Part 43: 8 Weeks & Counting - Happy Birthday to Me!

It was a good week.  It began with the annual Cancer Walk on Sunday, June 3.  The Cancer Walk is an event put on by my work that brings together literally thousands of people on National Cancer Survivors' Day (the first Sunday of June).  It's a lot of fun.  Those who are survivors wear purple and the rest of us (the supporters) wear white.  Paul and I walk in honor and memory of my Nana, who passed away from lung cancer a few months after we got married.  It isn't a race, and you don't have to find sponsors.  It's just a leisurely stroll along the lake and back.  There are booths and events in the park before, and after the walk there's a picnic.  It was a beautiful day - lots of sunshine, zero humidity, and not too hot.  I was a little nervous beforehand, seeing as I hadn't been allowed to do any kind of exercise for nearly two months (I'd just been cleared for "light" physical activity the previous week).  So I wasn't sure how well I'd do with the walk, but I ended up being fine.  I did, however, go home and take a 2 1/2 hour nap afterwards!

The following day was my birthday.  Paul made me breakfast in bed (yay!):

We spent the rest of the morning doing a little yard work.  Then we got cleaned up and went to a nearby park/garden/museum.  The museum and buildings were closed, but the park and gardens were open and it was another beautiful day, so we walked around and looked at the flowers and enjoyed being outdoors.  I was having a bit of a rough day, nausea-wise, so I had to sit down a few times and breath through it.  Fortunately, there were plenty of benches and shady areas, and the view was always nice:

We had dinner reservations at one of my favorite pasta places that evening.  I was a little worried that I wasn't going to be able to handle food.  But thanks to a bottle of Perrier from the gift shop (unsweetened carbonated water = my new best friend for stomach settling), I was feeling better by the time we were ready to head to dinner.  We had a very nice meal, including appetizer, entree, and melt-in-your-mouth buttery lemon cookies (complete with candle).  And some fancy, imported, sparkling pomegranate-flavored water that was the next best thing to a glass of wine.  I managed to do pretty well with eating, but didn't push it (partly because it was all very rich and I didn't want to get sick, and partly because we were going to my favorite custard place later for dessert),  After dinner, we picked up my MIL and went to get frozen custard.   All in all, it was a lovely day.  I had lots of fun calls, texts, and Facebook messages from various people.  Oh, and I got a Kindle Fire!  That was my gift from Paul - I'd been wanting one for a while.

Thursday was our final ultrasound and visit with Dr. B.  We had the ultrasound first.  The tech was not very talkative (she might have been new - I'd never seen her before).  But she said everything looked great and we could see the heart still beating away on the screen.  Flash was starting to look more like a human and less like an alien, which was fun:

Can now see the head, body, and arm/leg buds more clearly!

Afterwards, we met with Dr. B.  She reviewed the ultrasound and mentioned that they saw a small subchorionic hematoma (a bruise) on the uterine wall near where the placenta was forming.  She explained that this is fairly common and usually resolves on its own with no problem.  She did say I might notice some spotting, and not to be alarmed if that happened.  She also said I could start weaning off the Endometrin - yay!  I was supposed to go down to twice a day for a week, followed by once a day for another week, and then every other day for the final week.  And I could stop my Estrace, so all that I'd be left with (aside from Endometrin) would be my prenatal vitamins and a daily baby aspirin.  We were officially "graduating" from the RE!

Friday B took me out for a belated birthday dinner.  We went to this cute little French bistro/creperie.  And pretty much ate until we couldn't eat anymore.  We shared a white cheese fondue for an appetizer, followed by tomato basil soup.  For my entree I ordered a ham and cheese crepe, which was to die for, with a side of greens.  B got a spinach crepe.  And for dessert, we split a lemon-custard crepe with raspberry coulis and sipped decaf.  It was AMAZING.  And miraculously, I was able to enjoy everything without feeling nauseous!  Just in case, I'd prepared by sipping La Croix with lime all day and chewing on crystallized ginger.

8 Weeks and Counting Symptom Recap:

• Nausea and food aversion continued to be the most prominent symptoms.  The nausea came and went pretty much all day, every day.  I never vomited, but then again, I'm 100% anti-vomiting and will do whatever necessary to talk myself out of it.  Food in general didn't sound very appealing, and some things in particular (like chicken) were out of the question.  Unfortunately, most of the foods that did sound good were ones I couldn't have.  Sandwiches from Jimmy Johns or Subway and hot dogs were two things that I actually craved but were not allowed (no processed/deli meats).  Weird.
• My face continued to behave like a teenager.  Fortunately, although I was oily and had dozens of zits, none of them were the giant, painful kind that practically leaps off your face and screams at everyone to look at it.  Thanks to a modified make-up routine, I was able to hide the damage and keep the oil more or less under control.
• New symptom of the week:  severe pain in my glutes.  It kind of felt like I'd pulled something, but the pain was never constant.  Instead, it would come on suddenly as I was walking or standing, and sometimes even while seated and driving.  By the end of the day, it would get so painful that I wasn't able to walk the dogs with Paul.  According to my chiropractor, my growing uterus combined with my pelvic muscles stretching and relaxing were probably putting pressure on my sciatic nerve, which was causing the pain.  Who knew "pain in the ass" was actually a pregnancy symptom?