Boarded the Pregnancy Train. . .

I took Mucinex and antavert and felt fine with no strange side effects. I found out that weird side effects run in the family. My son stayed up all night after taking Singulair. Poor baby!

Posted by Duchess of Purple at 5:18 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Ten more weeks to go!! Still no nursery set up or clothes washed. I don't even know what I have yet, I don't own a baby stroller. I did pick out a name, Aron Charles. At least that is done. Now, I have a box full of clothes to wash and nursing bras to buy. The poor baby doesn't even have bottles and no room for his baby things. 3o weeks is a good time to begin thinking about the big day coming up and to start planning the nursery, if you have room for one!

Posted by Duchess of Purple at 5:15 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

When side effects are listed on the side of a prescription bottle, under the usual ones the pharmacist will list rarer side effects, the one the sufferer must call the doctor about immediately. The first thing that comes to mind, for example, is the commercial for Cialis warning its user that in rare circumstances the medicine will cause a four hour long erection!

Since most people are not affected by those rare side effects it almost doesn't make since to list them. I know that I always wonder about the weird person who has the rare side effects. Especially since that person is usually myself.

Pain medication and sleeping pills make me hyper. I get heart palpitations from claritin D. I am allergic to three different types of anti- biotics, and now I found out that I cannot take Phenergan.

Phernergan, or promethazine, is prescribed by doctors to help pregnant women deal with nausea. (among other reasons) I also read that it is given to help relax a woman before labor. Most side effects are dry mouth, drowsiness, and dizziness.

Well, I did not relax or fall asleep after taking this drug. I fell into the restlessness, hyper, uncontrollable shaking, and nightmares category. Let us just say that my experience was like a bad trip to Hell.

I took it at 10 PM thinking that I would get a good sleep. After the medicine kicked in, I noticed that the slightest noise made me jump out of my skin, I kept hearing a squealing noise coming from the walls and little creepy bugs in the corner of my eyes. My husband, of course, made me upset by telling me that I had to wake up at 6 AM and I had a panic attack when he refused to talk to me. I yelled at my son to go to sleep, which he quickly did, and then the nightmare became worse. My legs started shaking and kicking uncontrollably. I had to literally walk for three hours. Everytime I laid down, my legs would kick me back up standing. The pain in my legs was horrific and I began to wish for an epidural. I had to go to the bathroom literally every five minutes and everytime I went it was painful. As soon as I would go, I would jump off and begin my zombie walk again. I tried to soak my legs in the bath twice, but the second time I got so dizzy that I almost fell head first in the water. Yes, I was sitting down, making the experience even scarier.

Finally at around 3 AM, I called my doctor begging and pleading for help. She told me to take some benedryl which immediately did. I finally got some sleep, but had some weird dreams of men flying on scooters in a "starry, starry night" background. Every so often one of those bugs would go creeping around in my eyelids knocking the breath out of me. Finally, my bad trip was over. I have been half asleep all day.

After that experience, I remembered now that promethazine was the medicine given to me to "relax" me before giving birth to my daughter. The side effects were so bad that they surpassed the labor pains! I begged for an epidural to stop feeling leg pain, not to stop feeling the contractions!

So now, I add promethazine, to my long list of medicines to avoid. I have to remember that I am one of those weird people who have strange side effects to medicine!

I will admit though, I stopped feeling nauseous!! :-)

(picture from www.foundmyself.com)

Posted by Duchess of Purple at 4:30 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

I really want to blog more. Not only is my belly full of life, but my mind is as well, though I doubt Athena will fall out of the side of my head.

I just can't take the heat!!! I have my thermostat down to 68 degrees and am wearing my trusty muumuu. I am still so sensitive to the heat. I can feel it from the computer screen and from my crackpot all the way in the kitchen.

Right now I wish I was in NYC in Central Park with my kids in November. That still ranks as one of my favorite memories. Right now being back in Hawaii with no air conditioner is more preferable to what I am feeling now. At least in Hawaii I got a nice breeze from Pearl Harbor.

Maybe it is the hormones talking, but I really miss New York and Hawaii right now. . . I wouldn't have my son anywhere else but the South though. I think I need to remind myself why I chose to have my baby in Tennessee.

The heat is hard to bear, but I can't take the heat of having a baby in New York City. When I first went to the doctor after having a positive pregnancy test, the first question she asked is I wanted to abort the baby!! So you can imagine how nervous I was that my doctor's values on life were so different from my own. Even walking through the streets with two young children and one on the way, I was given looks as if my skin was all purple. Only the older ones sitting in McDonald's giving my kids winks in Queens were excited. Though I LOVE NYC, it is not a very family friendly place, and stay at home mothers are not given much respect. Many nights I cried because of the comments I received because of my choice to not work outside the home.

