Sorry it has been a little while since my last post. Between my crazy nap schedule and... well, that's all, so between my naps I didn't feel lke updating anything until I felt a little more clear headed. The surgery pain has subsided for the most part. I can walk around the house a bit, pee by myself and feed myself :) Yay! Sleeping is still annoying because I have to stay on my back and I hate sleeping on my back. I was told I can try sleeping on my side, but after a minute I feel a small pain by my ovary... either it is real or out of fear in my imagination...whichever it is, I get nervous and go back to my back. I am a stomach sleeper and that is completely out of the picture already. My little incisions are healing pretty good. I swear I can feel my ovaries cramping throughout the day, but I think that might be a good sign that maybe they are contracting.
Now to the Babies...yep, babies!!!! We are having TWINS!! I've had two ultrasounds and one blood draw since my last post. My HCG level was 21000, which is perfect. Low for 6 weeks is 1000 and the high is 56000, so I am in the middle and grateful for it. Both ultrasounds were very clear with two distinct sacs. I am about 7 weeks and this morning Beau and I got to hear both heartbeats!!!! Makes me cry again just thinking about it. These little babies are strong little spirits to get through the stress of two weeks ago and grow like nothing happened. I am soooooo beyond grateful that things with the pregnancy have always been postive since the begining of the IVF process. It makes everything completey worth it. I am sooooo ready and excited to meet our children. I wish they were coming sooner...kind of. We have a lot to do to get the house ready.
I am still on a very limited activity "bed rest". My nurse today told me that by the time my ovaries go down and I am allowed to move without fear of them twisting, it will be to a point that I will have to watch what I do so as to not put myself in pre-term labor. So basically, my one month of no volleyball or working out looks like it will be the full pregnancy. Ughh, but its for a good cause :)
I wanted to THANK EVERYONE that has helped over the last couple weeks with dinners, grocery shopping, cleaning and just taking time to stop by. I have felt loved by so many and I know there are many others of you that are praying for us. I would ask that the prayers continue as we are not out of the danger zone yet... but I feel really good about things. Beau's mom Julie has been a life saver by taking a week and a half out of her life to come babysit me and keep my house clean and functioning :) My sisters have been willing to help with anything at the drop of a hat and my neighbors/friends have brought dinners, thoughtful cards and stopped by to keep me company. And of course my amazing husband has been so protective of me and makes sure I have everything I need every moment of the day. I've said it before, but I am BLESSED.
Monday, February 25, 2013
Saturday, February 16, 2013
Emergency Surgery... Round Two!!!!
Thursday morning I went in to have my blood drawn and possibly have an ultrasound to make sure that my uterus was doing ok from all the stress. The HCG level came back at 3200, which is good. They did an inter-vaginal ultrasound and checked the blood flow to my ovaries. There were lots of red and blue dots on the screen, which meant blood was going to both ovaries. They moved on to the uterus and could see one sac for sure that looked strong... and a possible second, but it looked kind of weak and may not survive because of all the stress. Obviously I am hoping that it does, but it is understandable if not. I am ecstatic to have even one!
So I thought things were going well with recovery and decided to take my afternoon nap. At 1:00 I woke up to the same excruciating pain that I had on Monday... EXTREME Sharp, burning, gas-like pain. I called UFC immediately and told them I was coming back in. Thankfully Beau's mom has been with us since Monday, so I told her we needed to go right away. Once I got in the car I called Beau and told him I was going in and would let him know if it got serious again...that was dumb. I should have just told him to get to UFC.
The pain got worse and worse by the second. By the time I was at the center I was balling again and begging for help. Dr. Foulk had me turn over on my hands and knees thinking that it would lessen the pressure off my ovary. It didn't help. I begged him to go into surgery and he said he wanted to wait till Beau was there and talk to both of us. I was kind of annoyed by that because I didn't understand why. I felt like I waited an eternity before finally yelling "Where is Beau?". I thought someone had called him and told him to hurry, but after talking to Beau no one had made it sound urgent. He was at a business lunch and was just told that it might be a good idea if he came to be with his wife...uhhhhh, wrong way of saying hurry up, its an emergency! Legally, I guess Beau had to sign consents before they could take me to surgery... love the technicalities!
