The Sonogram

We went to our sonogram appointment on August 30, 2012 at the Radiology Center. We were so excited to see our baby. Our daughter was not allowed to attend; therefore, we left her at the Child Development Center where she always has a terrific time with other kids.

I had to drink between 32oz and 64oz of water for this appointment. Drinking all this water permits the technician to see and take the measures of the baby correctly. The visit lasted around 30min. The technician was a man who did not talk too much. He also kept the computer’s screen to himself most of the time. As a result, my husband was the one who could see our baby in the screen during the entire duration of the session. His expressions were priceless.

The technician took all the measures of the baby and determined that the baby had a developmental stage of 22 weeks, but I was 21 weeks pregnant. The baby looked healthy, but the OB/GYN would give us the final results during the next appointment. The technician also told us the sex of the baby. However, he said that sonograms are never 100% certain. Whether the baby is a boy or girl, it does not matter. The issue of most significance is that the baby comes home healthy. This is one of the reasons my husband and I decided that the sex of the baby will be a secret between us until the baby’s birth date. I will elaborate more about this decision in another post.

Sophia and me at preschool's Christmas activity of last year, 2011.

Sophia finished preschool, 2012.

Sophia as a toddler walking around our apartment in Germany, 2008.

Sophia as Winnie the Pooh in Halloween 2008.

Another fantastic thing that happened during this sonogram appointment was that my husband saw our baby smiling and drinking amniotic fluid. I did not see the baby smiling because the technician only let me see the screen at the end of the session. I saw pictures, but my husband saw the baby live in the video. When we did this sonogram to Sophia, I saw her during the entire session because the room had a large screen in which I could look the live video. In addition, the technician who did Sophia’s sonogram was a woman who talked to me much more during the visit. Without a doubt, women are more understanding regarding the subject of pregnancy. This technician, on the contrary, talked more to my husband, and it was not that much.

Nevertheless, it was fantastic for my husband to see the baby smiling because Sophia smiled too during her sonogram. Sophia is an extraordinary happy girl. She always has a smile on her face, which numerous people find weird although they like it. In this day and age, kids grow up too fast and talk about subjects beyond their ages. Sophia is not like that, and people find it strange. She is innocent and happy as kids of other eras. Now, it seems we are going to have another happy kid.

Last Visit to the OB/GYN: Baby’s Heart Rate, Sonogram, Anxiety, Glucose Blood Test and Low Blood Pressure

My last visit to the OB/GYN was on August 3, 2012. I was pretty excited and anxious about this visit because six weeks had passed since the other one. The manner in which pregnancy is treated in the United States is different from Puerto Rico, where my first daughter was born. During the first trimester and the beginning of the second, doctors in the United States see pregnant women every six weeks. Meanwhile, doctors in Puerto Rico see pregnant women every four weeks. The other striking difference is the performance of sonograms. Currently, I am 18 weeks pregnant, and I have only one sonogram of my baby, and I do not know the sex. At this time, I had four sonogram’s pictures of my first pregnancy, and I knew the sex of the baby.

I am not complaining but stating the differences, although I would prefer more sonogram’s pictures. The logic behind doing only two sonograms during the entire pregnancy is that if the baby is in good health, then, there are not necessary. An OB/GYN in the United States will only order more sonograms if there is the possibility of being something wrong with the baby. In addition, they consider that knowing the sex of the baby just for curiosity is not essential. The health of the baby is the most significant matter. I agree with this logic and the way of thinking. I also believe that doctors in Puerto Rico perform so many sonograms to gain more money.

Returning to the account of my last visit, I was excited because we were going to hear the baby’s heart rate. My husband and our five-year-old daughter went with me, and we were all smiles when we heard the baby’s heart. He or she has a healthy heart rate of 140. The baby was moving a lot too. We got even happier when the doctor said that soon it would be time for the second sonogram. It is scheduled for August 30, 2012. The radiologist will measure the baby’s proportions, check that everything is alright, revise the due date, and, maybe, tell us the sex of the baby. Of course, we would like to know the sex of baby if it is possible, but his or her health is more important. 

