Questions about pregnancy for Moms and Moms-To-Be

Okay, I’m 7 weeks along in my pregnancy. (I started a thread in MPSIMS last week I think, announcing it). I have several pregnancy books I got out of the library, and I have some questions for those of you that have actually been through (or are going through) pregnancy.

-Why do all the books tell you, “As soon as you find out you are pregnant, make an appointment with your OB/Gyn right away!” when in actuality (at least around here), most docs don’t see you until you’re in your eighth week. What’s up with that? (I’ve already seen my gyn, I was having cramps all day last week, went and got a sonogram, everything is fine, got to see the little embryo and hear the heartbeat, which was amazing!)

-Did/does anyone else have problems with their legs or knees? I have had problems with restless legs in the past, now it seems like I get them more often. And also, if I don’t get a chance to sit with my legs stretched out during the day, then by the end of the day, my knees are killing me! We went to see a movie last week and I was in agony the whole time because I couldn’t stretch my legs out. I read in a couple books about a hormone called ‘relaxin’ that is produced during pregnancy, it’s supposed to help the ligaments loosen to make room and all, but apparently it can cause problems with legs and feet. Anyone else have similar problems, and what did you do about it?

-If I’m really feeling like I’m going to throw up, should I let myself, does it make you feel better, or not? I have only thrown up twice so far, I think because my stomach was empty and I hadn’t eaten any crackers before getting up. At first I had this underlying queasiness throughout the day that was manageable as long as I grazed on snacks and ate small meals. Now, I get this overt nausea that comes on in waves, I can’t eat or drink, and I don’t WANT to, then I get hungry, and I still can’t eat because of the nausea! It becomes a vicious cycle, I get nauseous, then hungry, then sicker because I don’t eat. And now, even if I do eat, I still feel yucky afterwards. Normally, I do NOT feel better after I throw up, I don’t know if it’s a ‘YMMV’ kinda thing. What kinds of things helped you, did you feel better after hurling? The only things that seem to help me are taking small sips of ice water, sometimes small sips of cold lemonade, and fresh air. When I start to retch, I take slow, deep breaths, and that seems to help. I just don’t know if it would be better to “let it all out”, as it were!

-PLEASE tell me it gets better! When I’m in the midst of the Queasies I say to myself, “This too shall pass” but boy it’s hard to believe that when you walk around in a nausea-filled haze most of the day! I’ve heard that the second trimester gets better, I’m hoping it does! I worry that I’m not getting enough nutrition right now, I’ve started eating whatever I can manage to choke down (been craving lots of potatos- chips, fries, etc.). My husband says he doesn’t know how I’m surviving on what I eat- I have to eat small portions or I feel sick- but I’m doing the best I can.

Thanks for reading my sorry-ass whining. I feel like I shouldn’t be complaining because I have a friend who is near to term who had hyperemesis (that’s Latin for “major puking”) throughout most of her pregnancy and had to be hospitalized for dehydration a couple times! If you have any advice, or just want to add your early-pregnancy woes, feel free!

Congrats!

Remember, this is only going on for nine months. How long is nine months in terms of your whole life?

To answer your questions

  • I’m preggers in Japan, so I guess I’m not much help there! The fact that you’ve had an ultrasound is good though. If the rule of thumb is wait until your eighth week, then go ahead.

  • no probs with legs or knees here.

  • I never threw up, but I did have nausea. Everyone is very different in this respect. Do what YOU have to do to make yourself feel better. The water/lemonade can’t be anything but good! Ditto for the fresh air and deep breaths. But I know the crackers in bed worked for me!
    Don’t count on the morning sickness going away. It does for most people. But some people have it for all of their pregnancy (and they have my utmost sympathy). Be prepared to deal with it for the full nine months, and consider yourself lucky if it does go away.

  • It DOES get better…once the baby is born :smiley: I find I get over the morning sickness, only to be tired ALL the time (needing at least 10 hours sleep a day, more if I can get it), and getting heartburn in the last couple of months. But since I’m in my third pregnancy, how bad could it really be?!

