Time.

while trying to figure out time between doctors' appointments, working with my sweetie on his business and also running a business with my siblings - i have forgotten all about my migraines. However briefly. At least as long as I don't overdo things like bread, buns, sugar, ya...

Different things pop up tho, couple of days I had the most miserable pain in my leg extending from my butt, all the way to below my knee. Must tell you - that was uncomfortable. A little bit shiatsu (made me remember pain is never bad enough until you try to fix it) and a little bit of other fun and a night of rest on that new bed pad for peeps in pain my siblings bought for my husband's birthday, and it was gone.

awesome, eh wat?

Migraines in the summer.

As we all know - even those of us who prefer to come out only at night and observe the sunlight only when it bounces off the moon, get the wretched summer headaches.

I have figured out for most part - what causes mine besides bright shiny sun however.

Or rather what doesn't cause mine.

I can eat meat, fish, anything with tons of protein and very very little carbs - and sail through the day / night like nobody's business.
I can also consume impressive amounts of vegetables, and different kinds of fruits - as well, with no real bad after effects.

However the second I touch anything related to bakery, or deep fried anything coated in anything like flour or bread or whatnot - and my head goes on strike.

I can attest to that - because it's doing that to me today.

Of course the only reason I eat any sorts of carbs is because being on a diet is not necessarily a smart thing - as far as it goes for pregnant women. Granted we have to watch what we eat - but generally so it doesn't crawl off our plate or that we don't accidentally stab our neighbor in the arm with a fork.

Besides that - we've (and I throw that "we" loosely, counting my sweet husband as well) been suffering from my migraines for the last two days.

In order for me to put it back to normal - I definitely have to do something like quell my indigestion, which has come to haunt me in this second - nearly third trimester.

As far as nerves - I have had those strange cry for no reason moments like so many women talk about. But only twice so far. So I suppose I'm doing well on that end.

Both my husband and I are finding a better way to communicate all the time. So that helps immensely - except those fun times when he or I get oversensitive and crabby. But I suppose that just keeps us on our toes.

Once again - I'm going to try and skimp on the carbs pretty soon and see if smaller meals and tums really do help with heartburn as much as they claim to.

For now I'm tired and need to go rest. Yet again. -.-

It's been a while, we're back for now...

Since last time I've posted on this blog, a lot has happened. A lot of stress more like it - some of it was good, some of it was bad. There was a lot of growing for both, baby, daddy and me - and I think we're growing well. My hormones are driving me wild with emotions - whether they're driving me up the wall or down for a 12 hour nap - that's a different story.

All that said - I must warn future and current expecting mothers - stay away from stress like you would from the plague.
Do whatever you got to do - self hypnosis, reading, crocheting, throwing knives at moving targets - doesn't matter. Just Don't Stress out. It's incredibly unhealthy for you and your kitten.

I found out about a month ago that my little baby has what's called gastroschisis. This possibly could be one of the reasons why my migraines are one in a million right now - and have been for a long while, or it's quite possible medication that I was taking prior to getting pregnant was a cause for this condition as well.

After many sleepless nights and stressing and worrying about it like there's no tomorrow - I finally gave up on stress and started accumulating all the info that could possibly be gotten on the subject. Namely from the doctors, nurses, more doctors, online articles etc.

All the medical staff has a healthy outlook on this - and promises to take the best of care of the little one once he comes out. I have to deal with the fact that I won't be bringing baby home like most moms - but that should be alright.
I saw the fear in the eyes of the mom that was in that NIC unit. It's as if I saw mirror image of myself in those eyes. Freaky. But gave me hope. Because besides fear I saw hope. And that's what both my husband and I are doing is hoping for the best.

Migraines have been plaguing me. Noticed more stress more migraines - so my hubby and I try to work on our communication skills more and do something little every sunday to relax. Perhaps in time we'll both grow up to be just as supportive of each other as we should be in an equal partnership that is called marriage.

Anywhos, I'm rambling, a horrible defect from fatigue - and am going to sleep. As soon as I break up those two pups out in the kitchen. lol

Migraines like to incapacite, don't they?

I'm not sure anymore if mine even qualify as migraines or tension headaches, or headaches caused by lack of sleep and overexposure to sun, or all of the above.

My nerves are at an all time crap - and I'm pretty sure my puppy just pissed on the kitchen floor.

Been severely tired recently - but it doesn't mean that I actually get to go to bed like normal people. The headaches keep me awake and running where as I should be sleeping like a baby. Pregnancy and all that kind of require it.

Waking up in the morning is too easy. I open my eyes, then just lay there for the next few hours unable to go back to sleep then fall asleep for a couple more hours. So on and so forth. It's quite annoying.

Auras make driving ten times as fun, and who can say no to sparklies when they're sitting staring at the wall? It's never ending fun time.

A lot of things must get done tomorrow however, so I'm going to give sleeping a good college try once more and see where that takes me.

Hot weather, headaches and tribulations.

High temperatures are a horrible thing to experience while you have some sort of a cold and have a migraine to boot.

Yesterday my husband and I went to the doctor. Had to wait - unusually - for an hour and a half before we got admitted - and after everything was said and done, our minds were not put at ease about whether the AFP test results are something to worry bout or not.

However we made an appointment with a genetic counselor already - to go for further testing. Our initial appointment should take approximately 2 hours. So that should be educational.

Hopefully everything is alright. We cross our fingers and wait til Thursday.

No sleep and a migraine equals to bad temper.

Well we all knew that. Even if we don't have migraines - and don't get enough sleep we're prone to overeat, get tyrannical on our spouses and generally cause mischief on grand scale. Especially if we have to be put in any kind of stress. Like having to stay up the previous night, but not due to an evening of playing out sexual fantasies.

It's quite common however. And I'm pretty sure most pregnant women - especially those who brave working during this stage in their life and have to miss out on sleep - do know just how cranky it makes them.

My morning was just that - horribly wrong. Mood seemed to sweep me with the power of one of those tornadoes from Alabama. I couldn't even stop myself, nor could my honey stop himself, since he was the one in incredible amounts of pain and missing out on all kinds of good sleep the previous night.

Well, heads roll, but love prevails, and it does so with the power of the nap. After sleeping just mere hour or so during the day we were able to gather our brains about us and get on with the day.

However my silly tension headache is still there. And my annoying overproduction of mucus, that's very common during pregnancy to begin with, but also common with cold/allergy season, seems to be choking me out every morning.

Can't breath through my nose after a night of sleep. Can't stand air hitting my face directly - like being near a fan that points straight at me. Have a unique need for cold air in the room, and my ears feel like they're under pressure. Tomorrow I get to talk to my pregnancy doctor about the baby, the elevated test results:

Between 15 and 20 weeks’ gestation, the mother may be given the option to have a screening test for Down syndrome and open neural tube defects, such as spina bifida. Included in the screening panel are tests for alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), unconjugated estriol, and sometimes inhibin A—a marker that turns the triple test into a quad test. This blood screening panel provides an opportunity to assess the risk of these conditions occurring without performing the more invasive amniocentesis procedure.

I'll also run my discomforts by her. All kinds of crap goes into my head and I start thinking negatively. Which in turn isn't good either. Cause I work myself up and then suddenly get a kick from the youngin that sends me into the closest couch mumbling irresponsibly every four letter word I can remember in English.

At any rate, I feel pretty tired, cranky and am craving something extremely hot and spicy. This kid will grow up loving horseradish and hot mustard if I have anything to say about it.

It's a cold... It's an allergy... It's a migraine!

Either cold, annoying allergy or both have seized me in the last couple of days. Painful to swallow, sneezing more often than usual. My husband and I have a couple of fans constantly blowing on the bed during the day/night - since we don't have central air and heating it takes that much to cool us down. But I'm beginning to suspect that night time temperature cools us way down too fast. Therefore perhaps - should be avoided.

My auras are back full force as well. Only thing I'm not seeing is my childhood imaginary friends, but feels like even those are just around the corner.

The baby hasn't been kicking much at all today either. Which always makes me wonder. Is he okay? Did he get bored? - Tomorrow I have an appointment with our doctor, so we get to find out if it's really boy or girl, and then later I have to schedule an appointment with a genetic counselor.

Worries about the baby and my husband spending last night thrashing around in pain from his shoulder - they're about at an all high. There's some need for meditating, if my afformentioned love and joy turns off Korn, ever.

tension headache, throwing up and all those little auras

Almost confused my tension headaches with a migraine.

Well who wouldn't - you get a headache with auras and throwing up - you'd think it was a migraine.

