I am 32 years old and this is my first pregnancy. My husband and I have been
married 8 years. We have always wanted children, but I have been putting my
education first for several years.
I am a graduate student and do not work. I have always worked up until I
decided to go back to school. I have been told by many people that working
while in graduate school makes it difficult. So, I quit my job in August of
1998 and began a MA in economics.
I have had several health problems in the last 3 years, not too serious, but
concerning nonetheless. When I was 28 it was discovered I had
hyperthyroidism. Real easy to treat, but the side effects did not calm down
until 2 years later. At that time I went to see a new OB/GYN for some of
these side effects. She thought that I could not have children, and that my
husband and I would have to use fertility drugs. I was ready to try, but
ruptured a disk in my spine. So in October of 1997 I had 30% of a disk debris
removed from my spinal column. I had been doing very well, and discovered in
August of 1998 that I was pregnant. My doctor was as surprised as I was.
At first I was very frightened, my back being weak and all. But, so far I am
fine. The first hurdle was to get genetically counseled. In my husbands
family there are two children with Cystic Fibrosis, so we had to have blood
tests for that. Fortunately, neither of us are carriers, so this child will
have the normal risk that all children have. Both my husband and I are
each blind in one eye. This is genetic, but we will not know until birth if
the baby has one or both of our problems. I think it will be ok if only one
of the problems is present, I can handle that. I do have a specialist I have
seen for 30 years, so I am confident we can handle that problem.
I have had a couple of other difficulties over the last month and a half. At
20 weeks pregnant they diagnosed me with severe migraines and placenta previa.
The good news was that the baby is very healthy. I am just miserable. My
doctor is treating the migraines with medication and they are getting better.
As far as the placenta previa goes, only 1% of the patients with it at 20
weeks carries it throughout until delivery. I find out on March 1, 1999 if
the problem still exists.
Oh, we did find out what the baby is and we are very excited to be having a
girl. But, has just meant we argue over the name constantly. Right now my
husband loves Katherine Grace. I like it, but would like to wait until she is
born to really decide what her name is. Besides, I like so many names:
Katherine Mae and Marina Katherine to name a few.
Well, I will try to make this journal weekly, but with my course load it may
be difficult. I welcome any comments or any information anyone would like to
share.
Thanks |