Thought it would be interesting to share this summery of  how I have been managing my PKU since becoming pregnant. So thanks to howmuchphe.org here is a snap shot of my PHE levels From Conception untill now .

Despite my struggles and embarrassments with my weight before getting pregnant i decide to also share a graph of my weights.

Before getting pregnant I weighed 198 lbs but I lost 8 lbs prior to discovering I was pregnant. On the day I found out I was pregnant i weighed in at 190 lbs. In the first trimester I got down to 181 lbs. Now I am back to 195 lbs. So I have only gained 5 lbs this whole time.

I hope by sharing this jpeg of all my blood phe levels for the duration of my pregnancy it might inspire someone and show you that this is totally doable!

my highest level since finding out I was pregnant has been 6.8 mg / dl and my lowest has been 1.0 mg/dl

Blood Phe Level Chart :

DATE	PHE LEVEL	TYROSINE LEVEL	NOTES
12/16/15	1.20		day 2 in the hospital.
12/15/15	2.40		day one of being super sick. in the hospital
12/14/15	1.10		1150 mg phe
12/07/15	1.58	35.00
12/04/15	1.15	38.00
12/02/15	1.56	47.00	900mg phe
11/30/15	1.10		800 mg phe
11/26/15	1.30	41.00	800 mg
11/16/15	1.20
11/12/15	1.10		450 mg phe
11/02/15	1.90	37.00
10/31/15	1.50	40.00
10/28/15	1.90	40.00	425mg
10/26/15	1.80	49.00	400mg
10/23/15	1.40
10/21/15	2.30	33.00
10/12/15	2.20	45.00
10/05/15	2.50	47.00	20 week 4 days pregnant.
10/01/15	2.35
09/28/15	1.90	37.00
09/23/15	2.40
09/22/15	2.90
09/18/15	2.70
09/16/15	3.20
09/15/15	2.40
09/09/15	2.30
09/07/15	2.80
09/05/15	2.30
09/01/15	3.20
08/27/15	2.80
08/24/15	2.20
08/20/15	3.40
08/17/15	2.50
08/12/15	4.50
08/10/15	5.40
08/08/15	5.20
08/05/15	6.80
08/03/15	6.30
07/31/15	5.20
07/29/15	4.50
07/27/15	5.19
07/24/15	5.80
07/21/15	6.70
07/18/15	5.20
07/16/15	4.40
07/15/15	1.70
07/10/15	2.00
07/07/15	1.80
07/05/15	2.00
06/29/15	1.70
06/25/15	4.82
06/22/15	7.20
06/20/15	9.00
06/17/15	10.70		The day we discovered I was pregnant.
06/13/15	11.50
06/04/15	9.40

My weight chart:

06/01/2015	190.00
07/08/2015	186.50
07/28/2015	182.00
08/06/2015	181.20
08/23/2015	181.00
08/25/2015	183.00
09/09/2015	180.00
09/18/2015	185.00
09/29/2015	185.00
10/15/2015	185.40	21 weeks pg
10/22/2015	186.60
10/27/2015	185.00
11/04/2015	187.40
11/04/2015	187.40
11/08/2015	186.20
11/09/2015	186.20
11/15/2015	187.40
11/19/2015	188.00
12/02/2015	189.40
12/10/2015	192.80
12/21/2015	195.00

Tuesday December 22nd marked a milestone! 31 weeks / 8 months pregnant.

That means in give or take 9 weeks we will finally be meeting our baby to be. I can’t believe we are finally down to double digit weeks!

This has all just felt like a dream. Had you have told me last year that that this year we would be expecting our first baby , I never would have believed you. I would have laughed it off but inside I was starting to believe it would never happen for us.

