3rd ultrasound update: 8 1/2 weeks

So today I had my 3rd ultrasound with the maternal fetal medicine specialist.  This time as the sonographer was doing the ultrasound, Dr. G came in during the ultrasound to take a closer look. 

Let's start with the good news!  Baby Holmes is growing just perfectly in my womb and looks great!!!  I was so thankful to again have a live baby with the heartbeat ticking away at 178bpm (high, don't you think??).  I asked Dr. G about the "low fluid around the baby" that he had commented on at the last visit and he miscommunicated with me....there had never been low amniotic fluid....he had been talking about fluid elsewhere.  So that is also a huge relief, because last night I googl.ed "low amniotoic fluid in first trimester" and it was NOT good news....thus I was completely fearful of what the ultrasound findings regarding Baby Holmes would be today.  Needless worrying!  Thank you God that this little baby is growing just right!!!  Our daily prayers are being answered!!!

So Dr. G and the sonographer are looking out at my left ovary again and really spent alot of time analyzing what was going on.  In the end, it looks like I have a 5cm "cyst" or "tumor" on my left ovary.  Dr. G said that normally when they find a mass 5-6cm, they remove it and biopsy it.  However, since I am in my first trimester, there is a higher risk of miscarriage when surgery is done at this time.  I told Dr. G that I was not going to take ANY risks with this baby.  So he has decided that we will give it another 3-4 weeks and do another ultrasound then and decide what to do.  At that point, if the mass/cyst has grown, then he will recommend that it should be removed.  Or if it is the same or diminished, they might just watch it throughout my pregnancy and wait until I have delivered to remove it. 

This news was a little surprising. I guess I was most shocked by the size!  I didn't realize it was that size.  But I am still really not that concerned about it.  It was only when I was checking out after the appointment that the thought crossed my mind, "Grandma S. died of ovarian cancer".  But I'm just not "going there" in my head.  What I'm worried about is making sure that Baby Holmes is doing well, and today I got the proof from that ultrasound that he or she is doing just fine!  Praise God!

My next (regular prenatal) appointment is next Friday, September 3rd; so another sweet look at our baby to look forward to!! :)

And I promise to update on our marriage encounter weekend!  God was sooooo lining that weekend up for us!  It's too cool not to share!

Down and out!

That's how I've been feeling this week.  Absolutely down and out from morning sickness.  Except my morning sickness is all-day-long sickness.  Luckily I have not been throwing up much...but the non-stop extreme queasy feeling has just been awful. 

So Friday I finally conceded and called my OB for an anti-nausea prescription.  Got it within 2 hours and took 1/2 a pill (directions say 1/2 to 1 pill every six hours!)....well the half pill knocked me out within 45 minutes.  Luckily I took it right before naptime; so made it upstairs and napped with Isabel...but when I woke up it was like a bad hangover.  So I'm trying 1/4 of a pill next....I'll report back when I wake up ;)

Nausea aside........our MFM (maternal fetal medicine) ultrasound appointment last Monday went well.  We got to see baby again, alive and well with an even stronger heartbeat!  This time I brought Isabel and Rob with me, so it made it a little more real for our entire family to witness it together.  Doc still noticed *something* over near my left ovary/tube and has now put me on pelvic rest for the next 2 weeks.  No intercourse, no heavy lifting, no gym (ha...wasn't going to the gym anyway)!  It has me just a little more concerned this time since he put me on pelvic rest, but I'm still not very worried about it.  Have to go back on 8/27 to take another peek.  And quite honestly, the more ultrasounds that I can get to make sure the little one is still alive in my womb, the better!

Other things we've been dealing with are the sweet, innocent prayers of dear daughter, Isabel.  "Dear God, please let the baby in mommy's tummy grow big and strong and be born alive and come home to live with us."  The first time she prayed for the baby to live, I almost lost it.  A 4 year old shouldn't have to pray for that.  She shouldn't have to know at such a tender age that some babies (in our case, most babies) don't make it to be born alive into the world. 

