Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Here we go again.

On January 6th, our son Montgomery was rushed to the emergency room with an anaphylactic reaction to green peas. While in the emergency room watching the doctors tending to him I heard internal pop sound and went to the bathroom to find myself hemmorhaging heavily. I was six weeks pregnant, but the blood tests revealed that it was actually a chemical pregnancy. I bled heavily for over a week, and was heartbroken. I'd been off birth control for a year before we'd managed to conceive, and feared it was going to be a very, very long time before we were able to again. Then, in February, I got pregnant again. I was so scared, afraid to hope. And, rightfully so. I miscarried again March 18th. Follow up blood tests showed this too was a chemical pregnancy. Overwhelmed with sadness, we decided to take a few months off. Let my body heal, let me heal emotionally - and just try to work through the pain. We were going out to dinner on the night of Friday March 13th and I just felt ... off. Nothing really wrong, I just had a sneaking suspicion that I was pregnant. Assuming that I ovulated 14 days from the miscarriage, I would've only been at most 3 weeks, 5 days along. My period wasn't even due yet. I had one digital pregnancy test left and as Patrick got ready to go out, I snuck in the bathroom to take it. It seemed like it took a long time for the results to come up - but when it did, it shocked me.

I thought maybe it was just the HCG leftover from the previous pregnancy. Over the next few days, I took another four pregnancy tests. Each one was positive, though light. I called my doctor's office and told them that I'd tested positive again. They brought me in for some HCG testing. CD 32 - HCG 306 CD 33 - HCG 474 CD 36 - HCG 1,845. Doubling times were 36-37 hours, which to me seemed quite good. I normally ovulate from day 18-20 in a cycle, but with the miscarriage, who knows. I know I had a positive urine test on CD 26. I had an ultrasound today on CD 37 and there's a small gestational sac in the top of the uterus. They said that I don't look like I'm 5 weeks 2 days along, so I'm curious as to what the elevated HCG levels may mean, if anything. I am trying so hard not to get excited, not to get my hopes up.
I'm failing. Miserably. I can't believe we're going to be a family of five. Or six. The ultrasound tech said that the sac seemed small compared to my numbers, so it's a possibility that I'm pregnant with twins. We have a follow-up ultrasound in two weeks to hopefully see more.

3 comments:

Shannon said...

Oh my GOD! I wondered if something was headed in this direction after your India comments.

I am quietly holding my breath for you and the little bit of wonderment going on in your world. I'm hoping you keep us informed on the blog. And much giant love to you and yours.

royann said...

Unbelievably happy for the whole family. I am not so secretly pulling for an adorable red haired baby girl. :)

maggie.danhakl@healthline.com said...

Hi,

I hope all is well with you. Healthline just published an infographic detailing the effects of anaphylaxis on the body. This is an interactive chart allowing the reader to pick the side effect they want to learn more about.

You can see the overview of the report here: http://www.healthline.com/health/anaphylaxis/effects-on-body

Our users have found our guide very useful and I thought it would be a great resource for your page: http://sighingsoftly.blogspot.com/2012/04/here-we-go-again.html

I would appreciate it if you could review our request and consider adding this visual representation of the effects of anaphylaxis to your site or sharing it on your social media feeds.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

All the best,
Maggie Danhakl • Assistant Marketing Manager

Healthline • The Power of Intelligent Health
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