Update On Subchorionic Bleed
I have come to realize that I am a TERRIBLE blogger! There have been a couple of things that have happened since my last post. On the Friday after the ER visit, I called the doctor’s office. They were not terribly concerned about the bleed (by Friday, the bleeding had completely stopped). They told me I could go back to work (YES–12 hour shifts as a nurse–EEEK!). They were fine waiting to see me until my scheduled appointment (on January 13), and to call if anything else happens. They did give me a “light duty” order in regards to work, but that has not gone terribly well, we are just too busy right now. So I went to work the next night (Saturday), and it went ok. Everything was fine until Tuesday (exactly 1 week after the origional bleed). That morning I started spotting. I called the doctor’s office since it had been 5 days since I had any spotting at all. They had me come in and have an ultrasound. The babies were wonderful! The ultrasound tech could not find where the bleed had started, so that meant that it was completely healed and what I was spotting was old blood. I have since worked quite a few shifts since then, and I am feeling pretty good. We go back to the doctor tomorrow for our regular appointment and ultrasound. I am excited and nervous (I just want them to be ok). If we are lucky, we may just find out what the sexes are!
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Tags: subchorionic bleed, Twins, ultrasound
ER visit :(
We had our first scare tonight. I woke up at 5pm to get ready for work tonight and had some bright red bleeding. I called in to work and called Robby. We went straight to the ER, where thankfully I was seen very quickly. It turns out we have a subchorionic bleed. This has a very good prognosis, but it is scary scary scary. The babies are fine, we were able to see them on ultrasound. I am on bedrest until Friday when I will have a follow up appointment with my doctor.
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Doctors appointment 12/18
We had another appointment on 12/18 and it went well. The babies are growing right on track with good strong heartbeats. The big thing to watch now is my cervix which is measuring 3.4cm at this time. The doctor wants us to come back in 3 and a half weeks to monitor for any shortening. The good thing is that we will be watched even more closely. Hopefully it will stay the way it is and not shorten any. I will also be stopping my progesterone suppliments once I run out of what I have (4 more days). I made an appointment with the doctor that will take over care for the second half of the pregnancy. I see him on 2/2.
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Canceled RE appointment!
At the appointment for our last IUI, the doctor told us that she couldn’t figure out why the first four IUI’s did not work, there was nothing more she could do for us, and we needed to see a specialist. Getting in to see a reproductive endocrinologist can take months, so the week after our IUI I made an appointment to see a RE. The appointment was for December 2nd. The week after I made the appointment, we found out that the fifth IUI CAN be the charm! I was too scared to cancel the appointment. A couple of days after we found out we were pregnant, the RE’s office called saying there was an opening for a earlier date. Fearing a miscarriage (just based on my history), I declined the earlier appointment, but chose to keep our original appointment. Two weeks later, we got another phone call saying there was an opening. It was then that I explained our history and hesitation in regards to canceling the appointment. The person I talked to was very supportive and told me to wait until a week before the appointment, then call and cancel. I type all of this explanation to say: on Tuesday I was able to CANCEL the appointment!!! It is such an accomplishment for us to get this far in a pregnancy. Canceling that appointment was a milestone for us, and it is a moment that I want to remember.
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Tags: doctors, miscarriage, reproductive endocrinologist
Second Ultrasound
We had our second ultrasound today and it went really well. Baby A is on my left side and had a heart rate of 168 and Baby B is on my right side and had a heart rate of 172. They both measured 8weeks and 4days (2 days behind, but the doctor said that is fine). I had my first prenatal appointment today as well. I had lots of blood drawn, urine tests, weight and blood pressure check, etc. Everything looked good. We are so excited and couldn’t have had a better appointment!!
