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I wouldn’t call myself a hypochondriac. I am more of a “health freak” type. I don’t tend to invent conditions I do not have, but I am very concerned with any health problem I MIGHT have. I often jump online to self-diagnose if something is hurting  or doesn’t feel right, however I don’t go crazy over it and worry excessively. I go to a doctor, i get checked out and every time it’s all fine. I do take my health seriously, I’m one of those people who thinks prevention is the best word in the vocabulary ( as evidenced by my approach to pregnancy and childbirth).
So when, during a pre-conception urine test, they found some protein, I made sure to schedule a follow up appointment  to do another urine test. According to the doctor, protein can sometimes show up in your urine, but that’s fine. However if it shows up consistently, then there’s a problem. After researching it on the internet, i found out that protein in urine can very well be a sign of kidneys not working right. Since it’s the kidneys leaking protein ( they’re supposed to keep something as valuable as that), then there must be a problem there.
I came in for a follow up test and guess what? There was even more protein (+2).
“Oh-oh!”  I thought.
Instantly, recollection of my mom telling me that my grandma died from kidney problems started flooding my mind. Shiiiiiit!!!
While I  hate being unhealthy or having any kind of condition, one thing I hate more is having a GENETIC condition. It just bothers me to high heaven that it’s something 1.) out of my control, 2.) was given to me by someone else ( read: genes), 3.) I can’t do shit to change that.

See, I lead a VERY healthy lifestyle:
I exercise every day
I am a vegetarian
I take vitamins
I do not eat processed food at all
I do not eat sweets (much)
I don’t eat out ( I cook everything at home)
I don’t smoke
I don’t drink ( at all)
I don’t drink coffee
I try to buy organic ( as much as I can and can afford)

So I feel there’s absolutely NO reason there should be ANYTHING wrong with me. EVER :) Or at least for a very long time.
Anyways, the doctor comes in, explains to me that there’s even more protein in my piss  (excuse me!) urine. I mention to him that my grandma DIED from a kidney related condition. He informs me of a genetically dominant polycystic kidney. It sounds familiar. It’s that very type of condition that would drive me nuts. The type of condition that gets worse and worse and something you’d have to live with all your life. The type that puts you on dialysis treatment by age 40. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!
So that freaks me out, of course. Me? On dialysis? No freaking way! Isn’t it only diabetic, old, super overweight people who neglected their health their whole life who go on dialysis? No freaking way!
I drive home. Upset as all get out. Not “crying” upset, but ANGRY upset! Angry at my grandma for dying from a kidney related disease.
My husband, while concerned, tells me to calm down and wait until the good doctor does some tests. In the meantime, I call my mom to ask her what exactly my grandma’s problem was. Of course, in no way do I explain to her what has happened that afternoon and pretend that I’m just curious. My mom is such a worrier ( that’s where I get it from) that I’d never upset her like that without knowing all the facts.

AAAAaaaaaand she tells me it was simple inflammation of kidneys. LOL. Pyelonephritis.  The only reason she passed away from it is because she refused to get treatment ( she was a tough Russian woman from a remote village roughing it out in the big city). OOOhhhhh!! AAaaaahhhhh! Relief! I CAN’T have polycystic kidney! I won’t have to spend my late years on dialysis! My kidneys aren’t expanding and growing cysts! I can have a baby and not pass this genetically dominant condition on!
WOW! As soon as I processed it occurred to me how funny it was that i EVEN thought that I’d have something like that. My family genetic and health history is spotless.  The occasional high blood pressure was due to stupid russian diet high in refined carbs and cholesterol ( those people don’t know what Olive Oil is, and those who do, refuse to use it in favor of vegetable oil (yuck!), citing its taste)
I call the doctor immediately, he cancels the ultrasound that would take a look at my NON-cystic kidneys.

