Pregnant after 35
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Worry wart here
I know that some amount of worry is normal... but I worry about every possible thing that could go wrong. When I found out I was pregnant I worried about making it past 6 weeks. When I passed 6 weeks I worried about making it to 12 weeks. I passed 12 weeks and now I'm worried about making it to 25 weeks (minimum age that I will feel comfortable giving birth and my baby having some chance of survival). After I pass 25 weeks I will worry about the baby making it to full term. After the baby is full term I will worry about something going wrong during delivery or after he's born. After that I will worry about SIDS. I mean.... it goes on and on. Part of me thinks.... that this is part of being a mom.... but my faith tells me that I have no control over any of this and that I have no business worrying when He (God) has it all under control. I guess I just need to pray for more faith.
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Re: Worry wart here
I think it just makes you NORMAL. I was having this exact conversation with a co-worker last week. It seems like my brain picks these milestones (6 wks/10 wks/20 wks, etc) but I ALWAYS find something new to worry about
IMO....Fear isn't evidence of a lack of faith. Faith means you choose to continue to believe/trust EVEN when the fear exists.
Make a pregnancy ticker
I have you beat!!! I worry about EVERYTHING. I worry about the theoretical risks of ultrasounds, breathing in campfire smoke, being behind a car with a slight exhaust problem, whether my vegetables are washed in a restaurant, etc., etc.
Lack of vitamin D. Not enough sunlight!!!
Now I am FREAKING because I just realized I took too much Vitamin E for the first trimester.
All I did was take a prenatal but my diet is FULL OF VITAMINS. Doh! Isn't that how it's supposed to be? Why do they make people who eat a healthy diet take a prenatal full of all the vitamins you are already getting from food?
The only thing you really need in the prenatal for the first trimester is folic acid but they put all this other stuff in there.
So now I am worried. Too much vitamin E is linked to heart defects.
I'm just going to take folic acid for the next few weeks until I see my doctor. The nurse practitioner told me that's all you need in the first trimester anyway. But I thought I was being cautious.
MsGibb, I think letzgoracing has it exactly right: Worry is a normal part of being a mom and it just means that you really care about your pregnancy and your baby.
Azaleya, if you can manage to meet your Vitamin E needs from diet alone, I am very impressed. The reason so many people take Vit E supplements is that it is difficult to get enough just from food. And if it makes you feel any better, vitamins are absorbed better from food than from supplements, so your body may not be taking in as much Vit E from your prenatal as you think. I wouldn't ditch the prenatal vitamin on those grounds alone. It might not hurt to put a call in to your doctor to ask.
Over-40 parents...what we lack in vigor, we make up for with cunning.
This is only the beginning of worrying about these kids until the day we die. LOL
As for the vitamin issue, don't forget, too, that most of the vitamins in the prenatals are water-soluble (only A, D, E, and K). That means that IF you take an excess of them (by eating and taking the prenatal pills), your body will use what it needs and you will pee out the rest. No harmful side effects. The fat soluble vitamins are a little trickier, but you would have to eat a LOT of spinach, peanuts, almonds, chili pepper, green olives, sunflower seeds, etc. to overdose on vitamin E. Especially if you cook any of the foods, as they lose some of their potency. The most common side effects of too much Vitamin E are anticoagulation properties-- so you bleed/hemorrhage. I'm going to go ahead and say that if you're not noticing black, tarry stools or frank red blood in your poop, and you're not bruising left and right or fainting all the time, you're most likely not taking too much vitamin E at this point.
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Good answer. My OB had a conversation with me early on because I was so worried about everything. He told me that is was completely normal and is preparing me for parenthood where I would continue to worry about this kid every day.
If it makes you feel better, yesterday I ate copious amounts of sugar because I could not feel the baby move as much as normal. I almost went to L&D for a sonogram just to be sure. I guess she was just having a lazy day because today she is going crazy.
I am so with you on this. It took us a long time to get pregnant with #2 and I am a completely worry wart this time. I've been doing the same as you - waiting to get to 6 weeks, 12 weeks, now I'm waiting to get to the anatomy scan. It's really hard to get over the mental hurdle that something could go wrong and just relax.
((hugs))
Thank you all for your kind words
I suppose I should really focus on the miracle of all of this! I mean.... I am 40 years old.... I have had 3 miscarriages that didn't make it past 6 weeks (2 of them within the last 18 months) and the fact that I even GOT pregnant this time is a miracle! The very cycle before we concieved... I had asked my OB/Gyn to do a hormone test.... not for fertility reasons but just because I wasn't feeling right... and he said my FSH level was 15! He said that if we wanted to have another baby we'd have to seek fertility! On top of that... I had knee surgery the day after we concieved.... so that sperm had to live and travel through anasthesia to make it to my supposedly non-exsistent or non-optimal egg! PLUS.... isn't there like a 1% chance of getting pregnant after 40? So.... this just goes to show... that God is in control. The Bible says that nothing.... NOTHING.... lives or breathes or dies under heaven without His say so.... something I really had to remember quite a bit when my 2-year-old was in the NICU (born at 28 weeks) fighting for his life for 3 months.
Thanks everyone for helping to remind me/inspiring me to have faith and hopefully we/I've inspired some of you as well
Blessings!
Make a pregnancy ticker
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Yes to everything these ladies said.
DD born 12.21.09, conceived w/ injects and IUI
TTC#2 since Nov 2011
BFP 2.6.12 m/c 6w5d | BFP 5.25.12 c/p
-Back to the RE-
3 medicated IUIs, all BFN
-Taking a break from treatment-
BFP 11.20.12 ~ EDD 7.28.13
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Worrying is normal.
Worrying so much that it takes over your thought process, stresses you out, and/or gets in the way of you enjoying good things could be a sign of depression. Pregnancy wreaks havoc with hormones, which can wreak havoc with your brain chemistry. Depression is not your fault. It is not a lack of faith or a sign of failure. It is your brain chemistry going wacky. If you feel that your worrying is making it difficult for you to participate fully in life, or if others have noticed, or even just because it concerns you, please talk to your OB about what you are experiencing. There is help available.
Sometimes just admitting you feel this way to someone who cares can be a big help.