Need Ladies with Much Wisdom About Pregnancy Issues...

J.,

I made it through two miserable pregnancies with Peppermint and Gingersnaps. Both, Ginger and Peppermint are OLD remedies for stomach ails... maybe you could give them a shot. ?

So sorry you feel bad. Good Luck with the new baby!!

T.

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My neighbor had terrible indigestion and nausea with her 3rd, she found some relief with natural things like ginger for the indigestion and lemons or sour candy for the nausea. Unfortunately, it didn't stop till she had the baby. He is the sweetest little darling, and she has almost forgotten the last nine months... almost. :-)

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I can really empathize with you on the indigestion! I was sick throughout my whole pregnancy with nausea, heartburn and indigestion. For me it was the heartburn that was the worst!!

Unfortunately I don't have any good suggestions. For me I ended up finding a few foods that didn't make me ill, and that is all I ate. Does milk help at all? I know milk helped me, and ice cream!

As far as the ultra sound verse amnio I think you did make the right decision. I would have done the same thing. I figure if they find a medical need for the amnio I can decide to have one at that time, but if everything looks good then why bother!

The good news is that everyone I talk to says if you are not feeling well then that is a sign of a healthy baby. (I don't know if they say that to make you feel better or what, but my son was healthy!)

Congrats, and good luck!

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Congrats on the little one! I don't know if anyone else has mentioned it (I didn't read the other responses), but have you tried ginger? Ginger tea or ginger pills seem to work the best. I use the pills cause I don't like the tea- you can find them at Whole Foods, or probably any other vitamin store, and you can safely take up to 1000mg/day. It's like natural Pepto- helps with everything stomach-related including gas, indigestion, heartburn, nausea, diarreah (sp?), constipation...

I know the feeling of not being able to eat... I had that for most of the first trimester too (I'm 14 weeks), and I did discuss with my doc when I went in Thurs b/c I had lost 15 lbs in just over 6 weeks. I certainly had the weight to lose, but I was concerned anyway. She actually reassured me that the baby is not pulling all that much nutrition from the mother until after the the 1st trimester and that I should be getting my appetite back & then some soon. I'm finally back to eating almost normally again!

My son will be 5 when this one's born, and all I can say is this pregnancy is MUCH different than the first time around! My poor hubby says I'm a totally different person- and not in a good way, but he's been so supportive & such a trooper. I don't remember having any issues at all besides fatigue until pre-eclampsia hit at 6 mos with my son... This time around I've been miserable, and just now starting to feel better! Every pregnancy is different! =o)

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I used LIQUID products at the recommendation of my doctor..... Maalox and Gaviscon (although Gaviscon is the one I used the most....used to just drink it from the bottle....carried it in my BIG purse).

Good luck!

Not sure I'm really of help, but I'm experiencing the same issues. I am currently 6 mths along and mine didn't start until about 5 mths. My doctor recommended Zantac. So far it is making it more bearable for me, but not eliminating the issue all together. I am able to sleep at night if I have taken meds. Hope you feel better soon.

Hi J., congrats on the baby. Hey, look at it this way at least you have a built-in babysitter, LOL.... Mine are 14 years apart, I understand! I had REALLY bad indigestion with my baby. I sometimes had to sleep practically sleeping upright. My doctor finally prescribed me a low dose of prevacid (which was safe for the baby). This did help some but not completely. Wish you the best of luck :)

Hi, I know I can't suggest more than what the doctor said and all the other stuff you've read about for the indigestion, but I do know I can talk about the amnio. I personally had it done for both of my pregnancies (one at 34yrs & one at 37yrs old). There is a risk, but it is minimal since the amnio is done by ultrasound. The only advice I can say is there are only a couple of reasons to take the risk. 1)Do the amnio if you want to be prepared for a special child (if abnormal) or if you would end the pregnancy if abnormal (I know it sounds harsh, but there are some people who don't want a special baby). If you plan on continuing the pregnancy and it doesn't matter if you have a special child, then don't take the risk. Amnios are a personal choice and should be considered carefully. Ultrasounds are great, but they don't always catch everything. Best of luck!