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Tags: doctor's appointment, Twins, ultrasound
Ultrasound results from 11/3
Robby and I went for our ultrasound on Monday 11/3. I was very scared they wouldn’t be able to find anything, and Robby was pretty calm. As the ultrasound began, right away I saw a black bubble, but the ultrasound tech passed it right up and found a different black bubble. She let us know that this was our baby. I asked three times in a row “does it have a heartbeat?” She said that there was a heartbeat of 112 beats per minute. I felt so relieved. My next question was “OK, so there is only one then, right”, and she said “I can’t say that just yet”. She then went right to that black bubble I had seen at the beginning and said “And here is your other one, a heartbeat of 122 beats per minute.” OMG there are two! Although my HCG and progesterone levels suggested twins, we really didn’t believe it could happen. Having two brings on so many feelings. We feel very blessed. I feel an additional sense of fear. Twins are so much more risky than a singleton pregnancy. So much can go wrong, but if we finish this with two healthy babies, the risks will be worth it.
We took our parents and sisters out to dinner that night. We have never made it far enough into a pregnancy to be able to tell our parents. While being pregnant wasn’t a new experience for us, telling our parents was. Robby put the pictures on the computer and I ordered copies from Walgreen’s and placed them in an envelope. There were four pictures total, 1 of each of them alone, and 2 with both of them together. I put them in order of each on their own then at the back the pictures of the two of them together. We handed each person an envelope. As they realized what the first picture was, they got very excited, and we just kept saying “wait wait, keep looking”. My dad was the one who said “wait, is that twins?” then everybody got really excited. It felt good to finally be able to tell our parents such good news.
Our next ultrasound is this Thursday 11/20. Hopefully we will see our babies are thriving. I am still very nervous, but at the same time, trying to enjoy it. Here are the pictures from the ultrasound from 11/3. They are the most precious grains of rice I have ever seen…
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Tags: miscarriage, Twins, ultrasound
A bit of background.
I decided to start this blog to chronicle my husband’s and my journey through infertility and our success. I guess I am a bit late starting this blog, but I wanted to share our experience with others who are going or are about to go through similar situations. A bit of history:
June 2006: Decided it was time to have a baby! Oh how naive we were…..
October 12, 2006: BFP! Had no idea it would be this easy! We were over the moon and unprepared for what was to come.
October 14, 2006: Started spotting.
October 17, 2006: Confirmed with doctor that we were indeed miscarrying.
We started TTC again right away. A few months pasted and we decided it was time for a break. We stayed on a break until May of 2007. We went to see the doctor and found out that I was not ovulating. It was so confusing. How could it happen so easily the first time, then when we want to try again, my body was failing us. The doctor put me on progesterone every month from day 16 until AF or BFP. Strangely enough, it gave my ovaries a kick start! I started ovulating again. We continued TTC on our own. In August of 2006, I purchased a Clear Blue Easy Fertility Monitor. According to the monitor, I was ovulating regularly. Now it was a waiting game.
December 8, 2007: BFP!!! We were so excited and so scared.
December 10, 2007: HCG 122.6 YAY!!
December 12, 2007: HCG 158.8….WTF??? The numbers did not double. We were told it was probably not viable.
December 16, 2007: Started spotting. We were losing this one as well. We were so, so sad.
December 17, 2007: HCG 14.4–It is over.
Six weeks after the miscarriage my OBGYN sent me for lab work. I had the following tests run:
Factor 5 Leiden (it was negative)
Anti-Cardiolipin IgG antibodies (it was negative)
Anti-Cardiolipin IgM antibodies (it was negative)
TSH (it was within normal limits)
Lupus Anticoag (negative)
The doctor gave us a great prognosis. He said that we probably had a run of bad luck, and our next pregnancy would be just fine. We started TTC again right away. According to the monitor I ovulated every month except for the March cycle. In April 2008, a coworker of Robby’s told him about a doctor in Baton Rouge (a little over an hour away) that helped them. She is an OBGYN who enjoys fertility challenges. The coworker made us an appointment.
May 8, 2008: Our first visit! She tested FSH, LH, TSH (all good). She had Robby give a semen analysis.
May 20, 2008: Went for first follicular ultrasound. At this appointment I got our results. Robby’s analysis had a low amount of normal sperm. I had a follicle that was 18×20. The doctor suggested IUI. This took us completely off guard. One reason for doing this was the semen analysis results. The other reason was because in another month, we would have been TTC for 2 years, and she wanted to give us better chances.
