Can you believe it? 18 stinkin' baby-filled weeks?! We have waited a bit longer than normal to share publicly about this pregnancy for a few reasons, so we will bring you up to speed now!
We had our Day 5 embryo transfer of two embryos back in the middle of December and found out on Christmas eve that we were pregnant after an initial blood test. We were thrilled but cautious, as usually our first test is positive and second negative. Well our second blood draw was still positive, but the HCG didn't double like they like. In fact, it doubled in about twice the time they like (they like 2-3 days, our doubled in 5!), so they told us we weren't looking great, but to hang in there. They did another blood test three days later, and it doubled like they like to see. Two days more, and again, doubled. We were feeling cautiously optimistic at this point. We went for our 6 week ultrasound, and praise Jesus, there was a heart beat! At this point they said that we likely had started out with two implanted and one didn't make it past the first few days, hence the higher numbers that grew slowly (essentially when one stops developing, the numbers can take a bit of a dive). Ultrasound after ultrasound looked great. When we hit 12 weeks we thought we had reached the comfort zone. We were getting excited to announce at 13 weeks or so (we had to wait til 13 weeks because of a clinical trial Ronnie was on...he will write a whole separate blog about that), when at 12 weeks and 5 days in the middle of the night after feeding Baby N, I went to the bathroom and was gushing blood. I wish that was an exaggeration. It was like I was urinating straight, bright red blood. It kind of looked like a murder scene. I called Ronnie into the bathroom, panicked. We had been at the midwife that morning and heard baby's heartbeat, so we were hopeful I wasn't miscarriaging, but it was a lot of blood, so that left us very concerned as to what was going on. Off to the ER I went. The baby looked fine, but I was diagnosed with a very large Subchorionic Hemorrhage - essentially a bleed between the uterine lining and the uterine wall. It can be nothing, but it can also lead to miscarriage, premature labor, etc. We were told all we could do was wait (some things say it increases miscarriage rates by 50%, others say just 2-3%...not very helpful!). So wait we have! We have had ultrasounds every two weeks and as of today, we are happy to say that the bleed is TOTALLY gone!! Praise God! Our God is so good!! So we decided it was time to let the world know about our little love - growing like a champ and looking perfect at a day shy of 18 weeks.
In addition to the bleed, I also have been diagnosed with a placenta previa - my placenta is covering my cervix. This isn't a huge deal, I will just need to be monitored to see if it will resolve itself, and if it doesn't I will be required to have a c-section. I am maybe one of the only humans on earth that actually truly enjoys labor and delivery (like I love it. I'd have a baby once a week if I could), so the thought of a c-section majorly breaks my heart, but we have decided to just pray for its resolution as the weeks go on. If it doesn't resolve, we will joyfully enter an OR and meet baby boy via c-section. After 2+ years of struggling to get pregnant and 5 miscarriages, I care less about how they have to get him out, and just want to hold him in my arms and stare into his sweet, sweet face! But please join us in prayer for everything to shift and for and uncomplicated pregnancy from here on out and a natural delivery!
We feel so incredibly blessed. This little boy has kept us on our toes since day one. This whole process has taught us so much. If there's one thing we have clung to it's that we serve a God that is always good; a God that always has our best interest at heart. His plan for our family was for this little boy. This little boy that would not have been created had we gotten pregnant in one of our many earlier attempts. I will write another blog (soon) regarding why I think this one worked, when we lost so many before. I'm on so many different meds. Things were different. But (future blog spoiler alert) it all ultimately comes down to God's Will for our family. THIS is His plan, and THIS is our son! We cannot wait to meet this little boy that God wanted us to wait for!
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