Told ya! Yes, that's right, WE'RE PREGNANT! And since we found out on July 6th, I've felt pretty puny. Which is actually wonderful because I never felt sick with any of the babies that we miscarried. So yeah, I've been on the couch most days and I couldn't exactly write about it until we decided to tell everyone. Now you know!
We've had 2 sonograms done - one at 6w4d (the photo above). At that point in the other pregnancies, baby was already measuring really small (like back at 5w3d) and the heartbeat was really slow (in the 80s). With this one though, baby was measuring at exactly 6w4d, and the heartbeat was in the 120s. Talk about music to a mommy's and daddy's ears. (Ira on the other hand, plugged his ears because it was TOO LOUD!) We had another one done last Thursday, and again, baby was measuring exactly right (8w 4d) and the heartbeat was in the 160s-170s! Hooray!!!!
Now, for those who are interested in the medical aspect of this pregnancy, let me give you a rundown of that side of things. Warning: This'll take awhile!
After two miscarriages (Jan '08, March '08), we began going to an incredible doctor, Dr. Ron Ferris. He ran TONS of tests, and several things popped up as unusual. First, my thyroid levels (contributes to controlling hormone levels throughout the body) were all out of whack. Secondly, my Vitamin D levels were WAY low (not necessarily a contributor to the miscarriages, but definitely a general health concern.) And lastly, my progesterone levels (the hormone that peaks after peak day and also helps sustain a pregnancy the first 12 weeks or so) were pretty low. So, I started taking 120 mg Armour Thyroid, 2000 i.u. Vitamin D, and 5 g Flax Oil (helps produce better mucus pre-peak as well as being a heart-healthy Omega-3.) every day along with a prenatal vitamin. I also did 200 mg of Prometrium (a progesterone vaginal suppository) on post peak days 4-17. Dr. Ferris also ran tests to see if my clotting factors were high. Nothing unusual showed up on those tests, but just in case, he had me doing 81 mg baby aspirin post peak 4-17 as well. (It would help thin my blood in case it was too thick when I was pregnant)
However, with those interventions, we still miscarried again in October '08. Sooo... back to the drawing board, because apparently there were still issues in addition to those 3 things. I did about 3 months of Metformin, which is a drug typically used for diabetes, but also had been used successfully to treat Poly-cystic Ovarian Syndrome. We didn't know if we had PCOS, this was essentially a clinical trial - if it helped improve my NFP biomarkers (mucus quality, quantity, peak day, temperatures, etc.) it worked, if not, PCOS wasn't the problem. Well, that didn't work at all. In fact, it caused me to start spotting during my mucus build-up. If anything, it made things worse. So we stopped doing that.
After doing some reading, we talked to Dr. Ferris about the possibility that I had Immature Follicle Syndrome. Which is exactly what it sounds like - the egg/follicle never gets very big, however, it is capable of being fertilized. Problem is - it's not mature enough to develop a baby - resulting in miscarriages 90+% of the time. The remedy for that was Clomid, which is a follicle stimulating hormone. Yes, it can result in multiples if you have a hyper-response to it - however, at that point, we would have welcomed multiples! You take the Clomid (it's just a pill) on days 5-9 of your cycle. There's just one minor problem with Clomid - it REALLY dries up your cervical mucus - which is not very conducive to getting pregnant. So, to make up for the drying effect of Clomid, I took Guafinesin (the stuff in Mucinex) and Vitamin B6 on cycle days 5- Peak day.
Dr. Ferris also had Andy and I both do a course of really strong antibiotics prior to trying to conceive just in case one or the other of us had any infections that we were sharing with each other.
He also gave me a prescription for Heparin (a blood thinner) to start once we found out we were pregnant. His thought was this: no, the clotting factor studies didn't turn up anything unusual, however, they were done when I was not pregnant. When you are pregnant, your clotting factors are 5 times what they normally are. His concern was that with each miscarriage, we had seen the placenta tearing away from my uterine wall and his thoughts were that a clot was passing through the placenta, jarring it away from the uterine wall. So....
We tried. For three months. Which has never happened before. (We'd always conceived as soon as we started trying - once when we weren't even trying at all!) And Clomid had some awful effects on my hormones (probably b/c they were finally where they were supposed to be!) Let's just say I was a MESS (depressed, negative, grumpy, insert every other pessimistic word you can think of here.) Which as you might be able to conclude, was not very helpful when you're trying to conceive!
Finally, we conceived on our 3rd cycle. (Which I know, is not really that long to try - I know lots of people who have had to try MUCH longer!) Here's what that cycle looked like med-wise (I feel like a 90-year old with all my meds!)
Every day:
1 Armour at precisely 6AM (important to do it at the same time every day)
5 Flax Seed Oil
1 Vitamin D
1 baby aspirin
1 prenatal
Pre peak:
1 Clomid days 5-9
3-4 Guafinesin days 5-Peak
1 Vitamin B6 days 5-Peak
Post peak:
1 Progesterone days 4-??
Once we found out we were pregnant (on July 6th):
4 Progesterone - 6 hours apart
2 Heparin shots (.5 ML) -12 hours apart
plus the Flax, Vit. D, baby aspirin, and prenatal.
So seriously, you think I've had time to update my blog?!
Belly shots are going to be funny this pregnancy, as you'll see in the following photo, because I am no nurse, so my ability to administer the heparin shots is far from perfect!
I'll get to taper off the progesterone once we hit the 2nd trimester, but I'll continue the Heparin all the way through the pregnancy. The pregnancy is also considered high-risk, so I'll have a sono at 18 weeks, 26 weeks, and then every week starting at week 28 to make sure that baby is growing well.
So yeah, that's the scoop. I apologize for the lengthiness, but I wanted to document a full explanation. Thanks for staying with me! God bless!!