When things get you down, just think about how blessed you are to be able to have this experience. There are many women who would give anything to be in your shoes (and some men, too). And think of the reward at the end!

All the best!

I’m in my 29th week.

When I had morning sickness, what I found helped was just letting myself wake up slowly. I didn’t really do the crackers in bed thing because I’d throw those up. I also found that ice chips (made in the blender) and frozen Cokes from Burger King worked best, but any cold carbonated beverage worked. Also, I let myself throw up if I needed to. Yeah, it’s miserable, but it usually passes, and it’s not like no one understands.

I also have some problems with pelvic discomfort because of the hormonal changes. What I do is, every so often, I get up and walk around, even if it’s just to the bathroom and back. I make sure my legs move as much as possible.

And rest assured, it does get better. I’m in my seventh month, and the worst problem I have to deal with is fatigue. Yeah, I’m huge, and uncomfortable, and my joints hurt, and I have to pee every ten minutes, but the worst of it is the fatigue. And as long as I can stay awake during the day, even that’s not that bad.

Robin

Been through the whole pregnancy thing so here’s my take on your questions:

So far as the “make your OB/GYN appointment immediately” thing–I asked exactly the same thing. The books essentially are telling you to get a doctor’s exam as soon as possible. If 8 weeks is as soon as possible, that’s okay.

The leg thing–I had some of that during pregnancy. Even riding in the car would drive me nuts wanting to stretch my legs. Strangely, I still have the problem. I never had it before pregnancy but it seems like it’s here to stay now.

Can’t help on the nausea. I never really had any. I’m not bragging–I just never had any. My pregnancy was mostly uneventful…until the big surprising, frightening, WAY early event.

Good luck!

Congratulations, moggy!

The leg/knee things - I had those. Warm baths and showers helped some, as did massage.

Nausea - it DOES get better, I swear! If you’re taking prenatal vitamins, maybe try taking them at night. When I took mine first thing in the morning, I was queasy most of the day, but when I took them at night, much less nausea. YMMV.

As far as nutrition goes, the baby will get what it needs, but you need to feed yourself to replenish your own stores. That’s why the vitamins are important. Eating small meals frequently, like you are, works for a lot of people. And for most everyone, by week 14 the nausea’s gone. I know 7 more weeks seems like an eternity, but there’s light ahead!

I really hope you are feeling better soon, and best wishes for a safe and happy pregnancy!

Congratulations!

I remember with my second pregnancy I was about 2-3 mos along not really showing and I had bad back pains and sciatica the doc said that it was caused by the baby pressing against the back, but the baby couldn’t have been that big yet?

So I started doing yoga stretches again which helped a ton. The baby when she was born was over ten pounds!!! SO maybe it was her afterall!

Congrats! The pregnancy will get better in some ways, worse in others.

Why you should make an appointment first thing:

Yeah, they make you wait until you’re at least eight weeks. But (WAG) calling them when you find out gets you in when you’re supposed to. If you called when you were eight weeks, they might not be able to schedule you right away.

Problems with legs/knees:

Oh, yeah. Very early in my second pregnancy, my legs would just give out as I was walking. Then sciatica became a major problem later in the pregnancy. I also developed it in my third pregnancy. I suffered through it, because nobody told me what I could do. I see someone mentioned yoga; maybe that would help.

Nausea:

I suffered with nausea in all three pregnancies. I never threw up, but I desperately wanted to, just to alleviate that awful feeling. In my third pregnancy, I discovered Seabands, a pressure-point fabric bracelet recommended for seasickness. They were a gift from heaven. I wore them 24/7 for the first several months, and was actually able to eat without wishing I’d die. You can find them in a pharmacy.

Like I said, things will get better and things will get worse. The nausea/vomiting should pass, but then as you get into the third trimester, you may have trouble sleeping. You may get heartburn, backaches, and non-stop peeing. I remember when I first got pregnant, I was shocked at all the discomfort. I was just used to seeing pregnant women at a distance, walking in the mall or something. They just looked big, and I thought that was the only change pregnancy brought about.