Hawaii, on the other hand, is very supportive of families and children. I had a very easy time finding playgroups and babysitters. Neighbors would even BEG to watch my children. It was a stay at home mother's paradise!! However, I can't take the hospitals and doctors in Hawaii. I am sure there are some good doctors in Hawaii, but they were so crowded that the service I received was poor. I once went to the hospital because I could not walk (oh the pain!!)and as I sat in the waiting room, I watched three women in labor!! There was no room for them. I felt so bad that I almost forgot my own pain. I even offered one lady a massage to help her back labor.

On second thought, I think I will take the heat here in Tennessee. At least I have doctors who share my values and wonderful service at our local women's hospital.

Posted by Duchess of Purple at 1:25 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

The choroid plexis cysts disappeared! My baby will be just fine. I still can't figure out what to name the poor boy though.

Posted by Duchess of Purple at 12:50 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Today I did not have to wait long at the doctor's office to be seen. My glucose levels were at 124 below the limit of 140 and my blood count was excellent. I am measuring big, but that is normal for this is my third child. After each child your uterus tends to be bigger.

So, finally I have reached my third trimester. I already noticed that it is no longer fun to eat. If I eat too much or eat something that is too greasy I get terrible heartburn. I only really crave salads. I would love a Zaxby's chicken salad right now! Sometimes I think the invention of fast food restaurants are the worst thing for pregnant women!!

It was a positive check up today. I am glad that everything is ok. I am sleeping ok and feel excited about the new baby. My husband on the other hand is an emotional wreck!! It is as if he were carrying the baby!!

Soon it will be time to do our baby shopping. I don't have anything prepared. I don't even have a name picked out. Well, 12 more weeks to go!

Posted by Duchess of Purple at 9:34 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Now we are thinking Kameron, Timur, Arslan, and Samuel.

Samuel just strikes at my heart. I thought of it at church yesterday as the Sunday School lesson was about Samuel. So I was thinking about Samuel Arslan or something like that. Samuel is not too common now, but always a classic.

I have my next level 2 ultrasound on Thursday to determine if the choroid plexis cyst has disappeared. I am around 27 weeks and by now it should have disappeared. I am worrying again about the results, but I am sure it will be fine. I feel the baby move everyday and finally feel a strong bond with him. I will love him no matter what the results. I know God listens to my worries and will help me through anything. That is why Samuel is a perfect name for him.

Now I hope my husband agrees. Samuel is such a Jewish name, and my husband is from a Muslim background. So my son may have a Jewish name mixed with a Muslim one. And no, sorry I do not like the Arabic name Sami.

My other son's name, Salim Jon is fitting him more and more everyday. I think though that people will just call him Salem. He is a peacemaker in our home, so that name fits him perfect. He makes our family healthy.

It is amazing how names fit our children. I hope Samuel will be a name my husband and I can agree on.

Posted by Duchess of Purple at 9:36 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

I finally had one of those crying, lost my mind moments. No sleep again, and I could not sit through church because my legs felt like electric shocks were going through them, my daughter was especially bratty and I just felt helpless!

I went home early and my husband took the kids so I could rest. I am thankful for that, or I would have seriously lost my mind. So when you are in public and see a woman struggling with whiney children, don't judge her as a bad mother, give her some help! Especially if she is pregnant or has a new baby! I have learned my lesson.

Any advice on how to juggle pregnancy illness, newborns, and older children. I need some advice bad!

Posted by Duchess of Purple at 2:54 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Again I had no luck shopping for maternity clothes and shoes. I have found that walking before going shopping is a bad idea. My feet were too swollen to try on shoes. I felt like I was a whale and none of the clothes fit right. I went to Motherhood Maternity but was unhappy with the choices. I am still waiting for a certain pair of shorts to go on sale. I also wanted these linen capris so badly, but they did not have my size. Sears had nothing, and the shorts they had were more expensive than the ones at Motherhood Maternity. Target so far has the best selection. . . sometimes. They definitely have a good selection of bathing suits. (which I will need to buy soon) I just wish the makers of maternity clothes did not assume that all pregnant women want to look like a "hot mama". I might just dig out my old Hawaiian clothes and wear muumuus everyday.

I remember my mother wearing the weirdest looking muumuus when she was pregnant with my youngest brother. She would wear them everyday. Even when she went outside to go work in the garden. I still have a picture of her wearing one putting up a tent during one of our camping vacations. I understand now as an adult why she desired the comfort, but at the age of 12, I was pretty embarrassed. Now I will wear my muumuus, but I think my daughter is too young to be embarrassed. (hey, but mine are authentic muumuus!! Does that make it better?)Muumuus aren't exactly the most flattering clothes out there, but man are they comfortable!

Posted by Duchess of Purple at 1:52 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post