This is something I have been wanting to do for a very long time, but I was afraid that it would be yet another project that I started and never finished!
I am going to have to backtrack some to let you all know what is going on, but I decided to do this blog as a way to remember all the very fun parts of pregnancy and so one day, my little one can read how excited that Mommy & Daddy got when little things happened each day and to really know that they are loved SO much!
December 16, 2006: I was well on my way to being done with my 1st semester of Nursing School at Pratt Community College and I was in bed with Mike and randomly said... "Mike, do you want to get Married?" He said, "Of course I do, that is why I proposed to you!" I suggested Monday to run up to the courthouse and just do it.. let's just get married this week. You and Me- nobody else! He thought I went oficially crazy and perhaps I did. I am that kind of person... crazy and fly by the seat of my pants! We went up to the courthouse Monday, applied for a license and got married on a Thursday (December 21st, 2006). We let 1 person know- my mother because I thought I needed a witness. She told my little brother & his fiancee know who decided to come down also. So then we had more people there than we wanted for being a "last minute ordeal". I hadn't even had the chance to call my dad and tell him before my little brother told him. So that was a very rough thing to talk to my dad about. This is besides the point. Mike & I got married at about 4pm on that day and we both have NEVER regretted that decision. We infact look forward to being able to do a bigger renewal of vows later on down the road when we can include our children!
March 2007: The children discussion! We oficially decided that if things continued to go well in school that we could start to try for kids in August (seeing how with my history of irregular/non existant periods, PCOS, hypothyroidism & glucose intolerance) it would take us a while to get pregnant! I was thrilled. Then the even that changed everything. I left Nursing school at the end of March because I had not passed my "sterile trachestomy skills lab technique" after the 3rd time. This is still very debateable whether it was me or the teachers ganging up against me! So, that posponed plans until the next year when I would restart the semester in January of 2008.
December 2007: Got pregnant out of NO WHERE & had a miscarriage soon after. (I actually was told by my OB in January that this had happened because I had NO clue).
February 2008: Back into the swing of Nursing school and adjusting to my new "family" as you would call it because I had all new classmates (1 stayed the same- Chelsie Konen came back after being "kicked out" of the program also- perhaps the best thing that happened to us because we immediately clicked and became best friends from that day forward!) I finally told Mike that I was done waiting for the perfect time to get pregnant and so the trying began. I talked to my OB-GYN (Thalia Lopez- best OB ever!) and she suggested we try a few months on our own and then would talk about options.
April 2008: We were trying with all our might (despite my lack of drive that I attribute to my thyroid levels being off severely!) and we had had 2 months of trying despite me having a period. We went to see Dr. Lopez who decided to put me on a drug called Clomid. I would have to take progesterone for 7 days, make my period start (since it wouldn't start on it's own), then take Clomid for 5 days (days 3-8 of my period) and then take temperatures everyday (basal body temperatures) and then come in at day 17, get some blood work taken to see if my progesterone level was even high enough to try to get pregnant that month or not. This started off what I would know from here on out of our adventure in baby making!
September 2008: I think this was the month that Dr. Lopez knew it just wasn't going to work. She wanted to try something stronger, but knew she would have to refer me on to a Reproductive Endocrinologis (Fertility Clinic is a better name for non-medical professionals). She told me the stress of wanting to be pregnant, school, living with my in-laws and the unfortunate circumstances of me having all my medical problems is the reason things weren't going so well. I was getting depressed and it seemed like EVERYONE but me was getting pregnant on the 1st or 2nd month of trying. If I was that lucky, I would almost be ready to deliver my 1st child.
Dr Lopez suggested still take the clomid for the next few months, come in for lab work and everything I was doing before, but not to get so uptight about it and then go in December to get an HSG test done to see if my fallopian tubes were blocked before seeing Dr. Tjaden in the beginning of January.