But we still have to investigate what is causing my proteinuria ( fancy word for “some steak in your pee”).
I go for a 24 hour urine test. They hand me THIS JUG! ( I debated on whether I should post this picture here or not, but hell with it! Yeah I peed in it. Yes, without a funnel ( TMI yet?)). I picked it up and had to go through the whole building carrying this HUGE orange PEE JAR! Then I had to pee into it for the next 24 hours and finally drop it off ( FULL!) at the lab. So that wasn’t embarrassing at all. :)

I felt so much better having done that and even better than that, when the results came back completely normal in a few days. I even got a call from my OBGYN on Friday night personally telling me it was ALL fine ( I think he felt a bit responsible for jumping to conclusions and scarying me with a irreversible uncontrollable genetic disease) lol

After I analysed the whole situation and the tests, in addition to doing some research, I found what might have a been the  cause for that scary protein in my urine. I read somewhere that hemp seeds ( the ones that grow pot) excrete albumin ( protein) in high doses. My favorite cereal happens to be organic HEMP SEED CEREAL ( what? hemp seeds are very nutritional and good for you). And every time I went for that urinalysis, I had just finished my morning cereal. And that’s exactly why a 24 hour test showed nothing significant.

So that’s the story of how I “almost inherited” an incurable genetic disease by eating pot.

And while you’re here, please click this button – K, thnx!

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Continuation of my maternity insurance debacle

Well, what do you know? Health insurance people called.
The moron agent, who was incredibly unfamiliar with coverages, also forgot to mention that I needed to enclose a check for the first month with the application. It might normally make sense, but since I was switching from one Blue Cross policy to another, while being on Automatic Withdrawals for my monthly premiums, I didn’t think they really needed it and he neglected to bring it up.

So two weeks after I submitted an app, thinking everything is easy-peasy, I get it back in the mail with a sticky note saying that I need to enclose a check. I call the agent, he aplogetically informs me that sicne it’s been two weeks (duh! who’s fault was it?), we need to complete re-do the whole application, as in take all the info over the phone again, mail the app again, have it signed by me and mailed back AGAIN!
I mean seriously?

So if his estimation of underwriting times is correct, we won’t be insured on the maternity side until February 1st. There has to be 30 days of active coverage before conception, which means we can’t start trying for a baby until March 1st except that my ovulation is more towards the end of the month and even if we conceive that first month, my due date will be in Decemeber.
And That’s really shitty!

Thank you Mr Health Insurance Man! You just pushed our baby plans 3-4 more months.

And I was getting all excited…. Boo!

{ On another note, I just got ambushed by “hubby attack huggies” (p.s. nothing to do with diapers) }

And while you’re here, please click this button – K, thnx!

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You know that greyed out or default avatar picture that shows up every time you post a comment? ( I wish the defaults were as cool as these little buggers down here, but you get the idea)

Well, you can customize it to have YOUR picture show up on all the blogs you comment on ( including yours if needed)

Gravatar is this cool service that allows you to associate an image/button/avatar with your email address.
Here’s how it works.
1. Create an account at Gravatar.com
2. Add an email address that you usually use when commenting on other blogs
3. Add a picture and associate it with that email address.

Voila!

From now on, every time you comment anywhere with avatar capabilities ( mostly blogs), as long as you type in that email address, the photo you associated with it will show up.

It’s pretty cool actually. I can’t stand anonymous avatars. This makes it so much better.

So, my blogless readers ( you know who you are), take the time to do it, so that I could see your pretty faces displayed above your comment.

And don’t forget to vote by simply hitting this buttom (you can vote daily)

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What a fun way of finding new blogs to read!
Check it out!

And please vote on The Fence:

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 I used to be a crazy photographer. I have 45,000 pictures from the last 2-3 years and don’t even have a baby to photograph. This year I’ve slowed down with my picture-taking, so when I woke up after Thanksgiving ready to shoot something, it was an urge I could resist, to my husband’s chagrin. 

We got ready to go get some Black Friday shopping done, happened to put on matching outfits, and after a quick look in the mirror , I knew who my next photography victim was going to be. Since i stopped maniacally taking pictures, we haven’t taken any fun/good family photos in the past year. So I dragged A. around the house  like a mad woman armed with a tripod, a nifty-fifty and a Mark II. The result was a bit better than expected. 

Here are some of them: 

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1:00 am
Home
In bed
Make up still on
Thanksgiving is over

Happy holiday everyone

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Believe it or not, but I’m pretty much done with my black friday shopping.  All done online. I have one more store to actually go to and that’s it.
Compared to last year’s BF, when we went shopping at midnight and stayed up till 6 am shopping with our friends visiting from Italy, this is a cop out.