But it will pass. And after the first trimester, some women just breeze right on through the rest. Every pregnancy is different. Read those pregnancy books with a grain of salt; there are so many shoulds and shouldn’ts listed, it can drive you nuts.

And if you want other women to talk to and commiserate with, check out parentsplace.com. They have online expecting clubs where you can share the experience with women due the same time you are.

Good luck!

Sheri

Congratulations to all the mommies and mommies-to-be! :smiley:

The only problem I had was swollen ankles (probably due to me having to stand up all day at work). I had to shove a few pillows and comforters underneath the mattress so I could sleep with my legs up. By morning my ankles were fine, but would swell up again as the day at work went on. Sorry I can’t help much, I had a relatively easy pregnancy.

Try ginger tea – grate about a half tsp of ginger into hot water and steep. Worked occasionally for me. My nausea would pass at about 12 weeks although it was 24 hours a day from about 6 weeks. Yick. Carbonated beverages worked for me some of the time. Lots of carbs helped me too.

Have you tried upping your calcium intake or your B vitamin intake for the restless legs thing? I’m not sure which old wives tale I last hears :wink: but it won’t do any harm.

Heh. I can remember calling my doctor and being completely disappointed, even insulted, that they didn’t RUSH me in there. I mean, this was a HUGE event in our lives, I sort of expected them to nearly drop the phone and announce it to everyone in the waiting room and telling them to MAKE WAY because a pregnant Cranky is on her way RIGHT NOW! But you know, people get pregnant every day and it was simply no big deal to them. They had me come in at about 8 weeks.

If one of the books you have is “Your Pregnancy Week by Week” promise me you will either heave it into the trash or that you will only look at the pictures. It’s wonderful for seeing how your baby is changing, but the doctor who wrote it must be the most paranoid, alarmist, grim obstetrician to ever pick up a pen. Every week it’s a new rare horrible disease to watch out for.

I felt sick and tired longer than most moms do. I only threw up twice, though. I felt worlds better afterwards, both times. I didn’t eat very well and didn’t enjoy food (that was a strange change) so I tried to eat Total cereal and ensure bars so that I was getting nutrition. Once the nausea stopped, I had a nice rest of the pregnancy.

I didn’t have specific problem with my legs but I was stunned at how many changes my body went through. My hips hurt, my feet got wider, I got clumsy. Who knew?

Not a mommy ;)…but married to one. I would echo Primaflora’s ginger suggestion. mrs beagledave ate ginger snaps and drank ginger ale when she got nausea twinges…she lucked out and never visited the porcelain god.

If you haven’t been to Baby Center…it has some good info and forums with other moms-to-be.

Been there - four times.

When to make an appointment? Phone as soon as you know, and the receptionist will tell you when the doctor wants to see you. With the pregnancies where I did a home pregnancy test, my doctor wanted to see me right away to confirm the pregnancy, do a general mini-physical, order any blood tests that were needed, and set up a schedule of pre-natal vists. In essence, “pee into a cup”, “does this hurt”, “here’s the blood work you need” and “come back in a month”.

Restless legs? Oh yes, but thankfully it decreased with each pregnancy. Between the legs and the newly forming stretch marks, I thought I was going to go crazy during my first pregnancy. I couldn’t sleep, and kept running hot baths in the middle of the night, scratching my abdomen, kicking my legs, and having a big, bubbly pity-fest.

Throwing up? I tried not to. I let myself throw up once, and I didn’t feel much better afterwards, so I just stuck with queasy as much as possible. With my second pregnancy, I had trouble keeping my weight up (gosh, if only that was still a problem!), so I needed to keep as much food in as possible.

Yes, it does get better. It may get better in your second trimester, or your third, or two minutes after you give birth, or just before your child starts kindergarten. But it will get better.

I had the restless leg thing at night and also something like mild sciatica from time to time that made riding in the car difficult.