It’s amazing how much life has changed. I have been so blessed and lucky this pregnancy. It has beat all my expectations. I really feared I would have a difficult time with my diet, managing my levels and my weight. I was fearful i’d gain so much weight and end up with gestational diabetes. I was worried that my levels would be a problem or sticking to my restricted diet, and doing blood tests 3 times a week. All the hard work that comes with being PKU with a high risk pregnancy. Managing each meal , meal planning, prepping, and weighing every gram of food I put in my mouth. While keeping track and recording every milligram of phenylalanine in everything I eat and being more diligent that I ever have.

I was worried i’d have trouble with sickness and nausea and vomiting which also can raise levels and be dangerous to baby.

I also worried my back would not be able to handle it and id have unimaginable pain, especially since i have multiple disk bulges going into this.

I have had my ups and downs, but looking back I can truly say its been a completely different experience than i ever imagined. I am the healthiest I have ever been in probably my whole life.

After 7 years years of being on numerous daily medications to manage my injuries , chronic pain , depression and anxiety, I have been medication free since May. Though some days I still experience pain, I have managed. I have made it and I have been ok.

My levels have been amazing my diet has been very healthy. I lost 10 lbs in the beginning so I have only really gained 5 lbs so far. I haven’t experienced any nasty pregnancy symptoms that I could not handle and I have been blessed to have so much support from Cole, our friends and family.

I am terrified of giving birth but I am so looking forward to meeting this baby of ours. I am looking forward to holding him or her in my arms, counting fingers and toes, feeling baby’s soft skin and kissing our baby all over. I am looking forward to starting the next chapter in our lives together as parents. My only wishes for our baby is to know how loved it is, to be healthy and happy and that I will be a good mom , that I will be able to provide for baby and be the type of parent and partner to Cole that our baby can be proud of.

Every moment , every second , and every day, and all the incredibly hard work I have done to get us here, has been worth it. Every kick, roll, somersault, stretch and bump gives me confidence and pushes me forward.

Thank you everyone who has been apart of this journey! It is not over yet.

And To Cole, no words are every enough to describe how much I love you. I can’t imagine life without you. I am blessed to have you. You are going to be such an amazing dad and I cannot wait to see you hold our child for the first time. I know no matter what we always have each other and I can do anything with you by my side.

 

Monday night Dec 14th around 9pm I feel very ill with a very terrible stomach virus.  I spent the entire night sick to my stomach. The sickest I had ever been . By 6 am tuesday morning, at 30 weeks pregnant I was having cramps and was dehydrated. After calling my midwife , Cole took me up to the hospital . I spent 8 hours hooked up to IV and non stress test.  I was aloud to go home around 330 pm , only I did not get better. In fact I got much worse and was not longer able to eat.  My symptoms became increasingly worse and by 1030 pm I was having contractions and dehydrated again. So back to the hospital we went and I was admitted to labour and delivery with the un official diagnosis of a gastrointestinal virus called norwalk also know as norovirus. I ended up spending 4 days and 3 nights in hospital hooked up to IV fluids, Anti  nausea meds and pain meds.

I was not able to eat any soild food , wednesday and thursday.  This means Tuesday, wednesday, and thursday I did not make my daily protein intake or calories either.

All I could manage was my formula, water and Orange Juice. Luckily I was on IV fluids the whole time as I could not seem to keep up with the thirst and dehydration.

I had several non stress tests, an ultrasound, lab work and was very closely monitored.   While on labour and delivery I listed to 3 women give birth and heard babies take their first breathes and cries.

Wednesday morning I was moved to 3 west Obstetrics and maternity floor on isolation precautions.  It was incredibly hard day after day to be so sick , worried about how it was effecting my levels and my baby.

I stopped vomiting wednesday afternoon but was still having other symptoms.

Cole came and saw me everyday after work but when he left id cry.  I was having a very difficult time emotionally and was under a lot of stress .

I was finally able to leave my room and shower wednesday night.

We thought id be able to go home thursday, i refused all meds after this point and only aloud the IV fluids as I was worried the meds were making it worse.  My stomach was so hard and distended and the pain was so intense. Just moving or rolling in bed sent pain shooting through my belly. My bowels were very irritated and inflamed.

