Now what?.....

After getting the all-clear from the RE yesterday, I thought I would be able to come back to work today drama-free.

Not so.

I had just gotten to my class and then 5 minutes later, our clinical supervisor walked in and says "Hi, I heard that you might be pregnant?"  (What? I have hardly told anyone at work but now it's going through the grapevine).  She went on, "I have a reason for asking: there's been a child here diagnosed with fifth disease, so you need to call your doctor to let them know there's been an exposure in the school."

Great.  Something new to scare me.  Though from what I've read, the chances of getting serious complications from an exposure are very low.  But still not any chance I want to take!  I called the RE's office, and the receptionist said she'd pass the message on and have one of the nurses call me back.  Well I waited all day for them to call, but in the meantime I just made sure to keep a good distance (as much as possible) from the kids and made sure to wash my hands plenty.  The nurse finally called again around 2:30 and said that they wanted me to come in tomorrow for a test to see if I've been exposed before.

I think my RE's office might be sick of seeing me after this week, lol!

All is well

I went in for my follow-up with the RE this morning.  Took a look at the area that the ER doctor was talking about, but my RE says he's not even sure if it's really a hematoma.  Bottom line, it's definitely nothing to worry about.  However, he did tell me to stop taking the baby aspirin, just in case.  And no GOFO allowed.  Don't really feel like that anyway since this UTI and the antibiotic I have to take for it make me feel blehhhh.

Next u/s is Saturday morning.  My uterus sure is getting a lot of attention lately lol!

Little Scare

Yesterday was quite an eventful day for us.  Fortunately, baby is still perfectly ok, but we did have a little bit of a scare (I will warn you it is TMI):

It started yesterday morning when I did my first suppository.  I noticed a little pinkish discharge on the applicator afterwards, but thought maybe I just pushed it in too far and irritated my cervix...or something like that.  I was using the bathroom a lot throughout the morning, but didn't see any more pink.

DH and I had planned to have a day at the mall window shopping for baby stuff (and maybe to buy some comfy work pants because I am quickly running out!).  We ate at the food court first and then I had to go to the bathroom again.  I had a lot of white discharge from the suppository, but there was also a little glob of dark bloody mucus.  Since there was no more blood when I wiped, I again thought maybe it was from my cervix being irritated by the suppository.  But it definitely killed my mood to walk around the mall so we went home.  

We both took a little nap at home, but when I woke up I noticed some strange cramping on my left side.  Even though I was not bleeding anymore, and I know cramping can be normal, we decided to go to the ER just to be sure and to put our minds at ease.

Of course, we all know how very quickly thinks move in the ER (ha!).  So long story short: after giving a urine sample, getting some blood drawn, and getting an u/s,  they determined I have a small subchorionic hemorrhage.  And also a UTI.  

As I said earlier, the good thing is that the baby is still measuring fine and the heartbeat is still good.  They said the hemorrhage does not seem to be affecting the baby at all, so the threat of miscarriage is very low.  However, I am on bedrest until I can get in to see my RE (hopefully tomorrow).  

....and growing!

The good news is... only 3 more days of PIO and then I get to switch to suppositories.  Hooray for booty relief!


Now, the GREAT news is....baby is still perfectly healthy and growing strong! Nearly doubled in size since last week (now 9mm).  And the heart rate is 144 bpm. I could spot it flickering away as soon as baby came on the screen!

The RE made sure to print out a few good u/s pics for me today.  This one is my favorite because even though I know the head is just beginning to form, it totally looks like baby is chowing down on yolk sac lol!

    

"Mmmmmmm....delicious!"

My next u/s is in 10 days, and the RE says we will be discussing invasive vs. non-invasive options for prenatal testing.  Oh boy will this be fun.  :)

Baby, baby, can't you see my heartbeat?

(Ok, I meant to post this much earlier, but I was once again so exhausted I fell asleep very early)


Today's appointment (well, I guess yesterday afternoon's appointment) was just as perfect as we could have hoped for!  We had had a little bet going on how many babies we had.  DH thought 2, my [crazy] neighbor thought 3, and I thought 1.....

I won the bet.  I was kind of hoping that maybe it would be twins, but I just knew it was 1.  Everyone has been telling me "mother knows best."  I guess that's true.  :)

The absolute best part of yesterday, of course, was seeing that little flickering heartbeat!!! It was so magical!!!!!  And the heart rate was a very healthy 126 bpm! We are so thankful!!!!