Although I called my sibling Raingem and was promptly notified that it indeed is a tension headache. Which of course isn't helping anything - but whatever.

I took the rest of my vitamins for the day and settled in behind a computer to do my usual. Ah squiggly line... how I've missed you.

In order for me to deal with the whole headache thing - I'm not taking any medication - but perhaps a loving rub from a loving person. Also dog walking helps. Clears those nasal passages being out and about.

Still need to post a picture of my pup here, not the one I'm carrying - the actual pup :)

Irritability and migraines.

It seems once you have one - the other one is just around the corner.
My migraines are almost always paired with green ugly irritability, and my latest road-rage like attitude towards anything that moves is somewhat... crazy.

It's possible that it's due to the fact that my sweetheart has been somewhat less than himself lately and successfully has given me grief on and off frequently and on daily basis.

It could be that I'm losing touch with reality and am myself becoming something that makes other people around me a little more edgy and nervous, and sets me up for a fight.

Or it could be that I'm lacking some special vitamin B complex.

Recently been taking some better set of vitamins just to make sure that I'm on the right track. And been supplementing as much as I can.
But today due to some harsh change in schedule I failed to take several helpings of those vitamins.

It's totally possible that I'm just lacking proper nutrients and my body is rebelling.

Perhaps some good night sleep will put me at ease, and tomorrow back on track.


On the brighter note - I definitely felt my baby move yesterday. That didn't feel like cramp. Didn't feel painful, just slightly weird as if I swallowed a fish alive, or had a pain free charlie horse below the belt.
Our kitten moved around a couple of times during the day, and surprisingly I'm still not showing my pregnancy too much. Even though I'm on my fourth month. I suppose it's normal. In a week we'll be going to my doctor's again and this time we get to find out the little tyke's gender and if he or she's doing alright.

Awesome feeling I tell ya.

It's been almost a month! Migraines are back!

We finally moved. And along with the move we lost one kitty, found my migraines and experienced debilitating pains together with my husband. Him being the chronic pain sufferer and myself carrying on the migraine end.

Perhaps in time we'll find a cure for what ails us, but today we try to concentrate on taking all our right vitamins and eating healthier.
My husband actually eats healthier than me at this point because I get too hungry for my own good and start eating anything that's edible. That particular category unfortunately includes fast food, so that might be a reason alone for the increased frequency of my migraines.

Auras are the worst as of late. Permanently blocking my eyesight from anything discernible, making everything one muddy inkblot on top of another color inkblot. Paired with a tiny man stabbing me in the roof of my left side of my head with an ice pick - it's quite an experience.

It's possibly due to the fact that I've been consuming a lot more carbs in the past two - three weeks, also could be the fact that my magnesium intake has been suffering in the last couple of weeks as well.

I'm not exactly sure but definitely going back on track with magnesium and attempting to sleep more often. I hear sleep is actually a cool neat little thing to do in case you want to feel better.

I'm glad to be finally back however, and to make up for my prolonged absence I shall post a picture of a kitten. Enjoy!

Peanut butter, midnight cravings, migraines.

It's 2:30am. My migraine is throbbing gently at my left hemisphere. And my current craving is celery with peanut butter. People naturally would associate it with my being pregnant - but in all honesty it's just the opposite.
When I used to work extremely late shifts, my entire day's layout would shift - breakfast would be served around 5pm and dinner around 3am.

It's fatigue. Of course there's a school of thought that when you crave something very much - it's most likely that your body needs it.

So what's in peanut butter? Looks like for two teaspoons of peanut butter you get massive calories, 10g of protein and 10% of your daily iron intake. Yet according to WebMD "Peanut Butter Packs a Healthy Punch"

And on the other hand what's in celery? Has only 10 calories per medium sized stalk, with 1g of protein and virtually no other nutritional value. And of course Happy Juicer is happy to tell us otherwise. Just check out how good celery is for you. You'll never skimp on it again!

Pregnant migraine ladies - pick your snacks carefully. Our sensitive noses, taste buds and other things, rely on our healthy diet. So I say hey, to the 3 o'clock in the morning and retire without my peanut butter. Such is life.

I switched to new vitamins and supplements today. My level of energy lifted dramatically. Although, when moving our junk to the new house - I felt fatigue in my limbs. Could be because my muscles have slowly dissolved into goo.

Right now fatigue is spreading to my brain, so on the very side note - I got my twitter all set up. So now you can catch my unfunny rants on that too. :)

Doctors, magnesium and migraines.

It's quite amusing really. My appointment with my doc was pretty uneventful. As usual my doctor is sweet as a button and seems to genuinely care for her patients. All three of us. Daddy, baby and myself.

Baby's heart rate is at wooping 160 which is prime good thing for him or her apparently, and it moved around quite a bit. In three weeks we get to take a blood test that will tell us if the child falls under more risk for crazy health problems that could spell disaster for any little happy family. And in five weeks I have yet another appointment and then we get to find out whether it's a boy or a girl! Plus the test results.
Which is absolutely awesome. Not sure how it makes any difference really, whether the little tyke is a girl or a boy - but it will be exciting nonetheless. We'll really get to concentrate on the whole "name" thing. And depending on the next house we're moving to - we can figure out the theme for the bedroom. Contemporary Japanese, Steam Punk or perhaps plain ol' industrial. Possibilities are endless, and quite far from our minds at the moment.

My honey and I are just happy that the baby is seemingly healthy. Our doctor asked if I take anything besides vitamins and supplements that I mentioned previously. Of course magnesium had to be added to the list - since I wasn't taking as much of it in the first two months.
To my surprise she asked why I took magnesium. My choice of explanation was that it helps migraines. She wholeheartedly approved the vitamin / mineral route of handling my pains.

Speaking of pains - I wonder if I mentioned having a head splitting one today. Me thinks once I get some more rest - it'll go away or the likes.
So i'll be off and taking care of it.

Good night :)

Post migraine stress.

To be quite accurate, migraines and stress are a never ending circle of events that constantly chase each other's tail like the ying and yang.

When a person is afflicted by stress, seemingly overcomes stress, the migraine kicks in as an after effect. But when migraine kicks in the stress levels elevate, for we know this is painful and quite disturbing part of our lives that we have little to no control over at times. In other words = a never ending circle.

So how do we control stress?

I personally opted for murdering every fly in my vicinity by using a makeshift fly swatter.

Some people opt for drinking, others take sleeping pills and anything to relax them. Some people just sleep. Just like I do when I'm stressed out to the max. Often it seems to be too daunting of a task to be awake nad having to deal with this issue or next, so i like to close my eyes and slowly meditate myself to sleep.

What are your ways of dealing with stress?

Food during pregnancy and migraines.

There's been an understanding for a long time that while a woman is pregnant she by all means should attempt to diet in most healthiest ways.
Don't let word diet disturb you my sweet readers - it's merely a choice adjective to help describe a lifestyle. One that could affect a person long term and if used properly even be beneficial.

Pregnant women not only are faced with having to fend for themselves in most healthiest ways (freshly killed rabbits and homegrown green salads and what not) but they should consider the fact that everything they eat, during pregnancy and breastfeeding - if they eat a lot of it and if they eat it consistently - will imprint onto baby's taste buds so to speak.

Natural news yet once again comes through with an interesting column about this very subject.
Food Choice During Pregnancy Shapes Lifelong Taste Preferences of Baby

Children develop a taste for the foods that their mothers eat during pregnancy and breastfeeding, highlighting the importance of pregnant and nursing women's dietary choices, according to a new study published in the journal Pediatrics.
"It's a beautiful system," lead researcher Julie Mennella said. "Flavors from the mother's diet are transmitted through amniotic fluid and mother's milk. So, a baby learns to like a food's taste when the mother eats that food on a regular basis."

There's also the flip side to this coin - since pregnant ladies need all sorts of minerals and vitamins - according to certain studies - it's actually difficult to assimilate by just 'eating right'.

(NC)—The amount of nutrients in our food is steadily declining, according to recent research. A recent survey found some fruits and vegetables we buy today contain far fewer nutrients than they did 50 years ago. This is especially noticeable in foods such as potatoes, tomatoes, bananas and apples. Specifically, the potato has lost 100 per cent of its vitamin A, 57 per cent of its vitamin C and iron, and 28 per cent of its calcium.

So perhaps ladies while we're chewing on lean chickens, or choice garbanzo beans with side of freshly killed salad - don't forget to take some extra vitamin supplements on the side. Those things sure do come in handy. And perhaps start the little tyke on some very choice Flinstones when the time is right.

