As many of you know, I've been absent or very, very quiet for the last few months. I've vanished from loops and my writing has slowed to a crawl (eg. so far, it has taken me as long to get partially through these current revisions as it took me to write my first 2 books this year!)
There are reasons, one fabulous, one not so great.
The bad news first: I had a TIA (transient ischaemic attack) or mini-stroke end of September, which affected my right arm and leg. Symptoms resolved fairly quickly but the never-ending tests and fear had me pretty worried for a while.
I'm not going to go on and on about this but only to say if you ever experience any weird symptoms, worth checking out.
Now, onto the good stuff.
I'm 14 weeks pregnant!!!!!!!!!
After baby dramas in May this year, I'm so thrilled by this pregnancy and treading gently through each day.
The only downside is the incredibly awful morning sickness, which lasts from the time I open my eyes to when I go to bed, hence the limited writing. Bit hard to keep hands on the keyboard when they're gripping the porcelain. (Oops, sorry, too much info!)
So if anyone has a miraculous cure for 'all day' sickness that works, let me know and I'll gladly give you as many of my backlist books as I can. Mind you, it has to work and I have to warn you, I've tried nearly everything already!
Yay Nic! That picture is just amazing. I'm soooooo pleased for you!!!!
ReplyDeleteA
(((Hugs))) for the TIA and a ton of cheers for your wonderful pregnancy news! Congratulations, Nic!!! :) Hope the nausea passes soon. Have you tried nibbling on crackers?
ReplyDeleteWishing you all the best,
Gail from Canada
Hugs for the TIA, Nic. But wonderful news about the baby. I love the scan picture. How cool to share it on your blog!
ReplyDeleteLove,
Barbara
Thanks girls.
ReplyDeleteOne teensy, weensy thing: that scan pic isn't mine!
When the doc took a pic of my bub, the baby kindly flipped over and mooned us, so the shot is of the bub's back!!!
Will post if I get a good one next time :)
Congratulations on the baby news (and soothing vibes on the TIA, Nic. Lucozade was the only thing that helped me through my first pregnancy.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations, Nicola!!! I'm so thrilled for you! For my first pregnancy, I found eating bananas and having a continual supply of barley sugar sweets really helped. Then in my next pregnancy (with twins) I ate tons of ginger biscuits and Jacobs crackers (dry) and for my last, final pregnancy, the only thing which worked was fresh oranges or freshly squeezed orange juice.
ReplyDeleteSame woman, three different methods, but the one thing that ran true through all three pregnancies was eating something every half an hour kept away the nausea. If you're sending stuff down, nothing can come up. At least, that's how it worked for me. Hope this passes soon and congratulations once again!
Congrats, Nic!
ReplyDeleteTake care
I'm sorry about the bad news. But I'm glad the symptoms have resolved themselves, and I really sympathise with you on the being-pregnant-and-clutching the porcelain, because I did that daily, frequently. It was horrible, and staring at a computer screen made the nausea worse, so that made work rather difficult.
ReplyDeleteI've heard that ginger is good for nausea. I used to eat lots of ice-cream with cocoa mixed in (it's a quick way of turning vanilla ice-cream into really strong chocolate ice-cream). So probably the baby got a caffeine overdose, but it was the one thing that tasted almost as good on the way back up as it did on the way down (is that TMI? ;-) )
The other thing that worked a little was pressing on the pressure-points in my wrists. Have you ever seen those wristbands that people wear for sea-sickness? They're supposed to press down on that slightly hollow part of your wrist, at the back, about where the wristband of your watch would be. You can press down on them yourself, with the other hand, but then you end up with your hands crossed, which is no good if you need to type.
Hope the nausea goes away soon!
(((Nicola))) What a stressful couple of months you've been having. I'm so sorry about the TIA, but SO excited that you're expecting a baby, CONGRATULATIONS!!
ReplyDeleteAs to morning sickness, I had this all day long with my first. The only thing that worked for me were pressure point wrist bands. Apparently it's what people who get sea sick also wear. There's something like a small button that you position over the pressure point and you press it hard for 30 secs or so and it eases the nausea.
I remember walking around pressing down on both buttons, scared to take my fingers away. I was amazed when I found it really did work!
The other things I had was peppermint cordial to sip on and ginger nut biscuits to nibble.