As for my health, everything was superb with the exception that I have been a little bit anxious. There have been a lot of strong thunderstorms going on during the summer in our area. These scare me that much, which is ironic since I was born in Puerto Rico, where people are used to hurricanes. I get so scared because houses here are made of wood not concrete. Many are made of bricks but not mine. This is silly, but has gotten me on chicken mode.

The other reason I am a bit anxious is because we are going to move soon, but my husband’s orders have not gotten out yet. I am approaching the five months mark, and the baby is supposed to arrive in the middle of January. As I have said previously, I do not mind moving and enjoy it contrary to most people. I have a strong character built for being an officer’s wife. However, I would have expected more readiness regarding my husband’s orders this time around. The doctor said that I should be moved at least one month before I give birth. I have to clean and assemble everything in my current house for the move. I have to deal with the out-processing of this base. I have to organize my health and pregnancy’s files and transfer these to the clinic in the new base. I have to acclimate to the new clinic and doctors. I have to prepare the new house and the entire baby’s stuff. It is a lot of stuff to do, and time is running out. We are supposed to move at the end of October, but I will not believe it until I see those orders. I am a perfectionist and on-time individual, which is not helping in this situation.

I guess that my pregnancy hormones and organized character are getting a hold of me this time. Nevertheless, at least my physical health is excellent at the moment. The doctor also ordered an early glucose blood test because my mother has a type of diabetes. I took it on August 3 and have not heard anything back, so it must have come negative. YAY! Usually, they call if tests came out positive. My blood pressure is low as always. It was 96/60 or something like that. For a person who exercises regularly, like me, that is normal. My low blood pressure always causes nurses to think something is wrong with me. That is until they ask if I exercise frequently. Many members of my mother’s family, including her, suffer from high blood pressure; therefore; I dread it. One of my missions in life is to be in my best health.

My Love Relationship with Coffee

I have a long-standing love relationship with coffee. I love it. As an avid reader, freelance writer, and nerd with spectacles, I consider that drinking coffee is an integral part of my personality. It is not that I do not eat right, and as a consequence, I need to drink it. It is nothing like that. It is just that, since my university’ days, I got used to it. Then, I went on to live in Europe where drinking coffee is like an epidemic. Did I mention that I love Europe and Europeans? (It must be that three-fourths of my ancestors come from Europe. When blood calls, what one is supposed to do?) 

The problem is that now I am pregnant. During my pregnancy orientation at the base’s Women Health Clinic, the lecturer asked if there was any coffee drinker in the room. Strangely, I was the only pregnant lady who raised her hand. I think that the other women did not raise their hand out of shame or fear that they might be caught doing something naughty. I am a genuine and sincere person, so I raised my hand. If I am a coffee drinker, I am, and that is it. I just want to know what I can do about it during my pregnancy. The lecturer told me that I should limit my daily coffee intake to 5onz or less because more than that could harm the baby.

I decided to search for more information. I like to review different sources before making a conclusion about a topic. Relying conclusions and opinions in a single source is not particularly intelligent.

1. The American Pregnancy Association indicates that caffeine, which is found in coffee, sodas, tea and chocolate among others, is a stimulant and diuretic. As a stimulant, caffeine increases the heart rate, blood pressure and the incidence of urination. Increased heart rate and high blood pressure are never good, much less during pregnancy. Excessive urination translates into diminished body fluids that can result in dehydration, which could harm a pregnancy. Another problem with caffeine is that it passes through the placenta directly to the baby, who is not able to process and metabolize it. As a result, caffeine can alter the baby’s movement and sleep pattern.

Author: Takkk, Wikimedia Commons.  Cafe - Time Coffee cup - hand made from Hungary, 1960's year.