Couple of jokes, including a migraine one :)

Just a few to break the whole routine of me posting some stuff about my migraines (heavy auras today) and vitamins (took them all like a good little girl).

A man speaks frantically into the phone, "My wife is pregnant, and her contractions are only two minutes apart!"

"Is this her first child?" the doctor queries.

"No, you idiot!" the man shouts. "This is her husband!"

I'm two months pregnant now. When will my baby move?

With any luck, right after it finishes college.

This guy gets these chronic migraine headaches. One day he sees a doctor about his problem.
The doctor gives him a thorough examination and says, "I can cure your headaches, but I`ll have to cut your balls off to do it."
At first the man is horrified at this idea, but the headaches keep getting worse and worse. He can`t work or sleep, his sex life is nonexistent, and he`s generally miserable. Finally, he goes back to the doctor and says, "I don`t care anymore, cut them off. Just get rid of these damned headaches!
The doctor performs the operation, and immediately the headaches go away.
The guy is relatively happy, now. He may not have a sex life, but he figures this is price he has to pay for a life without pain. One day, he decides to get himself a new wardrobe. He goes to this nice new men`s shop downtown.
As soon as he walks in the door, the clerk looks carefully at him and says, "You wear a 44 long jacket, don`t you?" The guy says, "Yeah, how did you know?"
"It`s in the eye," says the clerk. "Your neck is seventeen and one quarter inches, but given your build, medium shirt sleeves should work."
"That is incredible!" the guy says. "Hmm... and you wear a 36 large jockstrap."
"Ah hah! You`re wrong," the guy says gleefully. "I wear a 32 small jockstrap."
"No, you have to wear a 36 large," says the clerk.
"Look, I`m sorry, but you`re wrong. I wear a 32 small."
That`s impossible," says the confused clerk. "A 32 small jockstrap would pinch your balls and give you migraine headaches."

Magnesium, migraines and pregnancy.

Here's a break down of the vitamins and supplements that I'm taking as of this moment.

Upon waking up:

Prenatal supplements
A 4000 IU (100% as beta carotene)
C 120 mg
D 400 IU
E 30 IU
Thiamin 1.8 mg
Riboflavin 1.7 mg
Niacin 20 mg
B6 2.6 mg
Folic Acid 800 mcg
B 12 8 mcg
Calcium 200 mg
Iron 28 mg
Zinc 25 mg

+ Expecta Lipil DHA supplement(docosahexaenoic acid from Schizochytrium sp. oil) 200 mg
+ Natural's Magnesium oxide 400 mg with Chelated Zinc 15 mg
+ Calcium 600 mg supplement

I take Magnesium chelate 300mg approximately 3 more times during the day, only supplementing it with one more Calcium pill along the day.

Magnesium oxide on an empty stomach tends to give me an annoying stomach ache, therefore causing me either to puke my guts out or eat something. Naturally ladies - food can be compromised, but those nasty stomach cramps from dry heaves cant. So of course I eat something.

Chelate is much easier on my body - but i have to keep taking it on constant basis. Nearly 2 every couple of hours. Of course I'd rather do that - if that gives me proper amount of minerals and leaves my stomach alone.

My migraine is back tonight, since all day today was empty of any kind of substantial nutrition and my vitamins were left at home. I was able to take my magnesiums but only those.

I'm still trying to work out a good post to write in regards to doctors and pregnancy and the sheer fact that they just dont know how a pregnant woman should supplement her diet. Tonight my diet involved ton of vitamins, a well cooked steak, plenty of steamed veggies and my favorite egg and celery salad with side of yummy rice and glass of cold milk.

If you wonder how I fit it all in my stomach - it was a quick process and portions were tiny :)

Puppies, husbands and migraines.

Puppy picture coming tomorrow :) Puppy is doing much better. He's trying to poop only in the closet and tries to piss on pads.

Husband is not doing so much better. He's exhausted with pain constantly. I'm trying to give him proper vitamin supplements - and it's not working just yet. But maybe soon.
I've increased his vitamin B complex, his magnesium and calcium intake, alongside his normal daily vitamins.

Checked out that book Raingem lent me that focuses mainly on Magnesium and it's properties. Pretty fantastic book actually. I've been doubling up on the supplements for both Gary and myself.

Migraines are pretty bad as usual. Happy to report however that since i've been pretty thorough on taking my Magnesium, my pregnancy style cramping has been easing up.
Hoping it's going to do the same for my husband.

Actually want to get some of that Magnesium oil for him and see if that helps absorption as well.
Just started him on major extra supplements day before yesterday - so we'll see.

I'll keep y'all posted ;)

We're on a hiatus!

We're moving so the access to the internet is limited to the times when we visit my siblings.

Sorry about that ladies and gentlemen, but we promise to come back full force with kitten and puppy pictures and good articles.

Just to let you know tho, my migraines were absolutely horrid for a couple of days. Ice packs and green tea helped a lot. That and staying out of the hot weather.

Anyways,
we'll be back!

^ . ^

Vitamins and minerals deficiencies during pregnancy and every day life.

The passion in this article is obvious. And why shouldn't it be. People for hundreds of years trying to figure out what makes us healthy, mentally wealthy and strong - and yet there are still peeps out there, that are considered

...illiterates who, after hundreds of years of claiming medical superiority, still have not admitted that a single nutrient can treat a single disease.

One must look at everything objectively. According to some research Americans' nutrition today is probably why we only have successful 50-60 years before our bodies break down into something very painful, uncomfortable and depressing.
On the flip side - I'm not really sure if any doctors ever done an in-depth study of our nutrition along side with supplemental foods, vitamins and minerals that would fight deceases. Maybe to be more accurate proper nutrition can eliminate the fear of "acquiring" certain sicknesses and deceases on the way to that faithful 50-60 age bracket.

To quote Mr. Adams:

Yet modern (arrogant) medicine remains nutritionally illiterate, refusing to teach expectant mothers much at all about prenatal nutrition (beyond folic acid, anyway).

Which actually lights the fire under my tail too. Recalling my first official Doc appointment, I was told nothing substantial. Pregnant women are pretty much just poked and prodded until they pop the kid, and then it's out of the doc's hands, unless some terrible thing happened to the young one.
Certainly private research will open anyone's eyes to the simple facts, but women are unaware. And in my humble opinion it's the doc's job to enlighten us about the facts.

So Mr. Adams, kudos to you, keep writing.

link to the article: http://www.naturalnews.com/023580.html

Migraines, stress and overeating.

While I have the cute husband, puppy and the camera on hand - pictures will only come tomorrow. C'est la vie.

Update on cute husband:

Still suffering, but in progress of finding good insurance company to call his own. I've tried to get in contact with several over email, but apparently internet is not their strongest path of communication. So I'll have to get in contact with them directly over the phone.
He's currently listening to things on you-tube, and laughing over some vids.

Update on cute puppy:

Still cute and unable to go outside quite yet. The vets put the fear of death into us when they started talking about different things that non-vaccinated animals can get. So we crossed our heart and swore to die if Duke gets out any time before he's 8 weeks and dares to touch the ground.
This still puts a dumper or ten on our floor and carpets. (Dumper, get it? heheheh...)
Other than that - some books are coming in on how to train our furry friend and keep him happy.
He's being cute and sitting by my feet as I type this post out.

Update on me:

Got an interesting book on Magnesium and it's effects on the body today. I'll be more than happy to start reading it tonight. It's going to take a few takes I'm sure since I am just getting out of that crazy pregnancy scared phase where nothing made sense.
Taking my magnesium, calcium and DHE supplements like a good little girl however. So besides my baby making me cringe in pain when I'm worried (something along the lines: "mom, stop worrying or I'll punch you in the gut from the inside, you're taking my vitamins and making me jittery darn it!) everything is going alright.

I'm going to attempt some techniques of meditation and perhaps some basic self hypnosis. The fact that I worry should be good, since I should worry if I drive my car into someone else's and cause a horrible crash or not. But my obsessive worry about other things may possibly be driving my loved ones insane. And it leads to over eating. Which isn't good. As we all know - as long as I get all our necessary vitamins and minerals, plus my regular intake of calories - baby's growth will be supported with as much as 300 calories. Over eating is very unhealthy.

Stress and pain management.

Looking through available links that talk about managing stress and pain. "Gather" just like most of information out there suggests massage.

Although in case of my husband with his chronic pain and me with my migraines - massage provides only very temporary relief. It helps my honey only during the massage, relieves some pain and tension. With me - it helps only in terms of stress and possibly tension headaches.