Finally Beau arrived with everyone he was at lunch with. One of them was my brother-in-law who was kind enough to come in the room where I was moaning, crying and rocking in pain (still on my hands and knees) and help Beau give me a blessing. Dr. Foulk was even in the room to help with the blessing (only in Utah :)) I LOVE blessings!! Even in such a chaotic moment I felt peace. I was able to breath for a few minutes, even though the pain was still there my body stopped shaking and my teeth stopped chattering.
After the blessing Beau scooped me off the table and ran me to the car. In the hall was Beau's boss, Daniel, and it was his truck that they had taken to lunch. Daniel ran and opened the front door and Beau put me in. Daniel sped down the street to the hospital, which was already supposedly waiting for me with an O.R prepped...not quite. It went fast, but I still had to sit in pain while they asked me the same questions I had answered a hundred times on Monday. I would answer a few and then tell them to refer to my charts from Monday and let's just go!! Once again I ripped my clothes off to get in the gown and got on the gurney to go. They rolled me into a hallway right outside of the O.R to wait while it finished being prepped....ughhhhh. I was soooo close to relief. Dr. Gerteif (I thought it was Gerchen) was the operating doctor when they finally wheeled me into the room. The Anesthesiologist told me relief was coming. I said Thank You and blacked out...ahhhhhh.
I woke up around 5:30 pm and Beau and his mom were in the room with me. I felt like someone had taken a sword and sliced me in half. They gave me two percosets and they did NOTHING. It took another 30 min or so before the nurse finally came back with a med that numbed the pain. I found out that Dr. Foulk had come in and done the operation with Dr. Gerteif. They untwisted the ovary again and tacked it down this time. It should not move again. The right ovary looks perfect. It is tucked in where it is supposed to be and it is the size it should be.
We went home around 7:00 pm and I am stuck on the couch for the next TWO WEEKS!!! I should not have complained or stressed about 2 days of princess days. I think I ginxed myself! Dr. Foulk called me Friday to check on me and told me that he still feels the pregnancy should be ok... praying he is right. He also told me that the left ovary seemed to be on a longer stalk, which caused it to move easier with any movement I made. That is why he decided to tack it down. He also said he couldn't get the image of me in so much pain out of his head and just felt terrible I had to go through something like that...twice!!! He is a good, caring man.
Two surgeries in one week was never a record I anticipated or hoped to hold. This week has been terrible for that reason, but I've had good company to help pass the time. I'll be honest that I am pretty frustrated with this situation and I don't understand why it needed to happen. I'll never know, so I'll just be grateful everything seems to be turning out ok and move on. I hope and pray it NEVER happens again. I can't wait to be able to function and at least get myself in and out of bed or go pee by myself! Oh the high goals I have for myself these days :)
So I thought things were going well with recovery and decided to take my afternoon nap. At 1:00 I woke up to the same excruciating pain that I had on Monday... EXTREME Sharp, burning, gas-like pain. I called UFC immediately and told them I was coming back in. Thankfully Beau's mom has been with us since Monday, so I told her we needed to go right away. Once I got in the car I called Beau and told him I was going in and would let him know if it got serious again...that was dumb. I should have just told him to get to UFC.
The pain got worse and worse by the second. By the time I was at the center I was balling again and begging for help. Dr. Foulk had me turn over on my hands and knees thinking that it would lessen the pressure off my ovary. It didn't help. I begged him to go into surgery and he said he wanted to wait till Beau was there and talk to both of us. I was kind of annoyed by that because I didn't understand why. I felt like I waited an eternity before finally yelling "Where is Beau?". I thought someone had called him and told him to hurry, but after talking to Beau no one had made it sound urgent. He was at a business lunch and was just told that it might be a good idea if he came to be with his wife...uhhhhh, wrong way of saying hurry up, its an emergency! Legally, I guess Beau had to sign consents before they could take me to surgery... love the technicalities!
