All's Well in Perinatology Land

I have a post in draft now that's a followup to the Great Debate post, but I can't deal with finishing it now, so you'll all have to wait in eager anticipation. I know you can hardly stand it.

Anywhozit, my appointment at the perinatologist's went well. Babies are all growing, though they didn't measure anything other than the heartbeats. You can tell, though, that they're growing. They all have plenty of amniotic fluid. The previa is still a previa, but seems to have shifted slightly, so that might be a good sign... perhaps it is going to shift completely away. Or it could stay right where it is. My cervix is long and closed, which was the real key. I wasn't having any more of the maybe-contractions by the time I got to the office. But since everything else looked great, they weren't too worried, but did give me a stern talking-to about taking it easy and not overdoing it. (I'm positive that I overdid things a bit yesterday, which is probably what started the whole mess in the first place) He did confirm that with the triplets, I really should be careful about brushing off contractions as "just Braxton-Hicks" because all contractions in multiple pregnancies need to be checked out as you just never know when unproductive contractions turn out to be productive ones. I almost told him that all my friends in the blogosphere had already clued me in (thanks, Jody!), but figured it wasn't worth explaining.

The doctor was far more alarmed with the state of my migraines. It was quite a relief to have someone actually take me seriously about them, to be honest. I know that it seems like it can't be that hard to deal with bad headaches, but migraines aren't just bad headaches. They affect my vision. They affect my ability to eat. They affect my ability to stand up straight. They affect my ability to function. They affect my ability to sleep soundly. And being in constant pain puts a lot of stress on your body. It's really no good all around. And they've only been getting worse and more frequent. Honestly, I was getting 4-5 per week before I got pregnant because I'd stopped taking anything prophylactically, so I didn't think it could GET much worse, but I was very, very wrong. I kept hoping that I'd be one of the lucky ones who doesn't get migraines when I'm pregnant, but I'm one of the other kind of "lucky" ones whose migraines get worse during pregnancy. Whoopie.

Anywho, I told Dr. G. that I have an appointment with a neurologist next week but wanted to know what options I can consider discussing with the neurologist. He suggested for pain to try fioricet with codeine instead of tylenol with codeine. It could work, but fioricet hasn't worked for me for years. Then again, years ago I wasn't pregnant, so who knows what will work now. Prophylactically, however, he said taking a calcium channel blocker (like nifedipine as Jody suggested) is perfectly reasonable. He said it would have added benefits as they often use calcium channel blockers in pregnancy to treat pregnancy-induced-hypertension (which I don't have.... yet) and to calm uterine contractions. So all bonuses. He also said that if the neurologist wanted to call them to discuss things further, they'd be happy to work together to figure it out. This is all good.

I took calcium channel blockers some time ago (most of a decade ago). They weren't perfect, and didn't help enough at the time, but at this point, I'd be happy with even the tiniest bit of relief. And there are other calcium channel blockers I can try (the only one I remember taking was verapamil), so a different one may work a little better. The two drugs that I know do the best job are just not options right now... even if I got the okay from the doctor, I'm not comfortable taking them with the possible risks involved. I'm hoping the neurologist has a few good ideas for pain relief and is willing to try out nifedipine. I'm also hoping he's not scared off by the whole triplet-pregnancy thing. (My previous neurologist basically told me that so long as I'm trying to get pregnant he won't touch me... now that I'm pregnant, I'm sure his feelings won't have changed... so I'm back to a neurologist I used years ago who is geographically less convenient, but an excellent doctor, even if he is an elitist snob.)

Beyond that... there's not much to report from today's appointment. The doctor is hoping that when I get further into the second trimester I'll start feeling a bit better. So am I, but I'm not holding out that much hope. After about a week zofran-free, I'm back to being in nauseated hell. I literally threw up in the sink this morning. Lovely, I know. I have lots of weird pains and things are definitely shifting around. I'm sure most of the weird pains are the ligaments streching from the "ginormously expanding uterus" (thanks for that turn of phrase, Jody!). I'm not worried about the pains... I just didn't expect them this early.

And oh yeah... I'll start taking belly pics at some point (My husband laughs at me every time I suggest it, and I can't seem to twist around properly to get a profile shot by myself in the mirror)... though I don't guarantee I'll post them. But all of your urging has convinced me that there's the slightest possibility that I'll regret it if I don't. And that's all the news from Lake Wo-- oh, uh, wrong reference. Er. Right. That's all the news I've got for the moment.