As one of those Advanced Maternal Age mamas (first baby at 36, then 39, then 42) I had amnios with all three. My first one was even an early amnio (12 weeks) altho they usually wait until 14-16weeks. I had no problems with the amnios and was thrilled to know without a doubt that there were no problems. They weren't painful, just a prick- followed by a day of rest. Yes- there are possibilities of complications but for us it was more important to have the knowledge gained. I know amnios aren't for everyone- you have to be prepared to deal with whatever the results are- good or bad- but I just wanted to weigh in with the "amnios aren't so bad" opinion. Since it sounds like you are going to be a single mama- it might be worth it to know in advance for sure if there is a problem. Good luck.

Okay, I had the same thing happen with my second pregnancy & believe it or not the only thing that helped was "fresh pineapple". I had to eat at least a serving once a day every day and then the minute I gave birth I was fine.

Good luck,
D.

I'll address the indigestion part. Do some research and decide if you should try aloe vera juice during pregnancy. I haven't used it during pregnancy, but it is very soothing to my digestive tract when I have "upsets". I started drinking it for my small intestine, and I just feel the difference when there's a burn in my throat or my stomach is in a tizzy. (I have GI issues.) The juice does inside your body what the plant does on the outside--soothe. It might work.

I'm not sure that I understand the "stuffed feeling in my throat". Does it feel like a blockage?

J.,

I know how you feel. I have the same problem along with sinus pressure and nausia. I googled for morning sickness relief and got a whole bunch of sites.
www.doulashop.com - offers packages that help with all morning sickness problems even a natural ant-acid and ginger candies that helped to settle my stomach and all it's upsets.

I would eat a lot of small meals throughout the day. If you can only get a little bit in the baby should be ok as long as your are drinking and taking vit. Maybe you should try a different prenatal vitamin. About the u/s vs amnio, it is your choice. I would think the amnio would have given you more info, but I know there are risks involved in that.

First of all, Congrats! WOOHOO! I am 44 & have a 2 yr old & a 27 yr old! LOL Yes, it is very different when they are that far apart. When I had indigestion, I drank pickle or olive juice. It is just vinegar, so it helps with the stomach acid.
Now, I personally think the ultrasound was the right choice. The amnio is too risky. They untrasounds/sonograms are so advanced now, they can tell SO much from them. I wish you lots of luck & enjoy it!

My doc told me to try the prilosec, it wasn't working either. The only thing that would help me was liquid Maalox mint flavored. It would put the flames out at the base of my throat. Also I know that some prenatal vitamins can cause indigestion and I ended up having to take it at night. HTH

J.,

I had to eat almost a bottle of tums a week during each of my 3 pregnancies. To this day I can't even stand the sight of them! Water would give me heartburn. The Tums should work after you eat enough of them. My doc also said you can have most any other antacids. Check with the pharmacist, because they know more about meds than the doctor does. As for the amnio, I had it twice...once at 36 and once at 42. It was nothing and I had to know for sure if something was going to be different about my baby. When you have other kids, I think it's important to know what's coming to be able to get educated. The benefit far outweighs the risk, especially at your age. You are still young! Unfortunately, I don't know anything about the ultrascreen.

Congrats and God bless,
C.

J.,

Good choice on the ultrasound vs the amnio. Amnio's are very invasive and not without risks, some very serious.
Did they give you any info from the ultrasound? Do you get the same discomfort when you drink liquids? Did the doctor ask any questions about acid reflux or hernia's?
Without any further information I would try to get your calories from liquid nutrition for a short time. It is possible that something is very irritated in system between your throat and your stomach making the passage of food difficult. If the swelling or irritation settles down you might not have the problem again.
But, it is vitally important to get the nutrition needed to your baby. I would suggest fruit smooties (easy on the acidity fruits) or Ovaltine (if you can handle milk) or Boost. This will get calories into your body so you can get nurishment to your baby. I would try that for a few days and then try the regular food again.
I would definantly keep in touch with you doctor to rule out any serious complications.
I wish you well!
J. Dirmeyer
Midwife

