It's been a long time since I posted last; mostly because I've had a child, moved twice, got married, and put nearly a stone of weight on from eating pizza. But I'm here!
This isn't going to be a big post, just wanted to let everyone know my boring old life is back online.
I'm currently sat upstairs on my dusty PC while my daughter plays on what used to be my Note tablet and we're watching The Secret Life of Pets for the 100th time this month. Not that I'm complaining; of all the films to choose this is probably one of the best. It's also made me kinda want a cat. *shrug*
Everyone is doing well in the Preskey House. We got married in June and we've moved back to my hometown so we're finally living mould free! Bear is doing great, she's happy now the kid is in the nursery and we can have some time to go running together.
Lara is thriving. She started walking at 9 months and saying sentences not long after that so it's pretty much her house now. We just sort of walk around on eggshells and try not to set off the 'toddler tantrum', which does not describe the episode in enough horror. Toddler tantrums are in fact better known as 'bitch fits'. Or Armageddon. Here's an example: this morning I asked her if she wanted chocolate spread on toast with blueberries, she said no. So I started to prepare her usual cereal and you know what she did? Screamed the place down. Why? Because she wanted chocolate spread on toast with blueberries. This is just a tiny example of why Ben and I drink whisky now. There's no other way to handle these outbursts other than heroin and we don't want to go down that route. I like teeth.
It's funny with her because she can go from the Devil to an angel in the space of five seconds. She punched me this morning for trying to brush her teeth and then a few seconds later, hugged me and told me she loved me 'the best'. Toddlers are bat-shit crazy. They're basically Negan.
Anyway, there's a dude downstairs putting us some flooring down (carpets and toddlers don't mix!) so I'll try to get back soon with some more terrible life lessons!
NX
Thursday, 25 January 2018
Sunday, 7 February 2016
Hey guys.
I have a new blog for all my baby stuff so hopefully I can finally start to get back to some good old gaming blogging soon on this one :) Here it is if you're interested - http://nerdwithanewborn.blogspot.com/2016/02/afternoon.html
Tuesday, 28 April 2015
Suffering from hyperemesis gravidarum in pregnancy
Hey guys, it's been a while! I've had a lot on the past few months and most of you will already know that I am 13 weeks pregnant.
I told a friend that I would write a little on a condition that I've had since I was around 6 weeks pregnant, called Hyperemesis Gravidarum. It only happens in around 5% of pregnancies (according to the wise old internet) and most people won't have heard of it.
Unless I was to say, "The thing that Kate Middleton had in her pregnancy." Then you get a look of complete recognition.
Anyway, since it has played a big part in my life for what feels like forever, I wanted to write about it.
Hyperemesis is basically really severe morning sickness that barely allows you time to eat and drink, makes you retch uncontrollably at the smallest smell or even sight, affects every area of your life and can leave you bed-ridden and feeling extremely depressed and hopeless. I will post the NHS definition if you're looking for a more medical explanation but that's pretty much the jist of it.
Here's the link: http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/pages/severe-vomiting-in-pregnancy-hyperemesis-gravidarum.aspx
Sufferers of HG will know just how bad the sickness can get and how alone it can make you feel, especially considering the majority of doctors will not treat your sickness until you've ended up puking so much that your body is dehydrated enough to contain keytones in your urine. When that happens, they'll send you to hospital for a cocktail of anti-sickness drugs, vitamins and rehydration stuff until you're feeling better. Once you get home after a few days, they'll then decide you're sick enough to warrant anti-sickness medication until you feel more like yourself.
The problem with the above method is that by the time you're sick enough to count as dehydrated, you've probably already been suffering in silence with the condition for weeks or - God forbid - months and the chances are that you're feeling hopeless and depressed, had to take time off work and are struggling to get through each day. It really is that bad. But don't fret, once you've got the HG diagnosis, they take it very seriously. It is not good for your body to be dehydrated, especially when carrying a little person in your uterus.
My sickness started at six weeks and seemed to happen overnight. I started throwing up in the morning (expected) and sometimes throughout the day (also expected of pregnancy) but by two days later, it was uncontrollable.
