Tuesday, January 1, 2013

First appt!

After three pregnancy test (two different kinds) positives I called and made an appt to see my ob-gyn. They got me in right away that afternoon. I am 41 yrs old, have had three babies by c-section, had a tubal reversal, a missed miscarriage (had a d&c and a d&e due to that) and gestational diabetes with one pregnancy, so rather high risk.
My sister went with me just in case of any bad news. I was weighed (let me just say my dr's scale is a liar and says I am 10 lbs heavier than my home scale. DON'T burst my bubble on this theory!) I had my blood pressure checked, peed in a cup and had an internal exam done. He said he didn't see any more blood at that point and my cervix was closed. All good news. He said the spotting could indicate threatened miscarriage though. I spotted occasionally with my daughter and everything turned out fine with her. I spotted with the last one and things didn't turn out so well with it. This is another post. He set me up with blood work to check my hCG levels for that day and a full pregnancy blood workup for two days later to be able to see what my level was doing and check for several other things. He told me he would have the results Wednesday after Christmas. Such a LONG time to wait for me! I like having everything yesterday.
I went and had both draws done and waited impatiently. Hubby came home Sunday and told me that the dr's office had called Friday and left a message for me to call them. I was so upset with him about not remembering sooner. I called the ob floor Monday to see if the dr on call would know what was going on and all they could tell me was my hCG levels. The first draw was 637 and the second one 48hrs later was 1691. It had more than doubled! Those were excellent numbers for 4 weeks 3 days and 4 weeks 5 days. Things were sounding good.
On Christmas day I woke and went to the bathroom and had some slight brownish pink when I wiped.  Tmi, I am sure. Scared all over again! So the whole day as we celebrated with our family I lived in dread when I would go to the bathroom. But there was nothing else the rest of the day. That evening I took a 3 hr nap with hubby before he had to leave for work. I woke and went to the bathroom and again there was the same spotting but a little lighter. I called the dr's office the next day to see what they had called for previously. She told me it was because they wanted more blood work done because the first was low. My reaction was what the hell?! I had already had the second one done and was told the number was good. I told her this and what the numbers were and she said oh well that's great! I told her that she nearly gave me a heart attack! I also said I was only 4 weeks 3 days when that level was done. They don't normally see pregnant women until the 8th to 10th week and this may have contributed to the confusion. So after that was cleared up I mention the spotting yesterday and she said it was probably from the internal exam as that can aggravate the cervix. A sigh of relief for a moment.

Pregnant?!

Ok, so ever since my husband and I were lucky enough to have our soon to be six yr old daughter I have secretly wanted at least a half dozen more babies. This is crazy you might say and I would tend to agree with you. Especially since we were 35 when we had her and we are currently 41. (Shudder. When did THAT happen?!) But it is true. Then I would see that show with the 19 children that all had the same initial and thought why not?
So anyway, we didn't try to stop getting pregnant again after our daughter was born but it didn't happen. One reason is I breastfed and didn't have a cycle for nearly two yrs and another reason was hubby traveled for work and always seemed to be out of town during the magic moment.
Just before my 40th birthday my cycle was late and so I took a test. BFP! Big Fat Positive! I was excited. Everyone was excited. Unfortunately at 12 weeks 3 days I found out the baby had died at 12 weeks. I will go into this in more detail in another post.
It was horrid and took what seemed like forever to recover and I read all kinds of posts from other women about being able to get pregnant again right away. Didn't happen for us. So I cringed when I would see pregnant women or babies and avoided the baby section of every store. I finally got to a place in early December 2012 where I told hubby that I'm ok with having our daughter. She's perfect and my life. So I kept telling myself this and might have eventually believed it. So when my cycle was due to start in the middle of December and I started spotting (which I did occasionally, usually for three days before I actually started) it was no big deal. Then when the normal three day "waiting" for my cycle to start became no spotting for two days then a little spotting the next I began thinking I was starting early menopause. I discussed this with hubby saying if it is menopause then I could have all the "joys" of a period without the actual period. Mood swings, hot flashes and many other wonderful and exciting things. He, being the funny man he thinks he is, asked, "And what will be the difference from normal?"  Not a brilliant thing to say to a moody upset woman! Lucky for him he was going out of town later that day and people would miss him right away. Lol
So the next morning, just for giggles I asked my sister to bring a pregnancy test home for me. She reminded me that she had some bulk strips in the cabinet and to use one of them. The reason for the bulk pregnancy strips will be another post. She also has a blog on this of her own.
I get a strip and do my thing then prepare for the wait and for it to be negative. As I'm sitting there watching anxiously, I see a very light second pink line and think it must be wrong. I take a pic and send it to my sister and ask if she had ever had this happen. Perhaps a false pos? She thinks it's pretty dark and had never had one do that as she is still trying. I in the meantime take another test to be sure. Mind you, neither of these tests were done with first morning urine. The second test comes up positive also! I am stunned. I take a pic and send it to the hubby. He replies, "Does that mean what I think?!" I am unsure as it is the first time I have used this type of test strips and don't know their reliability. So my sister says she will bring home a digital test and I will try it. She brings home a Clear Blue digital that even an idiot can read. If positive, it says Pregnant. If negative, Not Pregnant. (Warning: this test's readout stops after three days when the battery dies. So take pics of the test or have a backup test.) Idiot proof. Or nervous, excited 41 yr old crazy lady proof. Less than one minute later: Pregnant! We jump up and down, tears in our eyes. Excited. I send a pic of all three tests to hubby and I wait for his reply. I begin to worry that he may have passed out and fallen from his equipment and seriously hurt himself, he takes so long. I call him to be sure he's ok. He is fine and so excited.
I wait until office hours then call my ob-gyn to set up an appointment. They get me in that very day because I am high risk for many reasons.
Woohoo! Excited and oh so scared! Wish me luck!

About me

Hello.
Let me introduce myself. My name is Melissa but my close family and friends call me Mimi (I look NOTHING like that other Mimi you are thinking of. Except for the blonde hair.). I am 41and have two grown sons (20 and 21 yrs old) as well as a daughter that will be six in the spring.I have a great husband that puts up with all of my shenanigans and gives me everything I want. Which has spoiled me, I suppose, in that I am used to getting what I want usually when I ask for it. No waiting. More on this later. My Mother and sister live with us and this leads to other wacky insane issues. More on this later as well.
I have had several different jobs but currently I am an office manager for a small quilting shop in a little town 10 minutes from home. It's part time and I am learning about quilting which has been on my bucket list for awhile. I also am a professional photographer that specializes in wedding and boudoir photography. So as you can guess I take a LOT of photos! Great for me, not so fun for my guinea pig family. : )
I had a missed miscarriage in Aug 2011 (I will write a separate post on this later) and developed a Blythe and Basaak doll problem. I fell in love with big eyed dolls and several big dollars later filled the new baby-to-be's room with dollies. I custom them and photograph them. In case you didn't know there is a giant following for this kind of thing. Just google Blythe and you will see what I'm talking about! I dare you not to fall for them.
Less than 2 weeks ago, just before Christmas, I found out I am pregnant at 41! This is a story of it's own and will be in another post so stay "tuned".