I found that calcium before bed really did help. I would also get up and walk for a few minutes, which also seemed to help. Getting some exercise was also a good idea, although I know that’s hard to psych yourself up for in the first trimester.

The only time I actually threw up was when I had an intestinal virus. The rest of the time the ice water trick you mentioned worked pretty well. I would suggest trying to eat a little something if you can.

It does get gradually better. In a couple of weeks you should be feeling a lot perkier. The second trimester is (normally) pretty easy.

The only problem I had with my legs came in the end of the second trimester, and it would be in bed, I would be all streached out and when I’d roll over, my legs would pop painfully back into place, I can do this not pregnant just fine, but something about the weight. I also have hyper extensive joints.

I really got used to getting sick, my six year old did as well. Poor girl. I’d get up to get her around for school in the morning, and while at first it was quite traumatic to puke at the drop of a hat, it would be no big deal. She would go grab the basket for me. I remember hubby coming home one day to me sobbing in the bathroom beside the toilet. It was never like that with my first.
And it lasted the whole pregnancy.

I went to the Dr. when I was about nine weeks. Even then, I didn’t actually get to see him until my third visit, it was first visit, nurse, second another nurse to go over pregnancy with me. Hey, I was there before, has that much changed really? Got my ultrasound at 12 weeks.
Remember its a due month not a date, Dr. predicted December 15, ultrasound predicted January 11, I had my little one on December 22, one day after I predicted it.
Though in the end you get sick of being pregnant, and I turned to ‘helping’ myself into labor.

My sister is pregnant with her first, funny they figure she got pregnant the day I had my youngest. But its funny to see her, (You really have to know her) go through things I’ve gone through. Shes a skinny minnie, and she started to show almost right away, it didn’t bother her until people started making comments about it. And Almost any food makes her ill.

I’ll be trying again in about a year… but I do kinda miss being pregnant, but its fading…

I threw up constantly.

All nine months.

But to make up for it I had almost no other symptoms of pregnancy, beyond the baby of course. No leg pain, no weird cravings, no having to pee all the time, just vomiting.

Thank you for bringing this up, **Cranky **. This book made me so paranoid that because I had no problems in pregnancy (2) that *something indeed must be wrong with me/baby. * But, as I said to my beloved OB that " All my problems are from the neck up " :smiley:

I never had the nausea/restless leg problem. No problems to complain about…but (you knew there would be a BUT)
From before I knew I was pregnant until two days after delivery, I could not breath through my nose. It was like a perma-cold for 10 months without any discharge. The first pregnancy I just gritted my teeth and dealt with it. The second time around, having had a double ear infection, throat infection and a sinus infection I was in misery. ( I coughed so much for about six weeks that I could have easily coughed my daughter out in one of my spasms which I was really wishing I could so that I could douse myself in Nyquil at long last.) I was given Claritin (for the sinus part of my three way infection from the Depths of Hell time) to help me breath and for the last month of pregnancy (752 days, day light savings time) I could breath.

(Medical info on the sinus passages that is the best reason of why I couldn’t breath that I have found is that from conception until birth the body prepares itself for delivery and the cervix - which is either just like the sinus passages starts to soften immediately or the sinuses start to mimick the cervix and get all…uh mushy. Either way and overall, it really was a great experience and I’d do it again in a heartbeat.)

Naturally, Moggy, we expect the usual **Name the Doper Baby ** game so we can live vicariously through you and give you, in the 11th hour of the 967th day of pregnancy a laugh at the names that we come up with. It’s loads of fun!

It makes me feel better to know that I’m not alone! My husband and I were talking about throwing up, this morning. We both came to the conclusion that I might feel better if I let myself throw up. I did yack this morning, and I did feel a little better after I was done! I’m realizing with myself that I really need to eat AND give myself time to digest it, BEFORE moving around. I felt fine when I woke up this morning, and I got up slowly, ate a handful of dry Kix cereal, went into the bathroom, had a wee, and then stood up too fast. My stomach started doing flip-flops, and then I went yacking into the sink! It’s almost like I get motion-sick if I move too fast in the morning. Maybe I’ll try those seabands things- a couple books have mentioned them.

