37 Weeks!

Another milestone! I am officially "early term!" Woohoo!! She can come at any time and be perfectly fine! They wouldn't even try to stall labor at this point! So I am starting to get anxious/excited that within at most 3 weeks - she will be here.

 Monday I had another series of Dr.s appts. One with MFM and another with my regular OB. It will be that way every monday until she is here. At the MFM, they did the stress test where they hook your belly up to monitors and listen to her heart for 30 mins. At first she wasn't too active - so they gave me some OJ and she perked right up after that. Doctor said she passed with a 10 out of 10! Go Ava! Then we went in for the ultrasound and everything still looks great. She was doing a lot of practice breathing which was nice to see. Still didn't get a look at her face, as she kept putting her hands on her feet and pulling them up to her face, blocking it! haha! Guess it's getting pretty tight in there for her. Doc says that even if she was cooperating, the pic wouldn't be the greatest since it wouldn't even get her full face. She said the best pics - which you see online - are usually from 28-32 weeks. So we were fine just knowing she is happy and healthy in there. We will just wait to see her little face when she is here. Oh and the doctor says my test results are all normal - and the things that were out of range - are normal for pregnancy. So no signs of Preeclampsia! woohoo!

 At my second Dr. Appt, we did a Group B strep test, which is a bacteria in the vagina that up to 35% of women have. It's harmless and very common - however it can cause harm to a baby if delivering vaginally. So if you do have it - they will give you antibiotics upon labor to get rid of it so you don't pass it to the baby. I am not sure the results - but hopefully I don't have it since I am so done with having to take extra medications. Speaking of extra medications - I am switching over to Heparin finally. I was suppose to make the switch today - but my pharmacy didn't carry the prefilled syringes that I need. They only carry the vials. So I will have to go all the way to the hospital where my doctor is, which is about 20/25 mins away - to pick them up. Pain in the butt I tell ya! So I might just continue on the Lovenox until I am back in that area on Monday. I don't think I will be going into labor this week - I have no signs whatsoever. But you never know. So I am taking a risk because if I am still on Lovenox at the time of labor - they will have a harder time to reverse it. Which means, I won't have the option to get an epidural. Clearly you see my dilemma. I guess I just decided now that perhaps I will just take the drive on my lunch break and pick up the prescription - since I do NOT want the option of not having the epidural! hahha! Screw that! I don't want to feel a thing!

 Anyway, well that's really all I have for now. Til next week! :)

Hello Third Trimester and 28 Week Scan!

Well technically 28 weeks in 2 days...but close enough. So today is the day we had our scan! We hadn't seen her in 2 months and I was VERY nervous going in. Obviously I want everything to be perfect and know she is growing well! Well, we went in and.............everything is perfect! She is 2.8lbs and in the 46th percentile! Everything looks great and measuring right on time! She was in a very awkward position to get really good photos - so we didn't walk away with the best pics! But she did move her hand away from her face long enough to snap a few decent shots!

                                                                       Nice butt shot! haha!

           So she is going to look a lot like her father!! I can already tell! I cannot wait to meet her! <3


                           As for myself, I have been getting bigger. Here is the latest bump pic:

Yeah - definitely a lot bigger than last time I posted! I am having tons of acid reflux, backache, knee and joint aches, and have gained almost 20lbs. I still am having sleepless nights filled with uncomfortable positions, pee breaks and insomnia. I am also insanely emotional lately as well. I cry at anything it seems!! SOOOO not me. I have been getting a lot of Braxton Hicks Contractions as well. One time was concerning at 26 weeks because they were pretty regular at every 10 mins. I had a total of 5. 1 every 10 minutes. I finally called my doctor and she didn't seem too concerned. I went in the next day for a checkup and again - they didn't seem concerned and told me to just call again if I get 6+. It hasn't happened like that since then - although I still get at least 5 a day. Very sporadically though. I talked to my fetal medicine dr. about it and she seemed a little more concerned about them and even measured my cervix. My cervix is still at almost 4mm so it looks great. After that she just said that some women's uterus just get more irritable than others and contract more. So she thinks that's probably what's going on with me. But it's something I definitely need to monitor for any changes in patterns with them.

Other than that, I am doing good. We got the crib and changing table in over the weekend and I will start on her nursery in a few weeks. I am also starting to plan my baby shower. I never thought I would actually be comfortable with doing any of that stuff - and don't get me wrong - I am still a huge ball of nerves! But now that I have reached a milestone again, I am settling down a little bit. I have over 2 months to go. Just need to relax and try to just enjoy this time.

