Maybe not

Turns out that probably wasn't morning sickness. Lukas also got sick later that day and threw up. And I haven't had any since then. Until yesterday. But once again. It seems to be another sickly bug around our house. Because I've got it coming out both ends. Sorry TMI im sure. Tony also had a few bouts as well. Hopefully this flu bug ends soon, its making me feel so weak. Other than that. Everything seems to be okay with the pregnancy so far. The only symptoms Ive had is a sore chest. Boobs have gained a little in size (woo-hoo) and but are very tender. Which makes it hard to Lukas to cuddle up to me without warning.

Morning sickness

I got my first ever bout of morning sickness this morning. Never even had it with Lukas. Not one day! I wonder what this pregnancy is going to have entail for me!
Which makes me also wonder how the labor will happen for me, since I was induced with Lukas 3 days late. What if I actually start labor at home? This will all be different for me this time around. And so far its starting out that way with puking this morning. Sorry.

Another blood test

I had another bHCG blood test drawn on Monday evening to see if it was exactly where it should be in rising with the 499 value that I had on Friday.
They are suppose to double every other day, so I figured my value would be around 1500, and it was at 1580.
That makes me happy. :)

Survey

Got this from Nicole when she was pregnant with Hudson.

Survey about your First Born-

1. Were you married at the time? yes.
2. What were your reactions? nervous, very excited.
3. How old were you? 24 when I got pregnant, 25 when I delivered.
4. How did you find out you were pregnant? I was really late for my period (4 weeks late) and kept taking pregnancy tests, but nothing, until we finally got a faint line. Turns out I must have skipped a period or had a weird cycle that month.
5. Who did you tell first? I told Tony that I had the faint line in the morning. And then at work I asked the girls about a "faint line". So they had me do another one at work too.
6. Did you want to find out the sex? I couldn't resist. I am an Ultrasound Tech!
7. Did you deliver early or late? 3 days late by induction.
8. Did you have morning sickness? Just one time and I actually vomited. But I actually think it was a bad salad from the salad bar.
9. What did you crave? anything fruity. Fruit, fruity candy, fruit juice.
10. Who irritated you the most? The dog. He ticked me off more when I was pregnant with his peeing in the house.
11. What was your first child's sex? Boy
12. How many pounds did you gain throughout the pregnancy? 40 lbs. exactly
13. Did you have any complications during your pregnancy? my actual complications that needed medical attention. My back hurt every evening, so I always used a "C" pillow to sleep with.
14. Where did you give birth? Foote Hospital
15. How many hours were you in labor? 2 hours 50 minutes.
16. Who drove you to the hospital? Tony drove.
17. Who watched? Tony, My Mom, Tony's mom Ruth, the delivery staff, and some JCC students as well.
18. Was it natural or c-section? Vaginal delivery with induction.
19. Did you take medicine to ease the pain? Demoral to try to help. (only lasted first 30 minutes)
20. How much did your child weigh? 6lbs 13oz.
21. Did your child have any complications? None
22. What did you name him/her? Lukas Anthony Howard
23. How old is your first born today? 3 years old.

Priceless!

Calendar to track menstrual cycles: $3

50 ovulation test strips from eBay: $15

T-shirt and letters from Walmart: $6

Waiting 15 months to see my son wear this shirt: Priceless

499 is my new lucky number

Change of plans here... Its Friday December 12th and I'm not going to have the surgery on Wednesday December 17th. "What?!?!" you say? Yes, thats right. Because I just found out that I am PREGNANT!!
My last period was November 4th (Election Day) and I did get a positive ovulation on Sunday November 30th. So I figured I would be starting my period this weekend, just in time to let me know of a negative pregnancy before the surgery. They were going to do a pregnancy test anyhow on the day of surgery just in case. Well today I got brave and thought I'd try it out for myself. Kind of knowing that it might not show up yet even if I was pregnant. And the results were a very faint line. Enough to see that it was a line though. And from experience, I know that a faint line IS a line, meaning positive pregnancy.
I called the doctors office to have them order a bHCG, so I could see for sure. I went and had that drawn this afternoon, but should take 3-4 hours. I just figured I would check with the lab when I get into work tonight and get the results then. So I went home.
Later in the evening, I thought I would take another pregnancy test, just to see if the first one was a fluke. Don't worry, these aren't the expensive store bought tests, these are the small dipsticks that labs and doctors offices use that I bought in bulk off ebay. Once again it did have a very faint line. So I was pretty convinced that this might actually mean I'm pregnant. Of course I knew I was still in waiting game to see what the bloodwork says.
I left for work at 7:30pm and went up to the lab to get the results.

