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February 17, 2003
15 Weeks
I had an appointment to clean my teeth this past week, and like many many people out there, I really don’t particularly care for the dentist. I believe, however, that I have just cause for my dislike. There are apparently two types of plaque and I am blessed with the type of plaque that causes cavities, as opposed to my husband, who is blessed with the other type of plaque, which just causes tartar build-up. Yeay :-(
Some history: I had my first cavity when I was 6 or so, and my life has been marked by long dentist appointments where I get to sit with those silly glasses on and have my teeth worked on for hours. Unfortunately, my parents never had dental coverage, and neither did they take much notice of the fact that one of their daughters spent an abnormally high amount of time and money at the dentist. As I was a child for many of these appointments, the finer points of dental hygiene and research was never bestowed upon me – I only found out about my ‘plaque predicament’ for lack of a better description, about four years ago now. Far far too late to do a heck of a lot about it. My mouth is literally filled with fillings, and I had three root canals by the time I was twenty. To further my predicament, my parents could not understand why I was the only child with this problem, and to infuse some responsibility for this financial burden, I was told at the tender age of thirteen that I was to pay for any future dentist appointments and the costs associated with them. I have since paid over $7000 dollars for cavities, root canals and other dental costs.
The funny thing is, is that I don’t have a nervous breakdown at the sound of the dentist’s drill – yes, the sound is grating, like nails on chalkboard, but to me, it is just an accepted occurrence with my appointments. I do, however, have very sensitive teeth, and the water that is used is always so cold that (and other sufferers of this will understand) it is truly painful. And also, perhaps because of all the work done on my valuable mouth, I am very tolerant to the numbing agents and local anaesthesia. A couple of times with new dentists who have not understood my tolerance I have screamed in agony as they start drilling because not enough anaesthesia was used – they understood from then onwards, let me tell you, and other patients in the office probably did not visit the dentist for some time after those screams!
Finally, I grind my teeth at night. When we were just starting to go out, Simon used to be able to just lay his hand on my cheek, and I would be reassured enough by his touch that I would stop. However, as exam and paper season approached, we found that that was simply not enough, and he was losing hours of sleep because of my grinding (I’m sure other partners of teeth-grinders understand his experience!). It got so bad that I ended up cracking my two lower back molars and having to go to the dentist – he saw the problem and remedied it by fitting me with a toothguard to wear at night. One of the molars was repaired, the other so badly cracked and formed mostly of filling, that it had to be taken completely out, there was just nothing to work with. I have worn the guard every night with few exceptions since the day I picked it up. Simon, has slept.
At my appointment, as the hygienist was performing the initial look at my teeth, she informed me that there was a potential cavity, and while I was dismayed as I have not had one in so long, with my history, I could hardly claim to be surprised. I suppose I could be surprised that there was actually a tooth left able to sustain a cavity, but I think that’s part of my black humour showing thorough :-) My dentist was away on vacation, so I won’t get confirmation until I have an appointment with him a couple weeks from now, but I don’t doubt the hygienist.
Okay, now for the second thing that occurred at the appointment. I did not have the same hygienist as my last appointment and I thought everything would be fine. As usual, they ask you if there have been any changes since your last appointment, and I informed her that I was 14 weeks pregnant – remember that I write for the past week’s events, but that I am 15 weeks right now. I told her that I hadn’t been feeling morning sickness for about a week and a half, but that I was feeling a little nauseous early that morning – just so that she knew. The rest of the appointment was filled with her comments about the fact that she understood how I felt as she was a mother of two, but that she never had a stitch of morning sickness and hated being pregnant. In fact, one of her comments was that she would rather be dead than pregnant again. I had to literally lie there, not moving, not permitted to leave, but forced to listen to this horrid horrid woman’s remembrances about being pregnant. It was absolutely awful. I mean, I expect to hear some comments or experiences during the pregnancy that were not great, but to lie there for almost 45 minutes while she bemoans the whole experience of pregnancy?
The most unfortunate thing about it is that I am absolutely, positively, LOVING this pregnancy. I am glowing. I am filled with wonder. I catch myself thinking about sentimental things to come in the pregnancy and as a new Mum. All the time. I can’t wait until I start to show enough for people to ask when I’m due. This is my first pregnancy, my first child, the start of our new family – how amazing is that? All I could do was sort of mumble, my mouth full of instruments, responses to her ramblings. What could I say, anyway?
