Final update

My gentle readers, in this case - my sibling(s) and possibly one or two peeps that stumble onto this by chance, we had our baby on the December 30th of 2008.

It was due to immeasurable amount of stress from finances, baby's complication called gastroschisis and the raging pregnancy hormones that prevented me from coming online on regular basis and file away my daily posts.

But that's not here nor there - so here's what happened.

Stress had me tapped out. Energy levels were so low I was dragging my heels. One would almost confuse it with onset of depression but it was merely a confused state of a pregnant woman. Emotionally weakened and with level of fatigue that could level a bull, I finally got to the "very scary" part and delivered my baby boy. His surgery went with flying colors, he recovered in half the time most babies normally do - and thank God he's home with us, and been for a while.

Did my migraines bother me a lot during last trimester? No. Stress however did give me several tension headaches and so did any pressure on my head from hair ties, bad neck angle during sleep - you name it.

Did my migraines come back immediately after delivery? No. Labor took 32 hours and 16 minutes on the dot. But with wonderful things like epidurals and skillful nurses on staff checking on me round the clock - everything went by the book... well almost.
The bed I was staying in nearly suffered but pain blocks kicked in at a good time.

Are my migraines back yet? Not yet. I have what I call pre-migraine headaches. It's those tell-tale headaches that let me know that something big and hairy is around the corner and it's not my cat.
As well as I almost always have my auras. Those things follow me like hound follows a scent, but they're not bothersome for most part.

What gives me my headaches nowadays I found out is too much yogurt. Exceeding some unknown limit on "milk sugar" - also known as lactose - not only gives me a headache, but makes my son gassy.
things that trigger it: Yogurt, sugar, bright lights, loud music, piercing sounds, things that seem to constrict my head, not enough sleep, too much sleep, stress, chocolate, lots of carbs.

Things that help it stay away: protein in any way, shape or form, staying away from excess sugars, and sleep. Well latter I never get enough of so...


Anyways, it's been a good run. Toodles to this blog. Thanks for reading.

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.