Now the only *bad* thing about today, was that I asked the RE if I could PLEASE switch from injections to suppositories, but he wants me to continue the PIO for 10 more days and after next week's visit, he'll give me the ok to switch (maybe?).  Boooooooo.   I've been doing the PIO for 4 weeks now, I have HUGE lumps in my booty, and it's sooooooooooooooo sore.  But hey, I'll do whatever it takes to keep me & baby healthy.

Beta #2

206!!!!!!


My levels decided to more than TRIPLE in 48 hours!!!  DH thinks this means I have more than 1 baby in there.  I said not necessarily.  No more bloodwork for now.  Just waiting another 2 weeks until we get to have the 1st ultrasound.....and hoping I don't go crazy waiting in the meantime.

Update on symptoms:  Other than the bloated feeling, we have noticed since around Sunday that my BBs have definitely gotten bigger/fuller.  I already have a pretty good sized chest, but now my nipples are GINORMOUS! LOL

Also, I've been having a lot of trouble sleeping for the past few days.  I will fall asleep around my usual time, 10 or 11 (usually while watching TV).  But then just sleep 2-3 hours before having to get up to pee.  Then after that, when I come back to bed, I just can NOT get comfortable and can NOT sleep for like 3 hours until I fall asleep for another 2 hours and then get up.  Yesterday evening, I was already feeling tired after my 7:30 PIO shot.  I was telling myself I can NOT go to sleep or else I'll be awake all night.  So I begged DH to take me somewhere just to keep me awake and alert.  We decided to just go for a little walk.

While we were walking, I was telling DH about how much trouble I am having getting to sleep at night. Then he asked me if I wanted a new mattress.  You see, the mattress we have now, we've had it for 4 years.... but it was used before then.  My mom got it at a garage sale somewhere and at the time it was great because anything was better than sharing a twin bed.  But it is really not very comfortable.  Now it just so happens that tomorrow (Thursday) is my birthday, and DH was stressing about what to do/get for my birthday.  (He's just not good at thinking of any gift that is not practical, and besides I don't even wear jewelry that often).  So we decided to walk down the street to the mattress store (gotta love living in the city) to take a look.  We ended up finding one that I really like that was on sale, and DH was willing to just go ahead and order it.

Isn't that ironic? Going for a walk just to stay awake, only to end up buying something to sleep on. LOL

And the beta is.....

60!


They said they like to see it at least over 50 by this point, so I am pregnant.... fo shizzle! :)  I'm just a tad disappointed because I was hoping for some whopping high, possible twin-range 1st beta like I see so many blog friends have.  But hey, pregnant is pregnant so I'm definitely taking what I can get!!! Praying it doubles (or more than doubles) by Wednesday.  :D


After this morning's bloodwork, I just want to say how much I really freakin love my doctor and his office.  Actually, even before we started the IVF, even when I was just doing the SHG a few months ago, I was already impressed with his bedside manner compared to other doctors we've had.  (Then again, it could just be that I've only had really mean doctors.  My RE in OK seemed more interested in my charts and my ovaries than me as a person).  For my baseline u/s, my RE was out of town and I had to go to his partner doctor in Beverly Hills.  I felt like that office was too big and impersonal, the nurses seemed bitchy, and the doctor was just weird.
This morning I was waiting in the waiting room longer than usual (to be expected on a Monday morning, I suppose).  There was an older lady in there, as well as a couple.  I think the guy must have said something about the waiting time because the other lady told him that it's nothing to do with them, and that this doctor was very well worth the wait.  For the couple it was only their 2nd visit, but the lady had already gotten pregnant with his help a couple years before.  So we were all sitting there talking about how awesome this doctor is.  The lady said that with her last pregnancy, she had an OBGYN that was so mean that she fired him and was begging the RE to deliver her baby (which of course, he doesn't do) until she finally found a new one. LOL  Nice to know we went through a doctor with that good of a rep.
When I was called back to get my blood drawn (after peeing in a cup, of course), the nurse asked me if I had tested at home.  I told her yes, 3 times and they were positive.  I said "But I know that doesn't mean much if my beta is low."  She assured me that a lot of times they see low betas at first, but then everything turns out to be fine.  She was also doing a pee test while she took my blood, and sure enough we got a line.  She went to go tell the doctor, then the other nurse (who is the one usually taking my blood and accompanying the ultrasounds) came over and looked at the test with a huge grin on her face. The doctor came over and looked at the test, then gave me a hug and everybody was saying "Congratulations!"  It was such a nice feeling to have the whole office get as excited as I was; like one big happy family LOL  :)

I am SOOOOO glad I was recommended to this RE.  Which would not have been possible had I not been given a recommendation for an AWESOME urologist by Emmy.  Thanks Emmy!!!