Sunday, November 17, 2013

Thoughts on this Pregnancy

Now that I am nearing 10 weeks, the furthest I have been pregnant, I have so many thoughts floating around in my head. I will never understand how God is and has been working in my life. All the tears, the pain, the suffering over the last 5 years and now this unfathomable gift of new life makes me tremble with joy and fear. 10 weeks is such a huge milestone for me. While most people have their first OB appt between weeks 8 & 12, I have had 6 appts between weeks 5 and 10. I can never comprehend God's ways. He is a loving God and was bringing me closer to Him the last 5 years. I don't know what my life will look like tomorrow but I know He will give me the graces to handle suffering just like the last 5 years. Though I prayed for physical healing from IF and recurrent miscarriages, I know it was spiritual healing I needed the most.

It has been a long & difficult journey but He was guiding me all the time. Leading me to your blogs, teaching me about NaPro, bringing me to the best doctors and teaching me to wait patiently. The first few years were really tough as things were moving so slowly. However, in the last 1.5 years, things progressed at a quicker pace. My trip to Illinois to meet Dr. KK and then my trip to Omaha was all bringing me closer to physical healing. There were days when I felt all these trips were unnecessary and there was nothing left treatment wise to pursue. We began praying that we would be able to adopt some day if it was God's will.

When I became pregnant in June and had adverse side effects to Immune treatments, we were ready to let go of everything. We were ready to stop all treatments. However, I decided to try the Immune Protocol one last time before closing the book on treatments. I will never know if that is what helped me this time but I definitely know it is God who has made this possible. Every pregnancy is a miracle but that I have made it to 10 weeks is such a huge miracle. Thank you Lord!

Some more details on the Conception Cycle:

Daily Meds: Armour 45mg, Metformin 1500mg, Vit D 5000, Baby Aspirin, Fish Oil, Folic Acid 5mg, Prenatal,  Calcium Citrate

Cd 3-7 Clomid 50mg
Cd 7 onwards - Lovenox 40mg shots daily
P+4 onwards - Prednisone 10mg
P+5 onwards - Progesterone 300 mg vaginal capsules
P+10 - Got a faint positive on HPT.
P+11 - Began 200 mg PIO shots twice weekly. Increased Prednisone to 20mg. See some brown spotting for few days.
P+15 - Went for first Beta Hcg after line became slightly dark on HPT.  First Beta 492.
P+18 - Second Beta 2042. Red spotting.
P+ 20 - Third Beta 4450. Spotting continues. Worried about ectopic.
P+ 21 - First ultrasound. Saw gestational sac and yolk salk. Measuring 5w1d. Cervix looked swollen which was probably causing the spotting. Begin bed rest. Also begin 5000 units of HCG twice a week.
P+24 - Bright red bleeding episode. Stop Lovenox and Baby Aspirin after consulting with Dr. KK's office.
P+ 25 - Progesterone in Zone 4.
P+26 - More bleeding with clots. Another ultrasound shows a sub chorionic hemmorhage. Baby is measuring 5w6d and heart rate is 103bpm. Dr. puts me on complete bed rest. Begin 200mg progesterone rectal suppositories twice a day. HCG is 15000.
6w1d - Ultrasound shows SCH is pressing on sac but baby's heart beat has increased to 122 bpm. Begin Azithromycin for 14 days as per PPVI.
6w6d - Red bleeding has changed to spotting. Baby's heart rate has gone up to 138 bpm. Doctor is happy that the SCH has reduced.
7w - Begin IV Clindamycin for 10 days as per PPVI. My parents are here to help me out.
9w1d - We were able to see our baby waving his/her arm during ultrasound. Heart beat was 190 bpm. Progesterone was in Mid Zone 2.
9w2d - First OB appt. Complete physical examination. Baby's heart beat is 188 bpm.

I have been going to my local NaPro doctor for all my appts. It's a one hour drive but she is willing to work with PPVI and Dr. KK. I have another OB appointment on Nov 26th. If everything goes well, we will switch to a new OB after 20 weeks but we are in no hurry. I feel well most of the time. I have no nausea and feel energetic most of the time. Some days I feel worried like my Progesterone fell from Zone 4 to Zone 2 inspite of the shots, suppositories and HCG. However, I am thankful to God that I have been working with the best doctors. I have lot of bloodwork to be done to monitor by immune issues. Need to ship my samples to Dr. KK's lab.

6 comments:

  1. Wonderful! What an absolute miracle. I love that you described your conception cycle-what an act of love to endure all of that.
    Glad you are able to go to the napro doctor. I drove over 3 hours for all my appointments until 30 weeks. It's so worth it to have napro docors that get it. Praise God for them!

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  2. Wow! I'm am in awe. You are so, so strong. Just seeing that list of medications and bed rests and doctors appointments makes me feel the love you have for this child. It's beautiful!!

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  3. I'm so happy that you and baby are doing great!! Praise be to God!!

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  4. This is wonderful news! I second, Stephanie, I am in awe of your strength and your faith. Continued prayers for you and your precious little one!

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  5. praying praying praying for you and this little one

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  6. Praying for you! Thank you for documenting and sharing your journey with us! It helps so much to read about other people's journey's.

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