Doesn't that title sound yummy? Nothing like a good infectious food, right? Ha.
I've pretty much decided that there are two foods I can eat. Not that anything else makes me ill, I just don't want to eat them and wind up stopping after only 2 or 3 bites. But, Tot.inos pizzas (you know, the cheap ones) and a certain cinnamon roll shaped cereal are just about the only things I can finish off. Is it possible for a person to survive off pizza, cereal, and milk? It's certainly looking that way. I went to the grocery store today and bought 5 pizzas, 2 boxes of cereal, and 2 gallons of milk. The cashier looked at me like I was crazy. I probably am.
Poor Jeff has an ear infection. He's had a miserable past few days. I think two days of antibiotics are helping a bit, but he's still in a lot of pain. And our smallest dog, Winky is sick too. I'm thinking her's is not so much an ear infection, but a stomach virus. (Can dogs get those? And can I feed her Pep.to like I can cats?) She is not pleasant to be around right now.
I'm coming up on the 10 week mark (wow!) and therefore I am coming up on the time frame for the early screening tests. (I don't know what they're called at the moment. I missed my 2 hour nap today and am a little fuzzy!) I really don't know if I should get the screenings done or not. I mean, I wouldn't end this pregnancy for anything, no matter what the results, and our donor was already screened for all the major issues, like Downs. So why should I mess with the screening? I'm a chicken. If something's wrong, I'd rather not know. But maybe that's my ignorance speaking, having never been pregnant before. So I'm asking those of you who have been pregnant for advice. What do you think?
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Try Mac and Cheese...that did it for me in early pregnancy:) Also I debated on doing the screens because Im like you that I wouldnt terminate a pregnancy...but the Dr. pointed out that it also detects congenital heart defects which would require extra monitoring so I guess that would be a positive to the test and maybe to prepare if something else was discovered...So I am doing the screen:)
ReplyDeleteI can't offer any advice on the screens, but I'll keep my fingers crossed that everything turns out great either way.
ReplyDeleteI don't see anything wrong with eating what you can. I know plenty of pregnant women who have had horrendous eating habits (some out of necessity, some out of choice) and all babies and moms were fine ;) Your doctor will tell you if there's an issue with your food intake, I'm sure.
Glad all is well though! Well...for you at least. Sorry to hear about the hubs and dog being sick. (If Jeff is still in pain, a heating pad against the ear helps a lot... assuming you haven't tried it already.)
Have a good week!
Babe, I lived on peanut butter and cherry koolaid when I was pregnant with you and look how you turned out. At least you are getting the milk.
ReplyDeleteFor many diseases/defects, you cannot rely on donor screening (or screening of yourself)--you have to screen the babe. When you say that "our donor was already screened for all of the major issues--like Downs", I'm not sure what you mean. Just because your donor doesn't have Downs, it doesn't mean that your donor's offspring won't.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I chose to do early screening. We got bad results, and chose to do a more invasive test that gave us definitive early results (which were good). It set my mind at ease, and I was glad we did them.
Even if you wouldn't terminate, there are a lot of reasons to do early screening tests. If there is a problem, it gives you time to educate yourself and prepare. Some conditions can be treated in utero. Some conditions will require immediate care upon the baby's birth. Some conditions will result in the baby's death immediately or shortly after birth. For me, I needed to know as much as I could, so I opted to have the tests.
You will have to decide for yourself whether to have them. Truthfully, you seem to know very little about the tests or the reasons to do them. It might be a good idea to educate yourself about what can be tested for, what cannot be tested for, and whether the tests you are considering are screening tests or diagnostic in nature (screening tests give you odds, but are not definitive--the quad screen that is so popular gives you your odds, but doesn't actually tell you what will happen).
Good luck.
Because of my age (37) and the fact that I have a family member (maternal cousin) with Down's, we decided to do the NT screening. Our reason was not that we'd terminate, but that we would want to be prepared for a special-needs child. Since that test came back with great results, we didn't do any more testing - and I got an additional ultrasound out of it. :) You do have to weigh the chances of a 'false positive,' which is possible, but for me, the results were reassuring. (Here from LFCA - and, by the way, congrats!!)
ReplyDelete(here from LFCA) I think the question of screenings comes down to how you value early information vs the risk of early worries due to false positives. Everyone has different tolerances on each end.
ReplyDeleteI made the same choice, for the same reasons as Anonymous. For me, I knew that were there any issues, I needed as much information as possible as early as possible to prepare myself. Our screening (the combined NT and blood screening) also included a meeting with a geneticist. It was nice to walk through what things might come up as a result of our families' medical histories. My husband's sister is bipolar, and I hadn't realized how much that weighed on me until the geneticist outlined what that meant for the odds of our children having mental health issues. I don't know if you have as much medical history from your donor, so it might not be as reassuring or as helpful as it was for us, but I found that part to be invaluable.
Good luck on whatever you decide and congratulations!
Here from LFCA. This is going to be very sad so stop reading if you worry easily.
ReplyDeleteMany people say they wouldn't terminate for anything, and sometimes that's true. But we were told that if our son was born he would be in horrible pain and die anyway (his brain was squeezed into his spinal chord, among many other problems). We chose to end his suffering. Unfortunately we did not get the early screening so his problems came as a huge shock at our 20 week scan. Because of the laws here we only had 2 days to decide what to do. Believe me when I tell you that you do not want to be in that position. I would have given anything to have more time to make decisions and get second opinions, and time to be with my son and appreciate his short little life.
I tell you this because I wish someone had told me. If you absolutely would not terminate it is still helpful to know if you will need specialized care when the baby is born. If, for example, the baby had a heart condition you could make sure that a specialist was on hand at the birth. I hope I didn't upset you - I was assuming you wanted an honest answer to the question.