However, it's the prayer that our whole family has been praying since we found out we were pregnant.  Please God, let your creation, this precious little baby, LIVE!  At this point, I fear my anger toward God if He decides to take this baby too.  Not because I would not be able to handle it on my own...but because of the pain it would cause me if Isabel lost another sibling.  How would she react to another loss, older as she is this time?  What if she loses faith in God because He keeps taking something so precious to our family time and time again?  I don't dwell on this.  I try not to even go there.  But in private I beg God not to take this baby for Isabel's sake.  

In other news our marriage encounter weekend was just what we needed, and I can't wait to share some AMAZING ways in which God was working while we were there!  But I'll save that for another post! 

For the life of every living thing is in his hand, and the breath of every human being.  Job 12:10

I've Been Praying For................

My Heart Exults during the summer prayer buddies session!  I have been so honored to pray for her!!!  Her blog has truly blessed my heart!

I had not known of her blog before getting matched as her prayer buddy, so as soon as I got my assignment, I raced over and read through her entire blog!  And I was just so overwhelmed by the match!

Our wedding anniversaries are just a week apart (not the year, but the day).

We have the same cat....okay well I thought they were sort of similar looking ;)

            ( HER CAT )                                                                

  ( MY CAT )

We both hate Las Vegas!....okay well I haven't really ever been there and hate is a strong word, but I don't think that I would enjoy it.  I've just never had an interest in going.

She went to see Bill O'Reilly and Glenn Beck on tour...DH and I watch Glenn Beck religiously....it's our daily DVR date every night.

I was just so excited to begin praying for her!  On every new post I would want to comment, but I couldn't even add myself as a follower because I thought she would suspect I was her prayer buddy!  So I've been secretly reading, leaving comments in my head (yeah, I know that was no help), and secretly storming heaven for you, prayer buddy!! 

She and her husband are just the cutest couple!  And she got to take an amazing pilgrimage to the Holy Land at the very beginning of the summer prayer buddy session!   If you have not been there, please head on over and check out her blog!

Results of Prayer.....

So my prayer buddy must have been seriously storming heaven for me this last month.

Because........

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SHE PRAYED ME PREGNANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

July 25th we got back home from our Florida vacation and AF was due that day.  Well as soon as I got home I ran upstairs and took an IC (internet cheapie test) and it came back positive under a minute!  I took another one immediately because I thought the first one must be a joke.  And positive again!  No squinting needed!!

Start shaking....

Tears well up.....

Take the tests downstairs and show Rob.

He is in disbelief too.  I send him out for the real deal tests:  FRERs  (First Response Early Response).  That comes back with an instantly decent line! 

Start my progression pics and take tests every morning until I am out of peesticks.  It's actually progressing!!! Not a chemical pregnancy!  One bad thing that could happen that I can scratch off my list!!!  Hooray!

Call my NaPro doc and speak with a nurse.  Doc calls me back and has no idea who I am....have to explain I am her NaPro patient 3 hours away and she immediately calls in Progesterone in Oil to a local compounding pharmacy.  Have my blood drawn to check progesterone levels only (no betas) before starting the PIO shots.
2ml of PIO 2x/week is what I'm getting for now.

Get this:  Conception date was JULY11th!!!  Yes, our wedding anniversary AND Mary Grace's due date!  I think our little girl in heaven was doing some praying too, what do you think?  And I also asked St. Benedict to intercede for us too on July 11th!!!  Amazing!!  Thanks St. B!!

That puts my due date around April 3-5, 2011!!!  Another April baby like Isabel, God-willing!

How am I feeling??  Initially cautious until I saw my test lines really progressing.  But now I am ecstatic!!!  I walked into the guest bedroom and was mentally rearranging furniture at 4 weeks 4 days!!

Do I still wonder and worry at every slight twinge?  Yes.  But I am trying to turn all of that over to God.  I praise Him daily for the miracle of this new little life growing inside me again....for as long as He allows me to have this baby, I am thankful. 

And I am so very thankful to you, prayer buddy!  I absolutely think your prayers for me were what tipped God's hand to bless me!!!!  Thank you from the bottom of my heart!  And to everyone of you who has lifted me up to the throne of heaven for another baby, THANK YOU!!! 

