Back from my forum hiatus!

[sickmama]

Hi! My name is Karen, I live in Tucson, AZ, I am 26 years old on Thursday. I have one daughter, Miya who will be one on Saturday. I have had only one pregnancy.

I discovered I was pregnant at 4 weeks, by 6 weeks I was bedridden. My first visit with my midwife was at 8 weeks and by then I had already been to the ER once for fluids and had lost 5 pounds. I started out knowing aboslutely nothing about HG and trying to treat my ms with Emetrol and ginger, LOL. The first real drug I tried was Phenergan. This did nothing but make me feel paranoid. Then I tried Reglan, which made my skin crawl. Finally, during my second visit to the ER for fluids, I encountered a cancer nurse who told me about Zofran. At 10 weeks, I saw my MW again and told her about Zofran, which she didn't hesitate to prescribe for me. I took Zofran, 8mg x 4, until the day I delivered. In the beginning, Zofran was not enough. I was still totally bedridden. My husband had to carry into the shower when my own smell would make me sick. My radar nose detected food my neighbors were cooking! I could not even read about food or watch cartoons with food! The depression was terrible. I remember wanting to give up and I remember thinking HG was going to kill me. Although my husband was great, nobody else in our families really understood and they were less than suppostive. By 16 weeks, I had lost 20 pounds and my midwife became scared for me. Although she was great, and responded to my research and all my requests, she knew absolutely nothing about HG...I was her first case! She decided to consult with the head of Obstetrics before admitting me for the remainder of my pregnancy. He recommended steroid therapy and low and behold, it worked! While it didn't cure me of HG, it allowed me to start eating again and I began to gain weight. I remained on Zofran and a diet of very carby foods for the remainder of the pregnancy.

Miya was born via c-section for breech presentation five days before she was due. She was tiny; 6 pounds 1 oz., but perfect. She has suffered from reflux, but it has almost cleared up now. She also was recently diagnosed with a VSD (ventricular septal defect), a small hole in her heart. We are praying that it continues to be a harmless defect and eventually closes. Not sure if this was HG related, but I'd be interested to find out if any other HG babes have it.

We are not sure if we will do it again. I desperately want another child, but am terrified of going through HG again, especially with a child! Hopefully being back here will help me with this decision!

So I am here for several reasons. First, to help other get through HG in any way I can. Second, to find the courage to do it again. Third, to gain knowledge about other options if courage never finds me. I'm glad to be back among you all!!

[PamelaRose]

Hi, Karen! I cannot believe Miya is already 1. Where did the time go? Nice to see you back, and how exciting to be thinking about another. Give yourself time--one day, you'll be reading someone else's post and it'll hit you that you're ready to give it another try. I like the quote on courage, too--makes me feel a bit less crazy.

[babykismet]

Karen~ My HG started 2 days after conception. I also thought I would die and I even told my doc and family that. I would crawl to the shower only when I had to after days of not bathing. The smell of ginger now makes me gag! I ended up delivering at 36 weeks due to GD and low amniotic fluid. My little girl is now turning 3 in July. But I wanted you to know that Katie also had VSD and Reflux. The doctor told us that the hole would close on Katie heart. But as far as the reflux goes, that has been on going! She didn't eat solids till around 15 months. She would just choke and throw them up. She turned blue on me when we brought her home from the ICN one night thus leading me to realize that she had reflux. After that she slept in her carrier till 9 mths or so. Then she slept with the mattress of her crib propped up. She still has food adversions and she didn't like the feeling of textures in her throat due to throwing up so much. She is still only 23 1/2 lbs! She is extremely active though and very healthy. She just had a rough start.
Hopefully this was all a coincedence, the reflux and VSD, and it won't happen to my next baby. I hated watching Katie suffer like that with the reflux!
~Diana

[aaronsmommy]

Aaron has a teeny tiny VSD. Since he was in the NICU for a while, they always hear murmors and a nurse heard one on him and so he got an echo. It showed a tiny VSD. We went for a follow up at about 4 months and said it was gone, but since the normal hole between the 2 upper chambers that usually closes by 3 months was still open, they said come back in a year. So we went back expecting everything to be normal and it turns out he still has a VSD. It is so tiny they couldn't see it last year, but now we have to go back again next year. The cardiologist says it isn't big enough to affect him in any way, and since no one has ever heard a murmor since that nurse in the NICU, I'm sure we would be blissfully unaware of it if he hadn't been sick at birth. Oh well, he'll always be perfect to me!

So nice to see you back again, they do grow up to fast, don't they?

Aimee

Aaron 12/4/02

[Ivydragon]

Hey, welcome back! One year, already, huh?

I'm an emetrol gal, too -

Time will tell if you can face anothter pg. There are also now forums on adoption, surrogacy and "no more for me" besides reading up on the protocol and ttc planners! Maybe through reading about other's experiences and feelings you can sort out your own.

Wonderful to have you back.

Andy

[burntcarmine]

Hi all,
I am still trying to figure out how to navigate this site. Lucie has a murmur, just detected at 18 mos. Has this shown up pretty common for hg babies?
Christina

[emily]

Hi there. I just wanted to let you guys know that my mom has had a hole in her heart for several years. They found it when she had a stroke at 32. She in now in her late 40's and the hole was getting so large they had to do surgery. They did an arthroscopic surgery (went in through the vein in her groin) and put a small device in her heart that seals up the heart and causes it to scar over the hole. Anyhow, she was done in a couple of hours and out of bed in two days. This was a state of the art device, I guess it is a brand new thing and procedure, and a pediatric surgeon placed it for her because he does so many babies. So, I just wanted to share that bit of good news!

[burntcarmine]

wow that is good news. what do holes do to people in the long run?
ch

[Guest]

Hey, CH, do you want me to do a poll about this? I've been meaning to start a few in research.

Andy

[Guest]

Andy that would be awesome. I am pretty worried, her doc called today and told us to hustle her up the the pediatric cardiologist. When we took Lu in she had said, oh bring her back in a few months and we'll check it out. I had felt later like we should get a specialist and then our doc called and said that she had been thinking about it and that it seemed wise...

it would be great... thank you and I promise you an email soonest...