 Oh....we are also officially going to announce the pregnancy tonight. I will upload our picture once we do so. (We still have to take it when we get home from work today). haha! It will be nice to finally let the cat out of the bag to the rest of the world!

Thanks for reading and Hope all is well out there!
xo


***update***

   Here is the announcement picture! We didn't do anything super creative...but cute nonetheless! Cats officially out of the bag now and everyone is very excited!!

 

20 Weeks 6 days

Today we had our 20 week anomaly scan even though I am a day shy of 21 weeks. I am thrillllledd to say that everything went perfectly! She is measuring right on time, and just looks great! Her heart, brain, organs, limbs, spine, everything were all perfect! The doctor said she was extremely happy and couldn't ask for better results. She is very confident that I will see this baby to term.

 They measured my cervix and it's long and closed so no signs of any preterm labor on the horizon. Very relieving. I feel I can KIND OF breathe a sigh of relief a bit now that all of the major scans are out of the way now. The next scans are just a checking in on ya kinda thing and should only last like 15 mins she said. So the next one will be May 8th and I should be about 28 weeks then. :)

  The ultrasound tech took many pics but after reviewing them...none of them were really great...haha! You can hardly make out what anything was. Especially the 3D image she did...it just looked like a blob. Disappointing but oh well. She did get a great profile pic which I will show below - as well as a cute image of her legs. So I am happy about that!

Is that not the cutest profile pic ever!!! I fall more and more in love with her every time I see her! I cannot wait to meet her! Gonna be weird not seeing her on the big screen for almost 2 months! I've sort of gotten used to these monthly appts. But I'm not keen on constant ultrasounds - so I will let her have a little break from them too! haha

Next appt for me is the Glucose test at my OBGYN. Hopefully all goes well there and my sugar levels are normal. We shall see!

Well that's all for now! Happy my little baby bean is growing and healthy! Now just keep cooking for another 4 months!!! haha!!

xo

2nd Trimester

Hey all, checking in over here! Well I am now entering the 2nd Trimester! Can't believe it! Today I had a regular obgyn appt just to check in on things. She busted out the doppler and we instantly heard babys heart just beating away. She said it sounded beautiful and perfect. Right where it needs to be. Nice and comforting when I get to hear her.

  We talked about progesterone and the fact that I would like to remain on it at least until my 16 week scan. Reason being, when I was at my 12 week scan, my placenta wasn't fully developed yet. So I didn't want to come off the shots until I knew my placenta was up and running properly. Well now that I am 14 weeks, things *should* be working as they should. But keep in mind - this is MY body we are talking about. Everything goes wrong with my body! haha! So I don't want to go off progesterone if things aren't how they should be, and risk losing the baby. I have heard numerous stories (damn you google) of women going off progesterone at 12 weeks and then have placental failure and lose their little ones. If I can prevent that, I will.

  The shots suck, they are taking a drastic disastrous effect on my skin, but it's also what I know is helping keep this little one healthy. Both doctors say there is no harm staying on them until my 16 week appt, so no harm no foul right? So I will be poked in the butt a few more weeks and see where we are at at the ultrasound on the 21st.

  Other than that, nothing really new to report. My morning sickness is finally subsiding! And I am starting to gain a bit of my energy back. I am starting to feel like myself again, only a more pimply, bumpier version of myself. haha

 Speaking of bumps, I do have a tiny one showing now. Since I am not posting any social media announcements, I can share my bump pics here! :)

 

Not the greatest pic...but it will do for now. 

So the next scan coming up is another one I am nervous about. They will look for issues such as cleft lip, spinal bifida, and heart defects. I was offered to do a blood test to determine if they could tell these things earlier - but I just decided to wait for the scan. I would rather just enjoy my moments right now and see everything at once. Although, on the ultrasound at 12 weeks they got really good shots of her spine and said everything looked great, so I am praying for the same feedback on the 21st (obviously) haha. Anyway, that's all for now!! xo

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

8 weeks 3 days

This past week has been a rollercoaster again. It started last wednesday the 21st. I woke up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and there was bright red blood on my pad. And (sorry tmi) but blood dripping from me into the toilet. Yep, here we go again, I thought. I had no cramps but it was a decent amount of blood. I tried to ease my fears as best as I could at 3am. But clearly got no sleep.

