Well, not everybody knows, but most everybody knows so I may as well tell any of you who read this blog.
First, sorry for not updating as frequently as I should. I have no excuse except that I chose to do something or nothing else.
We are expecting our mini to join team awesome January 2022! All the appointments have gone well so far, we are 16 weeks along as of tomorrow (August 9, 2021).
We are not finding out the gender, however we think we know, our last physician did a couple of things that we interpreted a certain way, but we will see when they join the team. I’m loving everyone around me guessing, it’s quite entertaining. For the most part I think their guesses are just what they are hoping for. I know every parent says “I just want a happy, healthy baby” and I do want that, but truth be told, I am hoping for a certain gender. I do get torn though. Mainly when I imagine Mike with this little person. Sometimes I hope to see him with a boy and sometimes I hope to see him with a girl, so really, Mike is the wrench in this whole operation.
That answers the main question I get, but I’ll follow up with some more information that people ask about.
I haven’t had any symptoms. Most people view this as a blessing. At the end of the day, I agree. However, having had the troubles we’ve had in the past, it made me very anxious about everything. I constantly wanted a sign, or symptom, letting me know that this really was real. My only luck with that were the appointments and seeing the mini on the screen.
Maybe I’ll just bring you up to speed with some timeline stuff and answer questions that way.
On Sunday, May 9, 2021 we did the embryo transfer. So I got to meet our mini in a Petri dish. Mike wasn’t so fortunate because of stupid ‘rona.
Cool thing about that day, it was Mother’s Day this year. That actually kind of messed with my head. Just thinking about the fact that I may or may not have success in becoming a mom from that day on. Scary. But it ended up positive!!
Tuesday, May 18 we returned to Walter Reed for bloodwork, the “official” pregnancy test. No, I did not pee on a stick throughout this whole process. I REALLY REALLY REALLY wanted to, but I also didn’t want false information. The first test was positive, so I had to return two days later to repeat the test and confirm that the HCG levels were trending in the right direction. They were.
A little side note here, I was still skeptical. When we miscarried last time, my numbers trended the right way until they didn’t. I had about a two week lead up of getting blood work done every other day that showed my number going down, confirming the pending miscarriage. That was at what was when I was 10 weeks, so this happening at essentially four weeks pregnant, I was nervous.
Mike was out of town the week of June 7, so we had to delay our first ultrasound by a week, so on June 15, we saw the mini for the first time. This was at eight weeks along, and we heard the heart beat!! 169bpm strong and healthy!
This was while we were still under the care of the reproductive health section, so it didn’t really count as our first OB appointment.
At 10 weeks, we had our first, official, OB appointment. It was annoyingly anticlimactic. Just a bunch of questions about how I was feeling. I was told I could run, but not too much or too fast or too far. Real specific. I was told I could lift but not too much. Basically, I felt I knew nothing. Now as a physical therapist I have opinions on my level of physical activity, but also as a person who has struggled to get to this place, I’m not knowledgeable and I don’t want to mess it up. I wanted guidance.
At 12 weeks Mike was out of town again and I was bleeding. I bolted out of work and was freaking out.
I’ve mentioned before that Mike is amazing. And he is. As I’m calling him, crying and probably very difficult to understand, he figures out what’s going on, finds the number to Walter Reed (no paperwork or anything because he’s in Oklahoma), 3 way calls Walter Reed while I drive there, and he gets me set up with an appointment to get checked out.
At this unexpected appointment I got to see our mini again and hear the heart beat – 156 bpm. The doctor commented on how active the mini was and said everything looked great. He said it was likely that I had either a small subchorionic hemorrhage or a little tearing of the uterus due to stretching (in the end he kind of said it was both). But he couldn’t find anything so I was good to go, and the bleeding had stopped before I even saw him. I asked about physical activity again, and was told to maintain my normal level…I wasn’t sure how to interpret that because the weeks prior, during IVF, I wasn’t allowed to work out at all…so….???
We were able to continue with our regular scheduled programming an had a 14 week ultrasound. Everything still looked great and the mini HR was 158 bpm. This provider, yet another, was more specific on what I could and could not do. I could run, but no more than a 5k, I had to maintain my ability to hold a conversation throughout the run as well. I would lift, but not really, nothing more than 20 pounds (I talked her up to 30). No jumping or plyometric activity. While it was more specific, it feels really restrictive. I’m following the rules though.
Now we are here, a day before week 16. I feel safe. It feels real. Mike says I’m starting to show. I think I just look bloated. I also feel like I’m feeling a little something something…mainly at night, but it’s something. Oh, and sleeping positions are already getting a little uncomfortable. And sometimes I have a little discomfort at my lower right ribs.
Long post, thanks for reading and thanks for your support. Whether we are actively talking or if you’re just watching from the outside. I appreciate it.
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