20 Week Appt

On Thursday April 24th 2008 we had our 20 week u/s. It's a girl! Although it wasn't that easy for us to find out. The u/s tech wasn't able to tell. Baby had her legs crossed and was in a breech position. So it wasn't so easy to see what was going on down there. But when Dr. came in she was more than willing to share! Baby measured perfectly! She weighs 13 ounces. Her heartrate was 157bpm. I was really happy when the u/s tech looked at my bladder and told me I could go to the bathroom before she finished the rest of the u/s. I had to go so badly and it was really uncomfortable. I think I would have had a harder time concentrating on what was happening with the u/s if I hadn't been able to go to the bathroom. This was huge for me! It was so awesome to get to see her for so long. And she was quite squirmy. All over the place actually, the u/s tech had some troubles getting the correct measurements down. But everything looks wonderful!

We've had a girls name picked out for awhile. We're expecting Caitlyn Anita Darling in September!

Next appt I have the glucose testing. Get to drink the yummy (notice sarcasm) orange drink and have more blood drawn!

19 Week Belly Pic

16 Week Appt

On Thursday March 27th I had my 16 week appt. This was pretty uneventful. I peed in a cup, they weighed me, we waited a few min for the Dr. to come in. He came in, listened to the heartbeat. Asked if I had any questions. That was it. He didn't tell me what baby's heart rate was at this appt. I also had an acupunture appt on this day. It helped me to relax before my appt.

Now I had 4 weeks to decide if I wanted to know what our baby's sex was. I was very conflicted about this decision. I always thought that I wouldn't want to know. The "surprise" aspect was always appealing to me. But part of me wanted to be able to plan for our baby and have the name picked out. I read in Jenny McCarthy's Belly Laughs that she felt more connected to the baby after she found out what she was having. This made sense to me as well. Jared on the other hand, really wanted to know.

Decisions - Decisions!

14 Week Belly Pic

12 Week Checkup

On Tuesday February 26th I was officially 12 weeks! We had our Dr. appt on Thursday February 28th. During this appt we got another u/s. We also did the testing for down syndrom and what they call a triple screen. Both the u/s test and blood tests came back normal! Baby's heartbeat was 168bpm. Now I just had to wait 4 weeks until my next appt. This was hard for me since I had been seen every 2 weeks for the past 12 weeks. My cousin Christy suggested I rent a fetal doppler so that I could listen to the heartbeat and reassure myself that everything was still okay. This was my best investment! I listen about once a week and I always feel so much better!

The Scare

On Wednesday January 9, 2008 I started spotting. I didn't have any symptoms with my last miscarriage but I thought for sure that I was having another miscarriage. I called the RE's office and they assured me that some spotting can be normal in early pregnancy. As long as I wasn't having any cramping they thought I was fine. On Friday January 11th I started bleeding more heavily. I told Jared that something had to be wrong. My sister was moving to Des Moines that weekend and we were supposed to help her move. Jared still went with them on Saturday, but I stayed home. We decided not to go to the ER as I didn't think there would be anything they could do. I was already taking progesterone supplements and I had put myself on bedrest. I wanted to wait until Monday to see my RE. I was sure the baby was gone at this point anyway. On Monday the RE fit me in right away. We did an internal u/s and come to find out I had some blood clots and as the baby was growing, it was pushing the clots out. It was still too early to see the heartbeat at this appt., but everything looked right on track as it should be. We went back 2 weeks later on January 29, 2008 for another u/s to see the baby's heartbeat...this was the best moment ever! The heartbeat was 167bpm. I had spotting off and on for the next 2 months as the blood clots were pushed out. I also got an appt. with an u/s every 2 weeks during the first trimester to keep on eye on what was happening.

Our Journey to Pregnancy

We stopped using birth control prior to our wedding. For the first year after our wedding we just waited for it to happen. I was diagnosed with PCOS in July of 2006 and started taking a drug called Metformin, I used this until I was 12 weeks pg. It was not a fun drug for me. Then in October 2006 I started using a fertility drug called Clomid. My main side effects of this was hot flashes and terrible mood swings. I tried this for 3 months and when we didn't get any results I was referred to an RE (Reproductive Endocrinologist). In the mean time I had started acupuncture in December of 2006. I love my acupuncturist and still have sessions - although not as often. She helped me in more ways than she can possibly know! January 2007 we had our initial visit with the RE. For the next month Jared and I went through all the testing. We did our first IUI (intrauterine insemination) on March 22, 2007. And wouldn't you know it we got pregnant with the first try! We were so ecstatic! Everything looked great. We saw and heard the heartbeat at 7 weeks through an u/s. It never crossed my mind that we could lose that baby. But we did in May 2007. I went for a regular check up and the heartbeat was gone. I had a D&C the Wednesday before Mother's Day. There are no words to explain how I was feeling at that time. We started trying again in June and it took us 5 more IUI's and a surgery to remove some polyp's before getting pregnant again. We got a positive home pregnancy test on 12/30/07!