Bump It Up

I'm a little late in posting this, but I got the results of a blood draw about a week and a half ago.

If you remember, the dessicated pig thyroid was good except that I was getting to much T3. This bums me out a lot. I had high hopes for piggie thyroid! On NatureThroid my TSH was great, about .89, but my T3 was too high and my T4 too low. I still had arthritis and my cycle was about 20 days. I think all you ladies reading this will agree that 20 days is way too short. My good friend and I agreed-that's time enough for one-half PMS and one-half period!

*Sigh.*

In any case, my doc agreed to switch me from NatureThroid back to 100 mcg of Tirosint to see if my numbers would all look a little better.

After six weeks, my TSH is at 3.2 (a little bit higher than it should be), my T3 is 3.1 (a little lower than it should be), and my T4 is at 1.56, which is about right.

We bumped up my dosage to 112 mcg of Tirosint and so far it's been good.

The only thing I'm frustrated with right now (besides unsuccessfully trying to stay off meds!) is that the first time I tried out Tirosint, probably 18 months ago now, 88 mcg was enough for my levels to be awesome. I felt awesome and I had no arthritis. It was shortly after I started on 88 mcg that I decided to try Chinese medicine.

In any case, my big question is why was 88 mcg good then, but not enough now?! Am I not absorbing the med well enough? Am I having some issue converting T4 (the stuff in the pill) to T3 (the form your body uses)? :/ I have no answers for this. Interestingly enough, the thyroid is where this conversion takes place, so some argue that a Hashimoto's thyroid (one beat down by your own body) isn't up to the task.

Other Applicable Updates:

Diarrhea: (I am laughing my ass off that I even wrote that. And for all the world to see.) Better, especially when I take pro-biotics and peppermint/ginger oil. Even better still when I don't eat insoluble fiber. The hardest thing is that I really, really like popcorn. That's, uh, pretty much 100% roughage. :)

Arthritis: Better with the increased dosage. On 100 mcg, I didn't have a lot of arthritis in my fingers or ankle, but for some reason my shoulder was freezing up and popping a lot. :( That's slowly been improving over the last week on the bigger dose. We'll see what happens in the long run.

By The Numbers

The Internet is a beautiful thing. I have been messing around with this blog, seeing who is reading and from where.

The breakdown of page views by COUNTRY is as follows:

United States-4,312
Russia-187
Germany-43
Canada-31
Latvia-18
Panama-15
Australia-14
Singapore-10
Brazil-9
Jersey-4

United Kingdom-2
China-1
Germany-1
India-1

Now, I'm not a math whiz. At all. I recently looked through a gigantic box of old report cards and homework and consistently I got a C or WORSE in math. Once I got a B+, it's true, but I'm mostly sure that was pity from the teacher and not capability or comprehension on my part. I also attempted a math problem I'd previously gotten wrong in the 3rd grade and I GOT IT WRONG AGAIN. I cried a little into my dairy-free, wheat-free chai.

I digress. I'm not interested in these numbers, per se, but let's be frank. RUSSIA?! After the U.S., the most people who have read my eclectic blog are people from Russia.

Who is reading this blog in Russia? What is happening? What are the search terms they used that brought them to me? I would have at least assumed there would be more people stumbling upon this blog from an English-speaking country, but a measly 2 people (unless it's one person who visited twice) from the U.K. have read this. I'm not counting Canada. (I'm joking, I'm joking...) Don't even get me started on Latvia. I'm not entirely sure where it is. :/

These are some of the search terms that brought people to my blog (take a moment to reflect on how creepy it is that Blogger can tell me this information):

• "masking clearvite taste"-I was no help on this one. My only advice in this department is that if you drink things fast enough it really doesn't matter what it tastes like. It's stopping to reflect on the taste that gets people into trouble.

• "pregnancy rash on face"-Again, I'm sure my blog proved a disappointment.