Hope yours goes away soon.
Sue
Congratulations, Nicola!!! :)
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm glad your TIA cleared itself away nice and quick (( ))
As far as I know, cures for sickness are eating little and often, anything ginger (including ginger ale), sipping Coke to settle the stomach, chunks of cucumber, and dry crackers. All in all, a bit of a feast, wouldn't you say?? ;)
Congratulations once again,
Jess x
D'oh!! That'll teach me to hop straight to writing a comment before reading the others! (I get your blog posts via email in an attempt to stop myself from 'surfing'/procrastinating).
ReplyDeleteSorry, I hadn't realised that Laura had already mentioned the wristbands.
Sue :-)
Such happy baby news!! Congratulations. Be happy about the good things in your life: Be glad every day. Rest, relax, do what you want to. Love, laugh and make every moment count. (Housework doesn't count. Hugs, games and time together does!!!)
ReplyDeleteWhat happy news Nic.
ReplyDeleteHave you read --what to eat when you are expecting?
I found the hints and tips in that book very useful as I used to suffer terribly from morning sickness. And as I am sure you know -- morning sickness will pass at some point..
I am so pleased your other health problems are resolving themselves.
Congratulations Nic! I'm so very pleased for you, and glad that your baby mooned you, too!
ReplyDelete(((hugs))) for the TIA...I'm glad you've recovered.
I don't really think there's a cure for morning sickness though a lot of the things mentioned here helped me. But what helped me the most was reminding myself, every minute, how much any sickness was worth it. It's all part of the incredible gift.
Nicola, hugs on your TIA - the fact you managed to do any writing at all is amazing and big congratulations on your pregnancy. It's certainly been quite a year for you and I hope your 'all day' sickness doesn't stick around for too much longer!
ReplyDeleteMy best tip ... is to go everywhere with an empty ice cream tub with lid. I used to keep it on the bottom of my baby buggy. By the time I got to the fifth one I was quite deedy with 'doing the deed' and carrying on with the school run/shopping/visit to play-park.
ReplyDeleteOh joy!!
Congratulations Nic! LOL on the mooning, can see the baby's gonna be cheeky already :) The only thing that worked for me was baby gherkins! Hope you find your 'cure' soon.
ReplyDeleteSending HUGE congratulations about the baby and lots of cyber [[[[hugs]]]] about the TIA. Sorry you have had to endure the worry and the tests but hang in there and enjoy every moment (apart from the sickness) of your new baby.
ReplyDeleteAnd extra congrats on receiving your first ModX baby, too!!!! Sounds great and I am so looking forward to reading it.
Take care,
Love,
Mags
Oh honey, been there! My nausea was so bad with BigBoy I had IVs twice! Graham crackers helped, so did flavored carbonated water (not sweetened, that made it worse), lime slushies (virgin margaritas) and aromatherapy. I was reaching by the end of my fourth month, I was so sick of being sick. Citrus scents helped, other food aromas made it worse.
ReplyDeleteMine never went away - puked all through delivery. Now THAT is TMI.
Try writing while laying down. I could do that. And for some reason, sitting on an exercise ball instead of a chair helped too. Hormones are weird things!
A huge thanks to everyone :)
ReplyDeleteThere are a few things here I haven't tried yet so I'll definitely give them a go, with everything crossed they work!!
Oh, Nic! Congratulations! Love that first pic of the new baby to come!
ReplyDeleteShirley
Nic, popping in to say congrats!
ReplyDeleteSorry, can't help you with the morning sickness.
Congrats and good luck!
ReplyDeleteI had morning sickness so bad. Never could write the first three months of pregnancy. What helped were massages (seriously, find a good massage therapist who does prenatal massage) and ginger. Nibble on ginger candy and dring ginger water (heat hot water and let raw ginger steep in it like tea), both reallly help!
Hugs on the TIA, Nic - and congrats on the baby!
ReplyDeleteMorning sickness: cold water with a slice of lemon in it, stay well clear of any scents or particular foods that trigger it (I ended up going veggie when I was pregnant with my youngest, because I couldn't stand the idea, scent or taste of meat), and try sniffing a lemon (which sound weird, but works). Very plain foods with no scent help - rice and cream crackers - and ginger tea.