Week 6: NoNoNos and Capers

Week 6:

In the months that follow, I'm sure that I will come to find more information, advice, and ideas than I have access to now.  Six weeks in though?  I am already a bit overwhelmed by what I should and should not do, eat, take, drink, and engage in.  Mostly, it is difficult to weed through fact vs. fiction, legitimate science vs. hogwash.  For example:

The zygote has high demands for things it finds delicious, like folic acid to close its neural tubes (which it is doing as we speak).  Fact.
Eating peanut butter during pregnancy increases the risk of nut allergens later.  Hogwash.
 

CNP, 2014

And you have to learn to navigate what you read and hear:

Don't eat sushi, ever!  I have spent time in Japan, and I can tell you that pregnant Japanese women eat sushi (they do avoid tomatoes and eggplants, interestingly enough).  Most pregnant women in the states avoid sushi because they are fearful of food poisoning, although tuna and oysters rank as number 5 and 6 for outbreaks, and the two causative culprits (Ciguatera and Scombrotoxins) do not cross the placenta.  Ciguatera is caused by a dinoflagelate, and will make you really ill; scombroid poisoning is caused by the fish not being properly refriegerated.  More common than ANY sushi poisoning?  Beef, chicken, eggs, and salad greens (French women are advised to not eat fresh salads...) top the list for contamination.  If you are not eating sushi because of poisoning, you should probably logically avoid ground beef, chicken, eggs, and leafy greens first... ...then say no to your ahi.

(The real cause for "sushi" avoidance, which is legitimate, is poisoning from raw shellfish, and levels of mercury in some fish.  You should probably avoid raw shellfish unless you live by the source--even Anthony Bourdain does, and he is not pregnant and eats just about anything.  As for mercury, large predator fish such as shark, tuna, and swordfish do contain higher levels of mercury... and lots of mercury does not do nice things to your bambino's developing brain.  But in moderation?  Not so bad.)

Don't drink.  Alcohol causes developmental disorders.  I don't think doctors in the US will ever condone drinking alcohol in any amount due to the litigious nature of our country and the fact that drinking large amounts of alcohol during pregnancy is irresponsible and bad for your bambino.  And I can't say that any amount is necessarily good for you, just that the water is murky.  I can share with you the results of a 2012 study with 1,628 Danish mothers.  Mothers who consumed 1-8 drinks a week had children who at five years old that showed no neurological or developmental issues--these children tested at the same levels as those from abstaining moms.  Then there is the 2014 study, again with Danish mothers, over 100,000 of them, that shows long-term behavioral trends.  Women in this study who reported some alcohol consumption during pregnancy (up to the equivalent of a bottle of wine a month--no, not on one night) had children who at seven years old scored higher on developmental and behavioral assessments than children of women who never drank during pregnancy.    See what I mean?  Complicated data.  And most women just throw up their hands and say "why take any risk," without understanding the difference between not dyeing their hair (bogus) and abstaining from any alcohol (complicated).

As for my zygote this week?  Depending on what you read, it is the size of a lentil, or a sweet pea, or (pictured here) a pickled flower bud--a caper:

CNP, 2014

ADORable?  Well, not yet.  I have always thought that babies are beautiful, but not really adorable anyway (like little old men with squished faces).  Let's see how my opinion changes in about 34 weeks.

Until next week,
Cat

Week 5: The Placenta and Sesame Seeds

Week 5:

I don't know quite how to describe the tumult of emotions I felt when I realized I was pregnant.  Elation?  Surprise?  Fear and anxiety?  Ready and yet woefully unprepared?

And although it might sound strange, mostly I was relieved.  I'm a pretty high energy person, and have always needed less sleep than other people.  I think I can count on one hand the number of times I've slept past nine o'clock in the morning in my entire life.  So yes...relief.  Relief that I wasn't going nuts, or was sick... ...that there was a very good reason that my body seemed to suddenly have a mind of its own and wanted to nap at all hours of the day, sleep through people playing horseshoes next to my tent on river trips, and go to bed at 7:45pm.  I was growing a new organ.  A placenta!  Evidently, placenta growing is very difficult work.  Placenta growing requires lots of naps, and lots of snacks.  