•  "guinea pig growth chart"-I can only assume someone is very concerned that their guinea pig is growing at the appropriate rate. These someones probably need more social interaction. ;) 

• "rheumatoid arthritis rash pictures tiny red dots"-Mm. This might the time to educate the masses in search terms, using AND/OR and quotation marks to refine things a little.

The post with the most page views is "This Shit Just Got Real" which I'm fairly sure is solely because I used the word "shit". I will heretofore conduct an experiment in which I use curse words in my post titles and see if it raises readership. Now you are ALL my Guinea Pigs! Bwahaha!

All About Babies Part IV, What I Want

So, it might be clear after my birth stories that I was less than enthused with how my second 'birth' went. I wish it could have been different, but it is true, I have a wonderful little girl just the same. If we do have kids again, this post is about what I want.

An intermission before the actual post. I have been keeping up with the crazy home birth vs. hospital debates [see below for links] and there's been a lot of mean things said. By everyone. One comment maligned home birth moms for wanting a 'perfect birth', an unattainable ideal that is just 'silly'. Well, I think we all want a 'perfect birth' and I think we should all hope for that. Reality is that sometimes it won't be perfect, but isn't life all about hoping and striving for those perfections?

Anyway, everyone has an opinion, everyone has emotional ties, and everyone interprets the statistics differently. I don't really care. This is my blog and this about what I want. :)

• I want to have a VBAC.

To reiterate, a c-section compared to a vaginal birth sucked ass. The end. 

• I want to deliver with VBAC-friendly medical staff.

I am frustrated with doctors and hospitals that pay lip service to VBACs or avoiding inductions and then switch 'sides' near the end of pregnancy. Not cool. That's not supportive, encouraging, or even honest. The goal would be to find someone trustworthy whose opinion I could bank on.

• I want a doula

Lots of statistics point to a doulas presence drastically reducing the rate of c-sections and need for pain interventions. Sign me up.  Information on doulas (and the good they can do for you) from DONA International.

• I want as few interventions as possible.

This one scares me a little because I did have an epidural with my son. I could still feel my legs and some pain on my side, but I couldn't feel pain in my uterus, where it counts!

The reason I wouldn't want a lot of pain medication and 'intervention' is because your likelihood of having a repeat Cesarean goes up as you get induced, epidurals, etc. An example: Early Epidural Double C-Section Risk After Induction.

Plus, with DS, I had some sort of narcotic drug to help with the pain and it only made me dizzy and nauseous. That's not what I had in mind.

• I want to eat my placenta.

I would totally be that weirdo. A friend's wife did that after her VBAC and it was the first I'd ever heard of it. Since then, crazy people in Hollywood have done it. I would do it just on the off chance it does help with post-partum depression. I would especially do it if I had a repeat Cesarean section. Fruit of the Womb does placenta encapsulation in Colorado.

As a Certified Nurse Midwive I talked to recently told me, there's not enough evidence one way or the other on this one. People think it might help 'replenish' the mom's energy and stave off depression, but there's no proof that it does. Here's a link to one mom who ate her placenta (it still sounds gross) but wishes she hadn't: I Regret Eating My Placenta. Anyway, that's why I say I'd do it on the off chance. :)

• I want to feel empowered.

I just want to feel capable of having a baby out my hoo-ha again. :) Having my son affirmed that I was a confident, capable person and then having a section with my daughter kind of took away some confidence and self-assurance. That's how it was for me.

Current Crazy Debate (In Order of Publication):

Home Birth: Increasingly Popular, But Dangerous by Michelle Goldberg
How To Scare Women by Jennifer Block
Michelle Goldberg Answers A Critic's Distortions of Her Home-birth Argument by Michelle Goldberg
Separating Evidence From Ideaology in the Homebirth Debate by Jennifer Block

A blog post about this debate: Smart Women Debate Homebirth

The Skeptical OB's (Dr. Amy Tuteur) Take: 
Jennifer Block: Whack-A-Mole Journalist 
Navel-Gazing Midwife Takes On Jennifer Block