Finally Beau arrived with everyone he was at lunch with. One of them was my brother-in-law who was kind enough to come in the room where I was moaning, crying and rocking in pain (still on my hands and knees) and help Beau give me a blessing. Dr. Foulk was even in the room to help with the blessing (only in Utah :)) I LOVE blessings!! Even in such a chaotic moment I felt peace. I was able to breath for a few minutes, even though the pain was still there my body stopped shaking and my teeth stopped chattering.
After the blessing Beau scooped me off the table and ran me to the car. In the hall was Beau's boss, Daniel, and it was his truck that they had taken to lunch. Daniel ran and opened the front door and Beau put me in. Daniel sped down the street to the hospital, which was already supposedly waiting for me with an O.R prepped...not quite. It went fast, but I still had to sit in pain while they asked me the same questions I had answered a hundred times on Monday. I would answer a few and then tell them to refer to my charts from Monday and let's just go!! Once again I ripped my clothes off to get in the gown and got on the gurney to go. They rolled me into a hallway right outside of the O.R to wait while it finished being prepped....ughhhhh. I was soooo close to relief. Dr. Gerteif (I thought it was Gerchen) was the operating doctor when they finally wheeled me into the room. The Anesthesiologist told me relief was coming. I said Thank You and blacked out...ahhhhhh.
I woke up around 5:30 pm and Beau and his mom were in the room with me. I felt like someone had taken a sword and sliced me in half. They gave me two percosets and they did NOTHING. It took another 30 min or so before the nurse finally came back with a med that numbed the pain. I found out that Dr. Foulk had come in and done the operation with Dr. Gerteif. They untwisted the ovary again and tacked it down this time. It should not move again. The right ovary looks perfect. It is tucked in where it is supposed to be and it is the size it should be.
We went home around 7:00 pm and I am stuck on the couch for the next TWO WEEKS!!! I should not have complained or stressed about 2 days of princess days. I think I ginxed myself! Dr. Foulk called me Friday to check on me and told me that he still feels the pregnancy should be ok... praying he is right. He also told me that the left ovary seemed to be on a longer stalk, which caused it to move easier with any movement I made. That is why he decided to tack it down. He also said he couldn't get the image of me in so much pain out of his head and just felt terrible I had to go through something like that...twice!!! He is a good, caring man.
Two surgeries in one week was never a record I anticipated or hoped to hold. This week has been terrible for that reason, but I've had good company to help pass the time. I'll be honest that I am pretty frustrated with this situation and I don't understand why it needed to happen. I'll never know, so I'll just be grateful everything seems to be turning out ok and move on. I hope and pray it NEVER happens again. I can't wait to be able to function and at least get myself in and out of bed or go pee by myself! Oh the high goals I have for myself these days :)
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Ovaries Should Be Pink...NOT Black!!!!
Yesterday I experienced what I think may have been the worst and most painful day of my life!!!! I started to feel a little sick earlier in the day then usual, so I just sat and made phone calls that needed to be done. I finally went and took at nap at 3:00 pm. I woke up at 6:00 pm to what I thought was the worst gas pain ever. I sat in the bathroom with my butt in the air for about 15 minutes before I realized the sharp sharp pain was not moving and it was getting worse FAST.
I couldn't help but start crying. For me to cry over stomach pain takes a lot because I have lived with it for so long. I was crying uncontrollably because the pain was extremely intense. I collapsed on the bathroom floor with my pants still around my knees. I tried to call Beau at work, but got his voicemail. I tried 3 more times before calling his boss, only to get his voicemail as well. I truly felt like I was going to die or pass out and no one would know. I called the on-call line for the fertility center after hours and I got that voicemail!!!! Beau called right then and the only thing I could verbalize was that I needed him to come home. I started puking in the garbage can while trying to talk to Beau. I was able to get the on-call nurse on the phone and merge her in my call with Beau. Beau talked to her while I cried and puked.
