Finally success after 5 years unexplained infertility

[ashknowsbest]

I thought about starting this journal off by outlining my struggle with infertility over the years. Then I thought, why tarnish this great achievement with the things I went through. I am PREGNANT, finally!

I did think that once I got pregnant my worry would lessen and I would just be so happy happy happy. I am happy but unfortunately the worry is still here but as many of your have told me, that's normal.

I'm having a hard time figuring out what to write in here. I've thought about this moment for a long time but now that it's here I'm really not sure what I'm supposed to be talking about. For the longest time it was talking about IVF protocol, or my BFNs. Bear with me, I really need to get the hang of this.

I guess I'll just start by telling you some things that have been on my mind and going on in my life outside of fertility (although still related someway or another).

The day we found out we were pregnant my DH FINALLY got on board with moving to a bigger apartment. I wanted to move baby or not because we have outgrown our 1 bedroom apartment but he was very apprehensive. When we got that he changed his mind.

We move into the new place on February 29th and I'm really happy about that because 1. I get to pack and do things to keep my mind off of my ultrasound that's on the 3rd 2. I get to nest when we move into the new place, there is a room just for the babies and hubby said I can start buying stuff once we move since we'll have a place to put all of the stuff. That brings me to one of my fears though. Is it too early to buy baby stuff? What if something goes wrong? Ugh the worrying just never ends even though I know they're genetically normal and I have no history of recurrent miscarriage.

I called my OBGYN the other day just to see what protocol was because nobody at CCRM has told me anything about graduating (I know it's not until 9 weeks but still). Being pregnant is all new territory for me. I have no idea where to go from here so I called to get an idea. Well, the front desk receptionist basically told me that they wouldn't be able to promise that my doctor would be the one to help when I went into labour. It's a huge medical facility (The palo alto medical foundation). They are great at what they do but are very busy. I digress. That is just not going to work for me. I want my doctor, the one who knows my sensitive situation, the one who will be seeing me for most of my appointments pre birth to help me when the time comes. Is this wrong? Anyone who has been pregnant before, what has your experience been? Now I'm nervous that I'm going to have to go around and look for an OBGYN that is going to be there for me during birth and ... what do I ask? There has to be a book on this right?

Sorry for the long post. I am so happy to be at this place in my life finally. I am so happy to have had all of your support and I'm sure continued support. You girls are awesome and I wish the best for every one of you!

xx Ashli

 

[oneof14]

Hey Ash, this is exciting, love the journal.

Yes, its quite common to have to see several doctors at your facility when pregnant, mostly because when you do give birth, you have no idea what doctor will be on call. I loved my doc when I joined the practice and saw him maybe 2x during my entire pregnancy, and it was fine, the doc who delivered Avery was so awesome and Im so happy with her. My practice is Maternal Fetal Medicine and high risk, it was noted in my chart that my pregnancy was a result of IVF.

Cant wait for your u/s to see how many babies you have cooking and looking forward to reading your journal.

 

[ashknowsbest]

One - Thanks for the info. I obviously have no idea what happens from this point on so I am grateful for any info I can get! Regarding a birth plan? I'm not sure if you had one or not but if you did were the doctors respectful of what you wanted even though they hadn't been monitoring you through your entire pregnancy?

 

[wannabeprego]

stalking!!!! Yeah!!! I am so happy you are here!

 

[MoBaby]

So happy to follow your journal!!

 

[ttcbaby117]

Stalking!

 

[oneof14]

One - Thanks for the info. I obviously have no idea what happens from this point on so I am grateful for any info I can get! Regarding a birth plan? I'm not sure if you had one or not but if you did were the doctors respectful of what you wanted even though they hadn't been monitoring you through your entire pregnancy?

I did not have a birth plan to be honest, obvouisly I just wanted to make sure she arrived without any complications, however, they asked me questions before doing anything, such as epidural etc. It was all new to me and I was not opposed to anything, I trusted the docs that they know best, I did not have a doula and it was just my hubby in the room. Fortunately for us, its was a very easy delivery.

But I am almost 100% sure that any docs in your practice will respect your birth plan, assuming there are no medical complications. Im sure they heard it all as well, my doc asked me if I wanted to save my placenta for consumption.

 

[Blue eyes 81]

Yay!♡!

 

[MMW430]

So excited for you!

 

[bubumaci]

Here to follow

I actually knew that my gynaecologist would not be there for the delivery of my baby (I had planned to birth at a midwife-led facility, but then developed gestational diabetes and so I had to register at the hospital). When I registered, I was very clear about what I wanted and didn't want, had a very comprehensive birth plan that I went through with them (no IV, no interventions unless medically unavoidable, no constant checking / monitoring, no epidural - want to be left to labour and let my body do what it needs to) ... and although they were supposed to monitor towards the end, things went faster than they anticipated, so I totally got to birth the way I wanted. When I got there and they wanted to place the IV - I said, that I didn't want one ... so didn't get one (until after baby and placenta were birthed and I haemorrhaged and lost 1,5 litres of blood - but then I was of course fine with whatever they needed to do) ... they were very good at respecting my wishes

Excited to stalk you

 

[Kiwiberry]

Congratulations!!!

