I've been prompted by my other fellow infertiles that had babies spend time in the NICU to tell my story of "we just never seem to get a break." My daughter's 4 1/2 now, but I remember it all as it was yesterday. I should probably write it down for posterity to boot. I'm probably going to need a few typing sessions to get this in so I've already labeled this Part 1 in anticipation.
We'll begin with conception. I had surgery for a blocked left fallopian tube in July 1999. I had a feeling it was endometriosis. My mom and DH tell me that the doctor talked to them before the surgery and said he'd be out in about 15 minutes. An hour and a half later he came out and said he had never seen endometriosis so bad on a 28-year-old woman. They were all amazed I didn't have amazingly painful periods (I didn't).
After the surgery, they said they wanted to try to get me pregnant quickly with ovulation induction and IUI with my DH's sample (he could populate the world). The first cycle they learned I needed progesterone suppositories, as I got my period in my usual 21 days as I would without all the eggs popping. Oh, and I got overstimulated too, as I reacted too well to the shots. I just needed bedrest for a few days.
I got pregnant on the second round of shots and IUI, only to find out it was a blighted ovum 6 weeks along (no heartbeat), and had a miscarriage on Thanksgiving 1999. We then took December and January off. December for the holidays are hectic in my DH's large Irish-Catholic family, and January as DH had a business trip to Key West right when I would need my IUI, and I decided to go on the trip too.
So end of January into February we started the third cycle. My IUI was on February 2, 2000 at 1:30 PM. We later found out I was pregnant, but kept it to ourselves until we saw the heartbeat at 6 weeks.
I had the triple-screen bloodwork done as scheduled sometime around 15 or 16 weeks along. Everything was going great. I had even been feeling the baby doing flip flops already. It was a wierd feeling. I got a call from the doctor's that I had to come in for an ultrasound within 24 hours. I had a lot going on at work, and wasn't sure if that was possible. Then they dropped it on me. My MSAFP was 21.5. Normal is around 2.5. They said the baby was most likely either brain dead or had severe spina bifida. Man, I was pissed, considering I had been taking prenatal vitamins for over a year since trying to have her. We were also quite scared. I had been feeling the baby move! They couldn't tell me that there was something wrong!
We went in and had to talk to a genetic counselor first. She showed us pictures of what to expect to see of problems with the baby not moving or what spina bifida looked like. Then on to the ultrasound. I knew I was no doctor, but that baby looked perfect to me. We waited for the doctor to come in after the tech left. I cried so hard. The doctor came in and checked everything out. He said the baby looked perfect in every way, and said it must've been a lab error. I went to have my blood drawn again singing what my mom used to sing to me, "Why can't they be like she is perfect in every way!"
We had the blood work results back again. My MSAFP was still 18. Not good. I was told that it was either something they couldn't see on an ultrasound like kidney issues or I had cancer. They wanted to do amniocentisis. We had to decide if we wanted to take the risk.
I have to put the perfect little munchkin to bed now, so I'm going to try to get to Part 2 later tonight. I hope I'm not boring anyone out there.
We'll begin with conception. I had surgery for a blocked left fallopian tube in July 1999. I had a feeling it was endometriosis. My mom and DH tell me that the doctor talked to them before the surgery and said he'd be out in about 15 minutes. An hour and a half later he came out and said he had never seen endometriosis so bad on a 28-year-old woman. They were all amazed I didn't have amazingly painful periods (I didn't).
After the surgery, they said they wanted to try to get me pregnant quickly with ovulation induction and IUI with my DH's sample (he could populate the world). The first cycle they learned I needed progesterone suppositories, as I got my period in my usual 21 days as I would without all the eggs popping. Oh, and I got overstimulated too, as I reacted too well to the shots. I just needed bedrest for a few days.
I got pregnant on the second round of shots and IUI, only to find out it was a blighted ovum 6 weeks along (no heartbeat), and had a miscarriage on Thanksgiving 1999. We then took December and January off. December for the holidays are hectic in my DH's large Irish-Catholic family, and January as DH had a business trip to Key West right when I would need my IUI, and I decided to go on the trip too.
So end of January into February we started the third cycle. My IUI was on February 2, 2000 at 1:30 PM. We later found out I was pregnant, but kept it to ourselves until we saw the heartbeat at 6 weeks.
I had the triple-screen bloodwork done as scheduled sometime around 15 or 16 weeks along. Everything was going great. I had even been feeling the baby doing flip flops already. It was a wierd feeling. I got a call from the doctor's that I had to come in for an ultrasound within 24 hours. I had a lot going on at work, and wasn't sure if that was possible. Then they dropped it on me. My MSAFP was 21.5. Normal is around 2.5. They said the baby was most likely either brain dead or had severe spina bifida. Man, I was pissed, considering I had been taking prenatal vitamins for over a year since trying to have her. We were also quite scared. I had been feeling the baby move! They couldn't tell me that there was something wrong!
We went in and had to talk to a genetic counselor first. She showed us pictures of what to expect to see of problems with the baby not moving or what spina bifida looked like. Then on to the ultrasound. I knew I was no doctor, but that baby looked perfect to me. We waited for the doctor to come in after the tech left. I cried so hard. The doctor came in and checked everything out. He said the baby looked perfect in every way, and said it must've been a lab error. I went to have my blood drawn again singing what my mom used to sing to me, "Why can't they be like she is perfect in every way!"
We had the blood work results back again. My MSAFP was still 18. Not good. I was told that it was either something they couldn't see on an ultrasound like kidney issues or I had cancer. They wanted to do amniocentisis. We had to decide if we wanted to take the risk.
I have to put the perfect little munchkin to bed now, so I'm going to try to get to Part 2 later tonight. I hope I'm not boring anyone out there.
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