Beau was home from work in literally 2 minutes. He works about 7 minutes away. He came in the bathroom and scooped me up. He put pants on me and carried me to his truck, which he had kept running. I laid the seat back and just balled and moaned the whole way to the hospital. The hospital is about 10-15 minutes away and Beau was there in 5 minutes... don't ask :) haha. He also multi-tasked and gave me a blessing that things would be okay while he drove. I am grateful he honors his priesthood and was able to give me a little peace in such a chaotic moment.
He pulled up to the emergency entrance, grabbed me out of the truck and went running into the ER. They opened all the doors immediately. They had him put down in a chair and some lady tried to ask me really dumb questions until I started puking in her trash can and couldn't get a single word out to answer her dumb questions.
My body started to shake uncontrollably, my teeth were chattering like crazy, my limbs were super stiff, I was hyperventilating and the sharp pain was unbelievable on my left side. I knew that my left ovary was where the issue was. They laid me down on a bed and tried to put an IV in my arm, but I was shaking so bad and my veins are crappy anyways that the lady ended up getting blood everywhere by the time she finally got the needle in. My pants were ruined, but at that moment I didn't care. I continued to tell them to do nothing that would harm my baby/babies, but begged for them to do something about the pain. They gave me 1 shot of morphine and it did NOTHING. I had to wait 10 minutes before they would do the next shot. I got a 2nd shot of morphine. Another 10 minutes passed and still not the slightest relief from the pain. I got a 3rd shot of morphine, which was followed by 2 shots of Dilaudid. None of the meds made a dent in the pain. I kept begging them to do something else. I asked if they would just put me under anesthesia, but they wouldn't because I had to talk to the doctor when she got there. I prayed to pass out so I just wouldn't feel it any more, but instead I got to endure 3.5 hours of the most excruciating pain I have ever felt. Beau was good at being forceful, but still keeping his cool when he wanted to punch quite a few of the nurses in the ER. He was told they were taking me in to do an ultrasound and it would be a 15 minute wait. This was between the morphine shots. After no improvement with my pain and after 20 minutes Beau asked again when I would go in for an ultrasound and he was told that another patient had just gone in and we had to wait for them. He was ready to kill!
Finally they took me in for an ultrasound and discovered that my left ovary was the size of an orange when it should have been between an almond to a small-egg size. The other doctor from the fertility center (Dr. Gerchen) got to the ER right before the ultrasound and from that point I was rushed into surgery prep.
I hadn't been able to open my eyes for the last couple hours because the pain was so bad, so I didn't know who was around me and I didn't care. The nurses tried to modestly take my clothes off and get me into a gown, but I just ripped everything off...whatever would get me under anesthesia sooner was what I did. Beau patiently let me squeeze the life out of his hand the whole time, while my other hand was squeezing hands and legs of random people trying to cope. I had no regard for how awkward others may have felt with my moaning, crying, begging and squeezing. I didn't care in the slightest, I just needed the pain to stop. Right before they took me into surgery some stupid lady asked me to rate my pain between 1-10. I wanted to ring her neck and told her it was a bizzilion!!!!
I remember finally being in the operating room still writhing in pain, but knowing that relief was coming soon. I begged the anesthesiologist to put me under ASAP. They made me move myself on to the operating table and that is the last thing I remember...thank heavens!!!!
I went in to the O.R at 9:45ish pm and came out around 10:30 pm. I don't remember anything till about 12:30 am. They made us stay overnight because it was so late and Dr. Foulk would be in to see me the next morning. I had never stayed overnight in the hospital before, but Beau stayed with me the whole night. They brought him in a cot. We were told that my left ovary was actually BLACK!!! It had twisted around itself 2 times and all the blood was cut off. This is called Ovarian Torsion. It could have been very serious had it died and fallen off or ruptured inside me. It could have caused internal bleeding and create potentially fatal infections...YIKES! The doctor was able to untwist it and within 5 minutes the pink color started to return, which meant I would not lose my ovary...phew! We were also told that having an ovary twist is one of the most painful things a person can experience and I would agree. I have NEVER felt anything even close to that kind of pain and especially with NO relief for hours!
