D
deogloria
I've been meaning to drop in and update everyone so no one thinks I'm dead. 
Things have been so crazy-busy. Between bi-weekly perinatal visits, monthly cardio visits, taking care of the kids, and being paralyzed with anxiety over financial and other issues, I just couldn't make myself think too much about anything serious. I feel kind of bad, because I'd like to be more of a part of this community, beyond popping in to ask questions or give updates.
Hopefully this will be changing. We've made some decisions that are positively affecting our lives as a family, and that have reduced my stress levels tremendously. The biggest being that we got rid of the tv, cable, and our netflix account. The kids are becoming better behaved, and my husband and I have more time for each other and the household duties. I've also made a commitment to cook at home, and not junky stuff, but from-scratch, whole foods. I'm also trying to eat more raw food, at least to do one big green smoothie a day. So all that is helping.
As far as heart stuff goes, my doc put me on labetalol, 100mg twice a day. Though my blood pressure is actually good, he wants to reduce it a little to hopefully help insure that there is less stress on the aneurysm. My symptoms are getting worse, especially the shortness of breath. Almost any exertion now is wearing me out, although today my doc said that could be from the beta blocker. He told me to cut the pills in half from now on.
I'm definitely showing now, I'm around 20 weeks or so. Everything looks normal with the baby so far. Four more weeks and the baby is viable, which will ease my mind. Then, should things with the aneurysm go awry, there is at least a decent possibility of the baby surviving. I think I'll be fine for a while, though. Something tells me I'll make it to at least six months along, probably farther, like 8 months.
The echo today showed 5 cm, as opposed to the 4.8/4.9 previously. Doc isn't worried though (no more than before, anyway), because it's shown up as 5 cm on the TEE, so there is always some variation. He still wants to do the heart surgery right after the baby is born, although the surgeon he consulted wanted to wait three months. I'm going to Mayo in November for a second opinion, so we're waiting til after that to really decide. I do NOT want to wait til the baby is almost here to decide...who knows if I could go into labor early?
As far as the valve goes, all looks the same--mild to moderate regurge, although there is more flow across the valve (meaning more blood volume due to pregnancy). He's not worried about the valve right now.
Anyway, that's my long-winded update. Still here. Still pregnant. No exploding aorta (so far). All good things.
Things have been so crazy-busy. Between bi-weekly perinatal visits, monthly cardio visits, taking care of the kids, and being paralyzed with anxiety over financial and other issues, I just couldn't make myself think too much about anything serious. I feel kind of bad, because I'd like to be more of a part of this community, beyond popping in to ask questions or give updates.
Hopefully this will be changing. We've made some decisions that are positively affecting our lives as a family, and that have reduced my stress levels tremendously. The biggest being that we got rid of the tv, cable, and our netflix account. The kids are becoming better behaved, and my husband and I have more time for each other and the household duties. I've also made a commitment to cook at home, and not junky stuff, but from-scratch, whole foods. I'm also trying to eat more raw food, at least to do one big green smoothie a day. So all that is helping.
As far as heart stuff goes, my doc put me on labetalol, 100mg twice a day. Though my blood pressure is actually good, he wants to reduce it a little to hopefully help insure that there is less stress on the aneurysm. My symptoms are getting worse, especially the shortness of breath. Almost any exertion now is wearing me out, although today my doc said that could be from the beta blocker. He told me to cut the pills in half from now on.
I'm definitely showing now, I'm around 20 weeks or so. Everything looks normal with the baby so far. Four more weeks and the baby is viable, which will ease my mind. Then, should things with the aneurysm go awry, there is at least a decent possibility of the baby surviving. I think I'll be fine for a while, though. Something tells me I'll make it to at least six months along, probably farther, like 8 months.
The echo today showed 5 cm, as opposed to the 4.8/4.9 previously. Doc isn't worried though (no more than before, anyway), because it's shown up as 5 cm on the TEE, so there is always some variation. He still wants to do the heart surgery right after the baby is born, although the surgeon he consulted wanted to wait three months. I'm going to Mayo in November for a second opinion, so we're waiting til after that to really decide. I do NOT want to wait til the baby is almost here to decide...who knows if I could go into labor early?
As far as the valve goes, all looks the same--mild to moderate regurge, although there is more flow across the valve (meaning more blood volume due to pregnancy). He's not worried about the valve right now.
Anyway, that's my long-winded update. Still here. Still pregnant. No exploding aorta (so far). All good things.