I had my daughter at 37. I had horrible motion sickness and nausea for at least 5 months. Every time we went ANY distance in the car I felt nauseated and ill for a couple of hours. A friend we visited one day introduced me to Papaya enzyme tablets. It worked and my family and I have been using them ever since. I have discovered that the ones from GNC taste better than any others I have tried. (The ones from Walmart were awful) They are small and depending on the severity we take up to 4 at a time. When pregnant I would have them with me at all times. I would take them before and after eating or even if I just felt ill in the car. It really seems to neutralize and calm. I also used warm peppermint tea. That helped me when breastfeeding also. Hope you feel better soon. I know how miserable that is for now. Big Hugs!

1. Your doctor was wrong to tell you to take tums. Its the wrong kind of calcium and can age your placenta. Discontinue it now!

2. Try using ginger to help with nausea. I made a "tea" with boiling water and pouring it over ginger root, put in honey and lemon and then put it over ice for a cool brew. It took me until my sixth child to discover this and I had severe morning sickness all day long with all others...it really helped me function.

3. You are heading into your second trimester and things might ease up, but may come back some in your last trimester...You're almost there! yea!

4. Remember staying rested and hydrated is always good. :)

My neighbor has a 17 year old and a 2 year old (her only children,) and big brother loves his sister dearly. I'm thinking you are in for a lot of joy...if you can just get rid of this heartburn!

Also good teas...Tension Tamer (Celestial) at the end of the day very calming, and Red Raspberry Leaf tea throughout the day, helps with uterine toning
(not artificial raspberry) (can always ice them.

Yes, you made a good choice about the ultrasound vs. amnio. Amnio, compromises the pregnancy and ultrasound can show so much without taking a chance with baby.

Saw someone recommend papaya...its effective with heartburn...but it also may not be good for baby...check with a certified midwife.
Blessings to you!

I had a fire in my gut from day one with my second one. Liquid Maalox was the only thing that worked. Don't drink alot of liquid an hour or so before you eat, this may help eliminate some of the fullness. Other than that I watched what I ate and took my prenatal vitamin at with my lunch since I was the least likely to eat citrus or dairy at that time of day. Are you eating those two things near the time of taking your prenatal vitamin? If so, that could be the trouble. As you expand, do not eat and then do things that require bending over. The food will come back up the bigger you get. I thought the Maalox was gross no matter what the flavor but it was the only thing that worked for me. Good luck to you!

on the test both will give you information as to the sex one for informative than the other but for safety I think that you chose right. on the other try peppermine candy it worked for me with both chidren.

HI J.,

Ask your doctor to prescribe something stronger. I can't remember what I was prescribed, but after dealing w/tums and OTCs, I just couldn't stand it anymore and asked the doctor. She prescribed something right away and wanted to know why I hadn't mentioned the problem to her (that was b/c I kept mentioning it to her nurse and she wasn't getting the message). Anyway, the prescription was safe for the baby and the heartburn, gagging, etc. - all if it stopped immediately - left me wondering why I had dealt w/it for 5 months! ;-)

P.S. I was 37 w/my first child and I opted for the ultrasound as opposed to the amnio - glad I did.

Good luck! H.

I know this is going to sound really weird, but the ONLY thing that helped me (I had horrible indigestion while I was pregnant) was Pringles Cheezums. I tried EVERYTHING. Someone happened to have a can of them and offered me one and there was my cure. I know I was willing to try anything. Hope it gets better.

