Monday, January 23, 2017

12 weeks 5 days

I had my ultrasound today and that is what the baby is measuring! I have tons of great news today! So much to share!!! First off, let me just show you pictures of my beautiful, bouncy healthy baby!




The ultrasound couldn't have gone better! Baby was measuring at almost 13 weeks, everything looked great! Nuchal fluid measured normal, nasal bone was visable, saw normal brain development, organs, stomach, feet, hands! Baby was kicking, bouncing, and restless!! It all looked like a dream! Then we got the blood results and they came back at 1 and 10,000 chance of having a chromosome abnormality! Amazing news!!! ALLSOOOOOO........it's a GIRLLLLLLL!!!!!! We are having a little girl!!!!! I am overwhelmed with joy! I need to constantly pinch myself to believe this is all actually real. But yes, things are real and things are progressing wonderfully!

Now to bring myself back down to earth a bit. I am still having to remain very cautiously optimistic here. We are by no means out of the woods. We have a very long road ahead of us. I still have inflammation issues that hopefully the hydroxychloroquine will help keep at bay. They are monitoring me like a hawk. I cannot and will not breathe a complete sigh of relief until this baby is in my arms. Until then I must remain grounded and keep myself leveled here. 

But today, today is wonderful and I am so excited to share it here. It's been such a long journey and to see it come this far, well there are simply no words. I just pray it continues and I will finally get to hold this little rainbow soon. 

<3 <3 <3 



Wednesday, January 18, 2017

11 weeks 4 days

Well, things are still moving along! I haven't brown spotted in almost a week and I am officially getting a little bump! Can't believe this Saturday I will be 12 weeks! Insane. I am feeling ok, still very tired, and have no motivation at all to do much. But coasting along.

So today I went in to have my blood drawn for the cfDNA testing. I also had a nice sit down meeting with my genetic counselor. We talked about all of the things they will be looking for with the bloodwork and the upcoming ultrasound on the 23rd. I am 38, had 5 miscarriages and have a ton of issues - so naturally, being high risk as I am, they are being extra careful with me. There is a lot that I am up against here and I know that. This TNF crap is a real issue, and will be a real issue throughout the pregnancy. Inflammation is no good, so I have to figure out how I am going to maintain that - which my GC said she will research as much as she can to help me along the way with this. I really liked her....she genuinely seemed like she cared.

  Anyway, so the bloodwork will take 7-10 days for it to come in, and we will have the ultrasound results right away. So hopefully by the end of next week, I will learn all I need to learn about the baby. We will know the sex, and if it will have any chromosome issues or not. Scary times ahead, and I just pray everything comes out perfect. But only time will tell us those answers. For now, things are still kicking and I am happy about that.

Wednesday, January 11, 2017

10 Weeks 4 days

Hello there. Just thought I'd give a weekly update here. Nothing really crazy to report which is good I guess! I did have a moment on Sunday night where I went to the bathroom and wiped pinkish blood. It wasn't much and didn't last long, but definitely made me sigh "here we go again". It soon after turned to brownish discharge and I have been brown spotting ever since. Which sucks, but I feel I have been on this roller coaster of brown spotting/bleeding since week 5 so it's almost my norm now.

  The only comfort I can take away from it is that it's brown, which means old blood, and also even when I was bleeding red, every check up and ultrasound I had after - the baby was fine. So I am trying to keep calm that where ever this little bleeding is taking place, hopefully it has no effect on baby. I am on so many blood thinners that it doesn't really surprise me that I would be bleeding more than normal. From what I read, our bodies turn into one giant pumping blood vessel when pregnant and everything is heightened. So anything from a bad move, sex, a bowel movement, hormones, etc can cause irritation or a burst of a vessel. Add blood thinners to the mix and it's enhanced! So I am just thinking that falls along the lines of why I may be bleeding more than an average pregnant person. But who knows. I am not a doctor so this theory of mine is just what is helping me sleep at night.

  I did break down and buy a fetal doppler yesterday. I haven't received it, it will come in on Friday. I am scared to use it for several reasons. I have read that it's not good to constantly scan your belly, as those things can heat tissue and can cause issues with the baby if not used properly. Another is because I am scared it will make me paranoid if I cannot pick up on anything. But then there is the flipside of that, where if I do hear something, it will totally put my mind at ease. So you see my dilemma. But I went ahead and just got it just to have, and break out if I absolutely cannot take it anymore or if I am feeling super nervous.

  My 12 week ultrasound/bloodwork to determine if everything is ok as far as chromosome issues and whatnot is on the 23rd. I am SO nervous for that. Well, first I hope I even make it to that point, and second, if I do make it to that point, pray that everything is ok with baby. We should also find out the sex of the baby through DNA bloodwork. It will take about 10 days for all of the results to come in. I know that will be the longest 10 days of my life. I feel like time is already going by sooooo slow because I am just so anxious to get out of this dreaded 1st trimester. Not that the 2nd or 3rd will be any more comforting for me. I am super high risk throughout this entire thing - so I will never rest easy.

  I am still feeling super tired and I threw up the other day. So that sucked, but made me feel a bit comforted knowing that hormones are still going strong. Starting to see a tiny little "bump" now...well it's probably more bloat than bump...but definitely noticeable.

Anyway, that's all for now! Will touch base again with hopefully nothing interesting to report!! ;)

xo

Wednesday, January 4, 2017

9 weeks 4 days

Happy New Year!

 I spent my entire New year sick as a dog! I got the most terrible cold saturday evening and it is only now finally going away after a few days of hell. Of course when you are pregnant you cannot really take anything so you have to suffer through it all. Miserable I tell ya. On top of that I was so worried my immune system is so suppressed that my body would just fight off anything and everything it could. No good.

   So today I had an appt with my regular OBGYN to get all of the prenatal normal stuff out of the way. The appt went really well! She took out a fetal doppler and I was very relieved to hear a beautiful healthy heartbeat of 180 just fluttering away! The doctor was super pleased and said normally she doesn't hear anything before 9 weeks so she is assured baby is growing as it should and right where it should be. I was super relieved just to hear it at all! Yay for little baby steps! (pun intended).

  She also looked at my cervix and said it looked "prestine" which is a word I like to hear. There is still the brown discharge (which is very minimal but still there) and she said that could just be from the progesterone. She didn't seem worried so I guess I won't be either. Still would love it to just go away already.

  I will follow up again with another ultrasound at 12 weeks where we will do bloodwork as well to determine if there are any chromosome abnormalities and whatnot. (prayers for a healthy bean)! But overall, things are still moving ahead! This is the furthest I have been before and I am just praying things continue on this path. NO MORE WHAMMYS!! haha

Will check in again soon!

xo