Pregnancy: A Little Like Tuberculosis?

So let's play mystery diagnosis:

26 year old white female, presents with night sweats, irrational behavior, food cravings, sensitivity to smell, and increasing abdominal girth. Exam non-contributory except for distressed affect (she yells a lot when I mess with her) and some bruising about the knuckles where she has beaten her husband for not cooking dinner quickly enough. Labs and images: not available (this is a townhouse and a cheap blog- you get what you pay for). Differential diagnosis includes:

(Here's a hint)

Could be: (Isn't this fun?)

tuberculosis

syphillis (unlikely)

Sarcoid with neurologic involvement

Atypical seizures

or PREGNANCY!

Osler once called tuberculosis the great pretender, because it could mimic any symptom. I'm starting to think pregnancy could do the same thing. Weird things happen during pregnancy, and I can't even begin to explain some of them. My stock answer is "hormones". This becomes increasingly difficult to use as the pregnancy progresses. Such as: It is difficult to answer hormones when Kristin says, "Why am I so hungry that even the cat is looking appetizing?"

It's kind of fun being on the medical side of this pregnancy, but sometimes I wish I didn't know as much. I kind of wish I got to be the dad who was like "Is that normal? Shouldn't there be two feet instead of three?". It's kind of no fun knowing exactly what should be going on. I'm sure it's just going to get worse as we get farther and farther. That baby is going to get listened to with a stethoscope more before it gets born than after. I half-jokingly looked up portable ultrasound machines for sale today.

I never realized how nerve-racking this could be. I'm sure it's worse on Kristin than on me, since she feels every twinge and pang. I guess the point of this whole post (and you thought it didn't have one) is to ask you guys to continue to pray for us, and just pray for peace throughout the whole pregnancy. I'm so antsy, and we've barely gotten started. I just want to see a happy, healthy baby. Oh well, six more months. Oh yeah, for the curious:

Tuberculosis

Pregnancy

~Jon

P.S. Kristin would like to direct everyone's attention to the disclaimer under the "welcome" section of the blog. :-)

11 Weeks!

We've made it to 11 weeks and believe it or not I'm starting to feel a little more like my old self! I'm feeling a little less tired and able to get more done. My nausea is also decreasing everyday and being steadily replaced by more and more hunger :-) I've never been much of a big eater before so this ravenous state is definitely new for me. Jon finds it pretty funny, too. I just never can seem to get enough to eat! We went out to one of our favorite mom and pop pizza places for dinner on Friday (to make up for the fact that I was too tired and sick to go out on Valentine's Day) and I don't think I've ever eaten so much in my life. I made Jon agree to order the extra large veggie pizza instead of the medium or the large (there are only two of us after all) and I insisted on getting a big salad to eat before the pizza came out. Jon was sure that my eyes were bigger than my stomach but.......no such luck. I ate the whole salad and three very large pieces of pizza. And of course, I had to have a snack after we got home. Last night we had a nice, normal sized dinner at home which would normally hold me until breakfast but not now! I was hungry again almost an hour later and then again right before bed. I actually made Jon get out of bed to go downstairs and get me a snack because I couldn't fall asleep with a rumbling tummy :-) Jon now says that I have a new eating pattern: breakfast, second breakfast, snack, snack, snack, lunch, snack, 2nd lunch, snack, snack, dinner, snack, snack. I'm not sure I'm quite that bad but it's probably not too far off the mark! Hey, at least I am mostly eating healthy foods like fruit, veggies, pretzels, and cheese. I still don't have much of a taste for sweets but, now that girl scout cookies are here, that might be changing soon :-)

The baby has also been very busy using all of that extra food this week! He or she now has fingernails, toenails, and hair follicles. The body is starting to straighten out a little and the skin is becoming less transparent. Baby's kidneys and liver are now functioning which means he or she has started to urinate (what!? No one told me this was part of the deal!!) and now has about 3 tablespoons of amniotic fluid to swim around in. And swimming does seem to be part of the little one's activities now. According to all of the books I have read, the baby now kicks and moves his/her arms and little body around although I won't be able to feel it for another month or so. I also read something interesting in my pregnancy journal just this morning. According to the book, each baby has a unique muscle structure (based on inherited patterns) and shows a "distinct individuality in behavior by the end of the third month." This means that the facial expressions of the baby are already similar to the facial expressions of the parents. Cute! :-)

Love,

Kristin

My Baby the Kumquat

So we've started subscribing to all of these pregnancy websites and we get a weekly update on what's going on in the life of our fetus. It's rather exciting, since I can now proudly say that our child no longer has flippers, will be tail-less rather shortly, and has developed its sex organs (you go, fetus!). However, my one complaint with these websites is that they insist on comparing your fetus to fruit.

Last week, our child was the size of a grape. This week it's a kumquat. I actually had to google kumquat to find out what it was, then had to read wikipedia to figure out how big they are. Waayyy to many steps.

I think instead these web sites should use animals. I always read Zoobooks, so I'm much more up on my animals than my plants. There weren't any Fruitbooks. If they said my baby was the size of a tadpole, or a vole, or even an skink, I would be okay with that. Now we're on my level.

The other problem with the fruit analogy is that of size. There are only so many fruits. What happens when your kid turns 2 years old? Do we get an email saying "Your child should now be the size of one of those ridiculous pumpkins"? Much easier to say, "Your child should be the size of a medium-sized labradoodle, or a miniature pony, or some such animal. Plus, the labradoodle brings to mind a furry, lovable creature. No one wants to hug a watermelon or a plum.

We'll keep you posted with updates. Next week our child should be a tangelo. I'm hoping he grows up to be a star-fruit. At least not an ugli fruit. (Really, not being a fruit at all is preferable- we are republican after all).

Jon

Kumquat:

We're having a baby!

Yes, after 6 years of marriage we are finally going to start a family! We are 10 weeks pregnant and are expecting our new addition sometime around September 13, 2009. So far things are going well and we are very excited!

The picture below is of the first ultrasound at 7 weeks. We got to hear the heartbeat (so cool!) which was beating at a strong 156 bpm. The other pictures are self explanatory. Obviously, I haven't gained any major weight yet but I'm sure it's coming!! :-)