CNP, 2014.

So after realizing that I was indeed pregnant (and peeing on about a box of tests to make sure) I sat down to figure out what was going on with my body.  I'm lucky:
My partner has a sweet little girl, and is supportive, involved, and has been through all of "this" before... which means he already understands about tenfold more than I do about being pregnant.
One of my sisters is a doula and a midwife... which means that she is available to answer the bazillion questions that I have at interesting hours in the day or night (thank you Izzy).
I have girlfriends and another sister who would go to the moon for me if I needed it.

So in my closest circle, long before the first doctor's appointment or the ritual of telling the news to my wider circle of people, I have access to trusted information, honest advice, and loving support.  And of course, there is the wealth of information on the internet and in about ten pregnancy books that were in a box in the back of a closet.  Fun times.

A quick summary of week 5:

CNP, 2014.

Beware readers!  Following the journey of the embryo's growth and development will feel surprisingly like a trip through the produce aisle in the grocery store.  I have yet to read a pregnancy book or website that does not compare the size of the embryo or fetus or uterus to some food item.  I find it mildly disturbing...  ...and yet perfect fodder for humor.

Because yes, this is going to be a wild and amazing journey, but if I can't laugh along the way?  I'd go nuts.

Until next week,
(Well, somewhat sooner, actually.  I'll be posting week six in the next few days.  I've been trying to update my blog every Friday, but now that my 'real job' has begun, it seems that the weekend will work better for blogging.)
Cat
 

Week 4.5: Helpful Tips

Week 4.5...

Tips on looking chic when utilizing a pregnancy test:

CNP, 2014.  

Until next week,
Cat

Week 4: Gastrulation

Week 4:

What is the most important event in your life?  When you were born?  Met your mate?  Reached the top of a mountain, began your own company?  Right now, there is a cacophony of divisions and major life events occurring to our little zygote.  They happen to be at the cellular level, so I am not privy to anything momentous, but for the zygote, and the life that follows, many embryologists argue that this is the most important time in anyone's life.

CNP, 2014.  Gastrulation

The period after fertilization is marked by rapid cell divisions.  The zygote divides into two cells, then 8, 16, 32, and so on, until there are 128 cells that form a sphere called the blastula.  This all occurs in five days!  At about the sixth day, the little ball of cells burrows into the lining of the uterus, and continues to develop...

...and here is where some women might get an iota of an idea that they are carrying, as the blastula releases human chorionic gonadotropin once it burrows in to the uterine lining, or hcg.  Why is hcg important?  This hormone is what is detected in pregnancy tests.  It is a small protein, only 237 amino acids long, but it stimulates the development of the placenta.  HCG also decreases the localized immune response of the woman, so she doesn't treat the blastula like an enemy.  AND it may cause ridiculous morning sickness.  Suddenly tired?  A little nauseous, but haven't missed your period yet?  Don't worry if you miss the early signs.  Soon your pregnancy will be abundantly clear.

But what about this gastrulation, and why do embryologists consider it so important?  When the hollow ball of cells folds inwards, cells start receiving their "orders" for their destiny--what types of tissues and roles they will have for the rest of their lives in the organism.  Some become destined for the skin or the nervous system.  Others will become the lining of the gut and organs.  A third type start growing and dividing to form the muscles, bones, and heart.  One third to one half of all zygotes never make it beyond the first three weeks of development.  So gastrulation and implantation shape the earliest part of your destiny as a being.

Gastrulation.  http://2.bp.blogspot.com

Luckily, our bodies for the most part take care of themselves, and the zygote is pretty well adapted to make a home for itself in the uterus.  I'll find out in a few days that I am pregnant.  Right now?

Still oblivious:

CNP, 2014.  Week 4.

Until next week,
Cat

Week 3: Fertilization

Somewhere between weeks 2 and 3...

Let me sum up the events:

Fertilization, CNP, 2014.