The American Pregnancy Association also presents some facts regarding caffeine. Scholarly studies have found that caffeine can cause birth defects, low-birth weight and pre-term delivery. The American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology found that women, whose caffeine intake is more than 200mg a day, are more prone to suffer a miscarriage than women who do not consume caffeine. However, Epidemiology made a study and found that there is no increased risk of miscarriage in women whose daily caffeine intake was minimal- that is between 200mg and 300mg. As researches have not come to a formal conclusion, doctors recommend pregnant women to restrain their caffeine intake to less than 200mg during a day.

2. I was given a pregnancy manual, Pregnancy and Childbirth: A Goal Oriented Guide to Prenatal Care (2010), during my orientation. This manual argues that caffeine can harm the DNA; therefore, it should be limited to less than 200mg per day. This is the same amount recommended by the American Pregnancy Association. However, women should be careful when preparing their coffee because one cup of coffee (the equivalent to 200mg) could have more than the recommended amount of caffeine. This means that coffee should not be made strong.

3. Mayo Clinic also argues that caffeine can have negative effects on pregnancy since it can pass through the placenta. As the other sources mentioned, they recommend limiting the caffeine intake to less than 200mg a day during pregnancy.

In conclusion, my love relationship with coffee does not have to end but moderated. I have stayed away from coffee for the most part of my first trimester. I wanted to be sure about how to proceed with its consummation. I need to limit my caffeine intake to the magic number: less than 200mg a day. I almost never drink soda, so I am safe with that. I am not passionate about tea. Chocolate consummation might be a problem. What I will do is that I will be extremely careful when I decide to drink coffee and eat chocolate. Probably, the best idea is not consuming these the same day. As for coffee, there is also the decaffeinated brand.

A Nomad Family

Neuschwanstein Castle, Schwangau, Germany. 

Sophia at Neuschwanstein Castle. 

Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

First Anniversary celebrated at Venetia, Italy.

Tower of London, England.

Barceloneta beach, Barcelona, Spain.

Monument commemorating WII soldiers at Bratislava, Slovakia.

Budapest, Hungary.

Eiffel Tower, Paris, France.

Right now, I am eleven weeks pregnant, which means I am getting closer to the three months mark. I have been feeling so much better since my encounter with severe heat and dehydration. As a result, I have started to think more about all I have to do before the baby is born.

As I mentioned in a previous post, we are going to move soon. We are a military family, so we move a lot. Most of my friends say that they could not live the way I do: moving every three years. I genuinely do not mind it because I believe my personality is built for this life. I get bored easily, and in consequence, I do not like to stay in the same place for a long time. Since I was a kid, I dreamed about traveling all around the world and learning about diverse cultures. I studied history in the university. I hold a bachelor’s degree in American History (concentrated in the entire American hemisphere rather than only the United States), and a master’s degree in European History.

Currently, we live in Virginia, but before here, we lived in Germany. I LOVED the experience of living in Europe. We were fortunate enough to travel to eighteen European countries and about 100 cities while living in Germany. Most of the time, we drove from country to country in our old BMW. Cars over there last longer. Also, we chose Ryan Air when flying because they only charge taxes. It is remarkably cheap. I would not mind living in Germany again. We visited hundreds of significant historical places, which I am passionate about. It was a dream come true.

Of course, we took a huge quantity of pictures. I have many imprinted but believe or not, not the majority of them. This digital age has affected our ability to prepare albums. As a historian, I believe that it is preferable to have evidence of your travels; therefore, the necessity of imprinted pictures. Already once, we lost some pictures when my husband’s computer crashed down.

Therefore, one of the most important things that I have to do before baby number two is born is to organize the memories from our travels and finally prepare the albums. Certainly, when the baby arrives, we are going to take hundreds of new pictures.

The Story of How I Suffered a Heat Stroke and Dehydration in Puerto Rico

One of my best friends had told me the night before I returned from Puerto Rico to my home in Virginia that she often wondered who, besides elderly people who forgot to turn their air conditioners on, suffered heat strokes and dehydration. The answer is the awkward me.

