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mamajoanI am back from my midwife appointment, where "I am back" means "I am at the office and took time to eat lunch and get my ass kicked at Scrabble before updating you." Sorry.
The good news from the appointment is that everything seems to be fine with little Cosmo. We heard his/her heartbeat on the Doppler monitor, which is a very good sign. (Studies indicate that the risk of miscarriage drops to something like 1% after the heartbeat is heard or seen on ultrasound.) The other good news is that the midwife wasn't too concerned about the spotting. She checked my cervix and did find it to be bleeding a bit and look irritated, but she felt it was likely that that's because of the diarrhea, and since the cervix was hard and closed she wasn't too worried.
She was concerned about the diarrhea though, and asked a lot of questions trying to figure it out. I explained that during/after each "episode" I've tried to think back to what I had eaten in the previous 24 hours or so, but I had never been able to identify any particular food that could be the culprit.
And then she said (this is the BAD news coming right here) "you thought about lactose, right?"
Well, no, I feel like an idiot having to admit this, but actually, I never did think about lactose. Dairy is a huge part of my diet, but if I had been sitting there having diarrhea and thinking "what did I eat today?" and the answer was something that contained dairy, it would never have occurred to me to blame the dairy itself or to suspect lactose intolerance. Of course, now that she mentioned it, it makes total sense. *sigh*
So she recommended that I try going two weeks without any dairy, and see what happens. We canceled my previously scheduled checkup for Friday, and made a new appointment two weeks hence to re-evaluate. I'll still go on Friday for the ultrasound to measure my cervix.
It's going to be a LONG two weeks. I stopped off at Trader Joe's on the way to work and bought a couple different kinds of rice milk, since I can't remember which brand(s) I like and don't like. I know I like rice milk better than soy milk, that's for sure. I also allowed myself to buy a bag of TJ's peanut-butter-filled pretzels, which I looooove but don't often buy because they're so expensive. I'm going to have to start getting more of my protein from PB and soy now; that's my excuse. ;)
On the one hand I do hope this clears things up, but OTOH if that means I'm going to have to avoid dairy for the rest of the pregnancy, or even *shudder* the rest of my life ... OMG. That is NOT going to be pretty. Sigh. But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it I guess.
It was also discovered at the appointment that I have lost 7.5 pounds since my last checkup five weeks ago. O.O I knew I had lost some, but that was more than I expected. This is not good. I explained to the midwife that it's because of not eating due to nausea, and we had a good chat about nausea during pregnancy and how to handle it, etc. -- what it boils down to is, you have to find the things you can eat and just eat them, whether they're potato chips or M&Ms or spicy wings or whatever. I am of course still really hopeful that the nausea will be clearing up in the next couple of weeks, but it's still good to hear the midwife's tips and opinions. I bought some candied ginger to chew on when the mood strikes. Whew! That stuff is potent!
Anyway, that's my update. At least we are both relatively healthy, which is the bottom line.
The good news from the appointment is that everything seems to be fine with little Cosmo. We heard his/her heartbeat on the Doppler monitor, which is a very good sign. (Studies indicate that the risk of miscarriage drops to something like 1% after the heartbeat is heard or seen on ultrasound.) The other good news is that the midwife wasn't too concerned about the spotting. She checked my cervix and did find it to be bleeding a bit and look irritated, but she felt it was likely that that's because of the diarrhea, and since the cervix was hard and closed she wasn't too worried.
She was concerned about the diarrhea though, and asked a lot of questions trying to figure it out. I explained that during/after each "episode" I've tried to think back to what I had eaten in the previous 24 hours or so, but I had never been able to identify any particular food that could be the culprit.
And then she said (this is the BAD news coming right here) "you thought about lactose, right?"
Well, no, I feel like an idiot having to admit this, but actually, I never did think about lactose. Dairy is a huge part of my diet, but if I had been sitting there having diarrhea and thinking "what did I eat today?" and the answer was something that contained dairy, it would never have occurred to me to blame the dairy itself or to suspect lactose intolerance. Of course, now that she mentioned it, it makes total sense. *sigh*
So she recommended that I try going two weeks without any dairy, and see what happens. We canceled my previously scheduled checkup for Friday, and made a new appointment two weeks hence to re-evaluate. I'll still go on Friday for the ultrasound to measure my cervix.
