I think that everyone that regularly reads this blog knows that we’re expecting, so I thought I would make an update. I love being able to go back and read updates from when I was pregnant with Jenna and I don’t want to miss out on that experience this time! I am laughing that I said ‘regularly reads this blog’. As if I’ve posted anything since July or August of last year!
At this point, we haven’t had a chance to tell a couple family members, so we’re still keeping a low profile, but hopefully I will be able to broadly share the news by the end of the week.
Right now I am 12 weeks and 4 days pregnant and due September 23rd. Strangely Jenna was due the day after Aaron’s dad’s birthday and this baby is due the day before my dad’s birthday! We found out about this pregnancy days before my birthday and we found out about Jenna days after Aaron’s birthday! It is funny how things work out!
Mostly this pregnancy has been very similar to Jenna’s. I started feeling sick (24-7 nausea, without getting sick) at around 6 weeks and it started slowly easing around 11 weeks. I’m 12 weeks and 4 days now and I am only having a rare bout of nausea each day, mostly at bedtime.
This pregnancy did start off a bit scary (besides the fact that I had multiple miscarriages prior and was already nervous). I had spotting starting around 5.5 weeks. It was light and we had an ultrasound that didn’t detect an issue. It was too early to see a baby at that point. I had another u/s at 6 weeks and we were able to see a teeny-tiny baby with a flickering heartbeat that was around 130 bpm. We could also see a tiny area of bleed. It wasn’t something that concerned the doctor because of the location and size, but it definitely worried me. The u/s tech told me that her guess was that the baby implanted so deep that it caused extra bleeding and since I’m on blood thinners (more about that later), it caused more bleeding than is typically seen with implantation. I had a small amount of spotting again at 6.5 and 7.5 weeks and each time I just knew that was it. But, it wasn’t. I had another u/s at 8 weeks and we saw a perfect little bean with a very strong and regular heartbeat at 178 bpm. There was no sign of the bleed by that appointment and I haven’t had any issues since.
I had a few strange cravings early on (such as vanilla frosting sandwiched between whole grain tortilla chips – I did not indulge on that one). My chiropractor gave me a supplement to help stabilize my pituitary gland and it stopped the strange cravings immediately. Thank goodness, who knows the next craving might have been! Mostly things just don’t sound good at all, but I’m constantly hungry, so I make due. I wish I could say that I made due with fruits and veggies, but the only thing that seems to help settle my stomach is high-carb foods. It really stinks because I was eating very healthy when I got pregnant. Hopefully now that the morning sickness is starting to fade, I can get back into a more healthy habit. With Jenna the only real craving I had was nectarines. I had one almost every day. I have had a few, but mostly they haven’t been very good. I did come across a very good one a week or so ago and it has made me crave them again. Unfortunately, I am having trouble finding another good one. Perhaps now that it is a bit closer to spring they will start being tasty again.
I started feeling a few movements right at 12 weeks. From Jenna, I know what a baby feels like, but I still had trouble believing that I was feeling it move so early! It felt a bit like a flutter the first few times. The second day I felt it when Jenna was talking to me. I told her and she has been so excited and says that the baby moves when she talks to it. So cute! Yesterday was Aaron’s birthday and I felt the first real kick! What perfect timing! Today after lunch I could feel it squirming around for a bit. I still can’t believe that I can already feel it moving!! I think that feeling the baby moving is one of my favorite things about pregnancy.
After the first miscarriage we bought a doppler. I started trying to find the baby’s heartbeat around 9 weeks and finally found it at 9 weeks 6 days. It was between 160 and 170bpm. I have a listen every few days and it is wonderful to hear every time! Lately it has been moving so much that mostly I just hear kicking sounds and then the heartbeat fades in and out. Aaron says that the baby is swimming laps in there. I laugh and say that I hope it enjoys the space while it has some.
