On the topic of orange juice

As I pour myself some low-acid orange juice (thanks, Addison!) to take my nausea pills, it occurs to me that I probably don't really need it - the low acidity, not the pills. I know that frequent heartburn is supposed to be a common symptom of early pregnancy, but I honestly have heartburn so often ANYWAY that I don't know that I would notice any increase in it, lol!

I have actually noticed a pointed decrease in my heartburn levels. I believe that it's becuase the crap that I usually eat that gives me heartburn - rich foods, greasy foods, and cheese - are the foods that I can't afford to put into my stomach unless I want them to come back up. Huh, go figure.

:)

Kaytlyn

Baby purchase ideas?

Through a series of annoying events in which I was let down for the first time by an ebay seller, I am currently sitting on $20 worth of gift certificates from ebay (which, incidentally, is $10 less than the money I paid for an item I never received) which may expire at some point in the near future.

As much as I would love to spend this money on frivolous fun things (Conversations with Carl Sagan? Heck yes!), I feel that I should use this towards baby acquisitions. However, I have run into two problems:

1. I don't really know where to start, and there are a jillion different categories in the "baby" section of ebay
2. Baby stuff isn't cheap, and $20 doesn't go that far

So is there anything reasonably priced that anyone who has kids can point me towards that they went, "Oh, I definitely needed this!" when they gave birth?

-Kaytlyn

Only losers sleep through the night

Since I created this blog both to entertain myself and my audience, I figure now is as good a time as any to post.

I think it's funny when you hear people say, "You'll never sleep through the night once the baby arrives!" Yeah, that's just spiffy, but I'm not actually sleeping through the night now. I know part of it is because I work in the night, and my sleep time is shifted from 2am to 10am, but it's just gotten worse since I've been pregnant. I mean, between the nausea and the extreme discomfort (I HATE being touched!), it's practically impossible to sleep at night.

I need 8 hours of sleep a night. If I get more or less than that, I'm drowsy and totally useless. However, the way things are going now, it's impossible to get 8 consecutive hours, so I sleep for an hour or two before Addison wakes up, four hours after he leaves, and a random number of hours in the evening. Plus I need to nap everytime I lose my lunch, and since I'm so overtired, a nap can sometimes accidentally span several hours in the evening.

And, of course, if I'm TOO nauseous I can't sleep no matter what. So that's making things worse too. I am not really sure what to do to regulate my schedule. I mean, I know that I should be getting more than my 8 hours, since fatigue is normal during early pregnancy and taking naps can be beneficial, but I still wish I could regulate it somehow.

As I mentioned, I hate being touched, too. For the most part. Sometimes I need a hug, but other people's natural scents is really bothering my stomach, and if I'm warm or sore I just don't want to be touched. This is making it so that it's nearly friggin' impossible to sleep with Addison in the bed! I can't wait for his alarm to go off in the morning so I can have the whole bed to myself! Grrr. This double-sucks because I LOVE Addison and want to be close to him emotionally, but can barely stand to be with him physically!

Thoughs? Suggestions? Other mother's advice would also be beneficial.

Kaytlyn

PS: I've changed the settings on my blog so that you don't have to sign up to leave a comment - this'll be great for people like my parents! Also, I've added Addison as a contributer to this blog, so hopefully I'll be able to convince him to input some of his thoughts. Give him so comment love to encourage him, too! -K

Keeping Track

Things I definitely can eat:

• plain white rice (not very appetizing)
• dry toast (also not very appetizing)
• lipton chicken noodle soup
• sushi of the salmon variety

Things I seriously cannot eat:

• anything excessively greasy
• anything excessively sugary

Smells that make me wanna hurl:

• burning
• smoke
• cooking garlic powder
• lemon cleaner

Things that soothe the nausea:

• the smell of peppermint
• water - on the inside OR the outside

Kaytlyn

ETA: Coconut cream pie fixes everything.

What's that - you're hungry? HAH!

I am being seriously pwned by my stomach. Blah.