Dr. Foulk came in this morning and told me that he felt my pregnancy was not affected. There was no rupturing or seepage of anything that could have damaged the uterus. Dr. Gerchen has checked the uterus while she was inside me and said the wall/lining was good and everything looked ok. There are only guesses as to how this Ovarian Torsion happened. I have been so good about not working out or playing volleyball so as not to bounce my ovaries. It was simply suggested to REALLY take it easy until my ovaries are back down to almond size. They are still small-egg sized since the retrieval. I didn't realize it took so long for them to go back to normal size. My left ovary grew to the size of an orange when the blood flow was cut off and it became inflamed severly.
I am home now and back on "bed rest/princess days", but this time I am fine with sitting and doing nothing. I will sit as long as I have to in order to never have pain like that again. Beau's mom is super sweet and is coming back down to take care of me. I am super grateful for her selflessness, but feel bad taking up all her time :) I have Loritab to manage the pain. My whole body is achey and stiff. It is almost like my whole body just went through a vigourous full body work out. All the shaking, tenseness, chattering, and everything else wiped my body out. I feel the same way I did after the endometriosis surgery, but knowing that my pregnancy should be ok and that my ovary was saved makes me ok to wait out the post-op pains. I have a few tests scheduled for this Thursday to make sure the pregnancy is still doing well and all the stress my body was under didn't adversely affect the embryo(s). Keep the prayers coming!!!
I couldn't help but start crying. For me to cry over stomach pain takes a lot because I have lived with it for so long. I was crying uncontrollably because the pain was extremely intense. I collapsed on the bathroom floor with my pants still around my knees. I tried to call Beau at work, but got his voicemail. I tried 3 more times before calling his boss, only to get his voicemail as well. I truly felt like I was going to die or pass out and no one would know. I called the on-call line for the fertility center after hours and I got that voicemail!!!! Beau called right then and the only thing I could verbalize was that I needed him to come home. I started puking in the garbage can while trying to talk to Beau. I was able to get the on-call nurse on the phone and merge her in my call with Beau. Beau talked to her while I cried and puked.
Beau was home from work in literally 2 minutes. He works about 7 minutes away. He came in the bathroom and scooped me up. He put pants on me and carried me to his truck, which he had kept running. I laid the seat back and just balled and moaned the whole way to the hospital. The hospital is about 10-15 minutes away and Beau was there in 5 minutes... don't ask :) haha. He also multi-tasked and gave me a blessing that things would be okay while he drove. I am grateful he honors his priesthood and was able to give me a little peace in such a chaotic moment.
He pulled up to the emergency entrance, grabbed me out of the truck and went running into the ER. They opened all the doors immediately. They had him put down in a chair and some lady tried to ask me really dumb questions until I started puking in her trash can and couldn't get a single word out to answer her dumb questions.
My body started to shake uncontrollably, my teeth were chattering like crazy, my limbs were super stiff, I was hyperventilating and the sharp pain was unbelievable on my left side. I knew that my left ovary was where the issue was. They laid me down on a bed and tried to put an IV in my arm, but I was shaking so bad and my veins are crappy anyways that the lady ended up getting blood everywhere by the time she finally got the needle in. My pants were ruined, but at that moment I didn't care. I continued to tell them to do nothing that would harm my baby/babies, but begged for them to do something about the pain. They gave me 1 shot of morphine and it did NOTHING. I had to wait 10 minutes before they would do the next shot. I got a 2nd shot of morphine. Another 10 minutes passed and still not the slightest relief from the pain. I got a 3rd shot of morphine, which was followed by 2 shots of Dilaudid. None of the meds made a dent in the pain. I kept begging them to do something else. I asked if they would just put me under anesthesia, but they wouldn't because I had to talk to the doctor when she got there. I prayed to pass out so I just wouldn't feel it any more, but instead I got to endure 3.5 hours of the most excruciating pain I have ever felt. Beau was good at being forceful, but still keeping his cool when he wanted to punch quite a few of the nurses in the ER. He was told they were taking me in to do an ultrasound and it would be a 15 minute wait. This was between the morphine shots. After no improvement with my pain and after 20 minutes Beau asked again when I would go in for an ultrasound and he was told that another patient had just gone in and we had to wait for them. He was ready to kill!
