Party of Four: So have you always had a problem releasing gas, or did that start when you got pregnant? (Week 12)

“Never try to make your son or daughter another you; one is enough” –Arnold Glasow

Today officially marks the start of my second trimester and I couldn’t be happier! It means it is one day closer to meeting the new love of my life. Week 12 was filled with birthday celebrations, visits with family, bed rest orders, and acupuncture appointments (never a dull moment). However, before jumping into the details of the week, I wanted to pick a short topic every week that had been a discussion with my husband, friends, or doctors and present it to you all. I absolutely love to hear feedback about how other people have utilized a resource or worked out a problem, so please feel free to drop a line in the comment section below about this week’s topic.

Baby Notes: This week was all about “treatments”. After being prescribed pain medication to assist with reducing severe cramps caused by fibroids, I felt very limited in alternative options to pain management. The doctors informed me that I could either take medication or go seek acupuncture; which at the time I wasn’t too sure I was able to afford. During the first few days I would cut the recommended dosage in half to reduce the amount of medication the baby was taking into their system; however that would leave me in terrible agony all day. Days later I went and spoke with an acupuncturists and just being in her presence made me remember all the alternative treatments I had utilized before getting pregnant to control pain including eating clean, exercising, and herbal supplements. What are some alternative treatments you utilize in your daily life? Did you utilize a certain treatment during your pregnancy that was judged by others? How did you handle it?

Week 12: This week started out all about the girls. I was able to spend some much needed quality time with my sisters, mom, and little princess niece Zoe. At just a year and a half Zoe teaches me every day that it’s never too early to get on your fashion game. It was a nice calm weekend, that included a lot of sleeping on the couch, playing with the kids in the backyard, and attending a wonderful church service together. FYI Zoe refused to take her sunglasses off the entire church service. After a nice Sunday morning, my older sis and I travelled down to Long Beach to visit with my Pops for a bit and then celebrate my little sister’s birthday.

Throughout the day Sunday I started to notice some frequent, but mild pains in my abdomen. I didn’t pay too much attention to them as I had experienced something quite similar in the beginning of my pregnancy due to the slight growth of the fibroid. By Sunday evening I was in full fledge bent over pain. Monday morning I called my doctor and scheduled an emergency appointment. That evening Byron took me into my OBGYN. We immediately checked on the baby first and Byron let out nothing short of a squeal when he saw our little one kicking and bouncing around. I have never seen him so excited in my life. It was the first time we had seen the baby actually that active. After making sure the baby was ok the doctor continued to scan my stomach and quickly noted that my fibroid had tripled in size since my 6 week appointment. She noted that the fibroid was so large that it was causing me to carry as if I was 22 weeks pregnant. The pain was associated with the fibroid outgrowing its blood supply. We were given the option to commence pain meds and stay on bed rest for one week to see if that reduced pain. In addition we were given a referral to a few acupuncturists.

The next few days were pure agony as I attempted to taper the pain medication to lower the chances of the baby getting addicted to them and the fibroid continuing to shoot off sharp pains every 3-5 minutes. I literally woke up every 45 minutes to 2 hours to try and find relief in another position. Days later the pain slowly began to decrease enough to where I could walk to the kitchen alone and eventually to the car. We quickly made an appointment with the acupuncturist. She turned out to be quite healing and comforting. After just one session I felt tremendously better. I have since stopped all pain medication and decided to tackle the remainder of my healing completely natural. This same approach assisted with reducing my fibroids before pregnancy, helped with boosting my immune system, and dropping pounds. While I am not interested in losing weight while pregnant I know this method works for my body and isn’t poisoning my unborn child.

Baby Updates:

Today we are: 13 weeks and officially in our second trimester!!!!

Today the baby is the size of: a peach

Cravings: Watermelon (still) and soup

Next Appointment: TBD

Mochi Update: I think Mochi may have had some sympathy symptoms last week because all she wanted to do was sleep!

Mommy feels: A little weak after not having much of an appetite, but feeling stronger everyday.

Thank you for joining us on this wonderful journey!

Always with love,

Modo