Gary and I are considering trying acupuncture. I'm going to try and get some literature on it tomorrow and perhaps look up some more on the internet.
We're all for DIY approach :) And anything that helps with pain and stress is a plus.

We'll see how it goes and update when possible.

Picture of puppy is on the way.

Just have to borrow a camera from my siblings and then voila.

Duke is still on his pooping everywhere spree, my migraines are forgotten for the moment, and the kid seems to be pretty mellow and happy at this time.

Well besides the fact that both my honey and me are exhausted.

picture of cute kittens to make up for lack of post.. of any real sort.

-.-

Migraine triggers: allergies and puppies.

While allergies themselves are a number one trigger for my migraines (get into dusty room, breath in, die with excruciating pain within an hour). Puppies on the other hand have a totally different approach to giving one a headache.

For instance last night after being put back into the kitchen, where my honey and I decided to keep him and housebreak him, Duke the pup decided to cry. For about thirty minutes. Little did I realize that the only reason he stopped was because he managed to push away a 30lbs wood panel and went on pooping and peeing spree in both living room and the game room.

Fantastic! This morning instead of good morning honey type kisses we got to clean the poop.

This sort of like previews of coming attractions. At least baby is going to have a diaper, but essentially the order of business is the same. Cry, poop, pee, drink, poop, pee, wake up, poop, pee.... you get the basic idea.

And the lack of sleep, compounded with new smells, and slightly elevated stress levels migraines keep coming back.

That and the energy level for both of us is near non-existent.

New dog!

We got a dog!

It's awesome!

It's a boy!

and it's smelly.

His name is Duke, and he's a full blown pit bull.

pics are coming

Next up is training him to poop on proper place.

Missing posts due to migraines

Apologies,

but migraines suck, on general principal. They definitely leave me immobilized for a little while and later as if nothing at all happened they wipe my memory clean with a sponge, so I can't recall being in major pain.

I would have gladly made a post yesterday - but my head felt like it was going to explode from inside, outside, and possibly third dimension.

It still feels like it, so I'm going back to my ice pack, and to sleep. Perhaps it won't be so bad in the morning.

Good night my peoples, tomorrow is get a puppy and look at a house day, migraines or not :D

Importance of vitamin B during pregnancy

Natural News posted that University of Nottingham, England conducted a research on sheep and found

The embryos from the eggs of B-deficient sheep were significantly more likely to be obese and to experience high blood pressure in adulthood, and the effect was particularly pronounced in males.

Prior research in humans has indicated that women who are deficient in folate (a form of vitamin B-9) during the first 28 days of pregnancy, before signs of pregnancy usually appear, are significantly more likely to bear children who have spinal bifida and ancephaly. Supplementation with folate or folic acid after this time period will have no effect on a child that has already developed a neural tube defect.

While I can't seem to find any more information on this subject so I'll post a picture of a kitten. And ladies - take your vitamins :)

I've missed a couple of magnesiums and such last two days and my migraine hit me upside my head this morning coupled with nightmares.
Yay. -.-

Thanks for the comments!

Thank you everyone for posting your comments. I know sometimes I don't get back to them immediately, mostly due to the fact that this blog doesn't seem a built in future to let me know about it, but once in a while I got post by post and see if anyone has commented.

I'm very glad that I have peeps that follow my blog now and then. Granted sometimes they're not as entertaining as the first post, but due to some stress and stress in the family due to pregnancy and all those fun things that come with it, my fun side has been damaged a little.

Sure would love comments on how to make things easier on younger husbands who feel a lot of pressure from recent marriage and money, not to mention of having a baby on the way. :p

Morning sickness and migraines.

We all know how we can start feeling nauseous when the migraine comes around.
However it's hard to tell if it's migraines causing it or if it's pregnancy.

Here's a link to Nature News' interesting suggestion as to why pregnant women have morning sickness.

"It may be that the nausea women feel towards certain foodstuffs could be helpful, and that although it is inconvenient and miserable, their nausea could be Mother Nature's way of avoiding problems in pregnancy for both mother and fetus."

Perhaps then we - the pregnant women - should take this into consideration, it very well could be true :)

And here's the baby.

I did promise a picture. Here it is.

Headache during the day, thirst by night.

After eating a giant piece of watermelon I finally drifted off for a nap.

Upon waking up however, I had an incredible thirst take over. I guess that watermelon is too sweet. Even though it didn't taste like it.

Don't particularly like drinking water, so generally I try drinking anything mixed with water, or sparkling water, which tastes much better. This time around, drinking anything just made my stomach grumble.

Hello chicken soup. Well chicken broth I should say. Returned the balance of liquid back in place.

Also taking a nap thwarted my headache... sort of. Eyes are still sensitive, but auras seemed to have passed.

Of course the dreams are quite interesting when you listen to military channel while snoozing. I think I got shot in the head several times in combat and it just bounced the bullets off like they were rubber. Hurt too!

I'd call my own body a punk, but I like it.

headaches, heat and smoke in the air.

Headaches during the heat are bad. But something tells me that the smoke in the air is making things even worse than usual.

I've been taking my magnesium and calcium like a good girl, and thinking that's what has been making me feel better in the overall picture. However my auras are pretty insane. And while I've been lucky not to get one of my blinding migraines - it's letting me know that it's just around the corner.

Despite the fact that the weather is slightly more cooled off than usual, the quality of air is more than questionable.

Local KCRA News channel enlightens us:

A rash of fires ignited over the weekend by lightning has fouled air around the region, resulting in overcast skies over the capital. Visibility was cut to just four miles in Sacramento and less than two miles in Truckee and Marysville.

Migraine finally hit.

Started off nice and gentle during the focus group earlier today (about which I'll make a post shortly). And to dismay of my honey, finally caught up with me when I got home. Full blown auras, enough to make anyone go coo coo driving with very dim lights home.

Might have to take some Tylenol.

Doctor visit, doctor's office, migraines and pregnancy.

Finally!

I got poked, prodded, questioned, and annoyed.

It took me weeks to get ready for this appointment. Finally it came and I got so entranced by auras, that nice doctor with her tired smile and her over caffeinated, but equally as nice busy nurse, were barely noticeable. Well until the poked things painfully like. Then I definitely noticed.

Luckily my hubby was there and kept true to being my wingman, calling out answers on my family history if I spaced out too much, so all was good.

I finally realize that I completely snap out of reality when my auras kick in. It must be a similar effect as to those unfortunates who have to pay for this sort of kick on daily basis.

I am as of today exactly 9 weeks and 4 days along. Seriously - I must have had my instincts kick in like the very day I got pregnant or something. The early pregnancy test is around here somewhere with the date on it. I ought to double check it and see. Just for curiosity sake.

We both got to see baby flip around, his heart-beat going strong. Guess he or she is an energetic kind of kid :) Everything the doctor said and didn’t say led me to believe that everything is well with this pregnancy, and both baby and I are healthy as almonds.

I thwarted my migraine this time around by consuming minimal amount of green tea latte.
Must tell you however, the things that set my auras wild were the ceiling lights in the doctor's office. They always have what could be described as having a paralyzing effect. I should consider bringing some sunglasses with me in next time.
I’ll post the picture up as soon as I get it scanned :)

Excercise.

"The researchers hypothesized that maternal exercise during pregnancy can have a beneficial effect on fetal cardiac programming by reducing fetal heart rate and increasing heart rate variability. "

posted Paula on Wegohealth.com

“I felt like I didn’t have any energy to do anything, so I lay on the couch and gained a lot of weight. Then, with my second girl, I realize that even if you still didn’t feel that good, you’re still capable of moving about.

A former step aerobics instructor Wendy Beggs was quoted by Wicked Local Burlington

I can totally agree Mrs. Beggs. Nausea is extreme with me, and it seems to drain my body. Least until recently.

Get up and go
Believe it or not, one of the best ways to recover your lost energy is to take some regular exercise. It can also strengthen your muscles to help you carry the extra weight, improve your joints, and make it easier for you to give birth to your baby. If you’ve been keeping fit, then you can continue doing the exercise you usually do as long as you’re comfortable. Don’t suddenly start vigorous activities if you weren’t doing any before – now is not the time to take up rugby! If you go to a class, tell the teacher you’re pregnant. Swimming, yoga and walking are all good pregnancy exercises.

Quoted from Bounty.com a pretty cool website for expecting moms.


So dear friends, apparently rugby and football are out of the question. No worries, there's still gun ranges... J/k

Anyways, it seems like I've been a lazy bum, so definitely should get off my rump and give myself and baby a little bit more exercise.