Finally they took me in for an ultrasound and discovered that my left ovary was the size of an orange when it should have been between an almond to a small-egg size. The other doctor from the fertility center (Dr. Gerchen) got to the ER right before the ultrasound and from that point I was rushed into surgery prep.
I hadn't been able to open my eyes for the last couple hours because the pain was so bad, so I didn't know who was around me and I didn't care. The nurses tried to modestly take my clothes off and get me into a gown, but I just ripped everything off...whatever would get me under anesthesia sooner was what I did. Beau patiently let me squeeze the life out of his hand the whole time, while my other hand was squeezing hands and legs of random people trying to cope. I had no regard for how awkward others may have felt with my moaning, crying, begging and squeezing. I didn't care in the slightest, I just needed the pain to stop. Right before they took me into surgery some stupid lady asked me to rate my pain between 1-10. I wanted to ring her neck and told her it was a bizzilion!!!!
I remember finally being in the operating room still writhing in pain, but knowing that relief was coming soon. I begged the anesthesiologist to put me under ASAP. They made me move myself on to the operating table and that is the last thing I remember...thank heavens!!!!
I went in to the O.R at 9:45ish pm and came out around 10:30 pm. I don't remember anything till about 12:30 am. They made us stay overnight because it was so late and Dr. Foulk would be in to see me the next morning. I had never stayed overnight in the hospital before, but Beau stayed with me the whole night. They brought him in a cot. We were told that my left ovary was actually BLACK!!! It had twisted around itself 2 times and all the blood was cut off. This is called Ovarian Torsion. It could have been very serious had it died and fallen off or ruptured inside me. It could have caused internal bleeding and create potentially fatal infections...YIKES! The doctor was able to untwist it and within 5 minutes the pink color started to return, which meant I would not lose my ovary...phew! We were also told that having an ovary twist is one of the most painful things a person can experience and I would agree. I have NEVER felt anything even close to that kind of pain and especially with NO relief for hours!
 |
| Where the arrow is pointing is where it is twisted... OUCH! |
 |
| My Left Ovary...Completely BLACK! and the size of an Orange |
 |
| This is after they untwisted it and the pink started to come back. |
 |
| Feeling MUCH better and excited I have a coveted hospital cup...lol |
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| My amazing husband roughing it with me all night in the hospital. We were woken up every 2 hours by the nurses to check vitals and pain meds. Glad the night is over. |
I am home now and back on "bed rest/princess days", but this time I am fine with sitting and doing nothing. I will sit as long as I have to in order to never have pain like that again. Beau's mom is super sweet and is coming back down to take care of me. I am super grateful for her selflessness, but feel bad taking up all her time :) I have Loritab to manage the pain. My whole body is achey and stiff. It is almost like my whole body just went through a vigourous full body work out. All the shaking, tenseness, chattering, and everything else wiped my body out. I feel the same way I did after the endometriosis surgery, but knowing that my pregnancy should be ok and that my ovary was saved makes me ok to wait out the post-op pains. I have a few tests scheduled for this Thursday to make sure the pregnancy is still doing well and all the stress my body was under didn't adversely affect the embryo(s). Keep the prayers coming!!!
The Verdict Is In.....
So the day after I started feeling better from all the bloating was my blood draw, Feb. 7th. Once the bloating went down I noticed that there was what seemed like a little baby bump...what????!!!!! I was only 3 weeks, IF the process had worked so I shouldn't have been showing yet...but there was nothing else it could have been! I got super excited. One of the nurses at the center is pregnant with triplets and she started showing by week 2, so I was hoping that my belly meant that both eggs had taken. Twins is ideal, triplets or more would be a little much!!! One is even amazing. I'll be happy with what ever the Lord blesses us with.