My vein finally collapsed thursday afternoon and my IV went interstitial. After having it removed I had no symptoms for a few hours and attempted to eat some dinner but then I ended up getting sick just before dinner and was sick till midnight non stop.

Friday I woke up still sore and inflamed but finally hungry. I was able to eat 3 small meals and keep down all my formula.  My symptoms subsided around 10 am friday and I was discharged at 33o pm friday.

As soon as I got home I spent 2 hour in the bath soaking away in the bubbles ! SO happy to be home with my boys. ( Cole and my fur babies)

 

I am happy to say I have now been symptom free for over 24 hours and am feeling more like myself.

While in the hospital they did venous amino acid plasma draws on tuesday and friday so will be interesting to see what they come back as next week..

My last level from before I got sick was the morning of December 14th at the 1150 mg phe came back yesterday at 1.1 mg phe! So My clinic team said when I am able to eat again to aim for 1400 mg phe ( 28 grams protein!!)

because I am still recovering and the food portion sizes have gotten to be too much for me to handle and I do not want to add any more new foods we have decided to add protein powder to my formula.

Today I am 30 weeks and 4 days pregnant. Baby is head down and moving frequently.  After being in the hospital and listening to other mothers give birth it really feels so real now.

At one point I was listening to a women scream in labour for hours! Then all of a sudden it was quiet and you heard a baby cry.  I was really starting to get a bit anxious for this new mother but when I heard her baby cry I cried too.  Cole was there at the time and we kept looking at each other while this women screamed in pain, and Cole looks over at me and says ” this is what we have to look forward to in give or take 10 weeks”  but then we both breathed easier when the baby was born.

I definitely do not want to see the inside of that hospital room again till it is time to meet our little one!!

it feels so soon! I can’t believe december is almost over!!

I have a feeling the next few weeks are going to go by fast .  With Christmas and the Holiday season upon us, then prenatal classes in january!

It is starting to very real that this baby could be here really any time after the new year!!!

 

 

 

OMG! Seriously! This is getting crazy!

I cannot keep up. My daily Phe Tolerance was increased to 1000 mg phe nearly a week ago. I Did my regular weekly blood dots on december 4th and december 7th . I  have waited nearly a week for the results to come back ( longest since being pregnant) hoping they were finally above 2 and they have dropped again!!!

Dec 4th 1.15 mg/dl an December 7th 1.58 mg/dl !!!

So now my intake has just been upped to 1150mg phe!!!!

Ideally for pregnancy levels should be between 2 and 6 mg /dl . That’s considered the safe non toxic range . Up until 24 weeks my levels sat around 2.3 mg/dl. I was still under 500 mg at this point too.

Then they dropped off. The drop is normal. It means baby is breaking down all the extra phe in my body that would normally make me very Ill. Because baby does not have pku it has the enzyme I’m missing and is doing all the work for me . That is great. However prolonged levels under 2 can stunt the growth and development.

Luckily we are nowhere near that being an issue as baby is in 30th percentile for growth and hitting all targets but we are trying to get my levels back above 2 buy increasing the amount of food I can eat.

I feel like we are chasing it though . Every week we are increasing and doing blood test 3 days a week to monitor it but instead of getting higher it’s going lower.

They say it’s because baby is going through a growth spurt . I’m just really not use to this amount of food or protein. It’s weird to me . I can normally tolerate less than 6 grams of protein when I’m not pregnant. Most of my life I’ve only been able to eat between say 4 and 8 grams. Now I’m up to 23 grams of protein!

I’m eating new foods I’ve never had before and once baby is born I will need to stop eating immediately. I’m a picky eater and some of the new foods don’t agree with me since I’ve never had them before.

The more my tolerance climbs I am having to find ways to reach my target. Without adding things like meat and dairy.

