18 Weeks

[sal_amanda]

This week the baby is the size of a large sweet potato.

Started the new job yesterday.  I hate starting new jobs.  You have to get all acclimated to the office culture and learn a whole bunch of new jargon and paperwork and worst of all, it's totally boring at the beginning.  Reading policy manuals and filling out forms and reading case files and so on until it seems I'm ready to take on a caseload.  Yuck.

On the plus side, I have Veteran's Day off for the first since about 1998 when I was a teacher.  I somehow seemed to sign myself up for crib shopping with my mom.

And can I just say that the heartburn lately has been brutal again?  It comes and goes in phases.  There's no food or drink that specifically causes it.  It just comes for a few days and then goes for a while.  Totally annoying and totally beyond what mere Tums can accomplish.  I just have to wait it out.  Must have had a hormone influx or something.  

I have been enjoying some siatic (sp?) nerve issues.  A little bit of pain here and there.  And the latest is the occasional numbness on a small patch of skin on my thigh along the nerve ending.  Just the skin.  It's totally bizarro.  

Comments

[busybusymama.livejournal.com]

Sweet potato... makes me think of Thanksgiving. I don't know why, since I hate sweet potatoes. I don't hate your baby, though. And, rest assured, I don't want to eat it. Boy. I AM tired. I say the weirdest things when I am tired.

Heartburn stinks. Have you tried zantac? Water used to give me heartburn. Actually, everything did. The bad news is that it may get worse as the baby gets bigger and pushes your stomach up and squeezes it. And you are short, so maybe more squeezing sooner? Of course, it may just go away. I hope so. I wonder if maybe the heartburn is related to starting the new job? Stress can definitely trigger heartburn. Even if it isn't bad stress, there is a certain degree of stress that comes with a new job.

I never had sciatic nerve problems. I hear it is JUST AWFUL. I hope it doesn't get worse. Is there anything you can do about it?

Are we going to get to see any belly pictures? Even if you don't have John around to take them, it might be fun to start taking pictures looking down towards your feet. I have some lying on my back pointing down to my feet. All you can see is a big belly and some toes. Same thing pointed down to the floors. Kind of fun. And, if you get stretch marks towards the end, you can always make them black and white pictures. It's more artsy that way, anyway.

[sal_amanda]

I don't really like sweet potatoes either, but I won't hold it against the baby, I guess.

Is Zantac an acceptable drug for me? I'm willing to try anything I'm allowed to at this point. It's the same for me, that everything gives me heartburn, but it goes through phases where it's there for a while and then goes away again. I don't think it's related to the job because I was super mellow before I started and had it two days before. I do think that was the case sometimes at my last job, though.

The sciatic nerve stuff isn't too bad. One of my workout tapes includes a simple stretch to help with it. I don't think that actually does as much for it as just trying to stay active anyway. It's just merely annoying at this point.

I know, I know. I keep saying to everyone that keeps asking that I'll get on the whole belly picture thing, and I just haven't had the chance. I can't believe how many people are interested in that. ;)

[busybusymama.livejournal.com]

Double check with your midwife, but when I was pregnant I was given a prescription for the stronger version of zantac (which is now avaiable OTC). It helped WAY more than tums, but didn't always make it go away.

I think part of my push for the pictures is because I know that you will really appreciate having them after your belly is gone. I didn't take ANY pictures when I was pregnant with Jacob until the last week. Now I am sad that I didn't have a week (or month) comparison of pictures. It would have been fun.

[sal_amanda]

This is an office that doesn't seem to have too much drama, thankfully, but it's always just a matter of getting to know people and finding out where you fit in and it's almost like junior high, which is an experience I'd rather not relive.

[i-am-solid.livejournal.com]

I sympathize with the heartburn. Don't suppose you're allowed to take Prilosec OTC are you? I had heartburn for years that was tums-resistant until I was damaged enough to warrant insurance covering a prescription for Prevacid (and now Nexium).

[sal_amanda]

I'll have to find out just what is safe. Everyone pushes the Tums for the pregnant folks, though. The problem is that the valve between the stomach and esophagus gets all loose due to the hormones that loosen the abdominal muscles in order for them to stretch. So I'm not sure any medication can really do anything to truly fix the issue. I may just be kinda stuck with it, which blows because it brings me to tears sometimes.