Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Sweet Music...

On the recommendation of a few "fertility friends" that now have little ones, I decided to rent a "Doppler" machine from an online company. This company is called Baby Beat. They either rent out or sell the doppler machines to crazy pregnant women like myself. The Doppler allows you to listen to your baby's heartbeat in the privacy of your own home...on a daily basis, if you would like. Given our past history, and also given that it is so long between OB appointments, I thought this would be a great way to calm and reassure ourselves that everything with the mini is going fine.

Well, my Doppler arrived via UPS today. I was waiting for that stinkin' big brown truck all day! As soon as the Doppler showed up, I of course wanted to test it out! You can pick the h/b up as early as 10 weeks...which is exactly what I am today. It took about five minutes, but I found that mini's heart beating away in the depths of uterusland! Ahhhh...what sweet music! I managed to make a decent recording of it that I can play over our speakerphone pretty well (mom, dad, and Matt all got a listen). The heartbeat basically sounds like a train going over railroad tracks. You can easily distinguish the baby's h/b from your own because the baby's is about twice as fast (usually between 140 and 180 bpm). Just amazing...

Now I think I can more easily get through the wait until my u/s and first trimester screening on February 9th. That is a wonderful thing!

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Peeing in a Cup

Well, yesterday I received a call from the lab at the OB's office that my urine sample I gave last week showed bacteria in it. They requested that I come back in today to give another sample so that they can do a bacterial culture. I guess I better get used to peeing in a cup on a regular basis. Oh, the joy! I will find out late on Friday afternoon whether or not I have a UTI. I am hoping I don't, but if I do, it is no big deal.

On another note, Dr. Swift from the OB's office called right after I got home this morning. I sort of panicked, because why would one of the doctor's be calling me...unless something was wrong?!? Turns out I was worried for nothing. She was just calling to inform me that all of my bloodwork that they did last week came back fine. The only thing it red-flagged is that it showed I had RhoGAM in my system...but, since I had a shot of RhoGAM...that was only to be expected! All else was completely normal, so they will just see me back for my next routine visit on February 19th. Ok!

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Hooray for our Insurance!!!

At my first OB visit the nurse-midwife discussed screening options for the pregnancy. One: don't do anything. Two: do the typical 2nd trimester Quad screening. Three: do the new 1st trimester sequential screen followed by the Quad screening in the 2nd trimester. I liked the sound of the third option, however, the nurse also mentioned that most insurance companies do not cover this screening yet, as it is still fairly "new".

Well, hooray for Aetna because they DO cover the 1st semester screening. Yay! I am now scheduled to go to the Antenatal Unit at Virtua Hospital on February 9th for the testing. It consists of a finger prick / blood test and a special ultrasound that measures the nuchal fold translucency. This screening can predict with 85% accuracy the fetus' risk of having Down's syndrome, Trisomy 18, or another form of neural tube defects. It gives patients an earlier view on the staus of their fetus, and I like that. I also LOVE the fact that we will be having an actual u/s of the baby prior to 20 weeks! That will (hopefully) give us reassurance that all is going well in uterus-land. How nice that will be!

So, here is to the sometimes (albeit rarely) wonderful insurance companies and their benefits.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Boring Old OB Patient

That is what I am now, according to the nurse-midwife that I saw today. I am no longer the pampered fertility patient who receives weekly ultrasounds at weekly visits. I am just a boring old OB patient. I guess I will take that!

So, this visit today was just a basic first pre-natal visit. There were no ultrasounds. There were no Dopplers to listen to the heartbeat (it is too early...need another week for that). There was just a lot of paperwork, explanations, bloodwork, a brief pelvic exam, and that was about it.

My cervix is firm and closed, which is great. My uterus is measuring as it should, which is also great.

The phlebotomist apologized for using a small vein to do my blood draw. I put a lot of pressure on it and caused quite a bit of swelling. I was told to come home and ice it, which is what I am doing right now. It does hurt quite a bit, but oh well.

I will go back in 4 weeks (February 19th) for my next appointment. I guess that I now have to take a specimen of "first morning urine" to every appointment. Isn't that fun? At that appointment they will definitely bring out the Doppler to listen to the heartbeat. I am anxioulsy looking forward to that.

We may or may not be doing a "first trimester sequential screening", which would involve an u/s and a finger prick. If our insurance doesn't cover it, we may not do it and just do the Quad Screening at 16 weeks. We will have to speak with Aetna prior to making any definite decisions on that one.

For now, I just go about as if all is well and good. That isn't easy without my weekly u/s, but I will have to accept that, I guess!

Sunday, January 18, 2009

A Post from The Husband

I thought I would toss a post out there. Since our "hit count" keeps rising, you might as well have something new to read.
I am off to St. Louis on Monday for a week long conference. That's right, I will be missing Megan's first OB appointment. I can't wait for a lifetime of teasing from my child when they realize I missed the first appointment to go to "exotic" St. Louis in January. For those of you that don't know, St. Louis in January looks like it could be a cover page for the magazine Afghanistan Today.

On another note, I want to thank all of the friends and family that continually check the blog for updates and who root/pray for a successful pregnancy. Your comments are heartfelt and they mean a lot to the both of us. We will continue to update you as this journey progresses. Right now, my wife is fighting nausea on a fairly regular basis. Mornings are the worst and every time I open the refridgerator when she is nearby, it results in severe bitching thanks to odors that make her ill. Heck, even the smell of dishwasher soap made her ill today. Yikes! I just hope all of you know that this pregnancy is as tough on me as it is on her. ;-) Or not.