Speaking of books, I do have Your Preg. Week-by-Week. It’s okay, it does seem to dwell on what could go wrong- and I certainly don’t want to be reading about miscarriages and ectopic pregnancy in my first trimester! A book I like, I think it’s called ‘The Pregnancy Book’, the authors are a husband and wife team whose last name is Sears. Another book I found is ‘Am I Glowing Yet?’, can’t remember the author. It goes through all the common “problems” of pregnancy (nausea, vomiting, headache, leg problems, etc.), it’s an okay book but sometimes it doesn’t really give you any advice.

Speaking of glowing, I’m waiting to get that “pregnant glow”, and all my skin seems to be doing is flashing back to puberty! And the weird thing is, not so much on my face, but mostly on my back and upper torso and breasts. I would usually get one or two back zits before my period, now they’re all over! I don’t know what to make of it.

Thanks to everyone who replied- you’ve given me hope and food for thought (hopefully that won’t make me feel queasy!).

I’m 29 weeks also ::waves to MsRobyn:: Due August 10th.

Congratulations! This is a really exciting time.

It sounds like my experience with my first doctor’s appointment was a bit different than others. When I went in for my preconception “tune-up” my ob/gyn told me that when I suspected I was pregnant to not even bother with home tests - to just call and they’d bring me right in for a test and my first appointment. While I did of course do home tests (6 of 'em actually!) I also saw my doctor at 5 weeks, got a bunch of blood taken for various tests and had a lot of questions answered. I think that the books want you to call right away because regular prenatal checkups are so incredibly important for the health of you and your fetus. Plus if you wait to 8 weeks to call who knows, the DR could be booked for the next month and then you won’t see her till then end of your first trimester!

I have just started having leg cramps when I’m sleeping, but other than that my legs have been fine so I’m no help there.

Nausea and vomiting of pregnancy is totally normal and the best thing to do for many women is to keep something light and starchy in your stomach. Crackers, fruit, toast, really anything that you can stand. Stuff that is high in protein and fats can sometimes make things worse. I’d advise against encouraging yourself to vomit, as it can be rough on your GI tract and tooth enamel and can lead to dehydration.

YES it gets better. Many women I know say it turned off like clockwork at 12 weeks, others at about 16 weeks but for the vast majority of women it does end. (I’ll take this opportunity to not mention how my nausea returned for a couple of weeks at the end of my second trimester.)

My big pregnancy gripe right now is my back, my lower back. It really hurts almost all the time - just this steady dull ache as my belly gets heavier and heavier. Sciatica is a bit of a problem but only if I walk a fair distance.

Let me be the first to highly recommend taking a yoga class. I take a class and have two tapes that I do daily and the combination is wonderful. I’m sure that I am more flexible, comfortable and relaxed than I would be if I wasn’t doing yoga. And it doesn’t have to be all Rama-Lama-Ding-Dong if you aren’t into that sort of thing - the class I take is very much focused on the health and exercise aspects, instead of navel-contemplating.

Boy looking at all the preggers ladies on here I think we should start our own little support group. Fighting ignorance baby-by-baby or something :slight_smile:

Twiddle

Speaking of alarmists, it’s not just books and OB/GYNs. When I got a sonogram during my first pregnancy, I proudly showed it around to coworkers.

This one bitch, who had never been pregnant and never seen a sonogram picture, told me “Oh, my god! That looks so weird! Your baby is going to be horribly deformed!”

I freaked, and went straight to the doctor’s office after work to get his reassurance. He told me everything was just fine, and not to talk to <i>anybody</i> but him about my concerns.

Sheri

I’m not prego but i may be able to help you with your nausea.

Like some others have said in the thread:
Ginger. It works wonders for nausea.
I recommend Pickled Ginger. Keep a jar in the fridge and eat it whenever you feel like sick. Works great!