May 21, 2008: First IUI. Oh the waiting!!! This month was a bust. We were told not to worry, first IUI’s rarely work. It is a big “getting to know you” cycle.
June 13, 2008: Follicular ultrasound showed one 9×11 follicle and one 11×12 follicle. Not very impressive. Wait the weekend and see what happens Monday.
June 16, 2008: One follicle 18×20! Just in time! This cycle I had HCG trigger to assist with timing.
June 17, 2008: IUI time!!! Unfortunately this cycle was not to be….
July 5, 2008: Started clomid CD 3-7
July 14, 2008: Follicular Ultrasound showed one 27×27 on the right, and one 18×21 on the left. My endometrial lining was 11mm (previous ultrasounds showed 7-8mm). HCG injection was given.
July 15, 2008: IUI! Again, not meant to be. This was starting to get old. We went from having so much hope to being crushed month after month.
July 29, 2008: Clomid 50mg days 3-7.
August 5, 2008: Hysterosalpingogram (HSG) was done. It took 6 times to get the catheter in. The good news was that my tubes were clear and it didnt hurt much. The one thing we did find out was that I have a tilted uterus. The doctor said it isnt a big deal and a lot of people have it; it shouldnt be an issue.
August 7, 2008: Follicular ultrasound: on the right–20×25, 18×13 (probably a dud) on the left–18×12 (also probably a dud). It looks like we are going with 1 follicle this cycle. Uterine lining was 9mm. HCG injection given.
August 8, 2008: IUI! Again, unsuccessful.
At this point we were tired and sad that this wasnt working out the way we planned. We mourned our losses and what could have been and what we were having to endure now. We needed a break. And by “break”: we tried on our own with the help of Clomid for 1 cycle. Also a bust. But this break allowed us to gather our thoughts and have a little bit of fun TTC, rather than having 4 other people in the room assisting us….
September 23, 2008: Started Clomid 50mg days 3-7.
September 28, 2008: Started Estrogen three pills twice a day. This was to counter the effect of the clomid on my uterine lining.
September 29, 2008: Had an appointment with a geneticist. Since the IUI thing didnt look like it was working out and we had been TTC 9 cycles since the last miscarriage, more intensive fertility treatments were looming in our future. If one of us had a genetic issue that would seriously hurt our chances of conceiving a genetically “normal” child, then we needed to know. He had chromosomes run on us. Mine came back first (normal), Robby’s came back normal as well. This was very interesting to know. Now that we knew that chances are the first two miscarriages probably were bad luck, just like the first doctor said. But, that didnt explain why we were having so much trouble conceiving for the third time.
October 2, 2008: Follicular ultrasound. Drum roll please…….On the right–one 25×20, one 24×15, and one 21×17 (all a good size). On the left–well, i didnt write these down….they were kinda wimpy. all less than 17mm at their biggest. I had an HCG trigger.
October 3, 2008: IUI #5! We did one thing different this cycle. Other cycles we were told to BD the next two nights. This time we BD the same night as the IUI. I was questioning the timing of the IUIs (that they might be too early). That is what we did different….
October 14, 2008: 11 days post IUI, BFP!
October 15, 2008: The line is darker! It looks like this is the real thing!
October 16, 2008: HCG 98!
October 18, 2008: HCG 323!
October 21, 2008: Doctor’s office called to tell me to take 81mg aspirin every day as a precaution due to my history of miscarriage. I am also on progesterone supplements since CD 17.
October 23, 2008: HCG 3,008 (at 4w5d)!
And this is where we are to date. (5w4d) I will probably have another HCG level tomorrow although I am still uncertain whether or not I will go. I have to drive over an hour to get there, and even if we get bad results, there is nothing we can do. I have read a lot of positive things about healthy HCG levels early in pregnancy. We are not out of the woods yet (by far), and we are still very scared. Every day is a gift. I have already passed where I miscarried both the first and the second pregnancy. We have an ultrasound in 5 days (November 3, 2008). We will be 6w2d and really really want to see a heartbeat. My heart goes out to all of those experiencing infertility and loss. It has hurt so badly at times, and I realize that there are people who have it so much worse. Good luck to all….
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Tags: infertilty, IUI, miscarriage, success
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