"Threatened Miscarriage"

I went in for an ultrasound and appointment around 1:30pm yesterday, Thursday, May 24. Unfortunately Ron wasn't able to go with me, since the appointment slot opened up so quickly and he couldn't get off work. Everything went great, and I heard the heartbeat! 123 bpm :).

About 4 hours after my ultrasound, I started bleeding. Google said that unless I was bleeding through a pad an hour, I was okay.  I got in the shower around 8. When I was cleaning myself out, I found two blobs of dark tissue. That's when I told Ron that I wanted to go to the ER.

We finally get home around 3am after getting 7 vials of blood taken and a very uncomfortable u/s showing a hb at 124bpm (so reassuring!). Of course, I hadn't taken my daily meds yet because I usually take them immediately before I lay down. So I took them when I got home.. big mistake! Empty stomach + multivitamin = very sick pregnant Angel. First puking of the pregnancy!

Made a follow up appointment at my ob's office this morning, did another u/s (Ron got to hear the hb this time! 128 bpm). The doctor (not MY doctor, because he's not at my office on Fridays..) let us know that the placenta had detached a bit (5mm) from my uterus. It wasn't caused by anything, it just happens. He said I still have some blood in my cervix that will come out and probably another clot, but everything inside seems fine. Unless I have a LOT of blood and a LOT of pain, I'm not having a miscarriage.

He wrote it up as a "threatened miscarriage" and told me to just be normal.

1st Ultrasound!

Here it is!


As expected, it looks like a blob with a tiny blob inside of it. Still, exciting!

Based on my LMP, I'm 6 weeks, 1 day. According to the u/s tech, she's calling it 5 weeks, 5 days. Pretty close!

The appointment went by very quickly. They got me in a room, asked me to disrobe from the waist down, and gave me a paper blanket to rest over my lap. The technicians came in and used the wand inside me.. the blob showed up instantly! I was surprised, I thought she'd need to look around for awhile.

So, there it is. Our blob <3.

Update

I called my cardiologist and he switched me from Lisinopril/Hydrochlorothiazide to Methyldopa. It's working as well as the Lisinopril alone did. I'm wondering if he will let me continue taking the water pill, it seemed to help knock that bottom number down a bit.

Last Wednesday (05.09.12) I got the results back from my BW on 05.07.12. My hcg had risen to 157.. Yay! However, my progesterone levels were still low (11.5), so they gave me a prescription for progesterone supplements. The supplements make me insanely tired.. seriously, I'm asleep not 30 minutes after I take them. Deep sleep.

Sunday was both Mother's Day and Ron's dad's birthday. We told his parents on Saturday (they were busy on Sunday so we celebrated early). I gave his mom a "Your First Grandbaby" card that said "Happy Mother's Day" inside. As she was opening it, I told his dad "we got you something too, but it's on special order. It won't be here until January". Neither of them "got" it until his mom read the card. I couldn't really tell how excited his dad was, but his mom was definitely thrilled. She's already asking me if I have a crib picked out, lol. She made it clear that they would help out buying some of the big stuff, which I was grateful for. I'm already freaking out about paying for daycare!

I go in for my first ultrasound this Thursday, 05.17.12. Ron's going with me. According to the first day of my last period, I'll be 6 weeks, 2 days pregnant. Everything I've saw online when I googled "6 week ultrasound" was just a dark blob with a light blob inside of it.. nothing that even looks like a bean, much less a baby. We're supposed to be able to see a heartbeat.. that will be so exciting!

No cravings or nausea so far. I have been wanting pickles a lot lately, but I wanted those BEFORE I was pregnant, so I don't think it counts as a craving. I've been having small cramps when I get up/lay down too quickly. Everything I read online says that's normal as long as there's no bleeding.

I'm sure I'll be posting pics once Thursday comes and goes!

From the beginning..

Here's my story, up until today. I will try to update often.


In 2004 I learned that I had PCOS - polycystic ovarian syndrome. It's an endocrine disorder that makes my hormones all funky, and directly stopped me from ovulating. At the time, there was no desire for children, so birth control sounded like the best plan.


Fast forward to October 2010. I'd been married for two and a half years, and we decided it was time to stop not-trying! I stopped taking my birth control pills and waited for my period to come.


It didn't. I didn't ovulate. At all. I waited a year and went back to see my doctor, who prescribed me Metformin, and instructed me to take 500mg once a day for 3 months, and come back then (02.08.12).


The Metformin didn't do anything! My next step was a hormone induced period to kickstart my system. I did 10 days of progesterone (starting on 02.19.12), and like magic (should I say science?) my period started 15 days later, on 03.05.12. The first one in 18 months! I was thrilled.


I called the doctor back and let him know that I started. Great! Now I get to start Clomid. I took 50mg for 5 days, on days 5-9 of my cycle (cycle day 1, or CD1, is always the first day of your period).


On CD21, I went in for bloodwork. They checked my progesterone levels, which will show if I ovulated or not. It's done on CD21 because during a "normal" cycle, women ovulate on CD14, and the progesterone should peak at 7 days past ovulation. My levels were around 7ng/mg. They should be around 10 if I did ovulate.. so not this time. The doctor increased my Clomid prescription.


My next cycle started on 04.04.12. They told me to take the clomid on CD5-9 again, like last time. This cycle, I decided to start using ovulation predictor tests. They're just like pregnancy tests, but instead of telling you that you're pregnant, they let you know when you're having a lutenizing hormone surge, or LH surge. 12-48 hours after the LH surge, you will ovulate.


My LH surge didn't happen until 04.21.12. My CD21 bloodwork was done on 04.24.12. Of course, my progesterone levels came back extremely low, 2-3ng/mg. I let the nurse know that my LH surge did not happen until Saturday, so I didn't expect the test on Tuesday to show anything.


The day before my next expected cycle, I was getting antsy to know whether this round of Clomid was successful. I knew that even though the blood test says I didn't ovulate (strictly because of timing), I knew I had shortly after the LH spike. I decided to test when I got home from work.

I know it's a little blurry. It was hard for me to see, too. I was worried that it was just my eyes playing tricks on me. If you still can't see it, look directly below the "3". There's the faintest positive line you've probably ever seen. I waited until Ron got home from work and showed him. I took 4 other tests that night (once I drank enough that I needed to pee again..), and they were all just as faint, but still just as positive. My first positive pregnancy test: Wednesday, May 2, 2012.

I called my doctor the next day and asked for a blood test. I went in at 4:00pm and had some blood pulled. I didn't get the results back until Friday afternoon.

Yes, I'm definitely pregnant!

During the blood test, they pull the numbers of my hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin, the "pregnancy hormone") levels and my progesterone levels. My hCG was at 30, and my progesterone was at 9.7. This is an acceptable range for it being so early. I go back in on 05.07.12 to make sure that those numbers have doubled, which will indicate that the pregnancy is moving forward as scheduled.