Monthly Archives: February 2009

Lent

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As I was watching the snow fall like powdered sugar this morning, I had just one thought in mind:

WHEN IS THIS FREAKING WINTER GOING TO END?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

I’m becoming like Edda the Puss when it comes to snow.Â? I don’t like it!!!!Â? Make it go away!!!!

So today is Ash Wednesday which is the first day of Lent.Â? (Easter is around Tax Day again.Â? Yes, I’m positively happy that Jesus paid my Death Tax for me.)Â? It’s a meatless day for me which is a royal pain because I’m hellishly depressed and not feeling like eating… and the only things I have the house that fit this have meat in them.Â? Crap!Â? I’m also giving up swearing which means 4-lettered words mostly.Â? (I’m keeping the precursors though.)

I should theoretically go to church tonight.Â? Then again, I should do a lot of things.Â? For example, I should have gone to work today; but called in sick after crying for a good two hours at the thought of having to go deal with people.Â? The thought of going to church tonight is making me similarly upset.Â? Not that I hate everyone — I’m just having “one of those days weeks”.Â? I’m grateful to have a boss who understands but I still feel guilty.

OMG Rlly?

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I had someone express shock that I was pregnant yesterday.Â? Considering that I *LOOK* pregnant now, this was a little surprising.Â? It was nice, however, to know that people aren’t just staring at THE BELLEH.

“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.

Musings

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[+] After about two weeks of nice Chinook winds, we got a few inches of snow Friday and yesterday.Â? The roads are fine — it’s just WHITE outside because it’s also cloudy.Â? Edda is just confused beyond all get out.Â? Black cats just don’t understand white very well.

[+] I might have to make it one of my Lenten disciplines to actually GO to church — I’ve missed more than I’ve attended this year because I’ve been sick or incredibly tired (more the later).Â? I’ve made it on Communion Sundays and to the annual meeting but that seems like all.Â? This morning (for example), I woke up tired and stuffy so I just drove my coffeehour stuff over to church, left a note, and came home to take Sudafed and go back to sleep.Â? I know… I’m just taking care of myself and of little Daniel inside of me but I *should* be making a better effort to keep the Sabbath.

[+] My mommy is home from Paris after 3 weeks there.Â? This is a GOOD THING.Â? I did get to talk to her weekly but I’ve missed having her one time zone away.

[+] I’m reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year in Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver and it’s excellent.Â? (Then again, all of her non-fiction is good and I’d heard pretty much the gist of the book on an episode of Speaking of Faith.)Â? I should probably be feeling guilty because I do eat a fair amount of processed food at the moment (well… given that I’m living on ramen) and I eat a lot of Subway because it’s on my way home and I can actually control what’s on my sandwich.Â? However, I’m also so low on spare time and energy at the moment that I’m not fully able to have a conscience about where my food was raised and how far it traveled to get to me.Â? More about my thoughts on the book and its feasibility for me later.