Anemia, arrhythmia, anemia, woo!

So over the past month I've had to start taking iron in my prenatal vitamins again because in July I was diagnosed with mild anemia.  Let me emphasize the mild part...I'm coming in 0.1 below the normal range.  Either way, it's about 2-3 below what I was back in February so there is something that's changed.  I didn't seem to have this problem in my first pregnancy either, but that could have also been because I didn't have to stop taking prenatals with iron like I did this time (due to my sickly first trimester I switched to iron-free gummy prenatals).  Luckily, the switch back to taking prenatals with iron didn't bother my stomach and I thought all would be well and I'd test fine at the month follow-up test.

Alas, I had my follow-up test this past week and results are in...I'm at the exactly the same level I was in July.  So that means I'm still at a mild anemia level.  And thus they have now suggested I take a separate iron supplement that has more iron than the prenatal does.  I guess I'm also still supposed to take the prenatal with iron, but given how the separate iron supplement has made me feel, I don't know if I want to push it with too much extra iron.  While they suggested I get "Slow Fe", which is a slowly digested/released iron supplement, supposedly easier on your stomach and digestive system, I am still not feeling well after taking it.  I take it with dinner (as also suggested to take it with meals to avoid stomach upset), and yet by bedtime I'm queasy.  I hope that I only have to do this for the next month (or less) and no longer!

To throw in another potential complication in the mix, this past week I had three episodes of lightheadedness.  At first, this wasn't alarming to me because my typical low blood pressure can lead to this anytime I stand up too quickly, and in both pregnancies this happened in the early stages, especially if I took too hot of showers in the morning.  I have learned to take warm, not hot, showers as a result and I just take my time standing up. However, these episodes were different.  When I went to sit or lay down to get through the lightheaded episode, I ended up feeling totally out of breath.  Laying down I felt like I had been running, and felt like my heart was racing along with my chest feeling very heavy.  On its own, the first time it happened, I felt better after resting for about 30 minutes so I just let it pass.  But the second time it happened, just 4 days later, I decided I should call the doctor to check.  Of course, they wanted to see me (luckily John was off work that day to drive me to the office, as the nurse didn't want me driving) and they wanted to run some tests:

1) Blood draw (to do the follow up on the anemia, which is what I honestly thought it may be due to)
2) NST (non-stress test) to monitor baby's heart rate and movements
3) EKG...the doctor thinks I had experienced an arrhythmia and wanted to check my heart

Since by the time I was seen at the doctor's office, the episode was already about 2 hours past, so all tests came back fine (minus still being mildly anemic, as mentioned above already).  But the doctor said that if I have it happen again he wants me to try to come straight in and get an EKG during it.  Sadly the 3rd time it happened, just yesterday, I was home alone with Evan while John was at work.  So I didn't have anyone to drive me to the clinic and besides the local clinic wasn't open anyway, so still no EKG during an episode to aid the diagnosis yet.  However, it was much harder to try and rest for the typical 30-minute episode, given Evan was all over me wanting to play and was even trying to wrestle with me.  In some ways, it made me feel really helpless (not being able to care for him or even myself at the same time).

Anyway, the doctor said that it's fairly common this late in pregnancy for women with otherwise healthy hearts to have some cardiac complications.  The nurse explained that it's likely due to the extra blood volume my heart has to pump.  Either way, it was the last thing I thought could be the problem and honestly it's a little scary to be told you might have a cardiac complication.  Either way, we don't have any tests confirming this, and so at this time it's probably nothing to worry about.  Nonetheless, it's just a few more factors that reiterate how my pregnancy with Evan was a breeze compared to this one!  Just under 5 weeks to go...