Weekly Randoms October 31st

seeds_of_joy

Randomness This is my daughter's new pet axolotl, Kiwi.

amccurls

@seeds_of_joy I had no idea those were real! I just thought it was a Pokémon! My son told me about it because he got a sticker of one from a friend. I honestly had never heard of them before. That’s pretty cool! 

amccurls

Anyone have any experience with low hemoglobin? Mine was 9.4 today. I don’t see my doctor until next Tuesday and I’m not really worried, just curious. 

ttc3y

@amccurls A low hemoglobin is typically an indication of anemia which is common with pregnancy due to increased iron demands where our blood volume increases by around 50% for most women. I would recommend eating more red meat and other iron rich foods. You doctor will probably recommend iron supplementation (plus vitamin C to improve absorption) which will help but a common side effect is constipation. Ferrous biglycinate will be the easiest on your stomach out of the different iron supplementations available. 

amccurls

Thank you! @ttc3y

fertile-turtle

@amccurls I’ve been on an extra iron supplement for about a month now thanks to low hemoglobin, and it’s been genuinely so helpful. Anemia is so common in pregnancy, and it makes you so much more tired than you already were! Hopefully your doctor gets you started on a supplement, and if you’ve been feeling extra tired or out of breath, you might see some improvement in those symptoms, too.

And on that note, I had an appointment today and did my glucose test plus another blood test to make sure I’m less anemic. I passed the glucose test by a mile, and I’m back within the normal range for hemoglobin and ferritin!

amccurls

@fertile-turtle I have been out of breath and I mentioned it to my doctor at my last appointment. She didn’t seem concerned and we figured it was just “less room in there” 
I guess we have an explanation now. 

I’m glad yours is getting better! 

seeds_of_joy

@amccurls I wouldn't have either if I hadn't seen one in one of our science books. They sure are weird!! 

I'm anemic too. Welcome to the club. Lol I just had my blood taken yesterday and I forget what my levels are but I'm taking a supplement so I think they are barely normal now.

kb1322

@amccurls I too am anemic. My OB suggested I start taking Slow FEone a week, and throughout this whole pregnancy I’ve had to eat a high iron & folate diet due to my MFTHR mutation (I think that’s the acronym). At first I hated my “dietary guidelines” but it’s helped so much with managing my nutritional intake and meal planning 😅

fertile-turtle

@amccurls yeah, I didn’t think being out of breath was anything besides a space issue until it started improving with the iron supplement. I’m still definitely not at full pre-pregnancy lung capacity and I don’t expect to be, but it’s definitely gotten better in the last few weeks.

ttc3y

Today we reach a BIG pregnancy milestone. Today is the beginning of week 24 for me which is the viability threshold!!! Woo hoo! Of course I want our baby to stay in the oven until after 36 weeks and preferably until around 39-40weeks. But I feel like today is worth a celebration and a relief at some level. 😊🥰😊🥰😊

seeds_of_joy

@ttc3y that is a big milestone! I wasn't sure if it was 24 or 25. In that case I'm there too!! 

ttc3y

@seeds_of_joy Yay! Congrats to you and all the other moms out there who have made it past the 24 week viability threshold! 😁