Two deals I’d like to bring your attention to that I took advantage of:

Barnes and Noble: 30% off one item. That’s pretty big! I’ve been looking at this big hardcover pregnancy book, “Pregnancy Day By Day” at the stores. It’s 40 bucks and I was planning on buying it once I get pregnant. Well, this was the perfect time for it: $31 online + 30% off= Awesome! It’s a really big book that goes day by day describing what’s going on with your body and daily tips on pregnancy. I will be happy to give the coupon code/link to any of my subscribers- just comment below that you want it and I’ll email it to you.

Deal #2: Bath and Body Works.

I absolutely ADORE their new collections. A few months ago they had a promotion of Buy 3 , get 3 Free on their shower creams, lotions, hand creams, etc. I happened to be at the store the last day of the promotion and decided to try out a few scents. First of all, Oh My God, their new scents are heavenly- really rich and sensual. My favorite was Dark Kiss. I bought a few just to try them out. I don’t tend to like scented body lotions because they are either too watery or don’t moisturize well. But with this line I was pleasantly surprised. It’s a great moisturizer, smells adorably, and last a long time. I have gotten so many compliments on how I smell by simply using the shower cream and the body cream.

So of course, I bought 6 more items, 3 Dark Kiss and 3 other scents to try them out.
There’s a 20% OFF coupon floating around the Internet and also if you spend $40 , which is easy to do, you get a bag of goodies for $20.

So go to town people! And I cannot wait to hear what you bought on Black Friday!

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Traditionally, one of the first steps of  planning a baby is going off Birth Control. Granted, with me, it takes a bit of a different course with all the pre-conception care and preparedness.
However, last month was my time to unleash the power of natural hormones. Oh boy, did I NOT know what I was getting myself into!

In order for you to understand what I am about to describe and not to schluff me off as one of those hypochondriac-y hysterical pregnancy prone chicks, you need to know this:

I have been on THE PILL my whole adult life. I started when I was 18 and have NEVER been off of it up until now, 8 years later. In addition to that, when I was working as a model in NYC, I had consulted with my doctor and he agreed that it’d be just fine if I were to take the active pills non-stop without making a break for the white placebo pills, thus skipping my period altogether.

I went on living my life without a period for two years, happy as a clam not to experience any side effects of having one. By the end of the 2nd year I was starting to wonder what having a period felt like – I’d completely forgotten. I could not  fathom why girls, who are already on the pill, would even bother putting themselves through the wringer that we call “mothernature’sgiftoallwomen”.
At that point I was completely unfamiliar with the PMS and period symptoms that most women experience monthly.

So when time came to go off my pill, I  cheerfully tossed my used pack in the trash and ignored the annoying daily calls from Target to remind me that my auto-refill prescription is ready.
Condoms became our friend # 1 and I went on to live what I thought was going to be a normal life.

The craziness started with light spotting on day 4-5 after I should have ovulated. I didn’t think much about it until I realized that day, that I had VERY SENSITIVE boobs… Like,the  not normal “can’t wear a shirt without a bra”, “do not touch me” sensitive boobs. I thought back and remembered that we had sex about the time that ovulation should have occurred. My thoughts started racing:”OMG! No way! We used a condom! I don’t have maternity coverage yet! I CAN’T BE PREGNANT YET”! I realized that it wouldn’t be the end of the world if i were to be pregnant, but i would have preferred to have maternity coverage and have my wisdom teeth out, etc etc…

My husband, of course, calmed me down saying that I am silly and there was no way i am pregnant. Ok, so I calmed down. For now. We all know how unreliable condoms can be, but he’s right, I can’t be pregnant.

A few days went by, I kept complaining about how strange it was that my boobs were SOOO Sensitive!!!  And then the emotions started acting up. I think I cried a few times in one day…and more than a few days that week.
“Oh Gosh! - i thought, Here’s the pregnancy emotions! Am i really pregnant? I have never felt that way!” At some point I remember crying in my husband’s arms, complaining about something, and then both of us laughing about how stupid what I am crying about was, which would send me deeper into my weeping hysterical non-sense fit.
“I must be pregnant!”- i thought. I don’t cry, I’m not a cry baby. My friends who know me well are well aware that I don’t cry.