  That morning I contacted my doctors who told me to just wait it out and see if it got worse or not. Nice. I have to sit there and wonder if things are ok or not all day. On top of that, they told me not to come in because they didn't want to do another ultrasound so soon since I had one the week prior and if I were miscarrying, there was nothing they could really do. So by around 3pm - the bleeding wasn't necessarily worse - but it wasn't stopping. And I was starting to cramp a little. I was to start my progesterone in oil treatment that evening and I thought to myself - if things are going south - I am not going to put myself through a hell week of torture doing these shots in my ass for nothing. I wanted to make sure everything was ok with the baby before subjecting myself to that. So I decided to head to the ER.

  Everything went really smoothly there, I was in and out within a couple of hours. Got an ultrasound and baby was ok - no bleeding in the uterus or ovaries. The heartbeat was 152 and measured right on time. What a relief. They did see "endocervical fluid" which clearly was blood in my cervix. Not a lot they said, just a little. So clearly the issue is my cervix. It's angry for some reason!! Probably all of these suppositories, ultrasounds, etc..etc. It's like "leave me alone!!" lol

  I went home that afternoon feeling more at ease that at least for now - everything was still ok. That evening I did my first progesterone in oil shot and let me just say OUCH. I hate them. My husband has to inject them in my ass every night. NOT. FUN. Painful and brutal...but hoped they would at least give my cervix a break.

  Well, or so I thought. That saturday (christmas eve) I woke up to yet again. Red blood. Are you kidding me??? Again, I tried not to panic but this is getting to be a little much. Red bleeding every 3 or 4 days can't be good. I didn't call the doctor this time. I didn't go to the ER. I just rode it out this time. And by the end of the day it had stopped. I have no idea what to think at that point. There is really nothing anyone can do. If it's going to happen, it's going to happen. I just had to wait and see. Which is the absolute worst. But eventually, it stopped, and I just brown spotted for the remaining few days after.

  So today I had ANOTHER ultrasound. Which I was very reluctant to do since I feel I have been having weekly ultrasounds since week 5 at this point. I hear there are risks with constant ultrasounds so it makes me nervous. But it's not like I am just doing them for shits and giggles. I have had medical emergencies and needed to be seen. Anyway...today I went ahead and kept my appt because after Saturdays bleed, I wanted to make sure everything was still ok and also - I am about to drop another $500 on intralipids, so I needed to be sure everything was ok and not just throw my money away for nothing. I told the tech I only wanted an abdomen ultrasound and not transvaginal. I told her my vagina is closed for business. hahhaa. I need everything to just heal and be normal down there...no more disrupting the PH levels. No more prodding a clearly sensitive cervix.

 She honored my wishes and we proceeded with the abdominal ultrasound even though she insisted she could give me more answers with transvaginal. I told her I just wanted to be sure the heart was still beating and that's all I needed to know at that point. So we started and sure enough, the little bean was still with us, beating away at 184bpm. Measured perfectly to date as well. I asked her if it was normal for the heartbeat to fluctuate so much and she told me yes they go up and down all the time. Just so long as it's in range then its fine. So now I will go ahead and make an appt with my OBGYN to get more prenatal care too and schedule hopefully my final intralipid transfusion.

  So that's the latest. Like I said, been a rollercoaster of emotions. This hasn't been an easy journey so far. I also threw up for the first time this morning! I have felt plenty of nausea this trimester, but this time I actually barfed. Guess that's a good sign too! We are still far far far from getting out of the woods though. We still have that one day at a time mentality. Anything can change at any given moment and that keeps us humble and grounded. But we are still on base...and for that, I am grateful.

5 Weeks 5 days

So today I had my first ultrasound. I was sooo nervous obviously going in but things went really well! I saw the gestational sac and the egg yolk! I am also measuring 5 weeks, 5 days which is 2 more days than what I was thinking I was (5 weeks 3 days).  Here is a pic of the sonogram:

One thing she did notice is that she didn't find my corpus luteum cyst on either ovary - which means it's a damn good thing I am on progesterone supplements because I would be seriously lacking. I don't know why I didn't produce one - not sure if being on the progesterone after ovulation forced my body to not make one or not. Who knows. I just hope the supplements do their job with no issues. I am on 600mg a day so my doctor thinks that is enough to get me through until hopefully the placenta takes over.

  I have the 6 week appt next thursday (the 15th) and hopefully things will have progressed enough to where we can see a God willing healthy heartbeat. I am cautiously optimistic and still realize anything can change at any moment...so I am sitting here happy, yet grounded. I just pray things continue going the way they are...*happy thoughts....happy thoughts*