Moving my head, standing up, sitting down, smelling certain foods or drink, or even taking too much of a deep breath set off the most painful retching of my life, which if I had nothing in my stomach, would continue until the toilet bowl was covered in bile.
Not only that but even when you're not being sick, your stomach is burning from the acid and it feels like there is someone's fist in your stomach gripping onto it tightly and squeezing until it nearly cripples you. Add that to the constant violent nausea that never goes away, no matter how many home morning sickness remedies you try. Now imagine feeling like this all day and retching/puking 20+ times a day and you've pretty much got what HG feels like. There is nothing that replaces it in your mind because it's so painful that you can't think of anything else.
My partner took me to the emergency doctors at 4am and I was given an anti-sickness injection along with a box of tablets called prochlorperazine to stop the sickness and give me the chance to actually drink some water.
Unfortunately they didn't work and a few days later I went back to the doctors and she gave me some different medication called promethazine, which I take at night. The first few days don't feel completely better but trust me, the ones after that are fantastic!
Fast forward seven weeks and I'm still taking them nightly. I can actually get through the day without puking uncontrollably. They really are lifesaving. The doctor said that, even if they didn't work, there are quite a few options they can try to help, so don't feel down if you haven't found the tablets that suit you yet. You will.
The worst part of having this condition is the loneliness. How can you explain to those around you that you're having something abnormal happen to you when it looks like a perfectly normal pregnancy symptom that is completely harmless? Answer is: You can't really, they have to see it for themselves. I don't think my partner fully believed I wasn't exaggerating until that 4am rush to the emergency doctors, but now he takes my sickness very seriously as well as the tiredness that comes with it. (And bloody hell it does!)
My main advice to anyone suffering this condition is to not do it in silence. Talk to your partner or family and friends, let them know what it feels like and moreso if the depression hits - and trust me, it can hit with vengeance. Speak to your doctor and keep speaking to them until they take your condition seriously and give you the treatment you need.
Lastly, don't give up! I know it can ruin your pregnancy high and it can even make you feel like you don't want to be pregnant at times, but it will get better. You will feel like your old self again, sooner or later, and your baby will totally be worth it. The baby is all I think about when my sickness gets me down and it still does occasionally. Oh well, only six months left, I can't be sick for the whole hog.........can I? XD
Take care,
Nik X
I told a friend that I would write a little on a condition that I've had since I was around 6 weeks pregnant, called Hyperemesis Gravidarum. It only happens in around 5% of pregnancies (according to the wise old internet) and most people won't have heard of it.
Unless I was to say, "The thing that Kate Middleton had in her pregnancy." Then you get a look of complete recognition.
Anyway, since it has played a big part in my life for what feels like forever, I wanted to write about it.
Hyperemesis is basically really severe morning sickness that barely allows you time to eat and drink, makes you retch uncontrollably at the smallest smell or even sight, affects every area of your life and can leave you bed-ridden and feeling extremely depressed and hopeless. I will post the NHS definition if you're looking for a more medical explanation but that's pretty much the jist of it.
Here's the link: http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/pages/severe-vomiting-in-pregnancy-hyperemesis-gravidarum.aspx
Sufferers of HG will know just how bad the sickness can get and how alone it can make you feel, especially considering the majority of doctors will not treat your sickness until you've ended up puking so much that your body is dehydrated enough to contain keytones in your urine. When that happens, they'll send you to hospital for a cocktail of anti-sickness drugs, vitamins and rehydration stuff until you're feeling better. Once you get home after a few days, they'll then decide you're sick enough to warrant anti-sickness medication until you feel more like yourself.
The problem with the above method is that by the time you're sick enough to count as dehydrated, you've probably already been suffering in silence with the condition for weeks or - God forbid - months and the chances are that you're feeling hopeless and depressed, had to take time off work and are struggling to get through each day. It really is that bad. But don't fret, once you've got the HG diagnosis, they take it very seriously. It is not good for your body to be dehydrated, especially when carrying a little person in your uterus.