Hi J.,
Bless you. When my daughter in law was pregnant she suffered with this issue as well. She lived off yogurt most of the time and stayed away from fruits all together.
Nothing sseemed to help except the tums etc- I think it will pass soon- unfortunately this seems to be a frequent occurance these days. Sorry
Good luck and blessings

Hi J.! Congrats....& no....you're not crazy! I had my 1st at 35!! I took Zantac while I was pg, I had gall stones & couldn't eat ANY fat the whole time I was pregnant. The pain was horrible but I only gained 29 pounds! My doctor suggested the Zantac, you might ask your doctor about it. As far as the amnio goes, I would NEVER do this. Why? Would it change anything? The only plus I can come up with is if there is something wrong you could start educating yourself. But in my opinion, it's not worth the risk. If there is something abnormal, you can learn about it after the baby is born. Good luck no matter what your choices are....you are blessed.
H. B

J., I have a friend who has been taken a natural supplement for about a year called Aloecure and it has made a tremendous difference in her life. Check out www.aloecure.com. Her GYN assured her that it could do nothing but help her but all the same I would clear with your Dr first. Hope this helps,,,,,,,,,,,,L. F

Oy! I remember the feeling! I feel your pain! I had it with both pregnancies but the second was the worst. It didn't matter what I ate. I had indigestion and refulx something terrible! I would be miserable and vomit during the night. I had to sleep sitting up with a pillow behind my back for most of the night every night. Sleeping on my left side was better thatn my right. I was prescribed Pepcid AD also and I took it at almost every lunch and dinner especially. It did not cure the problem, but it did help. Just continue to take it. Hope this helps some and you get some relief!

I understand. I had horrible indigestion and nauseau.

I ate tiny meals. Most of the foods I ate were not sweet nor spicy. Anything that was strong in flavor and smell i.e. green vegetables, fruit, etc. made me sick. Also, if I ate more than a few bites, I had bad indigestion.

I ate every 2 to 3 hours very small meals.

I made a soup in my crockpot once a week and I would eat this throughout the day. I would make sure I put lots of protein and veggies (that did not make me sick) in it. It went down much better than anything else. I did eat muffins and try to eat a sandwich for lunch.

Please let me know if you would like any soup recipes.

Hang in there.

I see you've had many replies, so I will keep this short and simple. My doctor prescribed 150mg Zantac, which is now OTC, twice a day from the time I was 4 months pregnant until after the baby was born. It worked like a charm, but I could definitely tell if I missed a dose. Best of luck and congrats!

Hi, I'm sorry I cannot help with advice on indigestion. I had it too, but only in the last trimester. I can offer sympathy! I used Gaviscon (which didn't really help either) and tried to sleep sitting up. I remember being very tired :-(

Re the ultrasound or amniocentisis, you have totally made the right choice. Unless you are at risk for any genetic abnormalities in your baby, you should never have been offered amniocentisis at all. For example, women over the age of 40 (which you are not) have an increased risk of Down Syndrome babies, and amniocentisis can identify this. Which also begs the question; does this mean we want to abort babies with genetic abnormalities like Downs Syndrome? If not, why the amniocentisis?? Ultrasound is (as far as we know) totally safe. Amniocentisis involves injecting a needle into the uterus and withdrawing a small amount of amniotic fluid. There is a small chance of miscarriage with this procedure. It is more expensive than ultrasound, and maybe that's why you were offered it as an option?

My indigestion was horrible with my pregnancy the whole time. I had to get my doctor to prescribe me Nexium and it worked wonders!!! I was miserable so I had to take it for a while and eventually it wasn't too bad so I didn't take the medicine the whole time. :) I never did the amnio for personal choices and just used regular ultrasounds for checking everything out. :) Good luck!

Hi J.,

While I'm not full of pregnancy wisdom I think I've had a similar issue! I'm 22 weeks pregnant and have somewhat recently developed this horrible, indigestion/rock-gut/fuzzy-acidic feeling on occassion. All my friends who experienced this said they just popped Tums like Pez, but I think more natural or balanced things are better. *I tried a Tums or two and they didn't help much either*

Anyhow! Milk has been a saving grace, and as akward as it seems SlimFast and Ensure also ease my pains sometimes. Its like drinking a refreshing glass of vitamins/minerals disguised as a milk shake, lol. My other sugestion (and I tried/use it myself) was a a 1/2 glass of water with just a little less than a teaspoon of baking soda. Let is disolve all the way then chug it down! I burped and felt sooo much better, didn't think it had anything to do with a burp, but it fixed my innerds : )

The sodium bicarbonate is bad if you over do it, kind of like salt in super high amounts, or if you are on a sodium sensitive diet be careful. Doctor said a little every once in awhile is fine though.