I have to come and face the fact that it might be time to lay off my favorite low protein foods for a while.  I have been eating mostly the same foods throughout my pregnancy but increasing the size of the portions. Now that my protein is so high, to meet these numbers my portions and my calories are rapidly going up too.  Even though I have officially only gained 2 lbs this pregnancy I do not want all of a sudden pack on the weight and risk my health, and babies health. Or increase my chances of gestational diabetes.

Between breakfast and lunch I am not even making 500 mg of phe and then making up the next 500 at dinner alone. My breakfast is huge though because its a low protein cambrooke omelette and country sunrise mushroom burgers mix. I stuff the omlette with veggies and low protein cheese and I drizzle maple syrup salt and pepper on them. The portion is so big i’m stuffed after!

So I am trying to come up with healthy meal ideas that are higher in phe, lower in calories, but still meet my requirements. time to get creative and come up with some new meal plans.

One thing I know for sure, I will never ever eat meat, poultry, seafood, eggs or anything like that.

So I am putting together a list of ideas of what to eat now that my tolerance is so high.

When my tolerance began to increase after 24 weeks I started to add things back in smaller portions like :

Avocado
Corn
potatoes
rice
peas
beans
oatmeal
bread
and introduced yogurt for the first time.

When I was a teen i snuck and ate a few things I was not suppose to eat and it made me very sick . I stopped eating them when I got healthy, but i know now i enjoyed them and my tolerance is high enough now I could add them back without causing harm .

Things like :

Rice krispies
Shreddies cereal
alphabet cereal
sunflower seeds
banana bread
carrot cake.
sandwiches
soups
brown beans
mr. Noodles ( but don’t really want to go down that road again so avoiding them. )
cookies  ( oreos and shortbread ) .

As I still have 10 more weeks left , and my tolerance is expected to continue to grow , it has been suggested i think of a few things i’d like to try for the first time:

Some ideas I have had are :

English muffins
muffins
bagels
wraps
granola
tarts

regular pasta

brown rice

It has been recommended to me to give regular pasta a try , but i am skeptical . Cole eats regular pasta and it is so unappealing to me. I love my low protein pasta a lot and regular pasta smells funny to me and has an odd texture. I am trying to talk myself into it though.

I am finding that for the first few days after introducing new foods, they don’t really agree with me and I get a stomach ache or headache.I was worried that even though my levels are low that maybe my body was being affected by the higher phe foods. My dietician suggested it could be a placebo effect. However if I was not comfortable trying new foods we could always add skim milk powder to my formula. I am such a picky eater and tend to stick to my favorites , i don’t like to try to many new things incase i dont like them at all, they make me sick or maybe i’d like them to much.

Milk is something I know i do not like. Tried it once by accident as a kid. grabbed the wrong kids cup out of the fridge. it was my sisters. Never want to do that again.

Anything I add now , i have 10 weeks to enjoy and as soon as this baby is born I go right back to down to my regular 325-350 mg phe diet. So i am hoping it won’t be to hard to go backwards. it will probably take just as long to adjust back that it is to get use to it now.

so many women look forward to this time in pregnancy. I find it stressful!

So tonight i will increase from 1000 t0 1150 and try to find something to eat for dinner, and plan to go grocery shopping tomorrow.

My next blood will be monday december 14th . That will give me the weekend at the new target and we should have the results back by thursday that week .  Hopefully  I will finally be back in range and we can stop chasing these low numbers!

Fingers crossed!

 

 

 

 

 

December 1st marked Day 1 of Trimester 3 at 28 weeks.  Baby’s Hb is 153 Bpm. Currently weighs 2.5 lbs and is in the 30th percentile for growth.

my phe levels for all over November where under 2. From 1.1 to 1.8 mg/dl.

I am still doing blood tests 2 to 3 days a week.  My last level was 1.3 mg/dl.

My tolerance has gone from 350 mg phe to 900 mg phe as of yesterday!!