My sickness started at six weeks and seemed to happen overnight. I started throwing up in the morning (expected) and sometimes throughout the day (also expected of pregnancy) but by two days later, it was uncontrollable.
Moving my head, standing up, sitting down, smelling certain foods or drink, or even taking too much of a deep breath set off the most painful retching of my life, which if I had nothing in my stomach, would continue until the toilet bowl was covered in bile.
Not only that but even when you're not being sick, your stomach is burning from the acid and it feels like there is someone's fist in your stomach gripping onto it tightly and squeezing until it nearly cripples you. Add that to the constant violent nausea that never goes away, no matter how many home morning sickness remedies you try. Now imagine feeling like this all day and retching/puking 20+ times a day and you've pretty much got what HG feels like. There is nothing that replaces it in your mind because it's so painful that you can't think of anything else.
My partner took me to the emergency doctors at 4am and I was given an anti-sickness injection along with a box of tablets called prochlorperazine to stop the sickness and give me the chance to actually drink some water.
Unfortunately they didn't work and a few days later I went back to the doctors and she gave me some different medication called promethazine, which I take at night. The first few days don't feel completely better but trust me, the ones after that are fantastic!
Fast forward seven weeks and I'm still taking them nightly. I can actually get through the day without puking uncontrollably. They really are lifesaving. The doctor said that, even if they didn't work, there are quite a few options they can try to help, so don't feel down if you haven't found the tablets that suit you yet. You will.
The worst part of having this condition is the loneliness. How can you explain to those around you that you're having something abnormal happen to you when it looks like a perfectly normal pregnancy symptom that is completely harmless? Answer is: You can't really, they have to see it for themselves. I don't think my partner fully believed I wasn't exaggerating until that 4am rush to the emergency doctors, but now he takes my sickness very seriously as well as the tiredness that comes with it. (And bloody hell it does!)
My main advice to anyone suffering this condition is to not do it in silence. Talk to your partner or family and friends, let them know what it feels like and moreso if the depression hits - and trust me, it can hit with vengeance. Speak to your doctor and keep speaking to them until they take your condition seriously and give you the treatment you need.
Lastly, don't give up! I know it can ruin your pregnancy high and it can even make you feel like you don't want to be pregnant at times, but it will get better. You will feel like your old self again, sooner or later, and your baby will totally be worth it. The baby is all I think about when my sickness gets me down and it still does occasionally. Oh well, only six months left, I can't be sick for the whole hog.........can I? XD
Take care,
Nik X
Thursday, 6 November 2014
Plagued is available on Kobo!
Hey everyone, Plagued is now available on Kobo as well as Kindle. Here are the links for you:
Hope you're all well,
NX
Monday, 27 October 2014
Plagued is out now :)
Hey guys,
Just a quick update to let you know I've FINALLY released Plagued on Amazon Kindle ebooks, and it'll be available on Kobo in the next 24/36 hours when it's been reviewed.
Here is the link if you're interested: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00OU8ZDBO
Hope you're all doing well!
P.S. will post a review of Alien: Isolation when I finally have it XD *excite*
NX
Just a quick update to let you know I've FINALLY released Plagued on Amazon Kindle ebooks, and it'll be available on Kobo in the next 24/36 hours when it's been reviewed.
Here is the link if you're interested: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00OU8ZDBO
Hope you're all doing well!
P.S. will post a review of Alien: Isolation when I finally have it XD *excite*
NX
Sunday, 28 September 2014
Outcast is getting a remake! (Hopefully)
Really excited at the moment, looking at the images from the remake of Outcast - one of my favourite games.
I played it over and over in my teens and I still hum the soundtrack to this day. It's a sci-fi where you can ride animals called Twon-Has and has star-gates, What's not to like?
Apparently it's getting a remake, which is fantastic. Even though it was WAYYYY ahead of its time graphically, it's gonna be old now by our standards and I'd be overwhelming happy to play it with a new prettiness. (Downloading the original right now by the way, for nostalgia.)
Here is the link on Steam's Greenlight but if you don't have that, Google 'Outcast Remake HD' if you want a bit of further info.
PLEASE GO AHEAD WITH THIS.
NX
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