One thing I was looking forward to in Post-partum Land was not having my period for perhaps a year or more because I am breastfeeding so frequently. What an awesome thought: twelve months without bleeding.
Silly me.
I got my period last week for the first time, just four months after Finn was born.
"Your body loves to ovulate," our pediatrician said.
Great.
My body is just fast. Six month pregnancy, fast metabolizer, Ovulate Now!
Let's get going on all the girly stuff!
Honestly, at 38, and after this experience, I am not sure that I will be getting pregnant again. One of the risks for preterm labor is a previous preterm delivery. Another is pregnancy over age 35. Those are the only two risk factors I have. Before Finn was born, I had one: my age. Other than that, I did every thing I was supposed to do. Even beyond the normal "don't drink, don't smoke, eat well" advice, I was careful. I have long made my own cleaning products, keeping toxic chemicals out of the house. I purged my make up of phthalates and parabens before I even became pregnant. Not only did I eat well, we eat organic and local whenever possible, I avoided fish, deli meats and soft cheeses, I took my prenatal vitamins... were I to become pregnant again, there is nothing I would change.
OK, I would try to make it to yoga more often.
There's nothing, it seems, that I could have done to avoid preterm labor, and there's probably nothing I could do in the future.
For me, I sometimes feel it would be irresponsible to get pregnant again, knowing that I have an increased risk of the same outcome. I would not want to put another baby through that, I would not want to put Finn through that, our family, or even the system through that. Finn is an awesome baby, we are madly in love with him, and we are wildly impressed with his progress, but we don't need another preemie. We were lucky with Finn. Even given his prematurity, he was pretty healthy. He had no systems issues, and his care was relatively straight forward. I could not count on that happening a second time.
We have no plans for another child at this point, of course. Finn is brand sparkling new, and we are enjoying our time with him. It's hard to imagine adding another member of the family. There are many things to think about when it comes to that kind of decision. Ovulating Again adds another level to my relative lack of grown-up desire. A reproductive accident in Finn's first year would be an especially bad idea.
8 comments:
With regard to "nothing I would change" should you become pregnant again; surely someone brought to your attention the dangers of taxoplasmosis, did they not?
Hi, "anonymous," thanks for the condescending tone. Are you insinuating that I was rolling around in cat litter?
I did not go near our cat litter for the entire time I was pregnant; it was one of the benefits of being pregnant to which I was looking forward. That and not having to pump gas.
Wait, not pumping gas is a perk of pregnancy? Wow, just proves an "old" mom can learn new tricks. I think I'll have to cash that one in now that the "baby" is now 22 months old. Think he'll buy it?
Hope all is well.
The Kanzanians
Anonymity, thy name is Jim. Hmmm...you know too many Jims for that to be a good clue. How about this; that wasn't a CON-descending tone, it was a Father-In-Law -descending tone. I was exercising my parental perogative to address the question in my head after reading this segment. "What the hell is that kid thinkin? What about the friggin' cats?" I said. "No hiatus for them during a pregnancy? Even if you are Queen Clean,
you have asmall house and multiple cats. They're inside 24/7 To my mind, that's an exponential risk increase," I intoned. Then,of course, I calmed down, and decided to just set a tone, hopefully to strike a chord, which would result in more consideration of this matter on your part. Or so I mused.
Don't need another parent? Tough tougie! Besides, just as the 3rd law of hydrodynamics allows that water will always seek a level, the 7th law of qualitative grandparentry cites the "Buttinski Rule." You see a potential adverse impact on the grandkid, you butt-in!
Sorry I do not have one of those cool blogcommentor names. In the future, I hope to be able to snag something appropriate, like, "Son of Agnes Catherine Everard McCauley," a blessed woman who is currently serving 2 to 5 thousand years in Purgatory for diatribe against her sons and daughters in law.
Sincerely, and with no malice of forethought, I remain,
Yours,
J.E. McCauley
Ah ha! Culprit found!
kittywhumpus is very sensitive to being patronized... probably overly sensitive.
A few bits and pieces about toxoplasmosis, from the Mayo Clinic Guide to A Healthy Pregnancy: "Toxoplasmosis is a parasitic infection that's carried by rodent eating cats. The risk of infection from cleaning an indoor cat's litter box is low." The fact that our cats are exclusively indoor actually lowers our risk. The other things that one should do to avoid infection are:
1. eat thoroughly cooked meat, which I reluctantly did.
2.wash hands well after food preparation, which I did.
3. wear gloves when gardening or handling soil, which I did.
4. have someone else clean the litter box, which I did.
After having followed all the rules that most everyone knows about and going even a few steps further into Careful Land and looking back, examining everything after still having gone into pre-term labor, plus talking with my doctor and our neonatalogists, I did indeed conclude that there is nothing I would change, nothing I could change to avoid the outcome that we had with Finn's birth.
There's this querk I once thought unique to Maimie. It involved finding that marvelous vulnerable spot in a person and poking at it with a stick to watch what happens... The result would bring Maimie a certain delighted glint in her eyes; an oopsy-kind-of-horror about opening mouth and inserting foot; followed by the defensive, "Why am I always the stinker?" There's not much you can do when the "Maimie" comes out in her offspring except to recognize this genetic tic and remind the stick-wielding offspring that pergatory still exists... CKM
good Lord. please tell me I'm not related to him.
Karen I love the videos! and the 'Harry' books sound adorable :)
Dear Ms. Whumpus, please do not confuse comment for criticism. Remember that I love you, not just because of P-E-E-D-O and FJ, but also because you are a Unique! Although I so not believe minimizing risk is anything like eliminating risk, I am willing to suspend discussion of the kitty protocol until I have more material cogent to this matter. I have now decided to dedicate my life from this moment on to the study if feline pathogens and the effects thereof on humans and their progeny. My daughter is Joyce McCauley and she approves this message.
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