Well, that was fun, wasn't it?
Thanks for all the supportive comments re: last week's scare. To tell you the truth, I felt a little silly after I posted--was I just overreacting? But I'm glad I called the doctor's office, and glad I discovered that they really are responsive.
So here's a slightly more coherent account of what happened: I'd been having cramps all day. Well, truthfully, I've been having cramps for weeks--faint twinges and pulling sensations, which Dr. SF and my pregnancy book told me were just my uterus expanding and ligaments stretching, along with the occasional sharp cramp due to constipation, so I hadn't been too concerned about them. In fact, for a day or two after the shrinking baby scan, I was more concerned that I wasn't feeling any cramps. At all. So I was actually glad on Thursday, when the cramps came back full force. But these were more insistent than the ones I'd been having all along--not painful, but more present, more...crampy. Also, while the twinges and pulling were happening all over my pelvic area, these cramps were concentrated about halfway between my pubic bone and navel, just to the right of center--in other words, exactly where my uterus hangs out.
In the afternoon, I went to the bathroom, and that's when I saw it: a large spot of brown blood. Wiped: more blood. Stuffed a wad of toilet paper in my crotch, waddled back to my desk for a panty liner, then back to the bathroom. Still more blood. At this point I was almost in tears. Ran back to my desk, called my husband, called the doctor, posted here, ran to the doctor...and you know how the rest of it went.
I spent the rest of the day and all day Friday moving v e r y slowly and staying seated or lying down whenever I could. Spotting stopped by Thursday night, but I wasn't taking any chances. I took Dr. Awesome's instructions to take it easy very seriously and spent most of the weekend lying on the couch, reading and watching the beginning of World War 3 on CNN. Cramping eased up and is back to its usual twingey pulling business. I also determined that if I end up having to go on bed rest, I am screwed. I got so damned bored just spending two days off my feet--I didn't even enjoy reading, though that may be because the smell of my (old, yellowing, beloved) book made me feel sick. (Dude, this nausea stuff sucks.)
*****
Is it terrible that when Dr. Awesome said "no sex," I was relieved? I actually haven't had sex since the night of my trigger shot, seven weeks ago, which, granted, while not a household record, is far from ideal. For three or four weeks after the IUI, I was way too bloated and tender and uncomfortable to even think about sex. In the past few weeks, even though I've been incredibly tired, I've actually been feeling extremely horny--having lots of crazy sex dreams, too, including ones in which I orgasm in my sleep--but have been terrified to actually have sex, even after I was given the OK by my OB. I guess I've been afraid that my wonky ute would use sex as an opportunity to buck free of this pregnancy.
I talked to a friend of mine, whose uterine septum was diagnosed halfway through her pregnancy. (She ended up delivering at 35 weeks and now has a healthy 4 year old.) She said her doctor told her that the contractions of orgasm most likely wouldn't kickstart preterm labor, but that if she would end up feeling guilty about it, it was up to her if she wanted to abstain. So she did, for the remainder of her pregnancy. "I just figured that there were so few things I could control, and this was one of them," she told me frankly.
She made me feel better about my fears, but still, I felt guilty about not wanting to have sex (well, okay, I wanted to--oh, did I want to--but I didn't want to, if you get my meaning) after it had been cleared by my OB. I felt like a bad wife, as retro as that sounds--and hell, I was being deprived too. So Dr. Awesome's no-sex edict (she didn't say for how long, BTW...) really was a relief. It wasn't my decision anymore, it was a medical directive.
However, I can't do anything about the orgasm dreams--had another one last night, and woke up in a panic that I'd dislodged the little bean in my sleep. Yes, that's right, I now get to feel guilty about what I do IN MY SLEEP.
Also, there is nothing like walking down a Big City street with a bad cell phone connection, yelling into your phone, "Can you hear me? Yes, she said no sex. NO SEX! HELLO? CAN YOU HEAR ME?!?"
*****
Lots more to talk to you guys about (including: nausea, constant; braces, why I need them but won't be getting them; testing, prenatal; and the most horrible thing I've seen in a while) but I'll save it for later in the week.
So here's a slightly more coherent account of what happened: I'd been having cramps all day. Well, truthfully, I've been having cramps for weeks--faint twinges and pulling sensations, which Dr. SF and my pregnancy book told me were just my uterus expanding and ligaments stretching, along with the occasional sharp cramp due to constipation, so I hadn't been too concerned about them. In fact, for a day or two after the shrinking baby scan, I was more concerned that I wasn't feeling any cramps. At all. So I was actually glad on Thursday, when the cramps came back full force. But these were more insistent than the ones I'd been having all along--not painful, but more present, more...crampy. Also, while the twinges and pulling were happening all over my pelvic area, these cramps were concentrated about halfway between my pubic bone and navel, just to the right of center--in other words, exactly where my uterus hangs out.