Oh yeah, and then in-between her pregnancy moaning, she is lecturing me that my teeth are bleeding quite a bit, and that I should brush and floss more, right after I tell her that I have been having difficulty brushing some nights because of either the brush is too much, or the taste of the paste, or the smell of the floss. COME ON WOMAN! And I know that pregnant women’s gums bleed more readily because of the hormone changes and the extra blood, so I wasn’t that concerned – but shouldn’t she know this too? Okay. I am done my rant now, and I am sure that I will get some sympathetic comments from my wretched experience.
Now for something a little more positive, okay? Man, I totally didn’t mean to write so much about that horrid experience! Our yearly break from classes is this week – starting today actually – and we are going away for the first time this year (meaning 2003). It’s called the Study Break, and this is the first university I have heard of being logical in the naming of this break. Others refer to it as Spring Break, whereas in this Great White North, it is usually FAR from being spring-like to correctly call it that, another name is Reading Break – as if students are actually going to utilize this extra time for catching up on course reading.
Anyway, we are leaving tomorrow morning for a couple of nights away, and we’re not able to bring the kids – making it our first time away from them for a period of more than 24 hours. We had left Miss Scarlett at home when we made the 30+ hour round trip drive to pick up Brook, as having a kitty and a puppy in the car for that long would not be wise, considering they would have JUST met each other :-) We will be staying in a small Bed and Breakfast in a tiny town on the south coast of Nova Scotia and we picked the town because it will be the furthest south we’ve been able to get to so far in our travels around the province. Simon will be packing some of his journals and articles for his thesis, but is only permitted to spend one afternoon looking at them. All other time is for other reading and relaxation – that is the rule. I have to say that apart from leaving the kids, I am really looking forward to the trip. We have a friend who will come and feed Brook and take her out etc., Scarlett would be highly insulted if she thought she needed to be taken care of and so our friend is here solely to take care of Brook :-) I will let you know how the place was in next week’s entry.
Yoga is turning out to be just great. I love going and seeing everyone, and now that my belly is starting to grow a bit, I feel a little better about being in the Pregnancy Yoga class – I’m sure that sounds pretty silly though. I am in my second trimester after all…
Symptoms: Yes, the belly is a growin’ and I am so proud of my tiny belly! The funniest thing happened this week too, all because of this tiny little belly. I gave Simon a hug, but before I even had my arms around him, he sort of cried out and backed away with a peculiar look on his face. I tried again to hug him, but he still backed away, finally saying that he was being bumped away when I hug him. It was my turn to have a peculiar look on my face. He said that where my belly used to be soft, so that when he hugged me, his own belly used to ‘fit’ into where mine was, but my belly is now hard and is being ‘bumped’ away in a hug. I personally thought that this was hilarious, but Simon just got more upset when I laughed at him for saying this :-) When I approached him for the third time to have a hug, he acted as if I already had a huge belly and sort of bent over my pretend belly. This got me, surprisingly, a little upset, because I knew that it wouldn’t be long before this would be the normal way in which we would have to hug, so I made him stop and give me a proper hug – which he finally did, but not without some more complaining that it ‘just didn’t feel right anymore.’
The last symptom that has cropped up I initially thought was not a pregnancy symptom at all, but just my stress levels acting up. I am breaking out. I am one of those lucky people that never really had breakouts as a teenager, nor have I since… up until now! It started late in 13 weeks, and I proceeded to deal with it as a normal person. But this week is worse! That’s when I realized that it was NOT stress, but pregnancy. I have instructed Simon that he is to have a firm conversation with the Little One about the fact that Mum is not so pleased with this latest symptom and it is to stop posthaste. We’ll have to see how the discussion goes… :-)
**Talk to Me**
Have you ever been subjected to an experience as I had with the dental hygienist, where the woman would just not be quiet about their negative pregnancy experience(s)?
When did your partner first realize that hugging you was no longer the same?
Were you able to get away from it all for a few days during your pregnancy, and how did it feel to realize it would all be so different on vacations in the future?
Namaste, Laura and the Little One
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