Wednesday, August 18, 2010

First Ultrasound

It is official...there is a baby in my belly! Not that the gallons of bloodwork that I have given various doctors over the past three weeks weren't enough to let me know this, I had to see it with my own two eyes.

Today the baby is about 4.3 cm and we could see the little heartbeat fluttering on the monitor. This all still feels so unreal after struggling for three long years to try to get pregnant. Brady was there to see his new baby brother/sister and he was convinced at first glance that it was a boy...we shall see...the Bliven men are notorious for creating Bliven boys.

Monday, August 16, 2010

Tired?

So just when I thought that I hadn't been really tired so far this pregnancy...I was. Yesterday we went to see a movie, and I slept through the first half. I woke myself up by snoring and woke to have the side of my face and my hand covered in drool. I really think that it is all going to catch up with me when school starts in September. I have all these great plans to work out early in the morning and get Brady off the bus and get homework done and have dinner started when Brad gets home. What I think might actually happen is I will get Brady off the bus and then Brad will come home to a messy house, no dinner, no homework, me asleep on the couch, and Brady plugged into NickToons. Ugh!

Thursday, August 12, 2010

hCG plugging along

I had another hCG test on Wednesday to ensure that my hCG levels were continuing to double every two days. It should have gone up about 2,000 and it only went up1,500, but Dr. Thompson said that he thinks that it looks great, and he has no concerns at this time. The next thing I have is my initial prenatal doctor's appointment next Wednesday at 2pm. I guess they will gather all the baseline information they need and they will do my first sonogram and determine the official due date. I really can't believe that this is all really happening and not falling apart around me. I am so grateful to God for this miracle.

So far I haven't been too tired or to nauseous. My tummy feels a little funny at times, but not really. My biggest symptom is breast tenderness. ouch!

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Good News

I got the results of my bloodwork this morning, and everything is going fine with the baby. My HcG level was above 2,000 which is 600 more than what Shady Grove told me that they wanted it to be. I'm going to go back again tomorrow so they can continue to track my HcG and Progesterone levels. My Progesterone was up around 26. Things are all looking good and it just seems too good to be true. I'm waiting for the bad news bomb to drop at any moment now.

Monday, August 9, 2010

Nervous

I went in this morning for another round of bloodwork. They are going to continue to test my HcG to make sure that it shows that the baby is progressing. I've psychotically been calling the Dr. office every half hour to see if the test results are in yet. I have this horrible sinking feeling that I am going to call and they are going to tell me that there was a mistake, or that my HcG is not increasing.

The second time that I called today the nurse freaked me out by putting me on hold three different times before telling me that the test was still processing. I thought that I was going to pass out on hold. She said to call back aroud 4pm and I last called at 3:15...I'm going to try back again at 4. Until then, my stomach is in knots.

My baby tracker says that the baby's heart starts beating today...

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Really!?!?!

Okay, so I definitely abandoned this blog after being so discouraged...so let me fill you in. I did ovulate with 150 mg of clomid, but didn't get pregnant. The second month I did not ovulate on 150mg of clomid, but the third month I did and did not get pregnant. We then met with the doctor and were referred to Shady Grove Fertility Center to explore IUI and IVF options. We did one more clomid cycle at 150mg while waiting for the referral to go through and although I did ovulate, we still didn't get pregnant.

At the beginning of July we met with the doctors and nurses at Shady Grove Fertility where they were confident that they could get me pregnant. After much thought, Brad and I decided that we were going to try three rounds of IUI in order to try and get pregnant. We had all the referrals filled out and ready to go and prescriptions for meds and injections in at Kaiser. We went to the beach the last week in July with my family and decided that upon our return we would take the injection class and get started on our first round of IUI.

This past Thursday, Brad and I went to the Baltimore UMD Shady Grove center to have a preliminary ultrasound and bloodwork done before starting Provera and to get trained on how to do the injections. The ultrasound showed a good uterine lining so I could start the Provera and it showed a large cyst on my left ovary. The nurse taught us how to mix the meds and how to administer the injections (which was very scary). We left a little scared, but a little excited. Our excitement was shattered on the car ride home.

I called Kaiser to check on my prescriptions to see if they were ready for pickup. She said that they had all come in and let me know that the total was going to be $695!!!! Now, don't get me wrong...I knew that IUI and any fertility experiments were going to be expensive...but we had just bought a new washer and dryer for a few hundred more than that and it took us almost six years to do that!!!! I cried the whole way home from the doctor feeling defeated and that life was so unfair for us. Do you know what you can buy for $700!?!?!? My dream has been to take Brady to Disney World before he gets too old, and that money is half of a trip to Disney World!...and that was just for the meds!

We decided to bypass Kaiser on the way home because we still needed to get a Provera prescription filled for me and a Doxycycline prescription filled for Brad. I figured that we should just pick them all up at one time. I got home and I called my nurse, Betsy, about getting the Provera prescription. She wasn't in the office, so I spoke to another nurse. The nurse was rattling off a note that Betsy had left on my file with a list of new prescriptions that she would like ordered and filled for me. I asked this nurse if $700 for the injectibles and the other meds was about average for the cost. The nurse stammered a little unsure of how to answer my question. She then said, "Hasn't anyone told you?" ..at this point, I was totally confused. She then let me know that my bloodwork from that morning showed that I was pregnant!

At this point, I screamed and cried as if someone had died. I was hysterical! Brad and Brady were both terrified about the news that I was going to give them when I hung up the phone. It really was completely unbelievable. It was the one month that we weren't "trying", where we weren't on any kind of fertility medicine. It was truly unthinkable!

That was about 36 hours ago, and life has not been the same since. Brad is already making plans for the nursery. I have picked out girl and boy bedding. I even started a registry! I go in again on Monday for more bloodwork and they are going to monitor me closely until I get out of the first trimester. I don't feel sick or tired (occasionally, but not like I was with Brady)...but it is still very early. Would I be surprised if I went in on Monday and this was all a mistake...no! I totally expect that I am going to go in on Monday and they are going to tell me that I'm not pregnant and that they must have made a mistake. I now pray that if I am, that this baby is healthy and that I carry it to term. The birthday would be in the beginning of April. We have decided not to find out the sex of the baby...this one is all about surprises!

Happy day!

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Suprise of a Lifetime!

I got my progesterone tests back and I ovulated wtih 150mg of Clomid.  I was totally shocked because of all the months on Clomid, this is the one where I didn't "feel" anything - no side effects, nothing.  After crying for a good 15 minutes, I have to try to pick myself back up and get through this.  I never imagined this would happen.  I was gearing myself up to have to go to the fertility center and had begun researching IUI and IVF.  I'm in such a state of shock that this could actually be happening to me.  I always dreamed of the day that I could possibly get a positive pregnancy test, and it would be just a miracle. 

This is going to be a long hard road.  If I do happen to get pregnant (which I'm not getting my hopes up on just yet), then I have to worry about miscarriage and carrying a healthy baby while maintaining my weight through the entire thing.  God, this is my Easter miracle.