In the afternoon, I went to the bathroom, and that's when I saw it: a large spot of brown blood. Wiped: more blood. Stuffed a wad of toilet paper in my crotch, waddled back to my desk for a panty liner, then back to the bathroom. Still more blood. At this point I was almost in tears. Ran back to my desk, called my husband, called the doctor, posted here, ran to the doctor...and you know how the rest of it went.
I spent the rest of the day and all day Friday moving v e r y slowly and staying seated or lying down whenever I could. Spotting stopped by Thursday night, but I wasn't taking any chances. I took Dr. Awesome's instructions to take it easy very seriously and spent most of the weekend lying on the couch, reading and watching the beginning of World War 3 on CNN. Cramping eased up and is back to its usual twingey pulling business. I also determined that if I end up having to go on bed rest, I am screwed. I got so damned bored just spending two days off my feet--I didn't even enjoy reading, though that may be because the smell of my (old, yellowing, beloved) book made me feel sick. (Dude, this nausea stuff sucks.)
*****
Is it terrible that when Dr. Awesome said "no sex," I was relieved? I actually haven't had sex since the night of my trigger shot, seven weeks ago, which, granted, while not a household record, is far from ideal. For three or four weeks after the IUI, I was way too bloated and tender and uncomfortable to even think about sex. In the past few weeks, even though I've been incredibly tired, I've actually been feeling extremely horny--having lots of crazy sex dreams, too, including ones in which I orgasm in my sleep--but have been terrified to actually have sex, even after I was given the OK by my OB. I guess I've been afraid that my wonky ute would use sex as an opportunity to buck free of this pregnancy.
I talked to a friend of mine, whose uterine septum was diagnosed halfway through her pregnancy. (She ended up delivering at 35 weeks and now has a healthy 4 year old.) She said her doctor told her that the contractions of orgasm most likely wouldn't kickstart preterm labor, but that if she would end up feeling guilty about it, it was up to her if she wanted to abstain. So she did, for the remainder of her pregnancy. "I just figured that there were so few things I could control, and this was one of them," she told me frankly.
She made me feel better about my fears, but still, I felt guilty about not wanting to have sex (well, okay, I wanted to--oh, did I want to--but I didn't want to, if you get my meaning) after it had been cleared by my OB. I felt like a bad wife, as retro as that sounds--and hell, I was being deprived too. So Dr. Awesome's no-sex edict (she didn't say for how long, BTW...) really was a relief. It wasn't my decision anymore, it was a medical directive.
However, I can't do anything about the orgasm dreams--had another one last night, and woke up in a panic that I'd dislodged the little bean in my sleep. Yes, that's right, I now get to feel guilty about what I do IN MY SLEEP.
Also, there is nothing like walking down a Big City street with a bad cell phone connection, yelling into your phone, "Can you hear me? Yes, she said no sex. NO SEX! HELLO? CAN YOU HEAR ME?!?"
*****
Lots more to talk to you guys about (including: nausea, constant; braces, why I need them but won't be getting them; testing, prenatal; and the most horrible thing I've seen in a while) but I'll save it for later in the week.
posted by electriclady at 1:22 PM
4 Comments:
You know the nausea is bad when the smell of BOOKS is making you ill.
I am glad the bleeding has stopped, and don't worry about the sex thing, I am sure he understands. As do most of the people of Big City, after hearing your cell phone conversation...
If it's the Big City I think it is (or even if it's not, frankly), I bet you didn't get any strange stares at all. Unless, of course, you stopped iin the middle of the sidewalk to say all that, in which case you'd have been holding up foot traffic.
Picturing you and your bad cell connection in the middle of a busy sidewalk made me laugh out loud. I had a similar experience today - most likely in the same Big City - as I yelled into my phone really detailed questions about an upcoming IUI, #2. Thankfully, as Robbie points out, in Big City nobody really cared to look at me twice. Anyway... I'm so very glad to hear all is well. I am rooting for you, and I thank you for the update.
I hear you on the no sex thing. It took me WEEKS to feel comfortable with it. I'm 15 weeks now, and although I'm not proud to say this, it took me almost 12 weeks to feel comfortable. My poor husband!!
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