When I was first having a hard time eating, Mum said, "Eat soda crackers." Makes sense, right? Saltines and all that.

One night while working for Mum at the tea shop, I was hungry...but nothing appealed to me. Then I remembered what Mum said about soda crackers. They carry these 4-packs of soda crackers for serving with soup, so I ate one. And then another. And another. And before I realized it, I'd ingested 5 or 6 packages of crackers. I finished work at midnight and thought, "Screw this, I am going to go buy myself a massive package of crackers."

So I did! I bought a ginormous package of crackers!

We're talking 16 times more than this, SRSLY

I went home and immediately ate 1/8 of them. OH MAN were they ever good!

The next day I had a similar problem, so I had Addison bring me a bowl full of crackers. I put one in my mouth. And immediately spit it out. That's right, I couldn't even stomach soda crackers anymore. Sometimes I think that there's someone out to get me.

Hilarious side note: I have discovered something that I can eat that will not, under any circumstances, make me ill. Go on, guess. Give up?

Sushi.

Kaytlyn

Nausea, thy name is Babby!

I've heard it said that anywhere from 10-50% of women don't experience morning sickness.

For the record, I hate these women.

I started getting ill less than a week after I found out I was pregnant. ...And at first, it was bad. I couldn't hold down anything but dry toast and rice, and to be honest, that wasn't giving me enough nutrients to function.

Oh, and side-note: "morning" sickness is a very disillusioning name. How about "all the bloody time" sickness?

When I went to see my doctor in Saint John the Friday after I found out I was pregnant, she prescribed me diclectin for the nausea. As soon as I got back from Saint John, we drove up to Tracadie for the weekend with a friend, so I didn't have a chance to fill the prescription until Monday (and believe you me, it was a LONG weekend in Tracadie). I was able to get the prescription only partially filled, so for the low low cost of $50 I was awarded thirty pills. Thirty. 3-0. That is all. I mean, can you believe that? Like it's not bad enough that Addison's Blue Cross rejected me! Who the hell has the money for these kinds of things? I'm supposed to take two every night, and an extra one in the morning and/or the evening as needed. That's barely two weeks worth of pills! For $50!

Hrm. Anyway, we fill the prescription and I immediately take two. However, I'm slightly taken aback by the image on the pills:


I mean, what the hell is this? There is a pregnant woman on my medicine! Can you imagine what the world would be like if all pills had an illustration of the symptom they were treating on them? Tylenol would have pictures of people with headaches. Gravol would have pictures of people vomiting. Viagra would have...well, I think you get where I'm going with this. It's a bit creepy, yes/no?

I have been much better since I started taking the diclectin, though I also started taking folic acid a few days ago, and it seems to be making the nausea worse. I just don't know what to do anymore. I have no appetite - nothing appeals to me at all - yet I get queasy if I don't eat because my stomach is empty. Surely there must be a balance between not eating anything and eating either too much of something or the wrong something. Nrrrgh.

And this is supposed to last until the second trimester. Joy!

Kaytlyn

...SURPRISE!

On Thursday, August 6th, my husband Addison and I found out that we were going to be parents.

Surprise!

It was a shocking moment for us, to say the least. Addison spent the next few days walking around looking like he'd shit his pants (for some reason, his knees refused to bend). I was mostly overcome by the rapid beating of my heart. I guess it's not usual for people to respond to a pregnancy with fear, but what can I say? It doesn't take me much to make me paranoid! And this is pretty intense. I mean, other than the obvious concerns over having a child - money, space, money - I also have my health to worry about as well.

I asked my mother if she was afraid when she first discovered she was pregnant with my brother. She said, "No, not really afraid, though maybe I was just too stupid. I only felt fear when I went into labour. I said, 'Okay, I've changed my mind!'"

Since I have so many friends who would [presumably/hopefully?] be interested in this sort of thing, I have decided to document the process in a blog. Surely I am not the first to do this, but possibly I am not the least entertaining! Fingers crossed.

Kaytlyn