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My next ultrasound is on June 19th. I'm crossing my fingers that everything goes well!
-Sarah
Friday, June 7, 2013
Cautiously Optimistic
Good news! My ultrasound today went relatively well! The baby has a strong heartbeat of 121 bpm, however it did measure a little small. It was 31mm which is consistent with a gestational age of 5 weeks, 6 days. I'm currently 6 weeks, 5 days from my last menstrual cycle. However, since we don't know my actual ovulation date since this was an unmonitored cycle, it's entirely possible that it's just fine. I also wasn't on blood thinners from the start which could have caused early growth to be restricted. We will have to wait and see what happens over the next few weeks. Dr. A. recommended being cautiously optimistic as this is a great start!
My next ultrasound is on June 19th. I'm crossing my fingers that everything goes well!
-Sarah
My next ultrasound is on June 19th. I'm crossing my fingers that everything goes well!
-Sarah
Monday, June 3, 2013
May/June Update
Has it really been 5 months since I last updated??
We have had a very busy spring between Eli getting sick practically every other week and both Chad and I crunching at work at the same time. Recently, Eli finally seemed to be staying healthy, but last week he went downhill again and was sick ALL week with a fever and slight cough. His pediatrician saw him twice, but couldn't find any explanation other than a virus. His fever finally broke on Saturday and he was well enough to go to daycare today. Hopefully his immune system will get into gear soon!
Eli is talking ALL the time now in a semi-clear manner. He can't pronounce "l" or "th," which makes for some silly sounding words. Lately he has been obsessed with the word "no" in typical toddler fashion...
Our other news is something that I've been hesitant to write about since it almost always seems to end poorly. A couple of weeks ago I had what I thought was a full period, but afterwards I continued spotting for a week and was completely exhausted. I finally took a home pregnancy test and to my surprise it was positive!
Last week my doctor ordered a couple of blood tests to confirm and started me on progesterone and lovenox (blood thinner) injections. Anyway, my first two blood tests showed my beta HCG was increasing, but barely within the normal range at a rate of 67% over 48 hours and a doubling time of 79 hours (viable pregnancies increase at a minimum of 66% and ideally double within 48 hours, however that slows down around this time). However today's blood test showed that my doubling time had decreased to 57 hours, which is well within the normal range. We have an ultrasound scheduled for Friday afternoon to look for a heartbeat and to make sure it's not ectopic as that's still a possibility (although looking less likely at the moment).
IF this actually turns out to be a viable pregnancy, I'll be due at the end of January. I'll send another update after the ultrasound.
-Sarah
We have had a very busy spring between Eli getting sick practically every other week and both Chad and I crunching at work at the same time. Recently, Eli finally seemed to be staying healthy, but last week he went downhill again and was sick ALL week with a fever and slight cough. His pediatrician saw him twice, but couldn't find any explanation other than a virus. His fever finally broke on Saturday and he was well enough to go to daycare today. Hopefully his immune system will get into gear soon!
Eli is talking ALL the time now in a semi-clear manner. He can't pronounce "l" or "th," which makes for some silly sounding words. Lately he has been obsessed with the word "no" in typical toddler fashion...
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| Eli getting attacked by the tickle monster! Thanks for the photo, Tracy. =) |
Our other news is something that I've been hesitant to write about since it almost always seems to end poorly. A couple of weeks ago I had what I thought was a full period, but afterwards I continued spotting for a week and was completely exhausted. I finally took a home pregnancy test and to my surprise it was positive!
Last week my doctor ordered a couple of blood tests to confirm and started me on progesterone and lovenox (blood thinner) injections. Anyway, my first two blood tests showed my beta HCG was increasing, but barely within the normal range at a rate of 67% over 48 hours and a doubling time of 79 hours (viable pregnancies increase at a minimum of 66% and ideally double within 48 hours, however that slows down around this time). However today's blood test showed that my doubling time had decreased to 57 hours, which is well within the normal range. We have an ultrasound scheduled for Friday afternoon to look for a heartbeat and to make sure it's not ectopic as that's still a possibility (although looking less likely at the moment).
IF this actually turns out to be a viable pregnancy, I'll be due at the end of January. I'll send another update after the ultrasound.
-Sarah
Friday, December 7, 2012
Update
I've been holding off on updating about my pregnancy since it's remained abnormal and frustrating. Over the last couple of weeks, my beta hcg number has been steadily rising, albeit in an extremely slow, non-viable manner. We have been very concerned that this is an ectopic pregnancy, which could cause me to need emergency surgery and lose a tube, or even be life threatening if not treated in time.