I was born in the island of Puerto Rico (a United States’ territory!) (Puerto Ricans are born US citizens!), which is situated in the Caribbean (not in f@cking Mexico or Costa Rica!). The island has a hot temperature most of the year. Being born and growing up there means that you supposedly must love the heat and hate the cold. In my case, that is an utterly false assumption. I detest the heat and love the cold. I even prefer winter clothes.

The point is that I detest the heat, although I love the beaches and food of my island. We decided to go on vacation to Puerto Rico rather than Canada because we are moving soon twice, and we are expecting baby number two. For these reasons, we will not have the time to visit later.

When we arrived to Puerto Rico on 13 June 2012, I was in my 10 week of pregnancy. I have read and being told that the worst weeks of a pregnancy are between the 8 week and 14 week. The heat in the island was unbearable for me since I stepped out of the airport. The news even announced that the heat indexes were going to be dangerous during the week. It was about 94 degrees, but it felt like 110 degrees. Fantastic! I knew I was f@cked!

I enjoyed my stay there for the first couple of days. I visited my mother, brother and sister, and then we went on to celebrate our fifth anniversary at the Gran Melia Hotel in Rio Grande. The heat was crazy! I could only go to the pool after 5:30 pm because I could not bear the heat during the day. I continuously drank bottles of water and Gatorade. The evidence of this can be seen in my vacation pictures in which I am holding bottles most of the time.

I started to notice weird symptoms since my first day in Puerto Rico. I began to have diarrhea every morning. I lost my appetite. I was getting dizzy and lightheaded a lot. Also, I suffered headaches most of the afternoons. I got so lightheaded once that I almost fall. I was cleaning my daughter’s teeth when suddenly the bathroom was spinning. I left my daughter with her mouth full of toothpaste and went straight to the floor in order to prevent falling down. After this happen, we decided that it was time for me to pay a visit to the ER.

The Gran Melia's main pool.

Watching the sun set. See the bottle of Gatorade next to my chair?

Me before getting very sick.

We spent a whole day waiting at the ER. They took some blood samples, but these came out excellent, except that the doctor noticed that the white cells were going up. The doctor just told me to eat better and drink more water. He also noticed that I was a little dehydrated, but did nothing about it. He should have put me on an IV (intravenous therapy). He said that he was not a gynecologist; therefore, he wrongfully did not order me to do a urine sample. If I felt bad again, I needed to return. NOT!

Needless to say, the next day I got worst. I ate like the doctor told me and everything ended down the toilet. I decided to call my gynecologist in Virginia. I told her about my symptoms and what had been going on with me. Her answer was: “I NEED you to go to the ER RIGHT NOW. You may be dehydrated, and the baby might suffer from dehydration too.”  I did exactly as she said.

This time I went to one of the best hospitals in Puerto Rico, which incidentally is where my first daughter was born. These doctors rapidly put me on an IV and gave me an antacid. They also performed blood, urine and excrete samples. Everything was excellent, but I was VERY dehydrated, which was extremely dangerous for my baby. In addition, I lost weight which is not recommended during pregnancy. Both dehydration and weight loss during pregnancy may cause a miscarriage.

I spent all day and most of the night in the ER and was given not one but THREE IVs before being let go. I would have to follow a specific diet for the next 48 hours. Thank God, the next day was time to return home. Two days after, I went on an appointment with my gynecologist. She let us know that my eight tubes of blood showed that I was in excellent health, but I needed to gain more weight since I had no fat reserves left in my body. She prescribed Imodium in case I suffered from diarrhea again. What is more important, the baby was fine. 

I have been feeling better as each day passes. Finally, I feel more like myself. The dizziness, headaches, and diarrhea have ceased. What have not changed is that I cannot stand the heat. Fortunately, I have central air conditioner at my house.