Kitchen Table Medicine.

Very cool stuff on Kitchen Table Medicine.

Dr. Nicole had an interesting post about when to take your vitamins. Wish she would have talked about it a little more, but regardless - her posts are very interesting and informative.

Dr. Nicole wrote:

Minerals such as calcium and magnesium that serve as natural muscle relaxants can be taken in the evening to ensure a good night’s sleep.

I asked her a question in regards to taking these vitamins and staying awake instead of going to sleep at night - here's waiting for the answer :)

Regardless, my dear readers, do yourselves a favor if you're into natural remedies whatsoever - and read her site. I like it, refreshing ^.^

Exercise.

My sweetheart and I decided to do some exercises last night. I ended up plastered on the floor and lazy just after 20 push ups and roughly 100 crunches. Quite pathetic. But at least some sort of exercise.

This is a very healthy thing for me to do in general, considering prior to pregnancy I was active, healthy, and taking my vitamins and supplements on regular basis.

It controlled my headaches, but sometimes triggered them. Things like running and such did.

Yesterday however - besides my headache coming on, and my stomach getting overly upset over some soup I had, I also got my usual cramp in my lower abdomen area again.

Sleep settled my stomach and migraine, pink gross stuff in a bottle helped.

My appointment with my doctors is just around the corner. Finally I get to find out if its a kitten or a kid! And see what sort of wisdom my doctors have to share with me.

Sleep patterns

Here I was, posting something about stress and insomnia to Migraine Girl, and now I can't sleep properly at nights myself.

My body's going through some weird changes with this pregnancy, and while noise affects my mood, just about everything will set me off. My own hubby is keeping his distance from me, simply because I might give him rabies.

Yesterday I could hardly eat anything for majority of the day. Decided to at least get some milk in my stomach (I did take all my vitamins and they all stayed down) and perhaps calm my nausea, and it came back up in completely different texture. Gross. -.-

This morning I woke up ten times, and went back to sleep, after I got 8 hours finally couldn't stand it no more. Had to roll out and grab some cereal for breakfast. That seems to stay in my stomach okay, but still feels upset.

Stress levels are at a high level. Headache is not hitting me yet, but sensitivity to light and noise are there. Stomach ache is there too.

Migraine's coming.

How do I know my migraine's coming?

Well at first there are many many auras. Which are fun! Later they get only slightly annoying. Things like driving at night becomes extra fun, cause I see things normally aren't there.
Ah.. squiggly line... how I love thee.

Then there's misfiring in my brain, something major. I can tell it's misfiring. And I can tell it's major. Can't quite remember what.

You'd think I remember these little details. My brain seems to be so happy forgetting though...

With pregnancy, definitely nausea.
Pregnancy you say? Nausea?? Naw...

Well, since I can't tell when I'm nauseated due to migraine or when I'm nauseated because what should be rice pudding tastes horribly wrong, it's bit confusing, but it's there so it makes on the list.

Then there's a headache before the headache. It's possible I can get several of these during the week. They're just annoying little things. Come crawling up on my head, nagging at me slightly. I learned to recognize them long ago.

And then... the grand finale.
Either a very tiny man with a very big hammer moves into my head, and pounds away on one side until I at least buckle to my knees on that side.
Or my scalp feels like it wants to dearly depart me.
Or my eyes want to perceive every little bit of information in super great deal and soak in as much light as possible. Along with my ears. Causing most excruciating pain in case any aforementioned info gets through. (Latter just makes me real fun at parties, I name that song before the music goes on :D ... j/k)

And it's usually just a mixture of all of the above.

I received news from the "headache before headache" yesterday, that my dearly beloved migraine is coming back from her tiny vacation she has taken in the first trimester.

Granted I've had some migraines, but their pain level was really laughable.
And since I awoke extra early this morning with my dinner slowly making it back up the pipe, my stomach and neither regions cramping, and my eyes fascinated with that thing called morning sun, I'm guessing my guest is just around the bend.

Hopefully my dinner will stay, however I know I aggravated my stomach last night by eating something out of the ordinary. Home made country fried chicken with corn on the cob, killer mashed potatoes and some family salad. Killer mashed potatoes only because I finally just learned how to make them the right way, (with very moderate butter) and they taste oh so good.

Anyways, I'll try to keep you posted. Last night I felt great, up until I actually did something productive, after which I felt crampy and later simply passed out. So hopefully tonight is a little different.

Mind's a-twitter

Thought I was groggy when I first woke up. Went to the bathroom and had trouble peeing, also felt weird pain in my stomach. Then I sneezed. Then it felt like my abdominal muscles were going to jump out, it relaxed moments later, but pain was quite bad for the moment.

Everything seems to be just fine now... but...

Definitely woke me up.

O_O


Now for the breakfast, vitamins and talking more to my husband.

I give up.

In regards to prenatal vitamins and calcium.

Baby Center writes:

Calcium is one of the nutrients that you won't find a full day's supply of in your prenatal vitamin and mineral supplement. Most prenatal vitamins contain between 100 and 200 milligrams (mg) of calcium, but some don't contain any. That's because calcium is a particularly bulky mineral, and the pills are already big enough!

So ladies, due to the fact that non of the vitamins are FDA approved, it's quite possible that we get 0 to "barely enough" calcium in each vitamin. And the fantastic reason is cause they're just too big.

Since there were some studies made on kittens and overdose of vitamin A - it's most likely that the safest way for you to take extra calcium is by combining magnesium and calcium, and taking your daily amount as a supplement to your prenatal vitamins.

Since I got so scared of being pregnant in the beginning I hope low levels of calcium haven't done severe damage to me or the baby. I simply refused to take anything on the side to supplement my prenatal vitamins. Ever since Raingem convinced me to take extra magnesium and calcium - I have been getting better. My mind's a lot clearer now - so after reading the very same articles from the beginning of my pregnancy I finally see the parts that got skipped.

Last night.

Felt like utter crap. Couldn't even post. Between an oncoming migraine and feeling like I'm gonna puke my guts out or my body's going to break in two.

Today feel a little better - but still crappy.

ah... wonder if it's tied into being stressed.

Moodswings and cokes.

Low energy level often spells disaster to those around me. Once I get tired, I get usually cranky and either go to sleep or just get anal.
Not a great thing for a pregnant woman to do considering that stress levels are crucial at this stage.

However maintaining a healthy diet and including tiny amounts of caffeine kind of helps.

It also helps the pounding migraines that I get now and then. Since I take absolutely nothing for in terms of painkillers - during hot season my migraines slightly increase. Very moderate intake of caffeine takes the edge off.

Nausea is at an all times high tho. Quite possibly due to the high stress levels.

Moodswings are at an all time high as of late as well.

San Francisco

My husband and I took off in the middle of the day to take a short trip to San Francisco.

It was beautiful. Cold, smelly in places, with lights specifically aimed at those who have migraines, and yet beautiful.

Overcast and the pressure changes going into San Francisco were a little bit unnerving.

So is the cat that keeps rubbing herself against my keyboard trying to look cute so I'd pet her.

Thought I was going to get into a loop of a headache, but instead i ended up with a mild indigestion (guess my kid doesn't like salted pretzels as much as I do).

Auras did attack me later on on the way home. The neon like green sign above the exit off the toll bridge blinked wildly into my eyes, and I couldn't seem to read the letters as well as my loving husband. But all ended up well. I found the $4 and he was able to read the amount to me well in advance for me to find it.

The calcium supplements are helping. My bones and teeth do not seem so brittle anymore, and some of those bone bruises feel like they're healing up.

Now I must tend to the kitty, who now is pushing my arm off with her paw. Good night. ^.^

Fantastically stressed.

Today I had to attend a wedding.

While it was a happy occasion, I got all sorts of things swimming in front of my eyes, and could have sworn I was about to pass out several times.
My only saving grace is that I had my husband right there next to me the entire ordeal supporting me with his sweet smile and that happy glimmer in his eyes.

It made me carry on, and when I got home my lovely one and I got into a long discussion trying to get ourselves to become better partners and hopefully better parents to our children.

Speaking of children, my little one is expanding my stomach gently ever so. With my migraines recently it's been kind of scary - since seeing stars and having floaty things in front of your vision is just the sort of thing you don't want to see while pregnant.

I'm still feeling stressed out to the max. Feel like I need a day off. Perhaps soon.

stress

is debilitating. Pregnant women should stay away from it or learn how to manage it.