Many of you that know about our news have asked if Portia has a prediction. Well, I didn’t want to ask her because we did with our first miscarriage and she was very inconsistent and I don’t want to have extra worry (I know, the whole idea of a dog having any idea is silly, but indulge me J). But, Aaron and Jenna really wanted to ask her. So, 2 out of 3 times she has said boy. I’m fairly sure she is wrong, but we shall see! My chiropractor says that it is a girl and the one wives tale that I actually believe in points to girl (my leg hair growth has slowed WAY down – it did this with Jenna, too).
Back to the blood thinner. After my last miscarriage they ran a slew of tests and found out that I have an autoimmune disorder where my body produces antibodies that can cause micro-clots. Typically it isn’t a serious issue, except during pregnancy where it can cause micro-clots that cut off nutrients to the baby, which causes it to stop growing or to not grow at all. This disorder causes an 80% miscarriage rate (and the m/c rate doesn’t decrease as pregnancy gets farther along, so, if untreated, many women have very late term m/c). But, if treated (with a prophylactic blood thinner) the miscarriage rate decreases to that of the normal population. Whew! So, I started on a blood thinner as soon as I found out I was pregnant. I give it to myself once a day on either side of my abdomen – they say to aim for the love handles (oh joy). It isn’t fun, but very much worth it. They did test me for the antibody at my 8 week appointment and it was negative. They also tested me for lupus because if you have lupus you generally have this antibody (but there are lots of people with the antibody that don’t have lupus), but all the tests came back negative. I will switch to a different blood thinner as my due date approaches (the one I take can’t be reversed so if I went into labor I would have to do it completely natural). I wouldn’t mind trying natural. I did make it through about 12 hours of 1.5-3min contractions that were on top of each other with no pain meds at all and then another 8 hours on really wimpy pain meds before I could have an epidural, so if I am fortunate enough to have a baby that doesn’t turn its head to the side just before it is supposed to enter the birth canal, I might be able to make it naturally. But, I would rather be on the blood thinners that at least will give me the opportunity for an epidural. J So, I will start them around 36 weeks. After giving birth I will be put back on my normal blood thinner for six weeks or so and then I don’t need to take it again unless I develop a clot, in which case I will have to get on it for life.
Because of the blood clotting disorder my pregnancy is being treated as high risk. I had a consultation with a perinatalogist before we started trying to get pregnant and he walked me through the basic plan. He said that he would see me occasionally during the first trimester and then I would have my anatomy scan with him (18ish weeks or so). Starting toward the end of the second trimester I will have frequent (I think he said weekly) ultrasounds to monitor the baby’s growth because the blood thinner can cause a growth restriction. My OB told me that he isn’t sending me to the specialist until my anatomy scan, so for now I am just seeing him monthly. I have my second appointment tomorrow and then my next appointment will be at 17 weeks, so I’m hoping that I can push it back a week and do my anatomy scan at the end of 17 weeks or beginning of 18 weeks. If he is going to have me wait longer for the scan, I will probably try to talk him into giving me another ultrasound in the meantime. I am just too nervous to wait that long to see this baby again. The good thing is that my doctor said that after everything I’ve been through he will do what he can to help ease my anxiety.
My doctor says that I’m a great candidate for a VBAC (vaginal birth after c-section), so that’s my goal. If it doesn’t happen, that’s alright, but I really hope that it does. My doctor isn’t a fan of VBACs after the due date, so I will likely get induced unless this baby is a bit less stubborn than Jenna was (11 days late, but who’s counting?). The problem is that he also doesn’t like to use the typical induction medications for a VBAC, so I don’t know how effective it will be. Fingers crossed that I can get the baby to come on its own a bit early and induction will be a moot point.
Sorry this post is such a hodge-podge. I wanted to give a broad update to get caught up before I started posting again. J
If anyone reading this blog isn’t following Jenna’s Caring Bridge or Facebook site and wants to, please leave a comment with your email address and I can send you a link. Now that I am doing some blog updates again, I will probably occasionally include info about her treatment if I’m already posting anyhow, but in general I will only be updating CB and FB (it is hard enough to keep two sites up-to-date). She’s such an amazing girl and is so excited to be a big sister!
Baby Boy!!
