10 Weeks and going strong!!

Look how big I am getting!!!

We are getting closer and closer to the end of the first trimester! If anything then I will be able to take some tums and ease this reflux maybe. Little bit is doing awesome! It's amazing how much he/she has grown in just a week! Its little head just popped out there. Or should I say big head! Today was my high risk OB appointment. Pretty much this jist is that I am very low high risk in their book. My cervix issue can not be dealt with until it rears its ugly head and they are hopeful that it won't. Since this pregnancy is au natural that puts me at even lower risk. Studies show that with a cold cone knife/Leep type procedure on a cervix that puts me at like a 20-30% chance of preterm labor depending on how much cervix was removed, but they said it is hard to really tell if that was the real cause of the early labor. She said that I would likely have a quick labor that a lot of times patients like me will go from 1 to 10 very quickly. So right now the plan is to go back in two weeks for my optional genetic screening (ultrasound and bloodwork only) and then in four weeks back to MFM. They said at fourteen weeks the chance of miscarriage diminishes drastically so that is our next milestone to hit! Thanks for the prayers!

How far along? 10 weeks
Total weight gain/loss? 2/3 pounds
Maternity clothes? No but loose fitting clothes
Stretch marks? no
Sleep? as much as i can
Best moment this week? Getting to see baby on Ultrasound
Miss Anything? deer meat
Movement? No
Food cravings? Icees and milk shakes
Anything making you queasy or sick? Tazikis and can add Olive Garden to the list
Have you started to show yet? I believe so! A tiny bump
Gender? 
Labor Signs? Nope
Belly Button in or out? In
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time? Happy, but tired
Looking forward to? dog show season starting so we will be taking some trips the next few months so maybe it won't seem like forever between appointments. Off work for 14 days!!

8/9 Weeks

Tuesday March 1, 2016
It seems like the two weeks in between appointments took forever! My symptoms stayed consistent and nothing traumatic happened. However I still could not breathe easily until I saw our little gummy bear on the ultrasound screen. Dr. Bouknight described it as the little gopher in caddyshack moving around in there. We were able to make out limb buds and she showed us the spinal column developing. And our little baby is moving around. The heart rate was up to 178 this time! Nice and strong! She had not gotten a chance to email the OB's to ask about my continued care. She thought it would be fine to be seen by regular OB's but an email I received later confirmed that they would like me to go to High Risk to at least get a consult and get my cervix checked out. That appointment will be March 17thwith Amelia Sutton at UAB. As bittersweet as it was, this was our last appointment with our RE (Reproductive Endocrinologist). I have been with the for 4 years almost and they are like a second family. I never thought I would get to this point and it is so surreal that it is here!! I mean, I am nine weeks pregnant!
So for my fellow fertility strugglers, I know the mixed emotions that reading post like this brings. I have been there and felt those feelings. I have even struggled with posting what I have because I didn't want to hurt these ladies hearts. It's not meanness. Only infertiles understand it. It's frustration, pain, sorrow, a little bit of envy and anger at the universe for it not being your turn. I wish I had tricks to tell you, but I don't. I will say that the last thing on our mind that month was trying to get pregnant because we didn't even worry about charting or keeping up with it when we weren't doing an IVF cycle because why bother. I mean if IVF was not working for us why in the world would natural conception work. I will say that I know of hundreds of people who were lifting us up in prayer and I am sure there are hundreds I don't know of. My grandfather told me specifically he put my name in their church to pray for me that week of conception and I know a friend that anointed a prayer cloth for me that week. I know that we changed insurance that month to BCBS that was triple the premium so that it would cover more IVF labs and US. I know that we put a deposit on a puppy the month before so that we could add to our Alapaha family (Sorry Mom and Dad!!) We also planned a trip to Canada in the fall that won't be happening now. It was just a whole bunch of craziness and faithfulness that added up to our little munchkin coming into this world! I am just trying to say, don't give up. Or do but don't stop praying.


How far along? 8/9 weeks
Total weight gain/loss? zero
Maternity clothes? No, but have used this as an excuse to not button my jeans
Stretch marks? no
Sleep? Not much at night. Having terrible nausea and reflux right at bedtime.
Best moment this week? Getting to see baby on Ultrasound
Miss Anything? Being able to take medicine for my ailmentsMovement? NoFood cravings? Chocolate Chip cookiesAnything making you queasy or sick? TazikisHave you started to show yet? nope think it's just a fat roll :DGender? Labor Signs? NopeBelly Button in or out? InWedding rings on or off? OnHappy or Moody most of the time? Happy, but tiredLooking forward to? MFM appointment next week

Well Hello there Little One

So for those that follow my blog the last we talked I was to start my period so that I could start the wonderful hormones that might someday lead to a baby. I waited and cramped for about a week before my sweet husband suggested I take a pregnancy test. I did everything short of patting him on the head and saying, "Bless you heart." I went a couple more day waiting on the inevitable... but it never came. February 4th I went home after work and dug around under my sink to find two pregnancy test. Daniel was on the phone so I thought I would just get it out of the way so I would get these little rays of hope out of my head. I took the first one and it automatically started coming up a plus sign. Everyone knows the plus sign ones are kind of hard to read. Thankfully I had one more of the two pink lines test left over so I used it next. I sat a few seconds waiting and there it was. Two lines. I immediately started crying. I mean I'm not on any medications. No Progesterone. No estrogen. Just my vitamins. I yelled at Daniel to get off the phone. We couldn't believe it!! I sent a message to the nurse at the clinic we have used for the last 3-4 years to see if they could run a blood test in the morning. That test came back 107. Which is a pretty awesome starting number. I was still cramping so I took it easy all weekend and went back to the doctor on Monday for more blood work. I told myself that my goal was around 300 because you want your hCG level to double every 24-48 hours. It was almost 600! The doctor was stoked! We were stoked. I finally let myself believe that this is it. God has truly given us a miracle. Last time we were pregnant my level only got to 150. So this is one tough kid so far! The doctor wanted to see me back that Wednesday to check my level one more time. Once again I gave myself a goal of 1400 and it was 1718. So we felt that we could finally tell our parents once our levels looked healthy. We made a picture of the dogs to help spread our joy...

 

 At 6weeks 5 days we finally got to see our little ladybug and its heartbeat. The first words out of our doctors mouth was, "well it's just one". Its heartbeat was 128 and everything looked great and measured perfectly. I couldn't help but cry to see this little one!!

  

 I have been waiting for four years to announce this so I had tons of ideas! So sorry for the announcement overload!! I go back next Tuesday for another ultrasound with my fertility doctor and then will be released to regular OB.

 So far I have had a little nausea, but not throwing up, fatigue and sore boobs. All of which I am welcoming graciously! I will take it! I want to thank everyone who has prayed and supported us through some pretty emotional years. I want to share with everyone the huge miracle that God has given us!