bHCG: 499

Thats a positive pregnancy test folks. Anything greater than a 5 is pregnant.
By ultrasound we usually would expect to see a pregnancy (meaning just a gestational sac and a yolk sac) when the lab value is at least 1800. And in the 1st trimester, the bHCG will double every 2 days. So now I can't even believe that I might even see my pregnancy on ultrasound, say like Tuesday or Wednesday!!! Crazy!
So I also figured out my due date according to my LMP. The due date will be August 11, 2009 according to our charts here at work. Just in time for back to school! LOL! But thats okay. We are soo very thankful to God for making this happen without having to go through surgery. It was in his hands and in his timing all along.

November 5th - Follow up apt.

So we had the follow-up appointment to go over all the results and see what happens next. As we have found out along the way, the results from all the tests were normal. The Hysteroscopy was normal and so was the biopsy that accompanied it. Sooo... what I thought would be next is the Hysterosalpingogram, but my Doctor actually does it a little different. He actually does a laparoscopic surgery in through the belly button and will do a D&C along with putting dye in the fallopian tubes to see if there is any blockage and can remove the blockage at that time if there is.
We have that scheduled for me on December 17th. So for this month, he said we keep up with the ovulation test strips. My LMP is now November 4th, so we can try November, but if this isn't the month, then December will probably be a loss, because of the procedure in the middle of the month. But hopefully we will get good results from this surgery.

Hysteroscopy

I had the Hysteroscopy done on Wednesday October 22nd. My appointment was at 2:30 in the afternoon right in the office. I had to go there at 2:00 to start some non-sedating medication called Toradol. What a lovely shot in the buttocks! Of course I would've taken that anyday over the actual procedure I was about to go through. The Doctor had some delays due to a c-section that he had to peform. The schedule went as follows:

1:35 - Arrived at Dr's office (I know, just a little early for my 2:00/2:30 apt.)
2:00 - was told that there Dr is running behind, still has to do another hysteroscopy and also would have to go to c-section at any moment and it would take 45 minutes.
2:30 - Dr. wasn't in c-section yet, just finished up hysteroscopy and would take me into the room to start my meds.
2:35 - received the Toradol shot, undressed and laid on bed.
2:40 - nurse comes and tells us that Dr. went to c-section, will be back in 45. We can either go into the waiting room or stay in this room and relax. Since I was already undressed, I chose to just stay here in this room.
3:45 - Dr and nurse charge into room. Okay they probably didn't charge in, but since I had dozed off, it startled me!
3:50 - Start procedure.

The first part of the procedure when he had me do some coughing so he could take some samples for biopsy was bearable. Yes it hurt, but I've gone through enough of that in the past year with cervical biopsy, I knew what to expect. And then for this next step, he said I would have some cramping for about "couple minutes" while he looked with the scope. He had the TV turned on and pointed out to me that I could watch along. I could start to see him go up the cervix towards the fundus if the uterus and then Oh. My. God. I had the worst cramp, contraction, pain, whatever you want to call it. I normally try to minimize my pain reaction, so that they can continue to do the test that is needed, but not this time. My reaction couldn't be held back. I winced in pain and he could tell that it was pretty genuine. He was probably in the top of my uterus MAYBE 10 seconds and then was out. I appreciate him for that 10 seconds compared to the "couple minutes" that he first mentioned. I just couldn't take the pain, I couldn't hold back my reaction at all. The reaction kind of reminded me of when I was in labor. I didn't care what my reacion was, I was going to let myself handle this pain however I see fit.
So when that was finally removed, the cramping went away. It was just nerves that bothered me now. I got dressed and then we headed out.
We made an appointment 2 weeks from that day, to go over all the testing and results that he have had in the last month. Which brings us to this Wednesday. My appointment is at 3:30 pm. Im pretty sure all the results of everything are fine, which means that we will probably be moving on to the next step of testing. The hysterosalpingogram (HSG). Which is where they inject radiating dye into the fallopian tubes and can see by Xray if it flows through the tubes or if there is blockage in the tubes, then the dye won't flow all the way through. If there is blockage then they put pressure on that with the dye to push the blockage out. I heard from a from a friend that had this done, that it is painful to go through. But her doctor also told her that this isn't as painful as the hysteroscopy. So her Doctor had her do the HSG before the hysteroscopy. She had great results from this test too. She did have a small blockage and they were able to pass that right on through the tubes and she was able to get pregnant in 2 months!!
So, I'll let you know what is next in our plans, after this Wednesday's appointment!

