I was going to go into a lot of detail, include photos and all... then I looked at some photos of gallstones and thought "nahhh, that's disgusting". I have gallstones. I'll say it instead of showing it. Frankly, every pic I've found is quite nauseating. That could be in part due to the fact that I'm both pregnant and currently trying to switch focus from my gallbladder pain and resulting acid reflux but it really is gross.
I'd have to say that of all the pregnancy-related symptoms I've had thus far, it's nice to find out that a) they're caused by my gallbladder and b) the discovery that I have gallstones is by far the worst "symptom".
What does this mean for me right now? It means I have had to make MAJOR diet changes. I should be eating lean poultry, little to no dairy and when I DO have dairy, it should be low-fat or fat-free, no red meat (I don't eat this anyway...), whole grain and whole wheat products as opposed to "white" foods, etc. What I have done is to reduce the amount of dairy I eat, cut back extremely on the chicken and increase the fish intake, eat multi-grain and whole wheat products in place of foods I normally eat. I also need to eat virtually NO grease or fat. That part isn't HARD but it does require me to be very aware of what I'm eating. It's only been 5 days but I'd say I'm doing OK so far.
The cranberry juice I had earlier is causing the acid-reflux I'm suffering from at the moment, and boy is it PAINFUL. If you've never had anything wrong with your gallbladder, you're lucky. It is extremely painful and makes me very sick if I don't eat properly. I have to say, I honestly feel best when I don't eat at ALL. That really puts a damper on things because obviously, being pregnant (and even when I wasn't--because that's unhealthy) I can't just avoid food entirely.
How is it treated? It is treated with diet and eventually surgery. I will have surgery around 8 weeks post-partum, so once my pregnancy recovery time is over, I'll have surgery and yet another recovery period. I don't at all look forward to another surgery but it's for my health and with another child in the house and with all the work that goes into having both a teenager and a newborn, I can't afford to be suffering from gallbladder attacks.
There IS some good news... there are only 36 days left until my due date! I will be 35 weeks pregnant tomorrow. That also means that in 2 weeks, I'll be considered full term. As of tomorrow, I will have exactly 5 weeks left until my due date. SO now that you have all of that repetitive information, you should know that I am SO EXCITED and while I am still exhausted all the time, I'm kind of nesting. I need to get the mobile for the baby's room put together and hung up ASAP. I also need to get MY clothes into the hospital bag. And the last thing we need to do is to rearrange our bedroom because we're going to put the mini crib in here for the first month or three until she gets settled in and can sleep alone in the crib... I can't believe she is almost here.
As for names, just when I think we've settled on one, we go back to another or move on to the next but Joe has expressed that his favorite name is a certain one we've been back to over and over again so unless she is born and it just WON'T work for her, then her name is chosen. Something we've considered all along is the length of her name. We are using both of our last names for her (mine first, then his last) so we have considered long and short first and middle names and have ultimately decided not to name her something like Alexandria Natasha (totally made-up name... we never chose either of those names). My last name is 10 letters long and his is another 7 and at this point, if we stick to our guns, her first name will have 4 letters and her middle name 6. Not too much torture for the kid, but she'll still be a good speller, right?
As of my last Dr appointment at 34 weeks 3 days, I have not gained any more weight and baby is huge! I am measuring 36cm and she is approximately 5lbs 11oz already. Big girl! Considering my first baby was 7lbs 15oz at birth, I'm thinking this one will be about 1lb more. I can't wait to meet her!
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