That day I had to do my pre-conception bloodwork and urine test and they discovered some protein in my urine which can be a sign of pregnancy ( strangely enough no pregnancy test was performed), which further proved my fears/hypothesis.

To make a long story short, I waited for my next doctor’s appointment and asked them to do a pregnancy test which came back negative ( of course!) and life went back to normal leaving me wondering why on earth I was experiencing pregnancy symptoms without being pregnant. My husband’s guess was “hysterical pregnancy”, a made-up pregnancy where a woman is so anxious to get pregnant that she thinks she’s feeling the symptoms. I hated this “diagnosis”, because one – I am not anxious to get pregnant, i’m not ready yet on any of the fronts, not until all things are in place; and two- I really felt those things.  I mean, I was crying like a baby over something stupid like forgetting to brush my teeth, then laughing that i was crying over that, then crying because it was …all…. just….sooooo…saaaaaaaaad :) ahahahaha!

When my period finally came, once again proving (Thank God!) that I am not pregnant, a light bulb went off in my head:

I WAS FEELING NORMAL PMS SYMPTOMS!!!!!

The normal hormonal fluctuation and imbalance most women experience monthly and are very used to.

This was absolutely hilarious to me. I hadn’t had a period in so long that I completely forgot what it feels like: the mood swings mid cycle, the sore boobs, breaking out, crying, cramps, bleeding. It was so foreign to me that it never once occurred that what I was feeling could be normal. Most girls were very used to feeling this way and therefore didn’t pay much attention to it. For me, on the other hand, it was all new!

It was very satisfying to tell my husband that I really DID feel those things ( I’m suspecting he thought i was one of those crazy people), that i didn’t invent the symptoms.
We laughed, we cried, it was better than “Cats”, but at least now I know that if I am not supposed to get pregnant, I probably won’t, and it’s just my period :)

As far as protein in my pee, that was something completely different and is another story that you will hopefully hear soon.

Now, make me feel more like a normal (read: not crazy) person and tell me your own pregnancy scare stories in the comments! ( it’s a good time to introduce yourself if you’d like, too)

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When you have successfully cleaned the kitchen to the point where it hasn’t been for weeks.

I feel like today is Monday. I like Mondays because it gives me a fresh start. With work, planning, goals.
Yesterday i missed the whole day but napping for 5 hours, from 11 to 4.
Who the hell naps for 5 hours? I think my body thinks I’m in training for pregnancy-from what I hear napping becomes a daily occurrence.

Today, though it’s not Monday, I’m full of goals and objectives. I will write in separate post about what i decided to do about work but for now while I have 2 months before TTCing I will do as much as I can without stressing out.

Hope you are all having a fab Tuesday ( not to be mistaken for a FAT Tuesday- noone wants that)

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Why the picture of my two adorable black kitties, Travis and Casper?

My test for toxoplasmosis antibodies came back. And despite the fact that I grew up with a ton of cats and currently have 4 adorable kitties, I am still NOT immune!

What’s a girl gotta do to get some toxo immunity?

Toxoplasmosis gets transferred from infected meat/animals to humans through their feces or raw/undercooked meat. My cats are indoors but they occasionally run outside.
So now, to my great pleasure, my cat litter duties were transferred to my lovely husband who is not thrilled by the 12 months lying ahead but will do what it takes! Kudos to supportive hubbies!

According to some sources, there’s a very small risk of infecting your baby if you contract the infection within a few months before becoming pregnant. If you know that you’ve been infected recently, some experts suggest waiting for six months before trying to conceive. Congenital toxoplasmosis can affect your baby’s brain, causing problems such as mental or motor developmental delays, cerebral palsy, and epilepsy. It can affect other organs too, most commonly the eyes, leading to visual impairment and sometimes blindness.

So as always I’d like to NOT take a risk. Especially considering that darned weakened immune system of a pregnant woman. I tell ya, nature always finds a way to get things done, but damned if it finds the most convenient or best way. So to all us preggos or preggos to be, as if morning sickness, sore boobs, cramps, mood swings, growing belly ( and subsequently growing ass), bad skin are not enough, we’re gifted with a immune system of a 90 year old HIV infected grandma for good 9 months. Thank you, thank you very much Mother Nature!

Oh and did I mention having to squeeze a watermelon out of your hoohaa?
Wonderful!