"Other" lab work that was done

Hubby had his Semen Analysis done on Tuesday October 7th and everything came back on that within normal limits. It was probably a better experience for him than what we had imagined. He got to "the deed" at home in the morning and then drive to the hospital lab to drop it off there. The requirements were:

• "it" had to be in a glass container - we used a baby food jar, lol
• "it" had to be shielded from daylight - we wrapped the jar with foil
  
• "it" had to stay at room temp - he kept the bottle between his legs on the way to the hospital lab.
• "it" had to be at the lab within 30 minutes - so we timed things out right that he would do the deed, go to the lab, and then off to school.

Sounds complicated, huh? It was kinda. But I think it made it worth it to be able to this at home, rather than in some Doctor's office.

And the hubs was very happy to see that the lab report came back good. He "knew" his boys were good. LOL!

Blood Work

So on Sunday evening I went up to the hospital and got my blood work done for my Thyroid levels and Hormone levels. They were all within normal limits.

• FSH: 6.4 (4-13 are normal limits for follicular phase)
• TSH Reflex Testing (Thyroid): 2.96 (0.38-5.0)
• Prolactin: 13.6 (4.8-23.3)
  

Although the FSH (Follicle Stimulating Hormone) was on the lower end of the normal limits. I'm not sure if my Dr. will look at that and say that its normal, so thats not the problem, or if he will look at it an say, "Well it is kinda on the lower end of the spectrum, lets put you on some hormonal drugs." I will just have to wait and see.

Oh and of course I've got battle wounds to show for. I always have a hard time when I need to give blood for labwork. I have really small veins and I always tell them to use the pediatric butterfly needles. I just have better luck with those. But still had to be poked 4 times. The final draw ended up being on top of my hand. Seems to be common place these last few years! Ouch! It hurts and always leaves a big bruise too.

New week of testing

I love how you expect Aunt Flo to come and visit on a certain day and she doesn't tell you that she thought she would come a week later. Yeah this whole past week had me going crazy, taking pregnancy tests like every other day. Then finally she came knocking on the door Friday morning. So for the record, 10/3/08 is the latest LMP.
Sooooo, that means today, Sunday, I have to get my blood work done to check my thyroid and hormone level. I'll be bringing that in tonight when I come back into work at 6:30pm. Hopefully they will even post my results and I can check to see if they are normal. Not sure how long it takes for each test to run. I will also be scheduling Tony's special appointment too. Hopefully they can have him drop off sampling on Tuesday or Wednesday morning.
So as soon as I know any results, I will post them.
Also, since i just started my period, I can kinda guess that I might ovulate around October 19th. With having my Hysteroscopy scheduled on October 22nd, is that going to mess up conceiving for this month?? Are we gonna be throwing a month away? I understand its just one month and the benefits of having it done, but maybe that procedure should be done before I ovulate. Just so it doesn't interupt anything that is going on up there. Know what I mean?? But I'm pretty sure that was the soonest that they could get me in for that procedure. So the only other option would be to delay it until right after the next period. I guess I can call the office and see what they think. They will probably be thinking, "You haven't gotten pregnant for 12 months, what makes you think this month is so special?" LOL! Wel nothing is special about this month, except that it could be THEE month. It could be THEE right combination lined up on the right day, yadda, yadda, yadda. Anyways, I guess I will give the doctors office a call and see what they think.

Into the testing we go.

So I haven't written all summer, but the same has been going on. No preggo yet. Remember that abnormal pap that I had back in April? Well Dr. did a colposcopy, to take a sample of the tissue, to see what grade of significance this might be. It came back negative. YEAH! So now I think we are back to square on having 3 normal paps in a row. Next one is scheduled for October, I beleive. Dr. also set up our appointment to go over infertility testing for Sept 18th. That brings us to today.

LMP: 8/23/08
Dr. set up a few tests that we are doing in the first step of tests.

• Pelvic Ultrasound - to see if there are any abnormalities within the Uterus and Ovaries.
• Thyroid and Hormonal Labs - blood labs to be drawn on the 3rd day of my period to see how my hormonal levels are.
  
• Hysteroscopy - to check the endometrial lining of my Uterus.
• Semen Analysis - to see what sperm count is with hubby.