Things that can trigger it are numerous. But all of them can be dealt with through discussion, understanding, sleep and breathing techniques.

Discussion and understanding are those things that are easily supplied by your loved ones.
Sleep is self explanatory - don't really want to get too much of it, but you still need at least 8 hours or so.
Breathing techniques on the other hand can be obtained here.

Finally!

A comprehensive chart for eating healthy while pregnant.

Your Healthy Diet During Pregnancy
Most pregnant women need 300 extra calories per day to support a baby's growth. so eat smart and make healthy food choices. Try to eat foods from each of the five food groups every day. They provide important nutrients that you and your baby need.

Be sure to watch your serving sizes; you may be eating more than you need to.

March of Dimes has a thorough guide on this subject.

Before I came across many sites that barely touched diets for pregnant women, or went into this overly long and detailed explanations that simply made your mind race with... "wow that's a lot of food for one day". So finally, I come across something more sensible.

I urge the ladies that are pregnant everywhere - to listen to their bodies, and read less about negative things and what not. Don't wait til it's too late - eat healthy, take your prenatal vitamins, take your calcium or iron supplements and magnesium. It's silly to do what I've done the last month or two. Trying to abstain from things that were lacking in my diet. Prenatal vitamins are simply not enough sometimes.

rant.

Last night I started ranting this to my sibling and it was suggested for me to rant about it here in my blog.

I have not been taking calcium / magnesium supplements due to every site and every nurse / doctor that hasn't seen me personally - saying that taking extra minerals and extra vitamins might harm the kid.

Well I'm annoyed. That and I started taking extra calcium / magnesium supplements as of last night. My joints hurt, my gums are beginning to bleed and all my pains take literally months to heal.

Example: I hurt my hand approximately two months ago by taking excess energy out on the most guiltiest looking fridge, and it still hurts. The bruise is gone, everything is gone, but so is the strength of those finger joints in certain positions.

I used to be able to heal injuries in matter of days - not months.

When you ask the nurse straight question like: should I take the supplemental calcium and magnesium to the prenatal vitamin? She flat out said no.

Granted, I'm my own person and should take responsibility - but I made a choice of not taking enough calcium and magnesium simply because I thought I was following a professional advice, which should be more educated that than my body. ... Right?

Guess not. Hence the banana, milk, cheese craving in the last week. That's not pregnancy cravings, that's my body crying for some calcium.

Anyways, duties call.

Ciao.

Daily migraine.

Heat, sun, Barnes and Nobles.

Only thing kept me going was some hot chocolate followed by green tea frapucino at star bucks. Migraine still got the best of me. Despite the fact that there was no sharp pains that are normally likely to occur, every smell, sound and light affected me in worst way possible.

Day's over however and I'm back in my dimly lit house with computer on lap so I'm good. After a short while I'm going to get some sleep - hopefully not ten hours like it's been lately, and get some stuff done tomorrow.

Oh and I found magical drink = sparkling mineral water. It's the best. :D

Junk food.

I thought I liked burgers, and for a time I craved them. I had them three times in a row, and now my stomach is totally rebelling.

Today my migraine was at a minimal, increasing only towards the night time. Now it's pretty much full blown and out there, paired with nausea and all that good stuff, not fun.

I'm trying to follow the nurse's advice and not eat and drink at the same time, but I'm still having a hard time.
It appears that I can barely taste salt in my food or pepper so that's been annoying as well.

Other than that I'm doing okay.

Mornings, food and Alice in Wonderland.

It took me a little while to explain adventures of Alice in Wonderland. But alas, I think I am finally victorious. My husband wants to watch the movie.

His desire to understand children and people afflicted with migraines is most commendable.

This morning I woke up with an intense feeling of morning sickness. I took it fairly easy, but my mistake was in not waking up early enough to eat a cracker or two.
When I checked last my weight actually dropped 3lbs instead of gaining any further. I did as the nurse suggested and drank only a while after eating, and didn't eat things that were obviously going to make me puke, however I did stick with something high in both carbohydrates and proteins.

In and Out burger. To be exact. 39gms of carbohydrates and 16gms of protein. With 390 calories intake, it seems a lot, but rest of my day is pretty damn healthy, all that chicken rice soup and what not. Plus I get more water or Gatorade (which has been a godsend during times of my feeling horrible) in between.
Hamburger did leave me parched, since normally I like to digest my food with a liquid of some sort. But I followed through and voila, nausea is at a minimum today.

Granted, as soon as I feel it coming on I have to curb it by eating a little bit more soup or at least a cracker or two.

My migraines were present in form of a sinus pressure immeasurable today and yesterday. Not totally intolerable but still quite annoying.

To add on to the trouble there's also the fact that my allergies are wrecking havoc upon my nose. Half the time I can smell like superman, other times my nose is horribly plugged up and I can barely stand the headache.

Oh well - there was one more thing = I do exercise moderately at least every other day somehow, and today there was the strangest sensation of having my hip grinding away on itself and pain shooting all the way through my left leg and left arm. As strange as that may be - I figure it's just my back going out of whack yet again.

Cramps today were pretty minimal, increasing towards the evening.

That's all for today's report of my daily aches and pains.

Nurse advice

Called the nurse tonight. Mentioned to her my nausea and vomiting and slight but constant cramping.
Her advice on nausea and vomiting was to break down my meals in 6 different. To separate my meals from my drinks. To eat raspberries, suck on ginger slices or lemon slices to help with nausea. I mentioned that I can't really drink water cause of it's horrible taste, so the nurse suggested I drink herbal teas, ginger drinks or mix water with little bit of juice.

Today my stress is to the maximum. The hormonal change is busting my chops literally and making me mad as a wet hen. Anything that's out of norm and I start splitting the chips in the bedroom door. Which is ridiculous and my husband tells me to mellow out before I hurt the baby.

He's got a good point, I think I'll go to sleep.

Morning sickness.

Most horrible feeling ever. Constant but mild nausea throughout the day finally pushed me over the edge and sent me packing to my closest bathroom purging my body of those unnecessary fruits and vitamins that i took mere 30 minutes before.

Ah, got to love the controversy of how your body needs but can't have.

Ginger supposedly helps this. I took some hints from former pregnant ladies to drink ginger ale. No good. On the flip side it could be because calorie free / sugar free ginger ale is just gross.

I felt like milk might take things on a different route, but it made things worse.
Went with that liquid yogurt that's tasty and comes in a bottle, also light on calories but full on protein and those pesky vitamins we need to take. However it's tipping my stomach dangerously, warning to come out and make a mess.

Daily routine didn't involve me calling the nurses station. I'm anticipating lack of results. Must call tomorrow morning. Didn't realize that they don't work after business hours.

WEC

World Extreme Cage fighting.

Watching the light-weights is where it's at for the peeps like me who like martial arts.
It's fascinating how light/feather weights bring the sexy back into mixed martial arts.

My cramps are coming back a little more today. Migraine is not as pronounced, because I've tried taking Magnesium and Calcium supplements - it's helping a little. But still somewhat disoriented all day. Could be partially cause of nausea and cramps, could be partially cause of the auras.

My sense of smell again has tripled in the last day. Therefore my grilled salmon with onions and noodles with vegetables came out awesome, versus dangerous for your health.

Must call the nurses tomorrow. And also going to start practicing relaxation techniques tomorrow.
I'll keep this blog posted on my condition.

Week ends and new life beginnings.

Well ladies and gentlemen,

We did it.

No - we already did that, hence I'm knocked up. But we did that other thing.
Gone to Lake Tahoe and got married. ! Finally !

It was exciting, wonderful, stressful, mind boggling, pure and fascinating all at the same time. And only at one point scary. But I think it's because of my inability to pull my wedding dress zipper up close by myself. And we were trying to keep the tradition and not let him see the dress til the very end.

Location was wonderful, migraine was actually leaving me alone for the ceremony long enough to get tongue tied while repeating some of the vows, and our minister was very kind and understanding.

On the way to Lake Tahoe my migraines were the worst. Apparently change in altitude (equals to less atmospheric pressure) made it absolutely horrendous on blood vessels (makes them dilate). Therefore going up to places for migraineurs is a no-no.

I made it fine however, and despite increased nausea and occasional stress attacks we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly.

The worst part and at the same time one of the highlights of this get-away was a comedy club where my eyesight was cut by 75% - which with me generally leads to more nausea and incredible sleepiness. Comedians were quite cheerful however so it was no trouble staying awake. Some sugary stuff in form of virgin strawberry daiquiri and some ginger ale later to maintain the insides of my stomach where they belong.

