Was the 2nd Time Around Any Easier?

So getting pregnant with Mason was quite the rollercoaster ride (you can go to www.babytimberlake.blogspot.com for the very detailed version of our journey with Mason).  It took us a very long time and ultimately we ended up needing the help of a reproductive endocrinologist to conceive.  Then, on the day we found out we were pregnant, Zeus was rushed into the vet for emergency surgery.  But with us the chaos is kind of typical, and we wouldn’t have it any other way!  Life is about the journey that led you to where you are, and had it been a smooth and easy ride, we might not have a story worth telling!

So, was it any easier the second time around? 

Doug was in Texas from March through May for training. Mason and I drove to Texas at the beginning of May to spend a few weeks with friends and family and to reunite with Doug so we wouldn’t have to spend the entire 3 months apart. After Mason was born we knew we wanted another child.  We both agreed we’d like them relatively close together in age.  I always feared life would get too ‘easy’ and the thought of sleepless nights and changing diapers might seem daunting if Mason was long past those stages making it too easy to say, “one is enough”.  Plus, we both thought it would be nice for Mason to have a sibling who was relatively close in age to grow up with.  So, considering the time it took for us to conceive the first time, once we got back home we were ready to try for baby #2.

When we were going through fertility treatments for Mason, I asked my doctor if after successfully conceiving there was any chance my body would somehow fix itself, and I might be able to conceive in the future without his help.  While he said it wasn’t impossible, he also indicated it was highly unlikely.  With that in mind, after Mason was born we never did anything to stop a pregnancy.  We thought it would be better to get pregnant on our own a little sooner than planned if we could avoid going through treatments again.   Unfortunately, we didn’t conceive on our own.  When we got back from Texas I scheduled an appointment with my fertility doc. 

My doctor repeated many of the tests I had 2 years prior.  The good news was that all of my levels had drastically improved so much so that he gave us the option to spend some more time trying without his help.  He brought up the fact that I was nursing until Doug left for Texas and even without any fertility issues nursing significantly reduces your chances of getting pregnant.  So, we hadn’t actually given ourselves a fair shot at conceiving on our own.  But when the time came for the first cycle and they started to monitor me, things were not progressing and we decided to go ahead and use the same medications as we did with Mason.

We went through the same process as last time.  I was in the doctor’s office for monitoring just about every other day and injecting myself with medications every night.  Just like with Mason we were very fortunate to only need medications and not have to go through the procedure of an IUI or IVF. Then after all that was finished, we had the dreaded 2 week wait to see if the cycle was successful.  Well, just like last time I couldn’t wait the entire 2 weeks for the blood test.  I bought home pregnancy tests and started testing each morning.  The first batch I bought were the cheapest ones they had at the grocery store (dollar tree are cheaper but that would’ve been another trip).  Once I thought I saw a faint line, I had to have the ‘good’ test to confirm.  Sure enough, it was POSITIVE!!!!  I think I took a few more before my appointment just for good measure, plus they were already bought and paid for HAHA!  I went into the doctor’s office after the 2 week wait to confirm the home test with a blood test.  That afternoon they confirmed I was PREGNANT!!!! 

Was it really that simple?  Did we really get pregnant on our first try?  Of course it wasn’t that simple.  Like I said before, it never is with us…

So when you see a specialist, they monitor you much more closely than a regular OB would.  Normally once you get a positive test, your doctor confirms the pregnancy with a blood test and you’re good to go.  Well the specialist draws blood every 2 days to make sure your levels are rising like they should, indicating a healthy, viable pregnancy.  My first blood draw my hCG (pregnancy hormone) level was a 118.  Anything over 25 (it can vary some depending on the doctor) is considered pregnant, but they like to see it over 100.  With Mason my first draw was a 126.  I was ecstatic… until I went in for my second draw 2 days later.  At this point the number itself isn’t as important as the rate at which the number increases (doubling time).  The number should double every 31-72 hours or increase at least 60% every 2 days.

           

August 26: 118

August 28: 178 (doubling time 80.93 hours, 50.85% increase)

I was told this was an indication that the pregnancy is not viable but to remain “cautiously optimistic”.  Doug and I both handled the news fairly well.  It was only our first cycle and we’d just try again.  Then things became even more complicated…

I had to continue going in for monitoring to see if my number would just go down to zero on its own.  If it didn’t they would have to perform a procedure.  I went in August 30 and that afternoon my nurse called with the results of the blood test.  I was fully expecting bad news, but what I got may have been worse:

            August 30: 307 (doubling time 61.04 hours, 72.47% increase)

My numbers increased normally this time. Then the nurse said something along the lines of, “we don’t want this to turn into a life threatening situation” and my world started spinning.  Because of the abnormal rise the first time with a regular increase this time, I was at risk for an ectopic (tubal) pregnancy.  An ectopic pregnancy can be life threatening (although rare) and if not treated early may require emergency surgery with a risk of losing a tube. I’ve never had a surgery and would like to keep it that way. At this point I wasn’t even praying that the pregnancy was viable, I was just praying it wasn’t ectopic.

I was told to drive to Maryland that Sunday for an ultrasound and blood work (our office is not open on weekends). Our neighbor, Courtney, graciously offered to watch Mason so Doug could come with me and off we went.  There was no indication of pregnancy on the ultrasound but when they called with my blood work, my doubling time improved again:

            September 1: 666 (doubling time 42.96 hours, 116.94% increase)

I went into my office on September 3^rd and once again nothing on the ultrasound, but the numbers look good:

            September 3: 1354 (doubling time 46.89 hours, 103.3% increase)

At this point my nurse said they would stop drawing blood and rely on ultrasounds alone because it would be more reliable at this point.  They scheduled me for another ultrasound that Friday.  When I went in, my doctor was waiting for me and he performed the ultrasound himself (usually a tech does it).  He found an empty gestational sac.  He said because he located a gestational sac with features that indicated pregnancy, he was 90% certain this was simply a pregnancy that was not viable and the remaining 10% was split with the possibility of either ectopic or a viable pregnancy.  I read later that sometimes even in an ectopic pregnancy your body will form a gestational sac because it’s somehow confused and thinks it’s a regular pregnancy.  He said when I came back in on Monday he would be able to give me a 100% call.

So that Monday was also Mason’s 18 month checkup.  I asked Doug to take time off work to take him since I needed to go to the doctor that morning and wanted to try and conserve as much of my sick leave as possible.  My neighbor even offered to watch Mason so Doug could come with me to my appointment (since he was off anyway) and Mason’s appointment wasn’t until later in the morning.  I told him not to come.  I didn’t want to make a bigger deal out of this than it was.  The doctor was 90% certain that Friday.  90% was good enough for me.  I wanted to go in, get the final reading, and take the next steps so we could move past this and try again.

Fortunately when I went in the waiting room was uncharacteristically empty, and I was able to be seen quickly.  The doctor did the ultrasound again this time.  Right away we could see the gestational sac again.  Then I could tell what he was looking at and said, “Oh there’s the yolk sac… and there’s the fetal pole…” and all the while in my head I’m thinking this is good news, it confirms it’s not ectopic.  Then the doctor says, “Yes, but do you see THAT?”, and I respond, “Is that… is that a HEARTBEAT!????”

I sent Doug a text while lying there as the doctor continued the ultrasound and it simply said, “There's a freakin hearbeat”. There was a heartbeat and a baby measuring exactly what it should be at that time.  I thank God for our little miracle: