Not My Sciatic!!!

When I was pregnant for the first time, I would get this terrible shooting pain down my leg. I asked my ob at the time what could possibly be causing me such grief and he said it was probably my sciatic nerve. Just typical for pregnancy he told me. And whether it was or not, after I had my beautiful daughter, the pain went away and I forgot about it.
Here we are eight (8!?!?) years later and pregnant again. Only with this pregnancy I decided that I was going to do it a little differently. You see, when I am not pregnant, I exercise Monday through Friday mornings for about 50 minutes to an hour every day. However, when I've been pregnant in the past, I have found it impossible to breathe past about the second month of every pregnancy. Well, not this time I told myself. You are going to push and push and push yourself past that. Your body is older and your recovery will be worse and you need to endure. So, I have been. At about two months it got really hard again, but I just cut back to four days a week until I got past that little breathing issue. And, I have toned down my exercising to about 35-40 minutes. I was on the right track and I was going to keep my muscle while gaining a HUGE belly. Only my right leg never got the memo.
About two months ago I started getting this terrible shooting pain in my right leg when I would lunge. Then it became painful just to lift that leg the tiniest bit when I was showering--you know to wash my ankle or foot. Putting on my capris became a painful experience and sleeping was a nightmare too as I didn't realize how much I turn my body with my legs. And, then I started having my leg be unreliable. I would walk a couple of steps and the pain would be so intense I would almost fall over. What the heck was happening? My body was NOT supposed to work like this. I am not new to exercise, so why was my body not cooperating?
I talked to my current ob and he said, "It's probably your sciatic nerve" (I think they have a book titled that in med school) and he sent me to a chiropractor. Well, apparently it's easiest for chiropractors to figure out what's wrong with you if you lie on your stomach. That wasn't going to happen, so it has taken a little bit of trial and error, but what is the diagnosis to this long, dull story?
My pain has NOTHING to do with my sciatic nerve (by the way your sciatic nerve is actually three different nerves that come together in your lower back and wrap down around your leg which is why it could possibly be hurting during pregnancy). No, my pain was from two different sets of muscles--the adductor and hamstring muscles. The adductor muscles run alongside the interior of your knee and keep your knee from flopping over when you... say LUNGE forward. Your hamstring muscles I'm sure all of you know about if you've done any stretching at all. The story is that those muscles are always tight and being pregnant and attempting to lunge forward exacerbates that condition to unbearable proportions.
The only solution is to drink lots of Sonic limeades and eat chocolate as soon as the kids go to bed. Not so much, but it may work if I gave it a chance. Really though, now when I am supposed to be lunging in my workouts, I do squats. I do LOTS and LOTS and LOTs of squats now. And, of course, like any problem, my movement issues are not completely typical--meaning, I can do side lunges without any problem and that really shouldn't work out, but it does.
So, next time you find yourself pregnant and your leg hurting, don't start pointing the finger at your sciatic--it could be your adductor or maybe your hamstring or perhaps a completely different muscle that you have never heard of before.
It has been really humbling to have to "take it easy" when I really want to push hard and keep this goal to do what I've always done. I feel like I fail in so many other goals and resolutions and this was one that actually seemed doable. I am grateful for my healthy body though. I'm grateful that I am able to still do almost everything I want to do anyway. Life really is about adaptation whether I want to admit to it or not.