It took me 3 years a break and then another 2 years (so 5 total as well) to conceive our first Princess. Then it only took 17 months to get pregnant with our 2nd!

Totally chalking!

 

[ashknowsbest]

bubu and one - thanks for all the info! I will just have to ask my OBGYN about their protocol when I meet with her on the 22nd. I'll make a decision from that point on.

AFM - I am dying waiting for my u/s! My symptoms have basically gone away which just totally sent me on an emotional rollercoaster. I asked my nurse for one more beta tomorrow to maybe ease my mind and she said yes so I'll get that drawn tomorrow as well as my p4 and e2 levels.

I really can't believe they make you wait until 6.5 weeks for your first u/s! Ugh! I know whyyyy but it really is the longest wait ever. I've been completely unmotivated to do anything which is not good considering we are moving on Monday. DH has been great though and packed most of the kitchen and the living room.

9 days and counting.

 

[Kiwiberry]

How exciting to be moving!

Sucks to wait on the first u/s. I feel like time is just dragging. Have to wait till March 7th for mine. Glad your OH is helping out so much! I was going to tell you to take it easy when moving, but he probably has it covered! I will count down with you lol, the closer you get to yours means the closer I am to mine!

 

[MoBaby]

I'm sure you're fine. Symptoms will come and go. Mine didn't start until 6 weeks and some days every now and then I have no symptoms at all. Some people get super lucky and have very few or very mild symptoms. So it may be coming. Can't wait to hear your beta though. It's going to be so high! Just remember after 1200 it takes 72 hours to double and after 6000 > 96 hours to double. Glad dh is helping the move along. Ultrasound just next week! I always had to wait until after 7 weeks.

 

[ashknowsbest]

Thanks mo and kiwi! I am grateful that I only have to wait until 6 weeks but man oh man. I had no idea how hard this wait would be.

Mo - I was thinking about you earlier wondering if you got the results back from your blood draw last week. I hope everything is ok

 

[MoBaby]

Still waiting. I went and had another blood test that is 99% effective in ruling out major chromosome issues which will be back end of next week. Hoping to have Friday's results tomorrow. I'm a nervous wreck. It wasn't abnormal per se but Inge upper percentiles which mean increased risk.

 

[MoBaby]

The office did say if something was severely wrong they would call the dr right away instead of faxing results. And since turn round time is 1-2 business days and they received it yesterday I imagine (in my mind At least) if it was something really bad they would have called today. But the. I worry they didn't get bloodwork until today. So just a waiting game now. It sucks esp when I know baby looks completely normal.

 

[ashknowsbest]

Mo - I get it, I would be totally freaked out too but I really think it's going to be ok. I'll be waiting to hear an update sometime this week and then for sure next week

 

[rmsh1]

Stalking

My first pregnancy I had a specialist midwife due to my thyroid issues so was told then that a hospital midwife would be the one at Emma's birth, not the midwife I saw all through my pregnancy. It was all fine. Second pregnancy, I lived in another suburb so was with a different specialist clinic and was allowed to have a midwife outside of the clinic so I chose one close to my home, and she birthed Brodie

I didn't have proper birth plans at all, just said I basically wanted things to go as naturally as possible.

 

[ashknowsbest]

Got the results of my blood work today.

e2 - 905
p4 - 18 (they said this is normal for a day that I did vivelle patches and not the PIO) They like to see it about 15 on vivelle days and above 20 on PIO days, so they're not changing anything.
HCG - 18,881 - I am 24DPO or 19dp5dt and I'm assuming that is good. I know there is such a wide range of good betas for the DPO I am but I really just wanted to test it to ease my mind a little bit since I've been having a hard time the past couple of days.

Also, I convinced my nurse to let me do my ultrasound on Wednesday instead of Thursday. The most obvious reason being that I'm super nervous and having to wait 1 less day is just .... so awesome! But there is a practical reason too. I have to get blood work done every Wednesday and driving to Stanford from our apartment during the week is such a nightmare traffic wise. So if I can do it all in 1 day it will save me driving troubles and my DH will only have to miss one morning of work instead of two! Woohoo for scan on Wednesday. After the HCG results I am now much more at ease with everything and the nurse was even more comfortable letting me do the scan on Wednesday because she wanted to make sure we would be able to see the heartbeat. She said she is almost 100% sure we will see the heartbeat with those numbers.

I am on cloud 9!

Oh and I did have a little bit of energy today and was able to pack the bathroom. Don't worry I didn't lift anything heavy and I just sat on the floor and cleared out the cabinets so everything is fine but I am really happy I was able to help out. I have felt like a useless person lately because I'm pretty unmotivated to do anything and part of that is because my energy levels just suck.

I was thinking of getting my iron levels checked because of my lack of energy. What do you girls think? It's not that I'm necessarily tired either, because I can't sleep when I lay down. I just have no energy to DO anything. It's so weird. Just thinking that maybe iron pills will help?

Mo - any news?

How is everyone else doing?