I am now adding instant brown sugar oatmeal, regular bread, and regular rice to my diet. I have never been able to eat this much food! It is really surreal. I am not sure what to eat most days. I still need my low pro omelets and low protein mushroom sausages every single morning for breakfast.  Dinner I make a rice stir fry. Lunch is a challenge and where I am adding the new food.  I need to find some higher protein foods that I like and can eat but also be able to give up after baby is born.  I am thinking about trying yogurt.  My tolerance is still climbing to and i have 3 more months left to go!

I am now back to my pre pregnancy weight.  I lost 10 lbs at the beginning of my pregnancy and have now gained it back. Everything I gain from here on will be considered positive gain.  I can’t believe I am entering the third trimester with no weight gain and my screen for gestational diabetes came back normal. I do not have it. That was a fear of mine with my diet that is rich in carbs, sugars and calories.

my daily calorie intake fluctuates from 2300-2800 kcal.  Even without the weight gain I definitely have a baby bump. I am feeling larger every day. I am feeling my skin stretch and my belly weight pulling me.  It is getting harder to move around quickly, roll out of bed or stand up from sitting.

I woke up with charley horses in both my legs sunday morning screaming and crying. Woke Cole and Copper and our whole house up. Worst pain ever.  They would not release either for a good ten minutes.  Despire everything Cole tried. For the rest of the day, I could barely weight bare or walk properly. Very common in pregnancy and really hoping it does not happen again!

My iron is a bit low so I have to increase my vitamins. I am drinking plenty of water and I still go for walks or swims occasionally. I am definitely slowing down though.

Baby is very active between 3 and 5 am, after breakfast and in the evenings after dinner before bed. When I am sitting on the couch with cole watching tv after dinner , or when I am having a bubble bath I can actually see my belly move and roll with the movements. Baby has daily hiccups and shakes my belly.  Cole has yet to feel baby move.

Every day it’s becoming more and more real. I cant believe how far we have come!  3 more months!!

I am planning on giving birth normally with an epidural due to my back injury. I plan to breastfeed.  My goal is 6 months exclusively if I can. I have been reading a lot and doing my research.

I am reading about breastfeeding, delayed cord clamping, skin to skin care and everything I can. I am learning what is important to me and what I want.

We are taking december to relax and enjoy the holidays with family and try to be stress free. January we start our prenatal classes and have one more trip down to vancouver for a 32 week scan.

I get the rogram shot next week since I have negative blood and cole has positive.

I have been so blessed this pregnancy and have had a pretty easy time. ( knock on wood) I know how lucky I am things have been going so well . My body was truly meant to do this. I had so many fears. Such as pain with my back injury, and GD.   for the most part I feel pretty good. I do have some acidic nausea that begins about 2 pm and goes till I go to sleep. Sometimes are worse than others. Could be heartburn or  Acid reflux. Both are totally normal.

I have met new people and made new friends along this journey including some wonderful “mom friends” who I am so thankful for and have come to treasure and look forward to them being apart of our lives and us apart of theirs.

I can’t wait to hold my baby. To see my baby, feel its skin, breath it in, feel the softness, kiss its nose and fingers and toes.

I am scared to give birth and hope I can do it. I am scare of the pain and the damage in my back. I don’t want a c-section if I can avoid it. I just keep telling myself, it doesn’t last, we will get through it and we will get to meet our baby and finally know if its a boy of girl ( although I think I have a pretty good guess now!)

We are still trying find a couple boy and girls names we life for our list . We can’t agree on any names yet!

My office is finally emptied out and ready to be painted and become a nursery hopefully in january.

All in all, I am very happy and excited.

Thank you to everyone who has been apart of this journey! it is not over yet! I will continue to post and share for as long as I can <3

 

 

 

 

 

 

updated bumpies with new due date  of  February 23rd 2016

20 week Anatomy scan in vancouver and 25 week scan from kamloops.