Since my husband and I came back my siblings kept pointing out that I look tired and worn out. Which I feel to a degree. Truthfully this pregnancy has been extremely tiresome for me. My get-away has prevented me from taking some time out for myself and calling UC Davis 24 hour hot line for nurses and asking them about this in specific.
Tomorrow I'll be able to do that just to make sure that I can indeed supplement my prenatal vitamins with something or perhaps change them altogether so that I get more magnesium and calcium and perhaps (this is hearsay) iron - which is supposedly increases energy levels during pregnancy somehow.

Nausea and sharp, yet short headaches right now are main problems. Migraines are not as painful as they can be, but the light show continues as per schedule. This morning was pretty nice since I got about 9 hours of sleep, but still I was much more sensitive to light than usual.
And while I got much more tired throughout the day I'm still feeling okay, with exception of my normal dull ache in my head and light nausea that should be fixed with a tomato sucker.

In lieu of unhappiness and discontent with my migraine Gary and I are excited. Our new life has just begun. We both wonder what this marriage has in store for us. We got a pretty good idea and have great outlook on it. I'm sure we'll do great.

As far as the baby. Still doing fine, gives me just the stomach troubles and keeps me tired - in time this will be fixed. My next appointment with the doc is creeping up on us. Hopefully it will be as insightful as the literature that was given to us at the first appointment.

Migraine and sleep.

Earlier yet another migraine came on strong and sudden. Sleep took an edge off, but stressing over this weekend is making the effects of it continue to linger on.

Screen is too bright to concentrate on typing right now.

I'll be on a weekend vacation. My articles and I will be back next Monday. Until then check with Raingem on latest article in regards to taking magnesium and calcium as supplements.

Migraines and caffeine.

The New England Journal of Medicine writes on caffeine:

Results Among nonsmokers, more spontaneous abortions occurred in women who ingested at least 100 mg of caffeine per day than in women who ingested less than 100 mg per day, with the increase in risk related to the amount ingested (100 to 299 mg per day: odds ratio, 1.3; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.9 to 1.8; 300 to 499 mg per day: odds ratio, 1.4; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.9 to 2.0; and 500 mg or more per day: odds ratio, 2.2; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.3 to 3.8). Among smokers, caffeine ingestion was not associated with an excess risk of spontaneous abortion.

At the same time I see something totally different on Baby Center:

After years of controversy over the issue, most researchers now believe that, although caffeine does cross the placenta, moderate amounts (less than 300 milligrams a day) won't harm your baby.

American Pregnancy gets right down to it and becomes the non committal advice altogether:

Myth: Caffeine causes miscarriages.

Fact: A few studies have shown that there may be an increase in miscarriages among women who consume more than 300 mg (three 5 oz cups of coffee) a day. Other outcomes include preterm labor and low-birth weight babies. Again, it is safer to avoid caffeine as much as possible.

Myth: A pregnant woman should not consume ANY caffeine.

Fact: Experts and studies have stated that "moderate" levels of caffeine have not been found to have a negative effect on pregnancy. The definition of "moderate" varies anywhere from 150 mg - 300 mg a day.

And these are just a handful of sites available at first glance on Google.

Since caffeine really helps my migraines at this stage as a preventive, I try to consume it in very small doses in form of coke, chocolate milk or sometimes just a sip or two of coffee. While it's a joke in comparison to how much caffeine I used to consume, my body has become a lot more sensitive to everything I take.

Currently if I take anything more than just a third of a regular can of coke, my heartbeat increases drastically and while I do become more alert and my fatigue finally goes away, along with tell-tales of a migraine, but it makes me worry in the long run.

Since this is just my first trimester (the most important stage in kid's development, things like nerves, brains and all that good stuff form at this point) I got to be really careful.

I suppose staying away completely from it is a good thing, but until I see the doc it's hard to do things like staying awake while showering, walking, driving.

You do get a manual!

Finally got into a doctor's office. To be more exact a nurses' office.

They explained to me quietly and politely that I can't do anything fun, like rob banks,
go on rides in theme parks and drive high speed chases. But in lieu of that I can read about the baby to come, (they gave me a manual) and read more, exercise lightly and take my prenatal vitamins with plenty of water and extreme amounts of food. In small doses. So I don't puke.

Our question as to whether they deal with a lot of girls who have migraines came up unanswered. Apparently headaches are a number one complaint, next to puking their guts out and gaining an awesome amount of weight, way above recommended.

Naturally my approach to the whole deal was quite clinical. I forgot almost everything I was going to ask, but my lovely fiance did pipe in with a few good questions. Nurse was quite helpful, and gave us plenty of literature to read for one day, along with a little dvd.

After which they poked me full of needles, made me sign a couple of papers and let me go while puffing on a cigar and promising to call me back sometime next week...

Lab results generally take two weeks, and my actual doctor's appointment is set for June 23rd, which is quite the ways away.

When nurse asked me about my levels of pain I - like a complete space cadet - forgot the fact that when pain strikes it generally hinders me badly and then leaves me fatigued and in a non-working condition for an hour or so.
So I said it was quite bearable instead, and nurse happily announced that it's completely normal.

While it might be normal, it's still strange to me, so I'd like to be on the cautious side, doubt anyone would complain.

On the plus side, there is a hot line that UC Davis offers their expecting patients. A nurse 1-800 number that you can call any time to ask for an advice. I might be calling them up pretty soon to find out just how well informed they are about migraines with auras and pregnancies that wear a girl out in first month or two to a point of passing out.

Doctor appointments, weddings and other daily headaches.

Finally decided. Elopement is the way. As June 1st approaches things are falling in the right places.

While I still feel cramps and get dizzy half the time, tomorrow is my first lab appointment. I'm hoping to bump my second appointment that should land me in with the doctor much sooner.
My personal belief is one should not be so dizzy so often.

Canceled my plans with Raingem and our other sibling just cause I didn't feel good. Now where's the fun in that?

My fiance did take me around town a little bit today. Was absolutely wonderful, until mix of smells, lights and noises triggered a migraine.

And if my head wasn't feeling like it's in a pair of warm (huge) cat paws with strategically placed light bulbs emitting rays comparable to light sabers in contrast to darks and lights all around the room, it would be simply fantastic. Some of these visions could be up there with Salvador Dali, Van Gogh with touches of Pablo Picasso thrown in.

But then I always said migraineurs are the cheapest dates ever. Never need to drug them, recreation just happens.

In case of bumped up appointment with the doctor I came up with several questions that have been plaguing me for a short while already:

~Why do I get dizzy so often (supply the vitamins and most daily activities to the doc for reference)?

~Why do I feel so tired so often (am a very healthy person with migraines, and those generally knocked me out often but still no excuse, I take probably as much vitamins as I used to)?

~Can I manipulate my vitamin intake? Perhaps half the current vitamin pill and take half in the morning and half in the evening to maintain same energy level. Is there a different vitamin that will allow me several pills a day with slightly higher level of specific vitamins that give me more energy and slow down my migraine attacks?

~What causes this constant mild cramping? Been with me since the beginning, and while certain articles online show that it's normal, I feel, like most new mothers irrational fear about the whole thing.

~What exercises are healthy? I feel bad for missing my black belt testing this summer, but it's not going anywhere. I can test after the baby's born just as well next spring, or following summer. But sure would like to keep learning my material at least.

While researching migraines and pregnancy I came across an article where a lady with frequent migraines educates us on speaking to our doctors and preparing our loved ones in case of severe headaches.

I must admit I am yet to experience that sort of pain during my pregnancy, but according to my physician "Nobody knows for sure, pregnancy sometimes makes migraines go away, sometimes they'll stay the same, and sometimes they'll get worse".
So I have no clue. I used to get horrific migraines on regular basis at least 2-3 times a month, until I started taking magnesium supplements. That staved them off for a good amount of time. And taking vitamin supplements in general helped as well.

Another good post about Homocysteine and Migraines was written by yet another migraineur, and mentioned in a different blog by the husband of a migraineur.

More info is always a great thing.

Ladies and gentlemen, if you have any input whatsoever in on this list, please feel free and comment, I'll add them to my list and bring it to the doctor's office. And I won't leave until I get the answers. *huffs puffs and pets a kitty*

My head already hurts too much to look at this screen for the moment. I shall post with my results from meeting with doctor's nurse and lab tomorrow.

Excercise and snacks.

Last night we had quite an experience. My in-laws and I got to go to the jazz jubilee. There were some interesting bands performing, and of course there was always enough junk food to satisfy the most curious of sweet-tooths.
Naturally my fiance held me to my vow of not pigging out on anything at all, so kettle corn and ice cream were safe and sound.