I just had the Ultrasound this morning and everything looks okay with that. Just a little bit of free fluid behind the Uterus, which is normal and common. I *should* be starting my period sometime next week, so I'll get those blood labs drawn then. Dr. wanted the Hysteroscopy to be done in 2 weeks, but the first available isn't for 4 weeks on October 22nd. Bummer! And hubby will have to try to make an appointment with the lab to drop off his sample within 30 minutes of producing it. Thats gotta have some perfect timing I guess! Hope that times out well.

Dr. says that if these tests all come back normal, we would move into doing a Hysterosalpingogram. Which inserts dye into your fallopian tubes to see if there is blockage in them. They watch this under fluroscopy and usually the dye that is force in the tubes will clean out any blockage if there is any there. Sounds painful and usually is, but I know the Xray tech that does this procedure at the hospital and she actually had this done herself a year ago. But we will worry about that when that time comes. Thats if all 4 of these tests come back normal.

So maybe we will get the Ultrasound report and blood drawn lab results back by the end of next week. I'll update when something changes.

Blogging the cycles

I've decided to start this blog to keep track of how this infertility journey is going. Just so we can look back on it one day and see where we come from once we do get pregnant.

To be honest, I'm not overly upset or frustrated anymore with not getting pregnant. Yes, I want to be pregnant right now, but I think just knowing that we have one biological child is putting my mind at ease. We do want more children, obviously. So if we can't more biologically, then we are pretty sure that we will want to adopt. Either way, we still plan to have a family of four... or five. :)

err...

lmp: 5/17/08

thats all i have to say about that.

i hope this is the month.

any day now i should be starting my period. i hate waiting to know. i want to just take a test, but afraid i'm gonna jinx it.
i hope this is the month.
hubs birthday is this saturday and i will probably take one then. what a great bday present for him, if i am pregnant.
i hope this is the month.
i had cramps last friday evening and thought i would be starting. but nothing yet, and its been almost a week since any cramps.
i hope this is the month.
there are a lot of exciting things going on right now. selling our house (hopefully), hubs getting a contract (hopefully), and trying to get pregnant (hopefully).
i hope this is the month.

lmp:4/10/08
edc:1/15/09 (if preggo)

answer to my issue... well sorda...

i got the call last week from my doctors office and they said that we can go ahead with still trying to get pregnant. they said the pap came back "atypical" but wasn't as bad as last year in april when I first got my abnormal one. so I guess dr. vendola wasn't too worried about it. my next appointment is in july which we will be looking at fertility issues if I'm not pregnant by then.

which is my next issue. we've been trying to get pregnant for 8 months now with no success. only took two months with my first child. we just started using the ovulation test strips this month and i'm on day 21 with no positive reading yet!! doesn't everyone ovulate when they have normal cycles? my cycles are normally around 32 days, so you'd think i would have ovulated by now. well, i guess now we'll see what comes first, a postive ovualtion test, a positive pregnancy, or a visit from aunt flo.

Positive Ovulation Test vs. Positive Pre-Cancerous Cells

I just don't get it! I had my yearly gynecological exam done one year ago and it came back as precancerous cells on my cervix. Which meant I had to go through different tests and biopsies and also ended up getting a LEEP procedure done to remove all the precancerous cells. This was a slight burden on our family planning, as we had planned to start conceiving our second child in the summer. So Dr. V told us to wait for 3 periods after the LEEP procedure before we start trying again. That brought us to October. We've been trying to get pregnant since then, with so far no success. Meanwhile I also need to have 3 normal paps within the next year to be considered free and clear of these pre-cancerous cells, and then go back to just having yearly paps again. First 2 paps were negative. Excellent! I just had the final one a week ago and needed that to be normal as well.

Of course.. it wasn't.

I just bought ovulation test strips so that we could track more precisely when I am ovulating. Which is suppose to be some time next week. And I'm guessing that my doctors office is gonna call me sometime next week to tell me my 'wonderful' news.

So.... What's gonna come first... My positive ovulation test or the phone call about the positive per-cancerous cells that are back?

And if I get the positive ovulation test strip.. what do I do? Do I still try to get pregnant and ignore this inside info that I've learned? I mean, Dr. Vendola did say it was okay to try to get pregnant, even before I have to obtained these 3 paps. I am just so sick of all this crap and having to deal with it. I am constantly reminded by it every week when I have to keep calling my insurance company from last year about all the procedures that they still have to pay for. Which is a whole other topic. Ughh!