Freaking out a little regarding progesterone!

So NaPro nurse calls and tells me my progesterone at 11wks4days had gone down to 39.0 and while they expect a slight decrease around this time, Dr. C wants me to continue with the PIO shots and draw my levels again in 2 weeks. 

Well....big problem... 11wks4days was also my last PIO shot.  She hadn't given me another prescription and I assumed (yes, I know what they say about assuming)....that since she hadn't called with my progesterone level and hadn't called in a new prescription that everything was okay.  Since she said that we would likely stop PIO at 12 weeks depending on my levels.

So I'm a little bit freaking out.  I asked the nurse...."So is it a problem that I haven't had a PIO shot in about a week and a half??"  And she asked Dr. C and called me back and they are refilling my prescription and sending me a lab order to get my blood drawn sooner than later. She never answered if it was a problem. 

So now I'm wondering how much damage I've done by not being on PIO for this long with already decreased levels??? 

Yeah, I'm having a little bit of a melt down about it.  :(  I just feel so stupid.  I should have called a week ago..I just kept forgetting or putting it off and then we were out of town...and now here we are a week and a half later. 

Crap.

Cyst, what cyst?

Oh that pesky 5cm cyst that they were talking about possibly have to remove surgically in my second trimester???

GONE.  That's right...no more.   (**insert "MIRACLE!!!" here**)

I'm not sure the doctor believed the sonographer, because he came back in and re-scanned me after I had just cleaned off all the ultrasound jelly...and sure enough, he declared it resolved!

Oh boy, it is such a blessing when God's plans are right in line with what we pray for, isn't it??  

I'm 12 weeks and 1 day today and we had the NT scan which measured the nuchal fold area of fluid in the neck.  Baby's came back at 1mm...which was excellent!  Over 3mm is concerning for Trisomy 18 or Down's Syndrome.  I also had bloodwork done, and the results will be in Thursday or Friday, but the sonographer said that unless something comes back really, really wrong with the bloodwork, then we should be screen negative for T-18 and Down's!

Baby H measured about 2 inches, with a heartbeat of 161!

We saw him bring an arm up around his head and another arm covering his face.  The sonographer tried to get a look to take a gender guess, but baby would not cooperate today.  No big deal.  I was just so relieved that baby is still alive....(I know I must sound like a pessimistic person talking like that, but it is just my reality now).  Every ultrasound comes with a genuinely fearful excitement....Fear that the baby will not be alive, and excitement to be able to see a living, moving baby.  It's literally both feelings.  So I can finally let out the breath I've been holding once I see movement or the heart beating.

We had the amazing guy sonographer who did a big scan with Mary Grace, and who did the amnio scan with her too.  He is just the kindest, most wonderful sonographer possible....I wish that every woman who walked through that clinic could have him as their sonographer.  In fact, I wish they'd screen people to have a compassionate, sensitive and kind-hearted personality, because that is exactly what you need in a high-risk clinic.

So all in all, this was just a WONDERFUL doctor's appointment.  Our anatomy scan is scheduled for November 8th with the clinic, but my own OB might prefer to do it in his office, and if I can get in sooner at my OB, then I will!

Here are some 3-D pics from the scan today!  These are always tricky to me...top pic baby has arm up alongside his/her head.  Second pic turned to the side; you can see his/her ear bud.

 

(Below):  Arm up beside head again, and other arm rubbing eye?

Very bottom pic:  Turning away!  How uncooperative ;)

 

Time for an update! How 'bout a belly shot?

5 Weeks

11 Weeks

So I'm getting a little "thicker" but not really a "bump" yet.  I cannot fit into any of my old pants or shorts though....so I'm wearing as many elastic-waist skirts as I can.  (I only have one pair of maternity shorts...do not want to go and spend the money on more since we should be getting into cooler weather soon, right?)  That's what I'm praying for...it has been blazing here in NC.  

I had my progesterone levels drawn today and based on what they are, I think we will be stopping the PIO shots after my next 2 doses.  That was the impression I had gotten from Dr. C (NaPro).  So I am awaiting the results...and a little nervous about stopping them, I have to admit.  My level at 8weeks 3days was 41.5.

I am having a bit of a problem that I had during weeks 13ish-16ish with Mary Grace's pregnancy....and that is my stubbornly tilted uterus (retroverted) refuses to right itself and starts pressing on my areas around my bladder causing me to be unable to relieve myself....uh yeah, it's as frightening as it sounds especially when you have a full bladder.   During Mary Grace's pregnancy I had to resort to self-cathing (umm....just as bad as it sounds!)....but when I started having that feeling this pregnancy I scoured the internet looking for an alternative.  Luckily there is a stretch/exercise/position that I am able to do that temporarily rights my uterus so that I can urinate....lovely, huh?  I am so thankful we have not had to go the other route, and praying that my uterus will find it's rightful, righted home soon.  This is really only happening at night....so my sleep position must be contributing to the uterus flopping back the wrong way??  Just guessing here...

Nausea has been less, but still here and there....resulting in lots of food aversions.  Oh and I didn't even know it could be possible to have these this early, but I swear I've already been having some Braxton Hicks contractions...about 1 or 2 a day for the last 3 days.  Really surprised me and hopefully it is not something to be concerned about even though it seems super early for those.

