Sonic Boom

Yesterday I heard a sonic boom. It freaked me out. I was standing outside doing a little trimming while an auto-glass repairman was putting on some finishing touches on Joe's windshield. There was an extremely loud "boom, boom" followed a few seconds later by another identical "boom, boom" (the echo, maybe?). The repairman asked me if there was a range nearby, and I told him I had no idea what the sound was from. I figured I'd probably find something out later and kind of shrugged it off. I thought maybe something had exploded.

I told Joe about it, but he hadn't heard anything from where he was. He did hear what the noise was from on his way home from work, and he emailed me a link to a story about it.

The president was in Seattle yesterday, and an aircraft flew into the restricted airspace. In response, two F15 military fighter jets were scrambled from Portland. They accelerated to supersonic speed, but the small aircraft had left the restricted airspace before the jets arrived. The violating plane landed on Lake Washington, where the pilot and his female passenger were questioned by Secret Service.

911 call centers were overloaded as a result of the incident, and people reported their houses being shaken.

Genetic Condition and Blood Clot

With all the blood testing I had done earlier this month, everything came back normal, except I have a genetic condition that predisposes me to getting a blood clot at 3x the rate of the general population. This condition, called factor V Leiden is the most common blood clotting disorder, according to an article I read in a magazine just today. It has been recommended that my siblings are tested for it, as it is hereditary. My doctor does think that had I not broken my foot back in 2003, I probably never would have developed the first blood clot, despite having the condition. And if I hadn't developed that first blood clot, he thinks I probably would have never gotten this one, either.

Regardless, certain factors substantially raise your risk of developing DVT-- a blood clot in the deep veins (usually the thighs or legs). These include recent elective hip or knee joint replacement surgery; broken hip, pelvis or leg within the last month; serious trauma within the last month (a fall, broken bone, car accident, etc); spinal cord injury resulting in paralysis within the last month; pregnancy or obesity; and personal or family history of blood clots or a blood clotting disorder.

I also learned from the article I read that about 600,000 people in the US are hospitalized with DVT each year, and a whopping 300,000 die from pulmonary embolisms (which can occur when a blood clot breaks off and travels to the lungs, like happened in my case), according to The Coalition to Prevent Deep-Vein Thrombosis. What this means is that more people die from DVT-related complications than from breast cancer, diabetes or AIDS.

To learn more, visit preventdvt.org or clotcare.com

Okay, okay

My last post was just for fun... we will be making the room into the baby's room. Of course, we don't need to do that right away or anything, but I probably will. I want to start keeping my eyes peeled for a rocking chair at a thrift store or something. And then before too long, I'll probably start looking for other pieces of furniture for the room. But if I get a rocking chair and that's the only thing in the room for a while, maybe it'll be used for reading/meditation until it is needed.

I had an ultrasound on Wednesday as part of the first part of a screening to see if the baby is at risk for Down Syndrome. Luckily, everything looked okay there. There was also a blood test that was part of the screening, but I won't get that part of the results for a few more days.

My next appointment is scheduled in 6 weeks. At that appointment, I'll have another ultrasound and blood test as the second part of the screening. And, if we're lucky, we'll find out the sex of the baby at that time.

In the meantime, I'm hoping this morning sickness goes away soon. It seems like there are a few different foods that don't tend to make me throw up, but the majority of "tips" I've tried to help lessen it haven't worked. I'm just glad I'm not feeling nauseous right now. Even though I tend to only throw up once or twice a day, and not daily, I feel nauseous a fair amount of the time.

And now to talk about something other than my pregnancy...

We have been renting out one of our bedrooms to a friend from church for about a year. She's not home very often these days (she's working 60 hours a week right now and spends most of her free time out of the home), so it's easy to forget we have a roommate. We have enjoyed having the extra income and extra person to play games with (although we haven't done that for a while). And now she'll be moving out by the end of the month.

Last night Joe asked me what I want to do with the room. Oh, the possibilities! I could use the walls as a over-sized canvas and practice finger painting. Or I could spend my days in the room, depriving myself of light and comforts to feed my inner writer with ideas. We could get rid of the litter boxes and build a sandbox in the room, converting it into our cats' walk-in toilet. I could hang a bunch of shelves and rods and make the ultimate walk-in closet. We could turn it into a time-out room or a sex room or a meditation room. If we knew someone else who needed a place to stay, we could just rent it out again.

What would you do with an extra bedroom (not too large, not too small, blackout blinds, ceiling fan, carpeted, closet)?

Another ER visit

I went back to the ER today with chest pain. They didn't figure out where the chest pain was coming from, but they ruled out some various causes and then sent me home. They said the treatment I'm on right now for my blood clots is really the best treatment for me at this time, and I'll be following up with my doctor. In the meantime, the woman who did my CAT scan just had to say something that will make me worry about whether or not my baby will have mental retardation as a result of the tests they've run. Gee, thanks.


I think the pain is probably a result of part of the blood clot in my leg breaking off and getting caught in the filter they installed to do just that. It is more noticeable when I'm more active and not really noticeable at all when I'm lying down. So I guess I'll be doing yet more of that (just when I was starting to feel like I could walk around and get around more with less pain in my leg).

The perinatologist visit

Today was my first official OB appointment. There was no physical, but I sat with a nurse for over an hour, answering questions about my medical history and going over some various pregnancy information together. Unfortunately, I won't be giving birth at the local hospital like I was hoping to, but there's not much I can do about that, since I'm seeing a specialist. The nurse did another ultrasound, and I got to see the baby moving around quite a bit. She ordered some lab work but wanted to make sure the doctor didn't have any other labs he wanted done at this time (she was thinking he might want to get some genetic testing done to see if that explains the blood clots), but the doctor was out to a "business lunch," so I grabbed some fast food and headed back to the office to find out what he wanted. Unfortunately, by the time the doctor and nurse talked, it was too late in the day for me to get the lab work done today, so I have to go back in tomorrow to get the lab work done. However, the doctor did come out to the waiting room and talk to me briefly after he met with the nurse. He said that I can't go back to work (in retail anyway) because he's worried about me getting another blood clot. I didn't think to ask him if that was just a temporary thing or if he meant during my entire pregnancy, but I figured I'd left the job hanging long enough, so I called and told the supervisor the bad news. At least I will have more time to devote to school, and I hope I will be able to finish before I give birth. I do have an appointment scheduled with the doctor next week, so I will be sure to get more clarification as to my work situation and also ask any questions that may come up.