I had missed work today because of feelings of nausea, dizziness and vomiting. As the morning continued to on- I had a thought- could I be pregnant? At first I dismissed the thought- we had been trying to conceive # 3 for several years and I was to the point of accepting that Steve and I would only have Breanne (11) and Alicia (9). We had even talked about adopting a child or becoming foster parents after Steve finished schooling for his Bachelor's degree in IT Network Security. Then the more I thought about it- I was feeling like I did at the beginning of my pregnancy with Alicia. Later that day, I had bought a home pregnancy test thinking it was going to be a complete waste of money. I was shocked to see the positive results. I thanked God for the blessing that our family was given. I remember that Steve was at school that day and I couldn't wait for him to return home so I had emailed him the news. He was shocked also. I had also called my parents Glenn and MaryAnn and told them the news. My dad's voice was weepy and my mom was excited- she knew we had been trying for a very long time to have another child. It was actually overly joyful to be going to the store to buy prenatal vitamins again.
The next day I went to work but was feeling still poorly with the same symptoms I had the previous day but as the morning went on the dizziness went on and my co-workers had helped me lay down in one of our empty rooms. Bless their hearts they did everything they could to help me be comfortable. After a while, I began to feel alittle better and decided to go back to working. Bad idea- I ended up with more dizziness and palpitations. Fortunately for me, the Emergency Department was only an elevator ride away. I ended up receiving two liters of fluids for dehydration and honestly did feel better after receiving the fluids. That evening Steve and I told the girls that they were going to be big sisters- they were also surprised and thought we were pulling a joke on them.
When I was discharged from the ED I was instructed to make an OB appointment for a few days later to check that the dehydration was keeping at bay. I made and went to the appointment a few days later. It was a terrible appointment- while my labs and symptoms were confirming a pregnancy the early ultrasound showed an empty uterus. All of my joy disappeared in an instant- I thought I was going to be having a chemical pregnancy and be some crazy lady that thinks she is pregnant when she really isn't or worse yet have a pending miscarriage. The word miscarriage scares the life out of me- Steve and I thought I had miscarried this past June at about 6 weeks- I had all the signs and symptoms of early pregnancy but didn't take a pregnancy test to confirm. Was the same thing happening? My OB doctor decided to schedule some more blood work to test my progesterone and hcg levels over the next few weeks. I was to go back in 3 weeks for another ultrasound to "see if we had a keeper or not".
Very stressful waiting game- every twinge I felt I was sure I was starting to have a miscarriage. My hormone levels continued to increase as they should which did make feel alittle relief but yet still worried as I could be experiencing a blighted ovum. When I went in for the next ultrasound- complete JOY- my doctor found the baby instantly and there was both a visible and audible heartbeat. He had estimated the pregnancy to be at about 7 weeks at that time. We scheduled my first OB appointment for 10.5 weeks to include another ultrasound and all of the other not so fun stuff that goes with pregnancy exams. I was also given the "old maternal age" speech as I am 34. Geez!
I had been given a prescription for Zofran as the nausea and vomiting continued along with the majority of early pregnancy symptoms. I had very little nausea with Breanne but had developed preclampsia and had labor induced at 36 weeks. She was 4 lbs 14 oz. With Alicia I had a lot of morning sickness that would occur only in the mornings (threw up in the shower often) but was able to make it to full term with her. She was 6 lbs 10 oz. With this current pregnancy the nausea would last almost all day ( as I am writing this at 20w5d I am still throwing up in the mornings but at least it is down to 1-2 times per week).
At the 10.5 week appointment the baby was continuing to grow and they had taken all of the normal labs but had found a cervical polyp. The doctor removed the polyp but stated I would start to have cramping and bleeding for the next several days and it could cause a small risk of miscarry but if the polyp was left it would continue to grow and cause more problems later in pregnancy. I had missed work the following day due to the cramping and spotting that started. Again with every twinge I was a wreck. I was given more of the "old maternal age" information and stats. I turned down further testing for downs syndrome and other abnormalities and opted to have a detailed ultrasound at 17 weeks and another at 20 weeks to view the heart. Even if the baby had downs- we wouldn't do anything differently but love them as we love the girls.
The girls loved looking at the baby's 10.5 wk ultrasound picture. It shows the back of the baby's head and body and the yolk sac positioned above the baby's head resembled a halo. I had bought a package of newborn diapers at the girls' request as they had wanted to start practicing changing diapers. Needless to say- every Webkinz in our house is now sporting a diaper. They then decided though that if the baby was a boy- it couldn't ever be naked (even to change diapers or take a bath). Very funny! I took the girls with for my next appointment and they got to hear the baby's heartbeat with the Doppler.
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