D&C Scheduled

My D&C has been scheduled for 1:45pm on Wednesday, February 28th (today). I will have to arrive at 12:15pm to get settled into my lovely hospital garb and get hooked up to some juice. My gracious neighbor Angela has arranged to drive me there and back. (So no one is left out....my equally gracious mother-in-law had offered to fly out to be with me, but I certainly did not want to ruin a perfectly planned trip to Florida.) Batman will be at home waiting to take good care of me when I return later in the day. What a nice boy.

I have not received any results from our labs yet, but I will update the page as they come in.

Final Ultrasound - Next Steps

We had our final ultrasound appointment today, and it did confirm what we already knew...that this is another non-viable pregnancy. Due to the fact that the gestational sac and yolk sac are still growing, and the sac is not collapsing, I am going to have to be scheduled for a D&C next week. So, this will be the second surgery due to miscarriage in the past year. Not fun, but at least it will get this all over with quickly. That helps...

Matt and I both went and had our blood drawn today. We are trying to find any answers for why we suffer from recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL). Matt had one vial of blood drawn for karyotyping (checking for chromosomal abnormalities). I, on the other hand, had 14 vials of blood drawn to check for chromosomal abnormalities, clotting disorders or issues, and autoimmune disorders. We are almost hoping that they don't find anything wrong...chromosomal problems would be bad for sure. Anything else they could probably treat. If they don't find anything, it will just be left as unexplained, and we would still have a 60% chance of having a healthy pregnancy at some point (although we could still go through a few more miscarriages before getting there).

Anyway, that is the general state of the union. Not much else to report for now. Thanks again to everyone who has supported us during these difficult times. It is greatly appreciated.

Ultrasound Results - Very Discouraging

The ultrasound did not go well today. Although there was some blood flow activity, it might have just been from the uterus where the placenta is trying to attach. There was no obvious fetal cardiac activity, which you would definitely expect to have by this point. My yolk sac is now measuring far behind. I have to go back a week from tomorrow for one more scan, but my RE is very discouraged. It is more than likely that I am going to suffer another miscarriage. I will probably find out next week if I will have to have another D&C. At this point my RE wants to get lab orders to do chromosomal testing on Matt and me. She also wants to run labs to see if I have any type of clotting disorder. These tests could lend insight into why I suffer from recurrent miscarriages. I am holding off for right now because I am not sure that our COBRA insurance will cover it, and I am not sure if the new insurance will cover it either. I think those tests have to be expensive, but I don't know for sure. Anyway, that is the news. Thanks for all of your support.

Weather Delay

Due to the fact that we received 3.5 inches of SLEET overnight, my ultrasound has been postponed until 11:45 am tomorrow. My RE called me personally to say that she didn't want me to drive in all the way from Warrenton today. The whole metro DC area is basically shut down. So, check in again tomorrow afternoon for the results.

Sonogram Results

I had my sonogram today at 6 weeks and 1 day into my pregnancy. I was hoping to see the heart beat today, but unfortunately that did not happen. I asked my RE if that meant we should prepare for the worst, and she said no. She said that there is no clinical reason for her to be concerned at this point. With frozen embryo transfers the development can sometimes be a little bit slower than with a fresh cycle. She reassured me that I am NOT measuring behind this time (which brings some relief). The gestational sac increased from 7mm last week to 15mm this week. I also now have a visible yolk sac and the start of a fetal pole (which will eventually have the heart beat in it, we hope). So, we remain on pins and needles until next Wednesday. It is basically a must for us to see a heart beat by that point in time. I figure it was meant to happen this way...my appointment is set for Valentine's Day, which is all about the heart. Right? Ok, maybe I am digging here...but I am trying to see things from a positive perspective. Given my past history, I will continue to hope for the best and prepare for the worst. Keep praying or thinking happy thoughts for us!

Another little victory...

The ultrasound today went well. We only have one visible pregnancy sac, but it is there. The RE apologized for causing us any anxiety, but with my numbers he wanted to make sure that the pregnancy was in the right place. Well, the sac is in the appropriate place and is the appropriate size for this point in my pregnancy. The slower rise in my number could mean that another one or two of the embryos were trying to "stick" and started giving off pregnancy hormones initially, then stopped after not making it. We are scheduled for our first "real" ultrasound next Wednesday, February 7th. At that ultrasound we hope to see a yolk sac, fetal pole, and a heartbeat. These would all indicate a viable pregnancy. So, in another six days we hope to celebrate yet another little victory on this journey.

Note: after tomorrow, we will definitely be without a computer until at least February 7th. If you need to contact us, please use the numbers listed in a previous post. If not, we will update once the new computer arrives next week!