My "Too Cute"s

Sunday, February 11, 2007

Hormone Pills?


Finally went to see the doctor on Saturday. Although I would have preferred a lady doctor, I didn't feel like coming back in the afternoon just to do that. I had after all been procrastinating enough as it was. So I waited for my turn and after half an hour, my turn came. I have to say that I'm not too happy with this doctor.

In all my experience being pregnant, I have only 1 horrible experience with 1st checkup and that was when I was pregnant with Inez. THis clinic was recommended and though the recommended doctor was not in, I agreed to see his colleague. When asked, I replied that I thought I was pregnant. She did a scan but couldn't find anything. So she asked me if I was certain. I said that I was. I did the home kit and it was positive. So she asked me to do another urine test and sure enough, the test result showed positive for pregnancy but the doctor said that the lines didn't seem to be too clear. She asked me if I wanted her to check if the baby was growing outside my womb! Nut case! Just because she wasn't efficient enough to see anything, and it would have been too early anyway, she made me worry unnecessarily that I might have complications! Needless to say, I never went back there and her esteemed colleague continued to deliver many of my friends' babies.

My recent visit to the doctor has got me worried all over again. And I am not too sure if this is unnecessary worry or not. When I went to get my meds, I didn't realise I was getting more than folic acid. Turned out I also had to take some other pills just labelled hormones. Let's reenact the whole thing.

Once we got the preliminary questions out of the way like why I was there, when my last period was, he concluded that I was about 8 weeks and he too jumped at the opportunity to do a scan. The nurse prepared me and the size of the baby now was about 19mm, and that, according to him, was the size of a 5 week old embryo (is that the right term?). So according to him, that's quite a huge difference. So I am supposed to come back in a week's time to do another scan to see if the size of the baby has increased or not and if it hasn't, it means that the baby's growth is stunted and he'd have to do D&C. Sounds painful already. So of course, my hubby was already asking why this would happen, coz I have been travelling and had just returned from Damai Laut the night before for a conference. I signed up for that before I knew I was pregnant and went on that long arduous journey by car! My hubby was like why can't you get a flight? I said it's too late to ask for one now unless you don't mind paying your own. I minded coz I sorta didn't want to go alone by myself. My friend btw, drove very carefully, and thoughtfully.

Sidetracked again! Anyway, doctor said no nothing to do with travelling. If it happened, usually it's because of the genetic make-up and stuff, basically like a plant that grows halfway and stops. So, should we be worried? He said no, because 8 wks' just like a tentative date or something and we should go back and scan and see if the baby's size increased or not. Then he asked me about my morning sickness. Have I started vomitting? I said no. Have I bled? Nope. Strong or not my feelings of morning sickness? I said it's hard for me to say because even with my first two pregnancy, that didn't come so early. With Inez, I only started getting nausea and vomitting after four months. Then the vomitting came at all times of the day. It wasn't morning sickness, it was just sickness, full stop. I didn't have appetite and I fasted without any problems.

With Mika, I've always said that Allah is so great that I was very strong when I was pregnant with Mika because I was travelling every week to KL and back for my studies. Although I had a poor appetite, I didn't vomit except for toothpaste induced vomiting early in the morning and at night.

Before I could explain all that, he waived off my explanations and asked me, "this pregnancy, how is it?" I said, well, I feel woozy all the time and tired, and I am turned off certain food now and I have poor appetite but have to to eat all the time. If not, rasa angin, gitu."

So he said, as long as that feeling is strong then the baby should be okay. I was telling my youngest sister and she went, "What's the logic in that? Does it mean that people with no morning sickness have weak babies? And there are cases where the morning sickness is so bad that the child is aborted."

So with that, we left the clinic, and when it was time to eat medication, I discovered I had hormone pills as well. On the first day, I took the prescribed pills but on the second day, I began questioning their existence. I have never been given hormone pills before. Usually, it's always been folic acid and folic acid alone. Is there something that the doctor isn't telling me? Is this doctor a quack?

Anyway, I tried to call the clinic back, but the doctor wasn't in. The nurse checked my records and the first question she asked me was if I was bleeding. I said no. Anyway, the hormone pills are supposedly to strengthen one's womb, but I consulted another doctor for a second opinion and she said that recent studies have shown that prescribing hormone pills does not prevent the inevitable from happening. The hormone pills he gave me was a generic one, whatever that means, but are supposedly harmless. According to my youngest sister, if I were given estrogen, estrogen would have caused uterine contraction and miscarriage. Normally, one doesn't prescribe hormone pills to pregnant ladies, coz they've got a lot of those already! So now I have a choice whether I want to eat the pills or not. I don't think so. If it's not meant to be, then, it isn't. All I can do now is pray for the best and that my baby is growing at normal pace, In`sya Allah!
To read more on the stages of human development, you can read here:

3 comments:

Halwafy said...

Hormone pills is a normal thing - I delivered my first baby with Prof. Datuk Hamid Arshad and he also gave me those but that was in 2001. It was because my signs were not so strong i.e. no vomiting etc. You see, if one is pregnant, you MUST have these signs - or else, it means that your body doesn't recognise you're pregnant or something like that i.e. it's not generating the hormones to make you vomit :) That's how I understand it..but I'm I'm no doctor. The hormone pills will help to strengthen the womb which is was your normal hormones shld do but apparently is not doing - the signs of your body doing it is sickness in the first trimester. Lebih kurang...faham ke I membebel ni..

But those pills will make you vomit and pening etc. Make sure you mkn food consistently sikit2 so that takde angin sgt...

I just think if you're not happy, go to another recommended ObGyn for a check. I hope everything goes well for you, amin.

The Hand That Holds The Quill... said...

Ju maybe if ur instinct's telling u to not take those pills just yet, there's no harm in waiting for the next checkup. By then u'd be able insylh to confirm if the baby's growing at a normal rate. After all the doctor himself said it's still too early to tell for sure at 8 weeks. Sometimes these things come with mother's instinct. Of course u don't rely on it 100%, but seek knowledge and info along the way.

My prayers are with u & ur baby. Keep us updated! :)

jujuqtpie said...

Oh Halwafy, your comment is the first positive comment I've received on hormone pills. So he gave them to you in the early stage of the first trimester?

According to my sister's lecturer, they usually prescribe hormone pills if the pregnant mom is bleeding or spotting because that would mean that the walls of the womb is thin or thinning, unhealthy. I hope I am remembering this correctly. So because that was the first question that nurse asked me when I called up to talk to the doctor, I started panicking. Is there something the doctor was not telling me? But Halwafy I faham laa what you are saying. And yes, mam, am eating consistently and sikit2. And will go to another ObGyn too. Thx for the small hope that I haven't endangered my baby by consuming the hormone pills. Let's hope I got the same ones you got. :)

Rin, yeah, not eating them anymore at least until I get a proper second opinion. I think the good doctor should have been transparent about what he's giving me and why, you know instead of letting me find out about them through the nurse. Perhaps if his bedside manners were better, he'd been more credible. So different from the kids' doctor we usually go to, who will explain clearly what he's prescribing and why.