Posts by Elizabeth Sanders24

My due date is this Friday, and I’m honestly surprised by how little has actually stressed me out during this pregnancy.

The only thing that's managed to get under my skin is one of my few friends who has kids—as if that somehow makes her an expert on pregnancy, labor, and parenting.

Her: "Are you nervous? Or scared?"
Me: "No, I'm actually feeling pretty relaxed and excited."
Her: "Don't be nervous, though; the baby will feel everything."
Me: "But I'm not even—" (I can't even finish my sentence)
Her: "There's no reason to be afraid; childbirth is such a beautiful experience."

🤔Is she even listening to me?

analogscout66 said:So, my coworker had her blood pressure spike to 300 yesterday!!! 🙂

We were just chatting away when she suddenly looks me up and down and goes, "Gosh, you've definitely filled out, you look healthy!"
Now, let's be clear—I’m currently 10 weeks pregnant, and I’ve already put on, can you believe it, 2 pounds. And this is a twin pregnancy... so I just gave her this blank stare and said, "Oh, please don't start. I've gained 2 pounds, and half of that is just my chest growing by two cup sizes and the other half is the bump that's already starting to show..." But she just kept going, insisting, "No, really, you've definitely widened out in the hips and backside too!" She spent five whole minutes trying to convince me how much wider I've gotten!

Honestly, even if it were true, does anyone actually care? After nearly three years of struggling, hoping, praying every single month, and finally going through IVF... does it really matter to me if my hips have widened by 3, 5, or 10 centimeters??? 🙄 Especially when I'm carrying twins!!! And the thing is, she knows everything I went through to get here...

I can't wait until I've gained at least 35 pounds; I'm dying to see what she has to say then. 😁

I have someone like that in my life too. She knows all about my history—including two miscarriages—and everything we've endured. Yet, she can't help but chime in with, "Well, I wouldn't know much about that, since I get pregnant whenever I want," and she says it so casually, without even thinking.

I guess some people just take their own life frustrations out on others to make themselves feel superior. Unfortunately.

velvetmoose9 said:Fibrinogen, APTV, PV, and INR are parameters used to assess blood clotting function. They need to stay within specific ranges for the system to work correctly. Some people call this a "major coagulogram." Basically, it’s the starting point for investigating potential thrombophilia and is standard procedure for preoperative prep or when managing certain conditions, like a heart attack or stroke.
Antitrombin III,protein C, protein S, factor V (Leiden) mutation, and prothrombin II are more advanced tests used to determine if there's an underlying genetic disorder causing thrombophilia.

Thanks for the explanation.

vividsailor7 said:It's just a standard blood draw. If you head over to either Mayo Clinic or Johns Hopkins, I'm pretty sure they handle this all the time.

So, these tests won't actually show if there’s an underlying predisposition for thrombophilia?
I guess I'll probably just go to Cleveland; I'm originally from California.

I need some clarification. My doctor ordered a full coagulation panel following two miscarriages, and the requisition lists the following:

23211- P-Fibrinogen
28611- Activated partial thromboplastin time
28621- P-prothrombin time- INR
28695- P-Antitrombin III,...mg/L, ( P-AT III, Pt-n)

What exactly am I looking at here? Can these specific tests show signs of thrombophilia, or would I need separate orders for that?

Thanks

Maria Fisher46 said:To whom it may concern,

Endocrine Society He published it back in 2012. Guidelines. You can find the details by clicking the link. These guidelines are supported by the American Thyroid Association. They suggest that women with a history of miscarriage or preterm labor should have their thyroid status checked, including antibody levels. Their specific protocol is this: if TSH is above 2.5 mIU/L, they recommend retesting. If that second test still shows a TSH over 2.5 mIU/L—even though there isn't much solid evidence for it—they suggest starting therapy to bring that level below 2.5 mIU/L. If the pregnancy doesn't succeed, the recommendation is to stop the treatment. You can find this on page 8, under points 8.1.a and 8.1.b.

In other words, even the experts are debating what you heard.

I should probably start by saying there is no consensus on TSH values below 5. There isn't enough evidence to back up those recommendations you mentioned, either. But regardless, I’m just following the specific guidelines and official protocols here.

I’d also suggest reaching out to... Temu. Regarding the thyroid.

Greetings. 🙂

Thanks for the reply. I figured the answer might be buried in my reproductive hormone levels, but since those look fine, I started digging into my thyroid labs instead. I ended up finding info similar to what you linked. It seems to me that various specialists definitely aim to lower TSH levels before proceeding with a procedure. I’ll shift my focus over to the thyroid topic now.

Hi, I’ve had two spontaneous pregnancies at the very start (weeks 6 and 7). I had my ovaries and thyroid removed, and here are the results:

Prolactin 253 (102-637)
Progesterone follicular phase 1.3 (0.6-4.7)
LH 5.1 (2.4-12.6)
Estradiol 146 (46-607)
Testosterone 0.49 (0.29-1.67)
FSH ? (I didn't catch it over the phone, but I assume it's within the 3.5-12.5 range)
Progesterone day 21: 12.3 (5.3-8.6)

Thyroid:

T3 - 1.7 (1.3-3.1)
T4 - 15.6 (12-22)
TSH - 3.5 (0.27-4.2)

I'm reading that TSH might be an issue. I guess maybe it should be kept under 2.0 for pregnancy?

restlessbadger2, I didn't have that exact diagnosis, but because my swabs came back bad, they just cycled me through antibiotics and all sorts of vaginal treatments like Dalacin cream, Plimycol, Betadine, and Canesten.
The meds basically wiped out my natural flora. I had to try to restore it using Acidosalus vaginal probiotics with applicators.

I'm pretty sure I had Candida, too. I kept getting those burning symptoms, redness, and little open sores right around my period.

For local relief, Octanisept spray actually helped a lot. I used it every day after showering. You should give it a shot; it costs less than $6.75

This used to be our cake

Finally got the cake ordered, thank god.
This is how it should turn out; we'll see in 12 days I guess.

Those prices seem a bit steep to me... back home, finding $27 pound of anything decent feels like a total gamble, and you can find cake slices going for 18-$7.25 bucks. It’s honestly ridiculous...

steelfox15 said:He had his little demands about the flavor—he was dead set on chocolate,🙂 so we basically agreed that every single tier should be identical just to avoid any drama among the guests over who got what slice. I picked out the design myself, and honestly, he ended up loving it too. We managed to hash everything out pretty quickly.🙂

Yeah, my buddy only goes for chocolate too. I don't really care, I guess.
Look, how it looks matters to me. It’s going to be done my way. 😁
And that’s how we settled it.

Hey, does anyone know what wedding cakes actually cost these days?
I'm planning for about 150 guests. I want something modern—one solid cake, not those tiered ones held up by metal stands—and it has to be chocolate.
What’s a reasonable price range for something like that?