October 2008: Something new started this month... I started hearing this swooshing noise in my right ear when I was laying on my stomach. I called Dr. Lasak (an ear doctor) and got an appoitment scheduled for Oct 28th at 2:45. I took some hearing tests, and it showed I had some decreased hearing in my right ear. I had to take more hearing test for that ear and then have it examined and would have the results back later. He told me he wanted me to go get a MRI scheduled at Wesley to see what was going on in my ear.
November 2008: On Nov. 21st, I went to wesley and got my first MRI with & without contrast. Boy was that an experience. The results were sent to Dr. Lasak and he scheduled me for an appoitment on December 5th.
December 2008: This was a busy month. I was finishing up my 3rd semester in school (almost done!!!), we decided to start building a house in Andover (that would be started in January and finished in June, right after school was out), this swooshing noise in my ear was about to drive me bonkers & I STILL wasn't pregant despite continuing to try.
Dec. 5th I went to my appoitment with Dr. Lasak and he essentially told me he couldn't find anything, he wanted me to retake my hearing test and told me that it could be a result of the Clomid I was taking. I passed my hearing screen and then was told that there was nothing else he could do for me. Not what I wanted to hear!
December 11th: (1 day into Christmas break from school) I had a very busy day. I checked in for my HSG (Hysterosalpingogram) at 1:00. Esentially what they do is they is they use a speculum to find your cervix, put a cathether through your cervix (which then makes you have the worst cramps you could ever imagine- they said it is very similar to contractions during pregnancy), then inject a contrast through the cathether that then shows whether I have blockages in my fallopian tubes or not by looking at a real-time sonogram. Sometimes there is just enough "gunk" in them that the contrast flushes them out and makes pregnancy easier afterwards. With all contrast, you usually get a flushing feeling when they inject it. I didn't, and thought that was very weird. The procedure ended a little after 2pm and as we were walking out of the hospital... yes, that's right you heard it... WALKING (they should be taking every patient who just had an invasive procedure done out in a wheelchair, but I got to walk instead). All the sudden I started feeling very dizzy, felt like I really needed to urinate, so I stopped by the bathroom. I then realized I was on the floor and I was calling out for help to find a poor older volunteer at wesley running out to get my husband and a doctor on the phone. They brought me back to the radiology room I was in, made me lay down for a little while and then released me again, but this time in a wheelchair. I was very upset that that had happened because we had our Red-line meeting at Coppercrest at Cornerstone to go over all the specifics of our house with the builder at 3:00pm. It was 2:50pm and I was worried we were not going to be there on time.3:00pm came and after calling Jessie Prock (at the model home to say we were running 10 min behind) we made it there at 3:10. We finished the meeting (which made us SOOO excited) because we picked out everything for the house, ended the meeting, drove by our lot and then went home. I slept when I got home because I was supposed to work at 7:00pm that night. They short-assignmented me (SA'ed) from 7-11p and said they would call back if they didn't need me from 11pm-7am. I was so glad when I got that call that they didn't need me because I felt like POO!
December 16th: My ear problem got so bad that I decided to go see a Cardiologist (afterall it was most likely vascular related). Dr. Beck (or Tex Beck- my dad's good friend) saw me at 3:45 and told me that he had the same problem. It was caused by a small fissure that was pooling blood in it each time my blood circulated through my system and that it was most likely small enough that it wasn't showing up on my MRI and the reason it bothers me so much is because it is right by my ear.
January 2009:
We had a lot to do with the house this month. We picked out carpet, lighting, tile, paint colors for the exterior and brick type! This was also the month we would find out what the heck was going on in the baby making department. My appoitment got schedule for Tuesday January 20th.