Sometime in this last week or the week to come, an egg and a sperm met in a dark fallopian tube (this sounds like the beginning of an atrocious joke).  The sperm burrowed through those outer minions of cells around the egg, then fused with it, and the two half nuclei became one.  I now have a little group of cells rapidly dividing and multiplying, and carrying on willy nilly, traveling towards the uterus, even though I am unaware.  This little fertilized egg, the zygote, is carrying on all of the characteristics of life, and although it will depend on me for the next nine months, half of the code for this life is mine, the other half my partner's.  It is all rather overwhelming, when I really think about it.

The Zygote!  http://www.stemedical.de/en/dictionary/zygote/

What are these characteristics of life?  I can rattle them off from the top of my head.  I've taught Biology for fifteen years, after all:

• All living things are made of cell or cells.  Why aren't viruses or prions considered to be living?  See rule one. 
• All life has the ability to regulate its internal environment.  Scientists call this homeostasis. 
• Cells can make copies of themselves--a lovely term called autopoesis. 
• Living beings reproduce, either sexually or asexually, or have the capacity to do so.
• Life must be able to transform and break down material for energy and growth--metabolism.
• Life responds to its environment.
• All life is interdependent, with multiple different complex symbioses and interactions with other species.  
• All life carries DNA to pass on to subsequent generations, and
• These generations may change through the survival of those traits best suited to the environment.  

Great list, eh?  I think so.

I am going to be excited to be pregnant, when I find out in a few weeks... just that I am a bit oblivious at this point.

Week 3, CNP, 2014

See what I mean?

Until next week,
Cat

Week 2: Meet the Organ Systems

Week 2!

I don't know about you, but in typical daily conversations and interactions, I rarely have to talk about (let alone consider) the reproductive system.  I am a biology teacher, mind you, and I have been roped into teaching the occasional health class... ...so I probably have more 'exposure' to the various systems and workings of the body than others.  That said, I know of no more powerful words to quiet a class of sixteen-year-olds than the litany of those found in any labeled male and female anatomy diagram.

Students a bit unfocused?  See if you can work the words "uterus, vas deferens, testicle, or ovary" into your lesson.  Thunderous silence will follow.  (Fun times.  Don't over use it.)

For even I, as a biology teacher, have a fairly comic sense of the systems of the body.  I had an excellent health teacher in junior high, but for some reason I still picture the uterus as a moose, even though Mrs. Jones drew anatomically correct diagrams on the board, and didn't allow any of us to goof off.  As for male anatomy, and the rather mystifying pathways of tubes?  Equally confounding.

Here is what I remember:

Meet the systems, CNP, 2014

See what I mean?  We may have a foundation in anatomy, but for most of us our knowledge is full of scattered random facts and information.  For example:

• Somewhere along the way, I found out that fallopian tubes were the diameter of a hair, and sperm actually meet the egg along that pathway.  
• Many male mammals (but not humans) actually have a bone in their penis called a baculum-- rodents, canids (dogs), felids, and all primates except for spider monkeys and humans.  In fact, a 4.5 foot long walrus baculum was sold at a Beverly Hills auction in 2007 for $8000... ...purchased by the Ripley's Believe It or Not museum's parent company.  
• Many animals are hermaphrodites, such as earthworm and snails.  Each individual must mate with another member of their species, and then both individually have the capacity to lay fertilized eggs.

http://sciencestuffbyamy.blogspot.com

• Other animals have the ability to reproduce through parthenogenesis--no mating required!  The females of species like the crustacean daphnia and the small parasitic wasp Nasonia can bear young without sexual reproduction.  

• Female kangaroos have three vaginas, and male kangaroos have "two-pronged" penises.  This might seem odd, until you consider the fact that 1 in 2,000 women have double uteruses.  

See what I mean?  I think our collective knowledge of our own bodies is a crazy amalgamation of odd facts, some real science, and probably a lot of nonsense thrown in.  Either way, we still go about making egg or sperm, and then preparing for what is to come.  

Well, our bodies do, at least.  As for me this week?

Week 2, CNP, 2014.

Until next week, 
Cat