This morning I had an ultrasound to look for the pregnancy location and see if I have any blood in my abdomen. The good news is that everything looks normal and there don't appear to be any pools of blood. The bad news is that we're still not sure where the pregnancy is located. We saw an extremely tiny dark circle in my uterus that might be a sac, but it could also be a pseudosac or other anomaly that can present with ectopics. Dr. A said that right now he's not concerned about the possibility of an impending rupture at least.
The plan now is to wait another week. Next friday we will check my beta levels as well as run a full blood panel including organ function. If my hcg is still rising and I'm otherwise healthy, then they will administer methotrexate to terminate. Hopefully I'll be over the worst of it by the holidays and we start another IUI in January.
In Eli news, he is now 16 months and is doing great as usual. We are sad to say that we will be moving him to a new daycare in the new year. While we love our current provider, Bethy, she is located by our old house. So, our commute to work is now 40 - 45 minutes instead of the 10 - 12 it would be if we could drop Eli off somewhere closer to the new house. Fortunately we were able to find Shirley's daycare, which seems wonderful and is located in our new neighborhood. Eli will be the youngest of 12 children at the daycare, but there are lots of toys, a nice big backyard with play equipment, and lots of books. Shirley runs it as a preschool and the day is fairly structured for the older children. Eli will be able to partake in the activities as much or as little as he wants. The biggest transition will be napping. Currently he still sometimes takes a morning nap. At the new daycare they only take one afternoon nap. We think he will adapt pretty quickly to this though as he skips his morning nap most of the time lately.
We took him to a salon for his first haircut last weekend. I was sad to say goodbye to his beautiful curls, but Chad felt like he was looking too feminine. He certainly looks like a little boy now!
This morning I had an ultrasound to look for the pregnancy location and see if I have any blood in my abdomen. The good news is that everything looks normal and there don't appear to be any pools of blood. The bad news is that we're still not sure where the pregnancy is located. We saw an extremely tiny dark circle in my uterus that might be a sac, but it could also be a pseudosac or other anomaly that can present with ectopics. Dr. A said that right now he's not concerned about the possibility of an impending rupture at least.
The plan now is to wait another week. Next friday we will check my beta levels as well as run a full blood panel including organ function. If my hcg is still rising and I'm otherwise healthy, then they will administer methotrexate to terminate. Hopefully I'll be over the worst of it by the holidays and we start another IUI in January.
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| I don't look silly at all! |
We took him to a salon for his first haircut last weekend. I was sad to say goodbye to his beautiful curls, but Chad felt like he was looking too feminine. He certainly looks like a little boy now!
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| What are they doing to me?! |
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| Handsome boy! |
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Monday, November 12, 2012
New House! And an Update...
We have been in our new house for 6 days now. The full box mountains in every room are slowly growing smaller while the scary empty box everest grows at an alarming rate. The kitties are really enjoying scaling it, however...
So far only Eli's room is completely unpacked (trying to locate diapers, socks, his favorite snuggly, etc in the mess while manhandling the up-monster was an exercise in frustration). The kitchen and family room are almost unpacked and will be done in the next day or two.
Overall we are making a lot of progress and are on track for being ready to host Thanksgiving. =)
On a sadder note, as we suspected, we have received confirmation that this pregnancy is not viable. I asked for another blood test on Friday since I continued to feel off, and that confirmed that my beta hcg numbers had dropped to 69. I had a second blood draw this morning to make sure that my numbers continue to drop so I can hopefully avoid having to undergo a D&C. Emotionally, I'm actually okay with this result. I've felt pretty strongly from the start that something was wrong with this pregnancy, so I'm actually relieved to have it end sooner rather than later. We will do one more IUI with Follistim injections as soon as my doctor clears us (probably in December or January).
In other news, Eli is as cute as ever! =)
So far only Eli's room is completely unpacked (trying to locate diapers, socks, his favorite snuggly, etc in the mess while manhandling the up-monster was an exercise in frustration). The kitchen and family room are almost unpacked and will be done in the next day or two.
Overall we are making a lot of progress and are on track for being ready to host Thanksgiving. =)
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| Day 1: Is there a kitchen in here? |
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| Day 5: Why yes, we do have a kitchen! |
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| Day 5: Kitties taking a rest before attempting to scale the mountain... |
On a sadder note, as we suspected, we have received confirmation that this pregnancy is not viable. I asked for another blood test on Friday since I continued to feel off, and that confirmed that my beta hcg numbers had dropped to 69. I had a second blood draw this morning to make sure that my numbers continue to drop so I can hopefully avoid having to undergo a D&C. Emotionally, I'm actually okay with this result. I've felt pretty strongly from the start that something was wrong with this pregnancy, so I'm actually relieved to have it end sooner rather than later. We will do one more IUI with Follistim injections as soon as my doctor clears us (probably in December or January).
In other news, Eli is as cute as ever! =)
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| Thumb break |
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| Good morning! |
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