It's going to be a LONG two weeks. I stopped off at Trader Joe's on the way to work and bought a couple different kinds of rice milk, since I can't remember which brand(s) I like and don't like. I know I like rice milk better than soy milk, that's for sure. I also allowed myself to buy a bag of TJ's peanut-butter-filled pretzels, which I looooove but don't often buy because they're so expensive. I'm going to have to start getting more of my protein from PB and soy now; that's my excuse. ;)
On the one hand I do hope this clears things up, but OTOH if that means I'm going to have to avoid dairy for the rest of the pregnancy, or even *shudder* the rest of my life ... OMG. That is NOT going to be pretty. Sigh. But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it I guess.
It was also discovered at the appointment that I have lost 7.5 pounds since my last checkup five weeks ago. O.O I knew I had lost some, but that was more than I expected. This is not good. I explained to the midwife that it's because of not eating due to nausea, and we had a good chat about nausea during pregnancy and how to handle it, etc. -- what it boils down to is, you have to find the things you can eat and just eat them, whether they're potato chips or M&Ms or spicy wings or whatever. I am of course still really hopeful that the nausea will be clearing up in the next couple of weeks, but it's still good to hear the midwife's tips and opinions. I bought some candied ginger to chew on when the mood strikes. Whew! That stuff is potent!
Anyway, that's my update. At least we are both relatively healthy, which is the bottom line.
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no subject
Date: 2005-09-28 07:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-28 07:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-28 07:09 pm (UTC)Anyway, excuse the hindleg. I'm glad the spotting isn't serious, and that you have (hopefully) found the cause of the diarhrea. I just take a lactase pill when I want to eat or drink dairy products, but I don't know if that's allowed when you're pregnant.
no subject
Date: 2005-09-28 07:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-28 07:35 pm (UTC)(But I still think you need WAY more protein in your diet -- obviously, non-lactose protein, though. ;))
no subject
Date: 2005-09-28 07:54 pm (UTC)Whew!
Date: 2005-09-28 08:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-28 08:49 pm (UTC)LactAid supplements rock. I get them in huge boxes at Costco. You can buy organic lactose-free milk, too, at some healthier food stores. So just because you're lactose intolerant (if you are) doesn't mean you have to give up dairy completely. Also, I'm lactose intolerant but I can eat lots of sheep- and goat-based cheeses like goat jack and feta and romano, plus I don't have a problem with sour cream or yogurt in smaller quantities.
I have IBS, so I know all too well how it is to have inexplicable diarrhea - It's hard to pinpoint which foods do it, but once I did my life started improving so much (because I could do things besides run to the bathroom).
The things that cause diarrhea for me are primarily raw onions, large quantities of fat, raw tomatoes, peppers (not the spicyness but the actual flesh and skin of peppers) and dairy. I know other people who get it from things as random as corn! The digestive tract is a wierd, wierd thing. Metamucil capsules work amazingly well, too.
no subject
Date: 2005-09-28 11:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-28 09:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-28 11:36 pm (UTC)You may already be aware of this, but I'll mention it just in case. "No dairy" doesn't just mean "no dairy," it also means watching out for things that have "natural flavoring" (which sometimes means milk products), or at least keeping an eye on them in case you do feel grumbly after eating something that has Mystery Contents. You'd be surprised what completely non-suspicious foods have added lactose. You can even find it sometimes in bread.
It's also possible (though much less likely) that it's a milk allergy (lactose intolerance is not an allergy), in which case you would have to avoid anything with casein or whey in it (which, stupidly enough, includes most soy cheeses!).
no subject
Date: 2005-09-28 11:59 pm (UTC)Bear in mind that "no lactose" DOESN'T mean "no dairy". Aged cheddar cheese often doesn't have any lactose left in it--if there's no sugar listed in the nutritional information, there's no lactose. Butter normally has no lactose either, and cream would have relatively little. Most people can eat yogurt if it has live bacteria cultures. (Ice cream is a killer, though.)
Plus, often if you can cut out the milk (or switch to Lactaid brand milk or whatever kind of lactose-free milk) you can still eat cheese, or at least some cheese. You can experiment a little to find out what your sensitivity level is, and how careful you have to be.
And J. P. Licks in Davis Square has a couple of brands of lactose-free ice cream.
no subject
Date: 2005-09-29 12:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-29 06:37 am (UTC)She went to the doctor, and found out that she was allergic to gluten, corn, sugar and chocolate. (even sugar-free.) It really sucks for her, because most artificial sugars are made of gluten. Flour (I wasn't aware of this) is made from gluten, and popcorn used to be her favourite food.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-05 03:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-05 07:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-29 07:25 am (UTC)