16 and Pregnant

I have to state in the beginning that I only happened upon this show because I couldn't find an episode of Law & Order to watch and Derek was gone. I don't usually watch MTV. I actually was especially interested in watching this show specifically because it was an MTV production. I was curious to see what kind of a spin they'd put on a situation like this.
The episode I saw has a cheerleader from South Dakota (maybe North Dakota? Who can tell them apart anyway?) who announces to us that she's already like 16 weeks pregnant by the time she could contact MTV and they could get their cameras rolling. She's a very pretty, ditzy, size 2 teenager whose closest friend is a very homosexual male cheerleader. Her mom drives around in a Mercedes sports car and her dad apparently works out of town all the time.
What surprises did the show bring me? Well, actually the biggest surprise wasn't the girl who was pregnant, it was her mom. The girl was extremely immature about the situation and bemoans her loss of her size 2 figure. She hopes she'll quickly be able to return to her usual size after the baby makes her appearance. Her mom makes a halfhearted attempt to tell her daughter that this baby would be better cared for by adopted parents (this girl's boyfriend is no longer in the picture and he finds out from local gossip about the pregnancy). The girl, whose name is Farrah, decides she wants to keep the baby and her mom supports her decision to keep the baby; however, she doesn't exactly help out with her great mothering after that point.
When they go to the hospital for a tour and to find out about labor, her mom tells her that it's all disgusting and she doesn't want to hear it. Um great, but your daughter is the pregnant one whose trying to learn about the situation.
Farrah tries to get a car, so that she can get a job and sometime go to school. Obviously, she has no income, so she looks to get something she views as affordable like a Ford Focus. Her mom tells her that she hates Ford Focuses and that's a stupid idea and they will not be going to look for that car. Great advice coming from someone who drives around a Mercedes Benz huh? During the course of this fight, the mom even hits Farrah and tells her she's had enough of Farrah's unChristlike ways. I think there's something about a mote and a beam that goes along with this, but I can't remember right now...
After the baby comes, the mom makes sure that Farrah bears the bulk of the responsibility for this baby which I do think is a good decision on her part--perhaps one of the few good decisions I saw the mom make. Farrah finds it hard to have the energy to do much of anything after being up all night with a newborn and her friends don't really relate to her since they don't have babies. Shocking I know.
I guess I was hoping that the show would emphasize more just how hard it is to be an unwed, teenage mom. Really, in this episode this girl had to deal with her crazy mom, but her mom still allowed her to live at home & she strongly encouraged her to continue with school. It could've been a lot worse. I almost felt as though the show could have the opposite effect it maybe is shooting for. At least I hope that it's aiming to show that teenage pregnancy is a bad idea.
I think a more convincing sell for the show would be to show opposing sides of this situation. I know several people who have/are struggling to get pregnant--people who are good, solid people with careers and education and love--people who could offer great homes to children. To show these great, stable couples searching so hard to find a baby to adopt vs. this teenager who doesn't even want to be pregnant, who isn't ready to be pregnant, who isn't equipped to be a parent. Although maybe my idea is a poor one--maybe it would cause teenagers who watch MTV to want to get pregnant in order to help out these couples? I don't know.
I just think that the hardest, most demanding job that I've ever done is parenting. It can certainly be easy if you want to do a poor job. It's sad that people who don't even want babies can get pregnant while people who want children more than anything can't make it happen. I also felt sad for Farrah because it was apparent to me that she probably will never accomplish any of her educational goals and where will that leave her? What kind of a guy is she going to marry to father her children? What will she tell her daughter about her dad?
The whole situation is sad. Really sad.

The Pink Stuff

When you're pregnant, 37 weeks or so, you sleep so peacefully just like when you aren't pregnant. EXCEPT for those few times every night when your acid reflux is so strong that you wake-up nearly vomiting from the acid burning a trail up your throat.

You start coughing and gagging. You run downstairs with your husband in hot pursuit trying to help in someway. Your first thought is, "I'm going to die" or "This burns so badly maybe I could just pass out until it goes away." You grab for a glass of water which does absolutely nothing. You grab for a glass of milk--calcium--there's the answer! No luck, you grab a Jolly Rancher thinking that sucking on a hard candy will coat your throat. Nothing. You make some hot chocolate. Hot chocolate--when it's still 90 degrees outside at night where you live; this is how dire the situation is.

Finally, you remember that this has happened before. Your last pregnancy, about the same time frame. What did you do that night???? OH yeah, you rushed to Wal-Mart and bought a bottle of Pepto Bismol hoping to have anything that would coat your throat and stop the burning. You run to your closet full of medication and find the bottle. Hmmm...apparently you drank a little bit more of this stuff than you remembered last time; there's only about four tablespoons or so left. You're estimating that's about how much is left; you're certainly not going to measure it. You're opting to chug it.

You open the lid and the sweet, sweet, neon pink potion coats your throat and finally brings some relief. You can finally stop coughing and gagging. This is the pregnant woman's best friend. Prilosec--how dare you let me down when I need you most!

Baby, let's call a truce. I gave up tomatoes a couple of weeks ago. Tomatoes--pizza, spaghetti, salsa, the list goes on and on. I realize there's not enough room for you and my internal organs, but we've still got a few weeks to share this body.

I commit to not only sleep on my left side like I've been doing for how many months now? I now commit to sleeping with two pillows, so that even when I do wake-up with acid in my throat--like I did again last night--all I can do is taste the vile stuff and not have it actually burn a hole out of my neck like it felt it might do.

Someone tell me again how cute a pregnant woman is?

Things Are Shaping Up!