Today I had an early ultrasound to confirm that the baby is in the right spot, and sure enough there it was snuggled right into my womb where it should be, and we even saw a heartbeat!!

No pregnancy of mine (except the first) has been without drama however.  On Friday I had a gush of bright red blood, some light spotting and then nothing since.  OB saw my subchorionic hemmorhage today on ultrasound which should not pose any problems...it was just scary.   Then my OB checks my right and left sides around my ovaries and tubes and sees *something* on my left side.  He prints me out a picture and gets me in to a specialty clinic for a high resolution ultrasound (yes, all this morning) and the doc there isn't sure what it is either.  He thinks maybe a ruptured cyst has left some old blood?  I have to go back in on Monday for a repeat scan at the specialty clinic to make sure the *something* hasn't developed a heartbeat.

They joked that it probably is in fact a heterotopic pregnancy (one in the womb, one outside the womb) because I have had so many against-the-odds bad things happen in pregnancy.  But I feel very confident that it will turn out to be just fine. 

This is baby #6 and I am so in love with it already!!! And soooooo happy that my husband allowed me to share the news this early!!! 

Praising God for all kinds of blessings!

My first praise is that our DD (dear daughter) Isabel, has finally been cleared by UNC Children's Hospital not to be a patient of theirs anymore!!!   Isabel has been labeled Failure to Thrive since around about a year old when she started falling off the growth charts...and when I say "fall off" I mean she was in the negative percentiles for a long time.  So after many tests, lots of stress, lots of prayer, lots of trusting God, different doctors appointments, blood draws, invasive procedures, medicines, food supplements, and high calorie meals....and she is finally at an acceptable weight, height and most importantly continuing along on her growth curve in a nice upward trend and out of the negatives!!!  We have one more appointment set, but as long as Iz continues to do well then our doc said we could just call in and tell her and not even come in again!!  Amazing!  Thank you God!

Second praise goes out to my mom (who's been visiting here this week) and my husband who attended Latin Mass with me last Sunday!!!  This was my first ever Latin Mass and I could have never gone on my own.  I am one of those I-like-to-do-new-things-with-other-people kind of people :)  It was really interesting...there were parts that I really enjoyed and parts were I just felt completely lost and wondered how long I would be able to remain on my knees before passing out.  What I really enjoyed was the reverence and holiness of the priest and also the congregation....I wish I could take that reverence and holiness and sprinkle it in my own church.  Oh that is truly what every Mass should be like....people would understand that we are in the presence of Jesus! 

Third praise is for the great friends that I have!  I am just so blessed to have such beautiful friends who are true friends in every sense of the word!  Thank you God! 

Fourth praise is that I ovulated this cycle!!!  That stupid Ferti.laid that ruined me for 2 whole cycles has unleashed it's evil curse over me and allowed me to ovulate once again just like clockwork.  I seriously thought I had really messed myself up after I took it and realized that it caused me to not ovulate... yeah, good job Angela, taking the Anti-ovulation Pill.  *rolls eyes*

Fifth praise is that DH comes home tonight after working in Charleston all week!  He travels here and there for work, but rarely for an entire week.  I've missed him alot this week and can't wait to see him. :)

Sixth praise is that DD, myself and my mom got to go to Adoration together yesterday morning and it was such a peaceful way to begin our day and lift up some special people (including my own prayer buddy!) in prayer before Jesus!  I don't know about any of you, but when I go to Adoration and I'm really deep into my prayer the rest of the room takes on this light-filled, golden glow.  I keep thinking it's some sort of trick my eyes are playing on me, but it has happened ever since I attended a healing Mass...that the entire room glows while I pray at Adoration.   Not sure what that means other than maybe I need to have my eyes checked, but praising God anyway for the peaceful time with Him yesterday.

Oh and Prayer Buddy!  I do have a special prayer request this week!  Would you please pray specifically that everything would be in the right place??  Doesn't make sense yet, but I'll fill you in!  Thank you so much!!!