Well, off to pack for St. Louis. Thanks again for checking the blog and for your comments. Megan and I appreciatethe support more than you know. Stay tuned for an update this Thursday after Megan returns from her OB appointment...by herself.

Monday, January 12, 2009

Milestones

*Note: click on u/s pic to enlarge the view*

Well, we keep reaching new ones, and we couldn't be more thrilled! Today was another u/s scan for us at the RE's office. I have not had any fresh bleeding episodes since our last unexpected visit, and I have been feeling very ill, so we were hoping for a good u/s. That is exactly what we got.

The mini has grown to almost 15 mm in size. It is starting to "take shape", as the RE puts it. You can make out the head (top cursor) and the start of arm and leg buds (sticking out to the left of the "body"). The heartbeat came in at 164 bpm today, which sounded so amzaing!

I almost cannot believe it, but WE HAVE BEEN GRADUATED TO THE OB! That has never happened to us before! The RE said that the pregnancy is thriving, so that is that!

The RE also pointed out a dark patch in my uterus just above the pregnancy sac. He said that it looks like that is where the "bleeds" came from. He said that the pregnancy sac itself is totally fine and well attached. This dark patch was just an area of separation in the uterus that appears to be healing nicely. Hopefully we are all done with that sort of thing!

Lastly, the RE gave me a prescription for anti-nausea medication. I have been feeling sick pretty much all day, every day. It is definitely the worst in the first half of the day for sure. I never get physically sick...but I hate tons of smells and most foods. No fun! The RE jokingly said that his diagnosis would be that of "pregnancy"! ha...ha...ha. Sadly, my insurance company apparently only covers / allows 12 of these pills every 30 days. The prescription directions say to take three of these daily, so technically I only have 4 days worth of these meds for the next 30 days! I plan to only take one in the morning when I really need it...so, this should give me 12 days.

I have called the OB's office, and I am scheduled for my first visit with them on Thursday, January 22nd at 10 am. I will be meeting with their nurse-midwife. This will be the standard first OB visit, and I am very excited for it! I will miss the weekly RE visits that give frequent reassurance that things are well, but I am happy to move on to the next level...which is just normal pregnancy.

Let's keep hoping that there will be several more milestones to continue over this stretch of nine months! GROW, mini, GROW!!!

Tuesday, January 06, 2009

Another scare...but everything is STILL fine!

I have a feeling this is going to get old...bleeding during early pregnancy. It is terrifying and nerve-wracking! It happened again to me this morning at 5am. The bleeding lasted longer this time around. I passed another clot. I am still spotting a bit at this point. The nurse had me come in for another scan to make sure everything was ok.

Well, everything is still ok! Amazing! The mini has doubled in size since Friday (CRL is now 10.07mm), the yolk sac (which feeds the baby and becomes the placenta) is really big, and the heartbeat was nice and strong. We got a good listen again today, and as the RE said...it must be like music to your ears...indeed! The RE mentioned that OB/Gyns do not see a lot of bleeding, but it is common for the REs to see it. He said that sometimes the bleeding happens as the ovaries and corpus luteums shrink. Other times, they really just do not know. He shook both of our hands and told us to keep the faith. So, that is what we are doing.

We now go back on Monday, Jan. 12th for another scan, unless I have to go in unexpectedly again. I am still supposed to call if the bleeding gets worse, or if I pass more clots. If the spotting continues as is and things do not change...then I will just keep my scheduled appointment.


So, for now...join us in just KEEPING THE FAITH!

Friday, January 02, 2009

Bit of a scare...but all is fine

We had a bit of a scare yesterday. While at an open house at a friends, I felt a "gush",so I went to the bathroom. Sure enough, I had leaked a small amount of fresh blood. I also ended up passing a clot. Matt took me straight home, and I vegged out for the rest of the night. I didn't have any more fresh bleeding after that point. I called the clinic and left a message for my nurse this morning. She called back and said that she wasn't overly concerned given that I had had such a great u/s the other day. A practitioner had agreed to have me come in, though, to take a peek and make sure that everything was ok.

Everything on the u/s was fine. The mini has grown and is still measuring right on target. The h/b was 120 bpm, and the RE said at this point they would expect it to be 100 bpm or more, so all is well there. We even got to hear the h/b today, which was pretty cool. The placenta is showing no signs of detaching...whew! The RE said that I just fall into that normal category of women who bleed for "whatever reason", but that everything is still ok. It just happens, and they don't really know why.

Thankfully the RE noticed on my chart that I am Rh-. Given the bleeding, it is necessary for me to receive a shot of Rhogam so that I do not produce antibodies to the baby's blood. I need to have the shot within three days of the bleed, so they called in the prescription to a local pharmacy. I had to run out and get the vial of Rhogam and go back to the clinic to have the intramuscular injection administered. I should now be covered for the rest of the pregnancy should any more bleeding occur.

That is the scoop. We still don't have the scanner hooked up, but hopefully we will by the time we have our next u/s. Keep those happy thoughts and prayers coming, as this is can be a scary journey at times! Thanks again for all of the support!