Tuesday, July 06, 2010

Pregnancy Woes

Ok... I really am hoping to post more than once a week, but, as my last post explains, I am pregnant. And for those of you who have not realized this yet, I feel you should know that pregnancy is a form of torture for me. Seriously. I am not one of those pregnant women who have a bit of nausea for 3 weeks and then joyfully enjoy the rest of their pregnancy. I am cursed.

You see, while some pregnant women only suffer from nausea, I suffer from vomiting. And while some pregnant women suffer from vomiting, I suffer from extreme vomiting. (I have actually busted blood vessels in my face a time or two.) When I was pregnant with Zachariah I threw up 6-8 times a day until I started taking Zofran. Even with the meds I still threw up 3-4 times a day. Not fun when you are a preschool teacher! This go around I am not yet on meds and only puking 2-3 times a day. So its not quite a bad as last time, but still just as inconvenient due to the fact that I need to raise a toddler. Oh, did I mention my vomiting lasted the whole 9 months when I was pregnant with Zachariah? Yeah. Well, it did.

Now that we have covered the vomiting, lets move on to the spitting, shall we?

Yes. I said spitting.

Believe it or not, excess saliva is a common pregnancy symptom. Most women have an increase in saliva, but its not a very noticeable one. And the women that do notice it can usually just swallow the excess saliva. Not the case with me. I have SO much saliva that I have to spit it out. I have to spit so much that I am forced to carry around a cup with me to spit into.

Yes. I have a spit cup.

And yes, I have been asked if I am chewing tobacco.

Doctors and nurses brush me off and tell me that the spitting will probably go away around the first trimester and then I promptly give a respectful eye roll. My vomiting does not stop in the first trimester and neither does my saliva increase. In fact, when I was pregnant with Z I did not stop spitting until four weeks AFTER I had him. And every month when my menstrual cycle rolls around I would always notice an increase in saliva. Never to the extent of needing a spit cup, but I would have to spit in the sink a few times a day during the week of my period. (Sorry if that is TMI. Going through pregnancy and child birth makes me numb to the whole TMI factor. lol)

And now that we have covered the saliva issue, lets move on to the mucous. I guess mucous and saliva could go into the same category though couldn't they? Ah well. On with the mucous!

Ok, so along with the puking and saliva issue I have developed a mucous problem. Tons and tons of mucous will literally back up in my throat and I will have to spend an hour or so gagging it up. I literally have to stick my finger down my throat to get it up. And sticking my finger down my throat triggers the gag reflex which makes me puke again. Oh the joy. Anyway, the mucous problem is getting a tiny bit better thanks to Zyrtec. It thinks out the mucous a bit and makes it easier to gag up, which means less puking.

And I would be completely fine if I never type the word "mucous" again. That was just too much. My apologies.

All of that to say that I go through one heck of a time during my pregnancy and that is why I may be slack on my blogging. I am starting to cope better with my symptoms though, so hopefully you will see a couple more blog posts here and there. Just know I haven't given up, it just takes me a little bit to drag myself to the computer!


Signing off,
Your sick-o pregnant blogger

:)

2 comments:

Amanda said...

you know, a simple, "I have hard pregnancies with unsightly side effects" would have sufficed...

Whitney said...

Amylynn, I am so sorry! I am praying this pregnancy is a little nicer to you! Congrats by the way!