Good luck J.!

I had the same problem with indegestion!I would take Mylanta, Zantek and Tums with no relief. I would wake up late at night coughing with a burning throat that would send me into a huge coughing fit. 6 weeks after I had my little girl, I went to the Emergency Room because my indegestion pain was worse than ever! It turns out that it was Gallstones and I had passed a couple into my bile duct and had to have two surgeries to have them removed. When the nurses found out that I had just given birth, they nodded and said that this was very common for pregnant women to have gallbladder problems. My suggestion for you is to talk with your OB and have your gallbladder checked out. Wouldn't hurt...

Yes, getting the ultrasound is a much better idea than getting an amnio. An amnio has a great risk of causing a miscarriage or infection. There is no reason you need an amnio and don't let your doctor try and tell you that you are "advanced maternal age." That is a bunch of BS. Also, have you looked into midwifery care for your pregnancy? Research has proven time and time again that midwives give better care and have better outcomes than OB's do.

L.

I am a labor doula - I have found that taking an enzyme from the health food store usually helps with this. I do not recommend the otc choices because they tend to be very high in sodium and that can lead to swelling. I hope this does the trick for you!!! Also, congratulations...a new life is always cause for celebratiion!!!

I had a lot of that same problem and only two things ever worked for me. If I had already ate and was hurting, Chooz gum (it is an antiacid, but contains a lot of calcium, which my dr said was helpful); if I hadnt eat, but was hungry, an apple with the peeling still in place. The peeling has pectin in it which is a natural antiacid and helped tremendously! Good luck with your new blessing!

Well I didn't have any indigestion during my pregnancy and I think it is possible that it was because I took probiotics ie acidophilus/bifidus every day. They are the healthy bacteria in the gut. Also my baby never spit up, so I think it may have helped him. They are good for you no matter what, so it couldn't hurt to try. I second the aloe vera juice that was recommended by another poster. Also mint tea might be soothing.
Eat small meals often, no big ones and don't drink liquids while you are eating. Wait about a 1/2 hour, that way the gastric juices will be more likely to stay down. I'm sure you're already doing it, but stick with bland foods. Plain yogurt has probiotics in it naturally and the sour flavor is very settling.
I don't know about the tests you chose between b/c I didn't have to do that.

I was in a similar situation a couple years ago, I was 38, pregnant with twin boys and had 2 nearly grown teenage girls. I would eat ONE oreo and that was it! Over the counter stuff didn't really seem to work. My doctor prescribed protonix and that took care of it - never had another issue with heartburn.

I was 37 when I became pregnant again after 15 years. I have three kids 23, 18 & 2 1/2. My 2 1/2 yr old has been such a blessing. I had the Ultra screen tests done & with the technology today they can really tell from that IF there is a reason to go thru other tests. It is much less invasive and does not run the risk of an infection or chance for a miscarriage like the amnio does. Congrats on this new endeavor in your life and good luck!

It sounds like you may be experiencing acid reflux. I especially had it while pregnant and was able to take Nexium. It didn't work the first pill, but after about 4 days of taking it, I totally felt better! I was about 20 weeks along when I started taking it, although I was very early in pregnancy when the symptoms started--I just didn't know what to do. I took the Nexium for the remainder of my pregnancy. I never again got that feeling that I had eaten too much or that the baby was pushing on all my organs and there wasn't anymore room for food. I also NEVER got the feeling that the baby was pushing on my lungs and causing an inability to breathe. Talk with your doctor about it and see if it may be right for you. It sure helped me! Good luck and Congratulations!!