January 20th: 10:30 we went to our appoitment and consultation with Dr. Tjaden. He looked at my HSG scan, did a transvaginal ultrasound and the told me the news. It was going to take some extra help to get pregant, but he said that he was VERY confident that it would not take measures such as IVF to get pregnant!! WAHOO!!! He said that he would put me on a stronger type of medication similar to Clomid called Femara. It was actually being used as an investigational med for fertility, but it's original purpose was for Breast Cancer patients because how it works is it is an estrogen agonist. It inhibits the estrogen so the progesterone required for ovulation would boosted and increase the chance of ovulation. He said that my problem is not actually producing a mature follicule every month, my problem is that I don't release my follicule (which then turns into a cyst and eventually burst when it gets too big). So his treatment of choice for me would be Femara on days 3-8 of my period, go in for a mid-cycle sonogram starting on day 12 of my period to see if my follicule was large enough to trigger with an injection of Ovidrel (that would actually release the follicule) and then start the baby making. He told me to wait to see if my period came on its own and if it didn't we would start this new regimen at 6 weeks after my appoitment. While we were there, we also had to have Mike's sperm checked for motility and count so before we went, he had to do that. The poor thing (he sure is glad that everything checked out well for him because he said that's the one thing he NEVER wants to do again!) We will fast forward to March when my period came & went and finally had to be induced with Progesterone.
February 2009:
Our house is really starting to look like a house. Framing is complete, They are done with the wood on the outside of the house, the roof is up (but doesn't actually have the roofing on yet), they have started electrical and plumbing inside and at the end of this month they will have started putting on ourwindows, garage doors, roof & siding! This is the very fun stage, but you have to come out and see the house everyday or else you miss a lot!
March 2009:
I have been SO busy with school (only 2 months left to go), we had our electrical walk-through and our house looks MUCH more like a house. We have dry wall, stairs, closet shelves, cabinets & stain are being done. March 6th was my 1st day of Femara and I love that I have no side effects like I did with my Clomid. March 15th I had my 1st mid-cycle sonogram and they said my follicle wasn't big enough, so I needed to come back everyother day this first time so we knew at about what day my follicle was getting big enough for the following months to come (if I needed more months to get pregnant). I went back on the 17th and my follicle still wasn't big enough. Then I went back on the 21st and FINALLY it was ready to go. I had my Ovidrel sent in earlier that week and it had been waiting in the refrigerator all week for this news. I had one of the nice nurses give it to me at the office that morning (8:45am) and then the next three days Mike & I were to be busy bees. We also had Hilary's wedding & Silas's birthday party that weekend. Did I mention that Mike lost his job at Bank of America this month and is now unemployeed and we loose our insurance in the middle of the month? We are deciding that April will be the last month we try all this fertility business until Mike finds another job with insurance or mine goes into effect after I am full-time in May (did I mention that school is SO CLOSE to being done??)
April 2009:
April 6th came with a vengance... or maybe it was just disappoitment that came with my period that day. I was so heartbroken because I thought for sure I wouldn't have to do this more than one time. Afterall, Dr. Tjaden said he knew this magical combination would work for me and it didn't! I trucked on starting femara on the 8th-12th (which only cost us 145 dollars for 5 days worth of pills). I got great news on the 13th. I was being scheduled for an interview at St. Joseph for their New Life Center (Labor & Delivery) Unit for the 15th at 2:00pm!! I was so excited to hear that news, now if only I could get pregnant too it would be SO awesome! My ovidrel was delivered on the 17th, I had my only mid-cycle sonogram (since I was paying for it out of pocket and it was 150 dollars) on the 2oth at 3:30. She said that I had TWO (yes, I did say two) follicles and that one was just a day or so from being ready to go and the other was a day behind it and that I needed to come back in a few days before she could give me the okay to take the ovidrel. Well... I told her I couldn't come back because of losing insurance and paying for the sonogram out of pocket. She told me not to take the ovidrel and just try the "traditional method of conception". I thought to myself, I have the ovidrel... I am not wasting it. So I waited until Thursday the 23rd. I asked Chelsie to give me the injection at school in the morning so I would be ready to go that night and she did. the 26th I had my appoitment to get my Nursing school pictures taken and I was extremely tired that day. Looking back, I know I had something in the making. I got a phone call back from Via-Christi on the 27th offering me the Full-Time position in L&D, and I of course accepted on the phone that same conversation. I had a physical done on the 30th (which showed a negative pregnancy test- but it would be if I just had concieved on the 24th or 25th). Chelsie Konen (at school) told me that 6 is her lucky number and that I should take my pregancy test on the 6th... so I guess I would have to wait 6 more days to do so!