The morning of the 7th I was feeling very confident that the process had worked so I decided to take a pregnancy test before I went in for the blood draw. I have never done that before with the inseminations because I was always nervous of getting a faulty test and being either excited or sad for no reason, so I always opted to wait for the official result. BUT this morning the test came back with a clear dark second line... POSITIVE!!!!!! I was ecstatic and wanted to tell the world, while at the same time still hesitant to share the news so early.
I went and had my blood drawn at 9:00 am and then kept myself busy with my wonderful friend Dawn until I got the official results call at 2:30. The nurse on the other line told me that I was "VERY PREGNANT!!!!!" I was 4 weeks and at a 517 HCG level. The highest I ever got with my previous positive results was a 250. This high number brought me even more peace and excitement. Some people swear by HCG levels and that they indicate possible multiples when the number is really high and an impending miscarriage when they are really low. Others think they are worthless. For me and in my experience my numbers coincided with the pregnancy strength, so I was very happy with my 517. Here is the chart for the average ranges.
I told most people that my blood draw wasn't until the following week so that Beau and I could take our time with our own excitement and tell our family and close friends first. I was glad we had done this. I still feel VERY odd sharing the results while I am still so early on in the pregnancy, but also feel it could potentially be therapeutic to share no matter which direction things go.
My mama bear protection instinct kicked in immediately to protect my babies and keep my routine relaxed so I didn't cause unnecessary stress. I started doing exactly what my body told me. If I was hungry, I ate. If I was tired, I napped and if I just sat and did nothing because I couldn't find the energy to move, I just let it be. I was told that my ovaries were still enlarged and if I tried to workout or bounce around in anyway that they could actually twist around themselves...YIKES and no thanks! I have kept things very relaxed for the last couple days. My focus is all on my baby belly :) I rub it every day... love it. POSITIVE POSITIVE POSITIVE POSITIVE!!!!
Keep the prayers coming that things go smooth though! I have definitely thought of all the prayers and thoughts that have been directed our way over the last couple weeks/months and it is overwhelming to me in such a good way. I can't even begin to tell you all how much the love and support means to me. It keeps me thinking positive and moving forward... THANK YOU!!!
The morning of the 7th I was feeling very confident that the process had worked so I decided to take a pregnancy test before I went in for the blood draw. I have never done that before with the inseminations because I was always nervous of getting a faulty test and being either excited or sad for no reason, so I always opted to wait for the official result. BUT this morning the test came back with a clear dark second line... POSITIVE!!!!!! I was ecstatic and wanted to tell the world, while at the same time still hesitant to share the news so early.
I went and had my blood drawn at 9:00 am and then kept myself busy with my wonderful friend Dawn until I got the official results call at 2:30. The nurse on the other line told me that I was "VERY PREGNANT!!!!!" I was 4 weeks and at a 517 HCG level. The highest I ever got with my previous positive results was a 250. This high number brought me even more peace and excitement. Some people swear by HCG levels and that they indicate possible multiples when the number is really high and an impending miscarriage when they are really low. Others think they are worthless. For me and in my experience my numbers coincided with the pregnancy strength, so I was very happy with my 517. Here is the chart for the average ranges.
Beta hCG level chart
hCG levels during pregnancy
(in weeks since last menstrual period)
| |
| 3 weeks LMP |
5 - 50 mIU/ml
|
| 4 weeks LMP |
5 - 426 mIU/ml
|
| 5 weeks LMP | 18 - 7,340 mIU/ml |
| 6 weeks LMP | 1,080 - 56,500 mIU/ml |
| 7 - 8 weeks LMP | 7, 650 - 229,000 mIU/ml |
| 9 - 12 weeks LMP | 25,700 - 288,000 mIU/ml |
| 13 - 16 weeks LMP | 13,300 - 254,000 mIU/ml |
| 17 - 24 weeks LMP | 4,060 - 165,400 mIU/ml |
| 25 - 40 weeks LMP | 3,640 - 117,000 mIU/ml |
| non pregnant | 55-200 ng/ml |
I told most people that my blood draw wasn't until the following week so that Beau and I could take our time with our own excitement and tell our family and close friends first. I was glad we had done this. I still feel VERY odd sharing the results while I am still so early on in the pregnancy, but also feel it could potentially be therapeutic to share no matter which direction things go.