My next appointment is on Monday.  We are having another look at the cyst and I guess this will decide whether we schedule surgery or whether there is no need at this time.  And immediately after that is our NT scan;  yay!  Another peek at Baby H! 

I have been so bad about following blogs lately, and obviously about updating my own!  These last three weeks have also started the beginning of homeschooling Isabel, so between the nausea and schooling and oh the rest of everyday life, I've just fallen behind!  ;)

I Saw Baby Move!!!

This morning (9 weeks 5 days) I had my first official prenatal appointment at my regular OBGYN office. 

Doctor did an abdominal ultrasound for the first time this pregnancy and we saw baby lying really still (got a little nervous for a moment) in my womb with the heartbeat flickering away (can breathe again, baby is alive!).  Doctor asked if I saw the heartbeat movement and when I replied, "Yes", I guess the movement of my speaking startled baby and it threw out it's arms and legs and started wiggling all around!!! 

It was just AMAZING!!!!!!!  There's something about each passing appointment and ultrasound that makes your pregnancy more real each time.  From seeing a spot on the screen which is your baby, to seeing the flicker of the heartbeat, to seeing movement!  Ahhhh...it just melted my heart today with love and relief and joy to see that little baby dance around. 

God has been so good to give me these weeks so far with Baby Holmes and for all these little blessings of extra ultrasounds and special care to make sure baby is doing well!  I just feel so blessed today!!!   What a wonderful feeling!

Amazing too is the fact that I haven't gained any weight since my OB visit at about 6 1/2 weeks....not sure how that can be possible since my pants no longer button!   Since I go back to the specialist about my ovary on September 20th, my regular OB doesn't want to see me for another 6 weeks, so October 15th.  I'll be almost 16 weeks then....I can't believe it! 

And something I don't say nearly enough is Thank You for all the prayers for this pregnancy!  I feel so blessed every day to know that people are praying for our family and for this little baby to make it!

So what happened on our Marriage Encounter weekend?

So I signed DH and I up for an ME weekend as our anniversary gift to ourselves back in July.  All of this was done electronically, and I even got a receipt!  Well 3 days before the weekend was supposed to start I had not been contacted by anyone and was starting to wonder!  So I contacted the local ME people and they did not have us on the list!!!  I emailed them my "receipt" and they were as shocked as I was.  Luckily another couple had just canceled and we were moved to the top of the 9 couple waiting list.  So we were still "in".

So we got to the weekend and I have to say that alot of it sounded very familiar, because DH and I are involved with Catholic Engaged Encounter and this had alot of similarities.  I was a little unsure of how much we would "learn" on the weekend.  But we both kept an open mind and really started to enjoy ourselves!

And then the miracles started happening....okay maybe "miracle" is too strong of a word.  But we had some really amazing things happen that God most definitely had a hand in!

First, at dinner we met this lovely couple and started discussing my pregnancy and how it was a little difficult because we felt very fearful of what might happen having already lost 4 babies.  She understood as she had experienced infertility herself...and then she told me that she had gone through several surgeries with Dr. Hilgers from Omaha.  I ABOUT choked on my food!  WHAT?!?!  You have worked with Dr. H???  (So I've read lots of people's stories about using NaPro and working with Dr. H but I've never met anyone in real life yet, and to find her at my ME weekend??)  And sure enough, she is one of his first research patients....in fact, she's one of the women from:  In Their Own Words:  Women Healed !!!!!!!!!   I don't think I really knew what to say.  I was just awestruck that God would have put us together...first at a retreat that we almost missed attending due to technical glitches, and second that out of 35 couples, He put us together at dinner (we had assigned seating at every meal, but did not get to sit with every couple). 

So the second part is that Rob and I were able to talk about our fears about this pregnancy, and to release some of the pain we have held onto since losing Mary Grace and the other babies.  I guess there were some parts of our grief that we held separately; we had never shared with each other.  And this weekend allowed for a huge release of those feelings, and an ability to better understand where the other stood as far as how we were approaching this new pregnancy emotionally.  I don't know how to better explain it, but it was HUGE for us.

Third, we asked the priest for a special blessing over this pregnancy.  He told us to meet him in his hotel room after one of the sessions, and we came in and sat down and gave him some background information...our fertility history if you will.  Then he completely surprised me with the following 3 questions:
1.  Do you blame yourself for these losses?
2.  Do you feel like you've let your husband down?
3.  Do you feel like he'd have been better off marrying someone else?
I knew the answers to these questions immediately, but had never spoken them out loud or talked them out with Robert.  My answers were yes, yes and no...in that order. 

He asked Rob some questions and then asked if he could pray over us.  He put one hand on both mine and Rob's head and began to pray back and forth between english and speaking in tongues.  This went on for several minutes and Rob later told me that he experienced a deep feeling of instant peace.  And after he was done praying he said he had a vision of Rob and I very old sitting around a breakfast table with many grandchildren all around. 

It was really beautiful.  And I think it was just what we needed to be able to move forward through this pregnancy in hope, rather than just moving forward in fear.  So that was our weekend!  God really put it all together for us, don't you think? ;)  I would definitely recommend an ME weekend to anyone who already has a good marriage and is looking to make it better.  They have them for different denominations as well, so it is definitely an option for many people!   Check out Worldwide Marriage Encounter for more information.