Category Archives: Health

“Scare the Public” Commercials

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I was watching “17 Kids and Counting” tonight when one of those “if you’ve taken ______________ and had ______________ side effect” commercials came on.Â? The reason I’m blogging on this one: it was about Paxil and birth defects and pregnancy.Â? Since OMG this is my life right now, here’s the scoop:

I’m not on Paxil — I’m on Effexor XR.Â? The birth defect associated with Paxil is different than the one associated with Effexor and other SSRI/SNRI medications.Â? The news on Paxil and birth defects has also been known for at least the last three years and pretty much every family practice/OB-GYN is aware of it.Â? Heck, they’ve known about the connection between an increased risk of heart defects and most anti-depressants for at least that long if not longer because I’ve known about the risks for at least that long.Â? As for taking it while pregnant, your doctor will try and wean you off BEFORE you get pregnant if they’re aware that you’re trying to conceive.Â? I think if we’d known that I would be pregnant in October, my doctor would have started getting me off of Effexor in July (after my septoplasty) just so that the risk would be minimized.

Having said all of this, there is also the fact that the benefits to the mother outweigh the risk to the fetus in many cases (i.e. MEEEEEEEE).Â? I don’t know what the specific risk is with Paxil (I do know that it’s at least a Category D medication if not completely blackboxed for pregnant chicks) but I know that the risk for the defect with Effexor was a 4 in 10000 chance — 10 times higher than in the general populace but still pretty small compared to the normal risk for things like Down’s Syndrome, autism, and spina bifida.Â? (In comparison, Effexor XR and many anti-depressants are Category C.)Â? If you become pregnant, your doctor pretty much KNOWS everything you take and regulates it down to how much Tylenol you are allowed, what vitamins you take, and all that.Â? If you’re on something like Paxil or Effexor, they will do special testing and ultrasounds to make sure that the heart defect isn’t present or that you have a contingency plan in place (like getting the child emergency surgery, oxygen, whatever after birth) if it is.Â? It’s not like your doctor would allow you to take something like this and leave you in the dark after the kid is born with a heart defect — you’re warned going into the pregnancy.

My take: the law firms with this lawsuit need to take it off the freaking airwaves and focus on more important things than ambulance-chasing.

The Ultrasound Today

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Everything went well and??

IT??S A BOY.

It??s a little surprising because I??m carrying high which usually means a girl. But?? these things are usually old wives?? tales and the only body part the little monster was interested in showing us were his male parts. The rest of the time, he was either balled up being uncooperative or was playing with his feet and doing somersaults. My co-workers were commenting (when I told them) that there??s a reason I??m so wiped out all the time ?? I have an active little baby!!!!

Dr. Fabulous (the high-risk doctor who I saw today) is a total character. I was expecting a nice shirt and tie. Instead, I got scrubs and cowboy boots. 🙂 Very nice guy and he answered every question we had as well as reassuring us that the baby was just fine despite the bloodwork last week. None of the markers for Down??s were present and while they do want to do a short ultrasound in 10 weeks to re-check a couple things, the heart issues were not there and the facial features are good.

And his name shall be called?? Daniel James.

An Explanation of What Is Going On

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OK… the news from Tuesday (in the entry that got corrupted and had to be deleted) is that the Maternal Serum Alpha-Fetoprotein Screening test came back elevated for Down’s Syndrome. It doesn’t mean that the baby definitely has Down’s Syndrome — it just means that the right proteins and chemicals were present in the blood to indicate that they should look.

What this means: The high-definition ultrasound that I was supposed to have on the 20th just got jumped to the 3rd. (It was going to be the 6th but the high-risk doctor is out of the office that day.) Apparently, they need to have sufficient time in case we have to do amniocentisis or abort the kid. Neither one is going to happen — I draw the line at having amnio done unless the baby is actively dying and this kid will NOT be aborted. Period.

IF the baby has Down’s: we’ll deal with it. Seriously, it’s not a death sentence and there are two pastors that Jon has worked with here in Montana who have kids with it. One has a daughter my age who functions as well as most regular adults do (lives on her own, has a job, takes of most of her own business except for some of her banking) and the other has a preteen daughter who is like most preteens except that she has the flat facial features.

Regardless of anything that happens, the baby is going to be loved and it is very much a wanted child… even when it kicks so hard that it’s giving me acid reflux.

The 411 on This Week

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I’m pretty sick with a stomach thing (not sure if it’s pregnancy-related or not) and it was a killer week so this is kind of a summary of what’s up these days:

[+] I went to get my car fixed… and caught hell from the mechanic who doesn’t think it’s worth fixing because it has 291,000 miles and is almost 20 years old.Â? It’s also super-reliable and while it took an act of God for me to find the body parts necessary to get it fixed (the mechanic couldn’t get them), it’s DEFINITELY worth fixing.Â? Jon’s car is another story.

[+] It got cold again.Â? We’ve been sub-zero for the last few weeks.

[+] The sea monkey is moving and making me pretty sick from kicking me.Â? We find out what it will be on the 30th and then there’s another ultrasound scheduled for February 20th in Great Falls to check for birth defects associated with Effexor XR.

Resolution Redux from Last Year and New Ones for This Year

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So here are my resolutions from last year and how I did with them:

-not eat any blue paint: Kept it
-develop healthier habits now that Iâ????m working and have limited spare time to exercise:Â? Ummm… yes and no.Â? When I wasn’t injured, sick, or pregnant, I did.Â? Otherwise, no dice.
–do what I can to fight injustice, hunger, and poverty in the world: Ran Day of Blogs and blogged in it.Â? I guess that counts.
-work on my relationship with God: This is kind of ongoing.

OK… here are my new ones:

-not to eat any green paint (figuring that I’m doing well enough on the blue stuff)
-to not badmouth my co-workers when they aren’t present (I’ll do parishioners next year if this works)
-to get bills out on time
-to blog more often
-to have a healthy rest of my pregnancy

Ups and Downs of the Last Few Days

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Up: The Great Falls trip went well despite the loser who tried cutting me off in the Wal-Mart parking lot.Â? (Apparently the moron thought I could suddenly stop on packed snow???)

Down: The temperature.Â? It’s been sub-zero for days and my car’s heater is not working well.

Up: Making out like a bandit at Old Navy.Â? Three pairs of pants for $40.

Down: The little monster in my belly did not want to be found for a heartbeat on Friday at my pre-natal appointment.Â? After 5 minutes of pressing on my belly with the Doppler, Dr. Awesome decided to play with the hospital’s ultrasound machine.Â? 20 minutes and more cold jelly on my tummy later, we got an ultrasound pic of the baby immediately and a lovely fetal heartbeat.

Down: Flu shot on Friday.Â? I have no immune system and am getting everything that goes around.

Up: Only two workdays this week.Â? (Though I’ll probably be staying late on one of those days to clean off my desk before I head to Seattle.)

Up:Â? Flying to Seattle next Saturday… if the weather improves.

Up: My laptop might be here before the estimated delivery date.

Update on the Pregnancy and Such

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I had my ultrasound on Monday and all is well in that direction.Â? I’m where I should be in terms of growth and weight gain.Â? The little sea monkey was waving its limb buds at us.

I’m also finally over the respiratory plague thanks to sleeping for most of Thanksgiving weekend as well as a round of antibiotics.Â? Now to get rid of the eye infection…

Let it also be said that winter sucks!!!!Â? I don’t know how I used to like snow and cold but I really don’t right now!!!!