Light cramping however still put me at odds and I had to rest a short while during our walk around old Sac. It didn't hinder me for a long time. After coming home to dinner and pictionary - Gary and I took off for a two mile walk around the neighborhood and I was able to pour out all my hesitations and worries onto him.

I'm going to go to TKD tomorrow and see how I feel during the workout at night after work. Not sure how I'll be able to handle it, but better find out soon so I know what my body's capable off. The two mile walk took all sorts of strength out of me. Can't imagine lasting an entire hour in hard core cardio as usual. Hope so. But not really sure if it's possible or not.

Nevertheless it's not the end of the world. I can still do multitude of exercises and practice majority of my one steps/sparring combos and forms without disturbing my own self.

Here's hoping. ^^

My migraine was still causing me discomfort, but luckily my allergies put my smeller on hold. So I can't smell the most horrible of smells anymore :)

UFC: Wanderlei Silva vs. Keith Jardine

I generally make fun of UFC, mostly because Taekwondo has engraved respect for traditional martial arts. But last night I saw a highlight worth mentioning. Well seeing something more than what I normally call "men hugging" is always a plus.

This time Wanderlei Silva knocked that silly Irish back to Ireland. Series of punches that sent the boy packing. Ah. I love gay sports. :)

On a less serious note, (we all know there's nothing more important than men hugging ((my fiance is sitting right next to me)), I still haven't scheduled an appointment with an obstetrician. This is a memorial weekend... so I suppose they're off the hook.

I still have quite bad cramps, and have a hard time standing up for 6 hours in a row. Kind of worries me a little bit, but doesn't stop me. Too much.

My migraines been acting freaky as well. Auras are in abundance, but sharp pain came and went briefly. Dull headache in the back of my head is predominant. And need for walks is all too obvious. Bit of temper mixed with complete need to drink water all the time makes for an absolutely hilarious hostess.

Considering my in-laws are all here today that is.

So far I haven't heard complaints and I've been trying Not to stick anyone with a straw through the brain... but at least it gives you guys a heads up.

My latest main concern is exercise. I seriously do not want to injure the unborn child by doing something stupid. must continue this post in just a minute.

Vitamins and supplements part II.

Just got to look over a website discussing women afflicted with migraines during pregnancy. They have a couple of good tips on how to control nausea and emphasize to stay away from caffeine during first trimester.
Quote:

* Rest - This cannot be overemphasized. A temporary decrease in work responsibilities, especially in the first trimester, is preferable to using medications.
* Stress - A conscious effort to reduce stress is important. Sharing responsibilities, decreasing commitments, and obtaining adequate rest and exercise is strongly encouraged.
* Sleeping/eating patterns - It is very important to regulate sleeping and eating patterns to minimize headache. Skipping meals is strongly discouraged as this often triggers headaches.
* Caffeine - Caffeine should be eliminated or reduced as much as possible, especially in the first trimester.
* Trigger identification - This also is important. Try to identify specific triggers that consistently bring on your headaches (food, MSG, alcohol, bright lights, lack of sleep, certain odors, etc.) and strictly avoid them if at all possible.
* Nausea - Treat nausea early and aggressively. Avoid strong odors. Use Seabands, and/or finger acupressure over acupressure point P6 (information sheet available on request).
* Hydration - Avoid becoming dehydrated. Use clear liquids, soups, Popsicles, etc., and a bland diet such as rice, bananas, crackers, etc. If dehydration worsens, we can give you IV fluids in the office.
* Relaxation techniques - Methods such as biofeedback, guided imagery, relaxation exercises, etc., can be very helpful (information sheets available on request).
* Massage therapy - Massage therapy and physical therapy can be very helpful in alleviating certain types of headache pain.
* Acupuncture - Please note that acupuncture is generally not recommended in pregnancy. Ice packs - These should be used early and often in migraine attacks as an effective non-drug way to improve pain.
* Stimulus control - During a migraine, decrease stimulation as much as possible. Go to a quiet, dark room if at all possible. You likely will need someone to help watch the kids, take over responsibilities, etc. Plan ahead.

Any little bit helps, eh?

Vitamins and supplements.

Checking on different supplements and vitamins that I have to take. Not only keeping in mind that I have to supplement with Magnesium and vitamin B2 for migraines but also that I'm not entirely sure as to whether this might cause overdose with over-the-counter prenatal vitamins.

Right now I'm taking prenatal vitamins by "TopCare".
They contain:
Vitamin A - 4000 IU
Vitamin C - 120 mg
Vitamin D - 400 IU
Vitamin E - 30 IU
Thiamin - 1.8 mg
Riboflavin- 1.7 mg
Niacin - 20 mg
Vitamin B6 - 2.6 mg
Folic Acid - 800 mcg
Vitamin B12 - 8 mcg
Calcium - 200 mg
Iron - 28 mg
Zinc - 25 mg

After a precursory search on prenatal vitamins I got plenty of feedbacks.
BabyCenter
has a very good article on simple facts about prenatal vitamins.

Simple things like taking prenatal vitamins while trying to conceive, not taking more than one a day and explaining the main reasons behind it are all described.

After my initial interview with my physician, I must say it wasn't all that informative. But on the other hand, I always feel slightly uncomfortable in doctor's office. And the visit was merely to confirm my pregnancy.

My doctor suggested that I skip the blood test, due to the fact that it won't tell me much more than the fact I'm pregnant. We went with spot urine test. He also mentioned that I can continue Taekwondo as per usual. He asked me if I had any more questions, mentioned my magnesium supplement and doc basically said not to take any more.

Naturally he gave me referral to the O.B.G.Y.N. So next step is my conversation with him.

I'll keep my eye out for what's new on the net for migraneur mommies to be. And keep you all posted.

Introduction.

Perhaps I should have started this blog a million years ago and introduced you to all my symptoms slowly, not missing any details. But here we are anyways. I found out I'm pregnant with a home pregnancy test and confirmed with my doc yesterday that I indeed am knocked up. So this is going to be a 9 month journey for me, my kid and hopefully some future/current moms afflicted with migraines.

Let me make a brief introduction:
My name is Natasha and I'm 25 years old. I currently work at a fast food restaurant. My hobbies include, but not limited to, chilling like a villain, read, write and Taekwondo.

Luckily I don't have to explain how it is I became knocked up. There are ton of links to explain that.

I'm happily engaged to Gary, the most wonderful man on the planet and very lucky to be a part of his loving family as he is part of mine.

My migraine has been plaguing me since the beginning of time. Possibly while dinosaurs still roamed the earth, although not too sure about that. Could have been a few years later.

Doctors have diagnosed me with a chronic sinus infection at the age of 5-6, performed a surgery that supposedly helped, but headaches never really went away.
Later at the age of 21 I went back to a physician, and a neurologist, and a chiropractor, and the voodoo doctor, as well as that guy in the dark alley selling kidneys, but apparently my sinus infection was gone and migraines with slight allergies were here.

Here's a list of just few of my triggers:
Biggest and best of them is living. Apparently that's often a side effect.
Breathing too. God forbid exercise & eating & sleeping. Surprisingly sex has no adverse effects on migraines,(Hooray!) but having a cycle is. Well at least latter is taken care of for now. With a beautiful baby on the way I won't see or hear from my cycle forever. Or 9 months. Whichever comes first.
Foods, allergies, occasional yet mild sinus infection, that's common with me, are also triggers. Worst of all are smells, noises and my back going out of whack.

Things that help to counter these migraines:
Darkness (I love that mistress of light, she is entirely too kind to us migraneurs).
Proper combo of vitamins, supplements, sex, caffeine, rest and kittens. Yes orgasms often relieve my migraines. So does petting kittens. Both things are absolutely a must.
Lately also the euphoria that's going along thinking about our baby expanding our family. I'm not entirely sure about how I'm going to treat my migraine in the future.

My fiance Gary and I have been trying to conceive only since April. And I did stop taking things like Imitrex, antidepressants, birth control and prescription strength painkillers. I used to take a variety. Codeines, Oxycodones, anything that sounded good at the time. Although I never abused them. Which probably explains why they never really helped in the first place.

Strangely enough dark rooms with proper ventilation, and an ice pack on my head along with 3 Excedrin more often than not helped me immensely.

Can't get over how happy I feel about having a baby. It's taken all my thoughts and kept a smile on my face all day.
Which is a reaction we promote in all healthy pregnant women in healthy happy relationships.