind crying my eyes out at sad movies, or getting tearily sentimental. But last night I came perilously close to a full-fledged panic attack, just because we were stuck in traffic and late for![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
minnaleigh's birthday dinner. And a brief thought about miscarriage or fetal death can leave me jumpy and upset for hours. That side of emotional lability just sucks.
The dizzy spells bother me, because I'm not sure they're normal. It's pretty normal for a pregnant woman to feel dizzy when changing positions, because the uterus's extra demands for blood sometimes shortchange the brain. I have those dizzy spells. But I also have longer periods of dizziness that are quite disconcerting. Especially the one that happened in a steeply-banked theater balcony, as I was trying to move down stairs and across a row to my seat. I am trying to eat more frequently, on the theory that the dizziness might be due to low blood sugar, and I intend to mention it to the midwife at my next appointment on Wednesday.
The breathlessness is kind of a pain, as well. I have trouble with steps taken too quickly, and with almost every position involving bending over. I got down on the floor today to sweep up broken ornament pieces with a whisk broom, and then spent several minutes gasping for breath. We have agreed thatcuriousangel will handle all bending and stooping tasks from now on.
But mostly I feel great, and happy to be pregnant. I feel the baby almost every day now, and her movements still don't hurt at all - they're just fun and exciting. I tire easily (especially with the breathlessness), but I've still got energy for my normal day. I'm a little worried that I haven't gained more weight (I'm just about up to my pre-pregnancy weight now, which is only seven pounds over my lowest pregnancy weight), but I also recognize that if I were larger I'd have even less mobility than I do now.
Li'l Critter seems so real to me already. I'm so looking forward to meeting her, in just a few short months.
On Friday, for the first time, my physical therapist ended the session by icing my back. As soon as she placed the ice pack against my middle back, I felt a flurry of kicks and pressures on the extreme lower front of my belly. Li'l Critter was trying to move away from the sudden cold sensation.
It was the coolest thing! The first evidence that she senses and responds to her environment. Such a clever baby!
Other than the back pain, which is still intermittently troublesome, I am feeling pretty well these days. Major sixth month symptoms so far: breathlessness, dizzy spells, emotional lability.
Major emotional lability. It's so strange to have these powerful emotions coursing through me and know that they're chemically caused, and yet to not have that knowledge make a bit of difference. It's fine when they're happy and excited feelings, and even sometimes when they're sad - I don't mind crying my eyes out at sad movies, or getting tearily sentimental. But last night I came perilously close to a full-fledged panic attack, just because we were stuck in traffic and late for
minnaleigh's birthday dinner. And a brief thought about miscarriage or fetal death can leave me jumpy and upset for hours. That side of emotional lability just sucks. The dizzy spells bother me, because I'm not sure they're normal. It's pretty normal for a pregnant woman to feel dizzy when changing positions, because the uterus's extra demands for blood sometimes shortchange the brain. I have those dizzy spells. But I also have longer periods of dizziness that are quite disconcerting. Especially the one that happened in a steeply-banked theater balcony, as I was trying to move down stairs and across a row to my seat. I am trying to eat more frequently, on the theory that the dizziness might be due to low blood sugar, and I intend to mention it to the midwife at my next appointment on Wednesday.
The breathlessness is kind of a pain, as well. I have trouble with steps taken too quickly, and with almost every position involving bending over. I got down on the floor today to sweep up broken ornament pieces with a whisk broom, and then spent several minutes gasping for breath. We have agreed that
curiousangel will handle all bending and stooping tasks from now on.But mostly I feel great, and happy to be pregnant. I feel the baby almost every day now, and her movements still don't hurt at all - they're just fun and exciting. I tire easily (especially with the breathlessness), but I've still got energy for my normal day. I'm a little worried that I haven't gained more weight (I'm just about up to my pre-pregnancy weight now, which is only seven pounds over my lowest pregnancy weight), but I also recognize that if I were larger I'd have even less mobility than I do now.
Li'l Critter seems so real to me already. I'm so looking forward to meeting her, in just a few short months.
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no subject
Date: 2004-12-05 05:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-05 05:44 pm (UTC)He started to laugh it off, checked the expression on his wife's face and apologized profusely.
The box of chocolates he sent me the next day didn't hurt either.
no subject
Date: 2004-12-05 05:59 pm (UTC)I have those dizzy spells. But I also have longer periods of dizziness that are quite disconcerting.
You might want to have your iron level checked. I had a lot of dizziness when I was pg and it was caused by anaemia. It went away after I had Eddie, but they had me on iron and it helped a lot.
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Date: 2004-12-05 06:01 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2004-12-05 06:16 pm (UTC)Isn't it? That experience is what convinced me that it was okay to take drugs for depression.
It's pretty common to have sinus congestion that interferes with your inner ear during pregnancy. That's what the dizziness in the steeply-banked theater balcony sounds like to me. Your sense of balance is a three-legged stool: when the cunning little inner-ear mechanism isn't working, you've still got your eyesight and gravity pressing against your feet. But when the ground isn't level and there is no horizon to look at *and* your inner-ear signals are confused, you're wobbly!
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Date: 2004-12-05 09:25 pm (UTC)In the meantime, I'm delighted to read about your clever baby, and your clever self, too.
Pamela
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Date: 2004-12-06 08:01 am (UTC)Re: Dizziness: I went downstairs on my butt for months. My sense of balance was *just* off enough that I couldn't trust myself to walk it. Remember that your centre of gravity is in a new place too so your whole balancing posture has to change, which is also pretty weird.
Rah for pregnancy! Yippee!