Thursday, February 28, 2008

Oh Yeah, One More Thing for the List

I forgot to add that since being pregnant, my thyroid is giving out. I caught it early, so it's really not a big deal. I just have to take a pill everyday for the rest of my life. And that puts me technically into the "high-risk pregnancy" category. I have to go 45 minutes away once a month and see a specialist to monitor my situation. That actually hasn't been so bad. The doctor and all of the nurses over there are wonderful! I've never felt so thoroughly taken care of before. It's like the 5 star hotel of doctors' offices. I've gotten lots more sonograms than I've ever had before, and they have one of those cool 3-D sonogram machines. I don't think the baby or myself are at any real risk, as long as I take my medicine. The baby looks perfect from every angle so far.

6 comments:

Trever and Heather said...

Any names yet?

Renae said...

Bruce really likes Wesley. I'm not in love with it, but he is, so that may be it. Wesley Harlan (the Harlan is for a teacher / mentor / friend of mine that I have more respect for than I can say.)

timpani76 said...

You just have low thyroid right? You're thyroid gland is still semi-functional?

Are you still going to be able to have a natural delivery?

Renae said...

I just have low thyroid. I have (I'm sure I'll spell it wrong, but here is my best guess) Hashimoto's Disease. What?! Basically, there is an antibody specific to the thyroid. I have thyroid antibodies attacking my thyroid, and causing it to be low. I just have to get my thyroid levels monitored periodically, and take the appropriate amounts of thyroid substitute. It really isn't a big deal. Life will continue as usual, except that I have to take a pill everyday. I don't feel sick or anything, and as long as it's taken care of I shouldn't really feel any different than usual. It won't affect delivery at all, as far as I know. Thyroid can cause very serious health problems, if you don't take care of them. But, the good thing is that if you know what the problem is, it's usually an easy fix. (Boy, was that an overly long answer?!)

timpani76 said...

No, it was a good answer. My sister in law has a non-functioning thyroid gland because she had an infection that killed her thyroid gland. Her doctors basically told her not to get pregnant because there was no way to keep her thyroid regulated enough to prevent the problems that can happen from a total lack of thyroid.

So, I was just worried about you! My brother has low thyroid and he nags me all the time to get tested, but I got tested with Vance, so I don't really feel the need to get tested all the time. Hmmm, going to stop babbling in your comments now...

Renae said...

Yikes! That is a bit worrisome. I will freely admit that I am not the most educated on the subject. Thyroid problems can be bad stuff! Mine is very minor, at this point. Your brother is right though, you should get it checked every now and again. My mother has low thyroid (that's why there are eight years between Todd and me - there were about 5 miscarriages in between, due to an uncaught thyroid problem). Anyway, with that on my mind, I had the doctor check mine every year or so. I tested negative many a time before I eventually tested positive. It's a good thing that I checked too. I found out about the thyroid problem the day before I found out I was pregnant. Tell me that was a coinsident! This was not a planned pregnancy either.