May 2009:
MAY is HERE!! I graduate, I get to take my pregnancy test this month, final walkthough on the house, and did I mention that I GRADUATE?
May 5: Of course I can't wait until the 10th when I am supposed to take my pregnancy test. I have my Final Exam in school today so, I am up extra early. I take one and practically throw it at the bathroom wall when it reads negative. I am overwhemled with exhaustion and misunderstanding of why oh why can I not get pregnant and everyone else can! I go take my final and then cry to Chelsie that it's negative. She reminds me to take one tomorrow on the 6th which is her lucky day. I say okay, but it's still going to be negative.
May 6th: I get up and take a test. This time I pee on the stick, and get right in the shower instead of waiting for the result. What I find 15 min later is almost too much for me to handle... there were 2 lines!
Here is the snapshot I took. You really have to look to see the 2nd line. I thought when I saw it that I had too much steam in the room and that it was affecting my vision. I went into the bedroom somewhat shaking and said, "Mike.... hey Mike..." He responded as if he was wondering what the heck I was going to ask him for (like a favor) and said, "What??". "I then said, "I think I am pregnant. Can you look at this test and tell me what you see?" I flipped on the lights so quick he didn't have time to adjust to the light. He looked at it and said, "well it is really faint. I don't know Jamie. I think you should have waited until the 10th when we agreed you should take it so it would have been really positive." We agreed to not tell any family until we could take more test and they were clearly positive or negative (like a digital test). I agreed, but told him I would have to tell Chelsie since she told me to test on her lucky day. I went to school that day and shared the good news with her, which quickly spread around my whole class. I was SO elated, but scared I would now have to deal with morning sickness with 1 week and 2 days left to go until graduation.
May 10th: I took a whole box (3 tests) of digital pregnancy tests for Mike to know it was truly real. As soon as I took them and they all resulted in PREGNANT result, Mike started jumping up and down. He was more than thrilled. I mean, it had only taken 15 months to finally see this on a test and we were both in shock. Seeing how it was Mother's Day, why not take an opportunity such as that to tell your mom that she could actually celebrate being a grandma (8 months prematurely)? I also decided to take pictures of my growing tummy as often as I can remember to do so. This is a picture of me at 5 weeks. That is just my "fat" stomach and no sight of baby. I can't wait to see how much I change over the next 35 weeks! After this month I will get a new post for baby pictures!
May 15th: My Nursing graduation! I have waited 3 long years for this day to arrive and I couldn't be more proud of myself! I was so happy to have all of my family there with me! Now I have to start studying for my Nursing boards and take the test... then my life as a student will be officially over!
May 18th: Mike started his new job at United Missouri Bank (UMB) after being unemployed for almost 2 months! I hope he does well there!
May 22nd: Final Walkthrough on our house! It is SO close to being done! I can't wait to be in our first house!!
July 4th: Mike & I had the following people over for the 4th of July: Aimee & Jeff, Shawn, Allena & Silas, and Mom.
July 8th: My appoitment scheduled for 9:00am went well. I was so lucky to be able and have my mom there with me! I just wish that Mike was able to make it to my morning appoitments. I got standard lab work taken (for blood type, STD's, HIV, Hepatitis & a CBC), did a urine test for pH, sugar & protein levels and of course I am so excited to say we had a sonogram done! Here is our little peanut. I hate to say it because I'm sure it might go the other way, but I am pretty sure this one is a little girl. I just haven't had any dreams but that it is a little girl! Dr. Lopez said that Baby Tran is growing well and that despite the weight I have lost so far that it isn't affecting the baby at all. I am proud to say that it is measuring big enough to change my due date from the 13th to the 11th of January. I was excited to call my Dad and tell him that my new due date is now his birthday!! He said that he thought that would be the date that it came all along.
