A Final Update

A Final Update

Well, I should probably give an update now that I'm nearing the end. It's interesting to me that while this has been my easiest pregnancy in terms of sickness management, it's been my hardest pregnancy over all. Between extreme fatigue, excessive weight gain (for me), and chronic hip/pelvic floor pain on top of the nausea, it just feels like there's not been a break! I don't know if it's because this is a boy-pregnancy or what, but oh man. It's just. been. hard.

However, hard doesn't necessarily mean bad. I don't like that I was so exhausted for so long - but I learned valuable lessons in the art of self-care (and got to do a ton of enjoyable reading and art). I don't like all the weight, it's so uncomfortable - but I have a new perspective and appreciation, and my body knows what it's doing; I'm not unhealthy, just...different. I don't like the chronic pain, but I've met and have been able to work with some incredible physical therapists that are more like friends than practitioners. So, everything has had something good come from it all along.

So, what's been happening since my last update? I was just shy of halfway through in my last post. I was slowly weaning off the unison and taking CBD oil from Sweet Medicament twice a day. Somewhere in the early 20 weeks I decided to try some Plexus products for a couple of reasons - intestinal pain/health, and low blood sugar. I'd seen testimony of these products from a few friends and had been curious for about a year. I finally decided to try them and they made a big difference - both in my nausea and my intestinal pain (the latter of which was unrelated to pregnancy and had started a year prior). [Note: I do not sell these. I do not benefit in anyway in mentioning these products. Do your own research.]   I was particularly interested in trying their "Slim" pink drink. It's typically marketed as a weight loss supplement for diabetics in particular, but that's not exactly all it does. On the whole it balances blood sugar (so yeah, if you're diabetic it helps lower/stabilize it, but you're hypoglycemic it's going to raise/stabilize your blood sugar). And I definitely felt an immediate difference both in my nausea and in my constant need to eat (to keep nausea at bay). Plus, it tastes pretty good. So my morning routine became - wake up, morning wretch, take meds, lie still for a bit, take drink Slim. But I was still pretty exhausted. Going on walks every day helped a little bit, but not enough to feel fully functional.

The immediate morning retching lasted longer than in my previous pregnancy, but overall I've thrown up way less. I haven't wretched since about the middle of the 2nd trimester, and I don't even recall the last time I threw up actual food. And there hasn't been a single day that I was unable to keep down food and water (I recall a full weekend during the 3rd trimester in both prior pregnancies where I couldn't keep anything down.) For this I am so thankful.

I was slowly decreasing my Unisom and was down to 1/4th tablet twice a day along with CBD and Slim drink in the am. Around 28 weeks, I think, we had a busy two days in a row. At bedtime the first night I realized I'd forgotten my evening meds, but I wasn't nauseous, so I opted to not take them and see how the morning felt. Again I felt fine in the morning and headed off to the busiest day I'd had since the beginning of pregnancy...and I still felt great after...so I decided it was a good time to wean. I expected I'd feel nauseous on day three, when the meds were fully out of my system, and I did. But it wasn't unbearable. I did it! I weaned off all anti-nauseas and have been off them ever since!!

I don't remember when I stopped the CBD. Both the CBD and the Plexus Slim are expensive, so I eventually decided to take whichever one seemed to make the biggest difference. I ran out of CBD at some point and it became clear then that the Slim drink was just as effective all by itself. So that is currently all I am taking.

Am I still nauseous? Yeah, sometimes. I've run out of the Slim a few times and I can tell a huge difference. Some mornings I still wake up feeling nauseous. And, of course, I have to keep up with my water intake. But mostly it's only first thing in the morning that it's noticeable.

The energy!! This was perhaps the most frustrating aspect. Even in my last pregnancy while I was sicker for longer, at the very least I still had ENERGY. I could go on walks, play with my toddler, read books to my toddler, clean my house, do art projects - heck! I made my own maternity/Babywearing winter coat while I was still sick with her! But not this time. Again - boy-pregnancy-related? I don't know. BUT! At 34 weeks, two days before my husband needed to leave for a 10 day business trip, my body turned a corner. Suddenly I had energy. Suddenly the aversions were gone. Suddenly I could cook and eat it, too (which never happened in prior pregnancies). Suddenly I could clean. Suddenly I just felt amazing...almost non-pregnant-normal. I am so, so thankful right now. My body still hurts all the time, but I *feel* SO GOOD. Food is SO GOOD. It was a long wait, but I'm very glad to have arrived. Just in time for nesting to kick in.

So...I guess that's all. I've remained very healthy. I've maintained a perfect pH at every urine test, I've kept up with hydration, I still take magnesium baths at least 3x a week, continuing to take triple Juice+ [full disclosure: I am a rep for this company], Plexus first thing every morning, still drinking Gerolsteiner waters, and Frankincense EO is the most amazing thing in my life right now (smells so amazing!!).

Thanks for keeping up with me on this journey! I have multiple posts started about some of the things I've done this pregnancy, which I plan to continue working on at some point. I'm sure I'll keep exploring, because this isn't just about me and my journey. Hopefully something in this journey will be helpful to other HG mamas. 💜