 

Updated bumpies and our dating scan from Trimeter one. Baby Rickett is due February 23rd 2016.

 

Technology is not always right.

 

November 16th we had an ultrasound in kamloops to see how baby was doing. We thought it went very well. We saw our baby wave , grab its toes, blink, yawn, stretch and more. On November 17th we got a call that baby was measuring to small. That baby’s head was small and body was small. That baby was in the 13th percentile for growth. That baby’s head was under 10 and the body was 18-20 % . Which brings down the over all measurements to the 13th percentile.

We were told That we needed weekly ultrasound to monitor growth and if baby didn’t continue to grow baby would have to be delivered early and would be at risk for brain damage if born before 32 weeks. Best case, I just grow small babies , worst case if baby stopped growing it could be stillborn or delivered early and have side effects from premature birth. if baby needed to be delivered id be sent to Vancouver for a C-section.

My whole world was turned upside down and I cried for 3 days straight. I have been doing everything in my power to make sure my baby is healthy. My PKU has been beyond excellent. Our anatomy scan in October, showed no health concerns and everything was fine. I could not wrap my head around in a few short weeks , things had changed. I was trying to find a reason and needed answers. We met with our OBGYN and midwife. The ultrasound tech thought there was some restiveness in the cord getting nutrition to the baby. I blamed myself. our OBGYN sent the scan results to high risk pregnancy clinic in Vancouver for assessment and asked for them to see us again.

Yesterday we had our repeat scan done in Vancouver at BC Women’s High risk center, where we had our anatomy scan done.
We then met again with the maternal fetal medicine specialist.

There is NOTHING wrong with our baby , Our bay is perfectly healthy. Baby is growing just fine. baby is right on target with weight and size. Baby’s head is a perfect size. Baby’s body is perfectly proportionate. Baby is in the 30th percentile for growth and there is no issues with growth, nutrition and no risk of any damage or health concerns. Baby already weights 2.5 lbs.

Our baby is perfect and we are so beyond relieved and excited again. Baby rolled and moved and kicked and was grabbing its toes. Heart beat was again 153 beats per minute. I am pretty sure I know what baby’s gender I but promised not to tell! it has not been confirmed by a doctor as we don’t want to know. We will find out when baby is born!

At our scan in kamloops baby was already head down, but now is breached. Well it was yesterday during the scan. Pretty sure I felt baby roll and flip during the night last night!! It was very painful and uncomfortable and woke me up.

I am so angry with the kamloops ultrasound for putting us through that and messing up so badly!! I am refusing any more scans in kamloops unless medically necessary. We do have a routine scan at 32 weeks ( January 5th) in Vancouver we will attend . That will be our only scan after this and last scan till baby is born .

My birth plan is still in place and I am still able to deliver in kamloops!

Our baby is beautiful and I can’t want to hold him or her in my arms and smoother baby with love and kisses.

Yesterday I officially started the third trimester! at 28 weeks it was day one of month 7 !!

Baby Rickett is officially due February 23rd 2016

Big Thank you to everyone who supported me through this and was their for me. It means alot.

  7 weeks pregnant ( Trimester 1 )

 9 weeks pregnant

 10 weeks pregnant

 11 weeks pregnant

 12 weeks pregnant

Trimester 2 :

 13 weeks pregnant

 14 weeks pregnant

  15 weeks pregnant

 16 weeks pregnant

 17 weeks pregnant

 18 weeks pregnant

 19 weeks pregnant

 2o weeks pregnant

 21 weeks pregnant

 22 weeks pregnant

 23 weeks pregnant

 24 weeks / 6 months.  Taken on Sunday November 1st!

4 more weeks till 3rd trimester!

Following the old wives tales, Girls carry high. Boys Carry low.

Also old wives tales, girls have a high HB 140 and above. mostly 160s

Boys are below 140. usually 115-120

How do you think I am carrying?

Babys heart beat has been 155 for months. The last 2 where the lowest at 141 and 146.