Morning Sickness

I've got morning sickness! There's not a lot of vomiting involved, but there are many near-misses, and some memorable stories. Here are two.

Valentine's Day

Tyrone took me out for a lovely 4-course dinner at a local restaurant, and we had a lovely time. He showered me with thoughtful gifts, got me flowers earlier that day (delivered!), and was generally wonderful. We planned to see a movie after dinner, but I started to feel queasy right after dinner and said that it's probably a better idea to watch something at home. No sooner were we in the door, but my dinner was in the garbage can. Ty took out the trash and proceeded to get me some ginger ale and saltines. He wasn't angry that our beautiful Valentine's Day was ruined. He was just sweet. It made me love him all the more.

Coming Home

We took a trip to Maine (one overnight) to see a friend. Upon entering the house, I was slammed with the smell of the cat box and ran for the bedroom and shut the door. As I wretched over the garbage can, Ty cleaned the cat boxes and aired the condo. I ended up keeping my food down, but it was highly unpleasant.

Suzanne's Morning Sickness Prevention Tips

• Exercise: if I workout hard every other day and moderately every other day, I am more regulated with my hormones and get less sick
• Eat something sour and some protein to begin a meal: Pickles, water with lots of lemon, salad with oil/vinegar, and and egg or piece of cheese will settle my tummy
  
• Small Meals: 1-1.5 cups of food. NO MORE!!!
• No fried food, no chocolate, no coffee, no refined carbs unless it's ice cream

Slumdog Millionaire!

Virtually every other film available in the theaters is drivel, shallow, uninteresting, lobotomized, trash, in comparison. Do not waste your money on garbage, the economy is too crappy. SEE THIS FILM!

I insisted that we see this movie on our date last night, and Tyrone wasn't sure.

"Is it a gangster thing?" he said.
"No, Bollywood," I said.
He crinkled his nose, but went anyway to please me. (I get away with everything just because I'm pregnant. Sweeeeeeeet)

After the film, with tears in his eyes, he agreed that he should have trusted Mark Kermode's review more. Click on the link to hear what The Good Doctor has to say about a film you might be interested in seeing.

• This is NOT an easy film to watch, especially if you have never seen poverty before.
• This is a film that will leave you feeling wonderful, but it's NOT a "feel good" movie.
• The love story is beautiful, but it ain't Disney. Don't expect roses and perfection.
• This film is for adults, kids won't understand. Respect the rating!
  

Drugs, drugs, drugs

I've (Suzanne) been suffering from a hacking cough for weeks. This week I developed a fever and then an earache. I'm miserable. I went to the doctor, but saw a Physician's Assistant. I usually prefer Physician's Assistants because they can give more TLC than doctors in most cases. Well, I wasn't examined.
"It may be reflux if you're not coughing up anything," she said.
"We've had walking Pneumonia in my school," I said.
"Just take what's on your list of drugs. There's nothing I can do."

She said I could take plain Robitussin and Tylenol and sent me on my way.

I was miserable. My cough was leading to vomiting (violent), and I lost my voice. I had to call in sick to school and I sound like a bass-baritone man. In desparation I took a Mucinex tablet.

I was wracked with guilt. This wasn't on my list. It's a category C drug. Tyrone will never forgive me. I fretted and cried and cursed myself while enjoying a loosening of the vice on my chest and the ability to keep food down.

Tyrone came home and held me. "You really are a Catholic mother. All this guilt."

What a sweetie.

"Didn't you tell me that women smoke crack and have healthy babies? Let it go, Mama. You're a good mama." He held me close and kissed me.

Our baby will be okay. But I learned some interesting facts as I read up on crack, heroine, marijuana, and other illicit drugs in pregnancy.

• In Massachusetts a woman can be charged with a criminal offense if she takes illicit drugs during pregnancy if she seeks prenatal care and intends to carry her child to term
  
• In Massachusetts a woman can take drugs, not seek prenatal care, and get an abortion without consequence
• According to "American Pregnancy", some use of illicit drugs may not be harmful to a fetus early in development.
• Some people think that sudafed is unsafe during pregnancy, yet it's on my list of safe drugs from my doctor.

It's all rather confusing and stressful to sort out. Suffice to say, being a mother is a huge responsibility. This is beginning to dawn on me.

Guess What!

There will be a new Gonsalves in September! We won't know if it's a boy or girl until birth. Many thanks to those who prayed for us to conceive. Without your prayers it would not have happened. I'm reminded of the opening of "It's a wonderful life" when the planets and galaxies are talking to one another because of all the prayers for George Bailey. Statistics were against this happening, but God said "yes".

Suzanne's mother, Carol is CANCER FREE. Her "incurable form" of cancer is not there anymore. She's being written up in medical journals. What a great week of wonderful news.

FYI, our home pregnancy test looked like this one. The second line was very very faint. If you take such a test, just know that any line is a positive. It need not be bright.