Thursday, February 19, 2009

This is a bit hard. (and something very interesting)

I'm definitely making the separation between this blog and my other blog. I'm trying to update both everyday. Karl updates & pictures, Ella and Allison news, kid and parenting related stuff will be over there, while my sarcastic and schnarky self and any "me" news will be over here. Seems simple.

But the separation isn't that simple. Most of my identity right now is wrapped around being the mother of a newborn. Most of my health related shit is wrapped around having just given birth. AND most importantly (to me) is cute ass all hell updates/news (like today's post) is over there, not getting read by my largest audience.

Yes, yes. I totally understand why my other blog is not my largest audience. I'm just now starting to put time into it and I'm coming from the ttc side of the community. And mommy blogs just aren't that exciting - even to other mommies! We are very interested in our own children but other people's kids? Not so much. And I know my kids are "other people's kids" to everyone else out there.

So forgive me until I get my bearings. I'm going to "advertise" certain posts here so I can still do the very normal thing of 'new baby bragging'. I know it's oh so wrong, especially in this community, but I just can't help it. And I'm going to screw up and post things here I should be posting over there.

Health update:

I saw my PCP yesterday and he totally thinks it's my gallbladder. (Is that two words or one? I see them both being used.) He has ordered the HIDA scan and we're waiting for approval. He did tell me he is proactive in removing the thing, but it will be up to me. So that's where we are now.

After talking about the gallbladder, I brought up a very annoying back pain I get eventually after having each of my babies. It's a ~burning~ pain, different from my spine injury pain and different from any muscle pull pains I've ever had. It's from one concentrated area, right at the bottom of my right shoulder blade. My doc said one (or two) words. "Gallbladder". Apparently this is a very common symptom.

I'm not too sure though. I have gotten it consistently with every baby and I've never had pain from my actual gallbladder until last week. And the pain in my shoulder is all day, everyday. It's not muscle or spine related, I will admit that, but it's a pain I have for months and months and months and it finally goes away. He hypothesized that I've had this gallbladder problem for years and it "acts up" after pregnancy, only showing itself by my shoulder blade pain. And it going away has nothing to do with the baby not needing to be held constantly and however different my posture/movements are with a newborn, but it has all to do with my gallbladder function getting back to normal. I just think he's a doc who has a diagnosis in his head and he's just making everything fit that one thing. I guess there is nothing else to do but wait and see.

Something very interesting:

Over on the sidebar today, Blogher has an article on how to find the best IF clinic. In the article, there is a link to a report this report: Top 25 IVF Clinics In United States By Live Birth Rate For Women Under 35. The first RE we saw to conceive Ella is listed as #12. In the nation! Wow. And personally, I didn't like our experience there at all. (Among other things that happened, he ordered cd3 blood work, you know, the first thing we all start with. And they couldn't get a vein. So he said "that's usually not the problem, so we'll just skip it." Seriously?) But I guess his IVF rates are freaking fantastic. And CCRM is #14 on the list, which is much lower than I would have suspected - I thought they were the famous top clinic.

Ah. I see now. Where the #12 clinic had 73 total cycles in 2006, #14 CCRM had 1,236 cycles. So #12's 66.7% success rate was actually only 46 live births. CCRM had 805 live births. Yeah, statistics can definitely warp the overall view of something if you don't dig in.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Pregnancy messes with my gallbladder too. I felt that burning under my left rib every time I had a baby. My last doctor finally figured it out, I have gall-sludge (sounds yummy, huh?) It happeneds sometimes during pregnancy and then after you have the baby it goes back to normal. Unlike you, I had more effects during pregnancy than after delivery. I an u/s done at 6 weeks pp and there was still a trace of sludge and I just had another u/s at 3 months pp and it's free and clear. Hopefully that's what you are dealing with because it fixes itself!

Beautiful Mess said...

I had gallbladder issues with my last pregnancy. My attacks were horrible though. No light shoulder pain, I had a full blown attack a few times a week. Finally a doctor diagnosed me over the phone and I had surgery to remove it. I've been totally fine ever since then! Apparently you can change your diet and not get surgery, but with a newborn and no brain from lack of sleep, I went with surgery. I asked for a tummy tuck while they were down there, weird they said no..heh.

Tara said...

I'm having a hard time keeping my two blogs separate as well. I've been posting a lot of the same posts on both blogs. I can't help it right now. I have totally different readers for both blogs and some stuff I want them both to see/read.

Elana Kahn said...

Notice how there are no clinics in Massachusetts on the list? Mass is the only state (I believe) that mandates fertility coverage... :-) In 2006 the clinic that I used had nearly 1900 cycles total with almost 800 for women under 35. Their rates aren't as high because they did sooooo many more cycles than the ones on this list. The smaller a sample, the better your numbers can be (if you get lucky). Larger samples are more accurate of reality. :-) #1 on the list did less than a hundred cycles and put in nearly 3 embryos on average. No wonder they're so high on the list! My clinic did about 9.5 times the number of cycles and only puts in 2 embryos on average. Go Massachusetts!! I go for experience vs. high birth rates (that are probably very high multiple rates as well). Yeah, I'm having multiples but at least it's not triplets. :-)

Elana Kahn said...

P.S. If you check out the Massachusetts only list, my clinic is #2 in the state and has the most under 35 cycles (and comes in a very close second for total cycles).

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the "ads" over here. I know I just think of this site as your blog and I forget about the other one a lot.

BTW I'm sorry if my comment over there came off as if you were "wrong" about the nursing cover. I had just read your breastfeeding rant below it and my response was kind of emotionally charged about that post, but since was not the most recent post, and part of the thought was mentioned in the baby registry post, that was where I commented. I should have actually responded to the breastfeeding post.

Confessions of a momaholic said...

getting my gall bladder out next wednesday. ugh! i will let you know how it goes. i do have the shoulder pain, but that is in addition to the "attacks". i do find that i can avoid the attacks by not eating fatty foods, but still opted to get it out to prevent further pain.

Rob Taylor said...

@Nancy Thanks for posting the link. You hit the nail on the head when you mentioned that success rates need to be considered in the context of how many cycles the center does. Some clinics will turn down patients if they feel that the chances of success are too low just to keep their stats high.

@Elena Kane Just wanted to point out there are state listings as well. So to see who the best of Massachusetts:

http://fertilitysuccessrates.com/report/Massachusetts/women-under-35/data.html

I was not aware of state mandated fertility coverage there. Thanks for mentioning that.