Eight Tubes of Blood

First of all, I need to excuse myself because I have not been able to update this blog in almost a month. I have been mostly on vacation. My husband had a few days free at the end of May, and then we went on vacation to Puerto Rico for eight days in June.

I want to begin my update with the lab appointment I had on 18 May 2012. The lab technician took eight tubes of blood out of me. Eight! Six of those were the big ones, while the other two were medium sized. I knew they needed to take a lot of blood out so I went prepared to the appointment. I ate a strong breakfast and bought a strawberry-banana shake that I took with me to the lab.

The lab technician continuously asked me if I felt alright while she took the blood samples. She also asked me if I could see her. I was wondering why she was asking that all the time. I was internally laughing at her. “What’s wrong with her?” I asked myself. I felt fine!

However, I started to feel quite funny when she finished. My vision was getting distorted, and I was getting hot down my spinal cord. She called another lab technician, and they acted quickly. One of them put a cold bag in the back of my neck, and the other told me to  put my head between my legs slowly. I was in that positions for more than five minutes until told to fight carefully the hand in my neck and get straight. Then, they gave three or four glasses of tap water. They also called my husband to come and get me. Fortunately, he came with me to the appointment but was dealing with something related to my car inside the base.

One of the lab technicians took me to the waiting area and remained there with and maintained the cold bag behind my neck. I told her that I did not understand why I almost fainted because I had eaten properly. To my surprise, she told me that I did quite well because men whose height is 6’2 faint just after two tubes of blood. I am 5’2 and weighted 105.5 at the time so I did spectacularly. It was entirely normal to get that dizzy and faint after losing eight tubes of blood, especially while pregnant.

Gran Melia Hotel at Rio Grande, Puerto Rico

The doctors tested my blood type, immunity to some diseases such as smallpox, sugar levels, hemoglobin, HIV, and my general health. All were part of common pregnancy health treatment. I got my results during my next appointment on 22 June 2012. The results came out excellent; therefore, something less I have to worry about during this pregnancy.

Nevertheless, it will surprise you that, despite my excellent general health, I suffered from heat stroke and was hospitalized for dehydration during my vacation on Puerto Rico. That story is for my next post.

My Pregnancy Symptoms

Overall I have been feeling well during this second pregnancy, but it is certainly different from my first pregnancy. The most acute symptoms I felt during my first pregnancy were fatigue and a little of sudden weight gain. I used to walk a lot around the university, and I remember starting to feel an incredible fatigue while walking. It was not normal for me to feel that way because I always have done exercise. I also felt way tired during the mornings. As for the weight gain, I have been skinny all of my life, and my weight is pretty stable. At the moment, I noticed that I suddenly gained a few pounds, particularly in my breasts. In about a month and a half, my cup went a size up. These were the only acute pregnancy symptoms I had during my first pregnancy.

My second pregnancy is a complete different story. First, I got cold and allergies. The allergies caused me severe congestion, especially during the mornings. I was experiencing diarrhea during the mornings too. The doctor said that the diarrhea was the result of the mucus bacteria going down my throat and esophagus to my stomach. She prescribed me with Chlorpheniramine, a medicament that treats cold and allergies and is safe during pregnancy. (DISCLAMER: I am not a doctor. Consult your doctor.) This medicine worked on me, and the allergies, cold and diarrhea went away. The doctor also told to keep hydrated with water and Gatorade. 

Another big difference during this pregnancy is that I have not suffered from extreme fatigue but tired during the afternoons. During my first pregnancy, I could barely wake up during the mornings. During this pregnancy, I wake up automatically anywhere between 6:00 AM and 7:25 AM. 

In addition, I am practically underweight at the moment. Right now, I am at approximately seven weeks of pregnancy and weighting about 107 pounds. Contrarily, I weighed 116 pounds at this time during my first pregnancy. My breasts are swollen but have not grown that much in size. I practically do not look pregnant.

Lastly, I am suffering from morning sickness almost every day. I have been feeling food aversion and vertigo too.