My mama bear protection instinct kicked in immediately to protect my babies and keep my routine relaxed so I didn't cause unnecessary stress. I started doing exactly what my body told me. If I was hungry, I ate. If I was tired, I napped and if I just sat and did nothing because I couldn't find the energy to move, I just let it be. I was told that my ovaries were still enlarged and if I tried to workout or bounce around in anyway that they could actually twist around themselves...YIKES and no thanks! I have kept things very relaxed for the last couple days. My focus is all on my baby belly :) I rub it every day... love it. POSITIVE POSITIVE POSITIVE POSITIVE!!!!
Keep the prayers coming that things go smooth though! I have definitely thought of all the prayers and thoughts that have been directed our way over the last couple weeks/months and it is overwhelming to me in such a good way. I can't even begin to tell you all how much the love and support means to me. It keeps me thinking positive and moving forward... THANK YOU!!!
Ughhhh... I Think My Intestines Are Still Under Anesthesia!!
So I made it through the sitting still and walked right into the most bloated week of my life. I always felt full, but at moments my stomach would cramp like crazy!!! It felt like the kind of cramping you get right before diarrhea comes, but nothing would come. It would literally take my breath away and force me into a really ugly cringe. My cramping worked like contractions. When they were quick and super spread apart I knew it would not be followed by anything coming out. As they got stronger and closer together I knew something was coming. It would take about two days to go through this process and the end result was usually nothing to get excited about. Superbowl Sunday was miserable for me and we had a ton of people over, so that sucked. My younger sister's birthday date-dinner we decided to invite ourselves on at the last minute was at an awesome restaurant, but I could barely eat anything and just wanted to go home and curl up in bed. It was a miserable week. I even tried going to the gym and walking on the treadmill hoping it would help things move though me. The bloating was so bad that I couldn't walk faster than 2.5 mph or else I would want to pass out from the pain and at that speed nothing moved. I did an Enema, which cleared me out for a night, but is not the preferred method when you are hoping to be pregnant. It seemed the food and gas went all the way up my esophagus. My stomach was as hard as a rock (not in the sexy ab way, but in the stretched out way) from just below my ribs down to my crouch. I tried laying in different positions, sitting with my butt in the air (gas rises) and even doing some weird little shimmy when I was by myself... it was all to no avail.
I finally went and saw my Acupuncturist and she recommended a glass of organic carrot juice in addition to the green smoothies I make in the mornings and another glass at night. She also gave me Bioplasma cell salts. They are for general cell functions and helped with the gas. By the next day I was feeling a million times better. I had energy in the mornings and then started to feel a lil nausea by about 3:00 pm. I would take a nap at that point and then have on-and-off nausea for the rest of the night. I was fine with this set up because I could get a few errands done in the morning and then relax the rest of the day. Also, the nausea seemed like a possible good sign to me :) I felt like the worst of my pain was over.
I finally went and saw my Acupuncturist and she recommended a glass of organic carrot juice in addition to the green smoothies I make in the mornings and another glass at night. She also gave me Bioplasma cell salts. They are for general cell functions and helped with the gas. By the next day I was feeling a million times better. I had energy in the mornings and then started to feel a lil nausea by about 3:00 pm. I would take a nap at that point and then have on-and-off nausea for the rest of the night. I was fine with this set up because I could get a few errands done in the morning and then relax the rest of the day. Also, the nausea seemed like a possible good sign to me :) I felt like the worst of my pain was over.
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