I had Derek take some shots of me today to compare how I look in this pregnancy vs. how I looked at about the same time with Owen. The shots from today are actually about two weeks earlier in this pregnancy than Owen's, but you get the general idea. I am even wearing the same shirt!

Pregnant with Owen.

Pregnant with Eli.

Sounded Like a Good Idea...Or Maybe Not

Derek sent me this article the other day. You can also get a bit longer version of the same story here. The gist of the stories is that some 17 girls at a high school in Massachusetts made a pact last summer to all get pregnant. Not a single one of them is over age 16. Upon finding out that they were pregnant, "reacted to the news that they were expecting with high fives and plans for baby showers." Appropriate behavior for a happily married female adult, not for a freshman in high school.

Why did they do it? Well, these girls who were so proud of themselves for this amazing sexual accomplishment all declined to be interviewed. I wonder why...maybe because nothing they could possibly say would sound like an intelligent response? Maybe because they are grounded due to the size of their growing mid-sections? One of the fathers is a 24 year old homeless man.

Now, I realize that teen pregnancy is no new problem in our country, but 17 girls getting together and deciding that it would be a great group accomplishment? I just don't understand that at all. The article talks about the idea that perhaps movies like Juno and Knocked Up might have glorified teenage pregnancy and made the girls think it would be a neat idea to have a baby of their own. Maybe. The high school they attend offers free on-site daycare for students, that seems like it may have played into it too in my mind.

Isn't it sad that there are so many couples who have prayed and pleaded to have a healthy baby and here are some 17 irresponsible girls who can do just that without any regard for the consequences. I don't feel sorry for them--I feel sorry for these babies that are coming. What kind of a life can they expect? What rights do we owe to a child who we bring into this world?

Just a few months ago Americans reacted with disgust at the idea of teen brides bearing children in the polygamist sect and yet, these Massachusetts girls will provide no fathers for their babies. These girls don't even have a basic high school education...no job...I don't see this case getting nearly the national outrage it deserves. Not that I agree with polygamy in any way, but at least I don't think those girls in El Dorado really had much choice or they were raised to believe that young marriage was the expectation...these other girls can offer no such defense.

What do you do now? What's the right thing to do? You can't undo what these girls have done, so how do we make it better?

The Amazing 4D Ultra-Sound

So, I realize that there are those of you out there who are kind of weirded out by seeing a baby in such early stages of development, but I, personally, find it fascinating. Today we went in for a nuchal translucency screening. It is where they administer a 4D ultra-sound to test for birth defects and down's syndrome. I love it because they spend about 40 minutes just looking at your baby. I had this done when I was pregnant with Owen also. They also said the preliminary results of the tests look positive (no birth defects) for those of you who are wondering.

And, because I didn't give all the details in the first post:
Our baby is due the middle of October (the nurse told me the 14, the Doctor said 15 or 16, so I'm saying sometime in the middle).
We are very excited to have this baby coming. We waited till 12 weeks to tell everyone because it's a safer time in the pregnancy.
The doctor told me that he would not make me go a week past my due date as I have had to with Ryanna & Owen because Owen weighed 9 pounds, I can be induced at 39 weeks if all looks healthy.
My body has never gone into labor on its own, so I'm planning on being induced.
We don't have a name for either gender decided on. Derek has already been trying to pin me down, but I want to wait till I know boy or girl and then the negotiations will begin. Ryanna was a very easy pick for us, Owen was a very difficult decision to reach--but we absolutely LOVE both names. That's what I want is a name we both feel good about, not a name where one of us feels that we had to settle.
Now, back to the photos.

Our baby is not quite 13 weeks old and already, you can see the head, arms, legs, eye buds, hand development and feet. You can also see the heart beating and the tiny brain. For me, it is just simply amazing to think that life has developed so quickly.


The first shot is the frontal view. The second photo the baby has her (I'm just picking a pronoun here) back to us. When we started the ultra-sound, she was sleeping so peacefully, but the technician needed her to wake up. Once she was awake, she kept rolling over. So, here is the newest Petersen.

Pop Quiz

This picture makes you feel:

a. Excited!!!

b. Curious?

c. Surprised

d. Sick, in fact you wondered why you'd been feeling exhausted and sick for the last while now.

When you see these results, your husband will say:

a. Yay!!! We continue to populate the world with our beautiful children.

b. Are you sure? Did you take it right?

c. Nothing, he's asleep.

d. Good, I hope it's twins.

Your friends will say:

Here's your turn to answer with your favorite and correct response.