He's here!

Our little guy arrived in dramatic fashion 5 weeks early in late November, weighing in at 5lbs 6oz and completely healthy. I had a sudden placental abruption, not sure what caused it, but was rushed to hospital and he was delivered via c-section 20 minutes after arriving by ambulance. He came out yelling and has been gaining weight fast ever since. We are so very thankful to everyone who helped make our family complete. This truly is the end of this blog now, we hope you have as much success as we did. The lows were so very low, but in the end i'd do it all again to see these two boys grinning at one another. We are all so very much in love. 

20 Weeks....

And so far so good...though we have to return for more of our level 2 scan, our little one was not co-operating so the tech did not quite get everything, so we're hoping that is all that they need. We know we're having another little boy, the genetics and other screenings have all come back okay, so we're really hoping for good news from the next scan and maybe we'll actually start preparing to have another baby here. I'd forgotten how hard this part is, and in particular this pregnancy I have an anterior placenta - so though I can feel him kick, I can't feel much. That's not helping. Hopefully soon they'll become more regular. This fall too is going to be really busy at work, so i'm hoping it all just flies by....December 28th cannot come soon enough...:)

9 Weeks 5 days...

9 weeks, 5 days - baby is now measuring on track, has an awesome heart rate and we saw s/he wiggle around today. We've officially graduated, and see our OB on friday for our first round of tests there, and more importantly the MateriT21 genetic test, which I am incredible nervous about (having had two recent miscarriages from likely chromosomal issues). I hope they'll scan us again soon too, it's so amazingly reassuring to see our little ones heart beating.

I want to say i'm cautiously optimistic, the last time we were this far along we ended up with an amazing baby boy....but, of course we also worry. I remember vividly many people repeatedly telling us we'd worry so much more when baby was on the outside - and this isn't to say we don't still worry about our 2 year old - but how so very wrong they were. I think it's hard for people to understand who haven't been through the things we have, but for us, there is so much more to worry about when we can't see our baby.

It sounds weird to say it but i'm also worried i'm not bleeding, we just assumed a SCH was a given because of my blood clotting disorder, so we waited for it to come. It was a sign to me things were not going well with the previous pregnancy that I didn't bleed. Could we possibly have a "normal" pregnancy? I can't dare to dream that dream...

For now, for today, we are blissful contemplating a complete family of 4.

Even good news is never really good

Well, we had our viability scan yesterday; the good news was that the heart rate was 129, which was good. The bad news (to us, anyway) was that the CRL measured at 6w2d, when we were really 6w6d along. That immediately brought back memories of our last miscarriage, where the fetus measured behind and never caught up before eventually losing its heartbeat.

Our ultrasound tech is a nice lady who we've had before, and she was quite upbeat about it all - that the heart rate was good and the size was 'fine'. She wanted to start chatting about which OB/GYN we were going to use, and our hearts just weren't in it. Even with good news, it just feels like we're waiting for the other shoe to drop. We overheard her outside of the room explaining the results to our doctor's nurse, and she was expressing her surprise that the results seemed good to her, but that we seemed very concerned. That made me feel better, but of course then I think that with our history it's still not very good.

We met with our doctor afterward, and he was cautiously optimistic - he actually asked if we wanted to continue with him or with our regular OB/GYN, which he didn't offer with the miscarriage - he said we needed to come back for another scan. So that, too, seemed like a positive. I so want to believe that these folks, who see a huge range of people and pregnancies, know what a good one looks like. It's just really hard to believe.

I can't decide if I'm an 'omens' person or not - I always think of the movie 'Signs' when thinking about it, and I would normally say I land squarely on the not superstitious side of the fence. But then I kept trying to not shave during our cycles because I thought it was good luck. And yesterday, when we walked into the ultrasound room, "Sweet child o' mine" was playing on the tech's iPad. If that's not a good omen, I don't know what is. So we wait, we hope, and we worry.

More waiting

We're pregnant....but as usual that doesn't make us turn cartwheels. I wish it did. I so wish for a "normal" pregnancy where you feel good shouting it out from rooftops (FYI, we've just had 2 people we know announce at 10 weeks....so i'm feeling a little sensitive). But we can't.

Five eggs were retrieved...less than we wanted, but hey, it's something. Only two fertilized, so it was plan for a 3 day transfer. The transfer went well - one was 10 cell, one was 5 cell - so just about right. It was a funny transfer, with our Dr cracking jokes about me peeing on him (which I didn't...but i'd made my bladder "perfectly full" from the ultrasound, which started the giggles). So we couldn't have asked for more really (well, except some peoples 20 eggs and 15 fertilized with oodles to freeze...).

Our first HCG test came back at an awesome 308. Couldn't have asked for better - except maybe slightly lower, as that's well within "Twins" territory, which we are just terrified of the thought of. Because waiting is hard, we snuck in for another HCG test this Saturday - 3879 - also great (though down on the trajectory it was on).

And now its Tuesday, and i'm spotting red blood. Not like the bleeding i've had before (with our successful pregnancy) unfortunately...if I was having that I think i'd be feeling a bit more confident that baby was growing...but no, just red spotting, with a lack of pregnancy symptoms yesterday and today. It doesn't feel good. I hope i'm wrong. But I am yet again reminded of how much this part sucks.

Broken Record

I feel a bit like a broken record....but we're here again, to try "just once more". Financial lines fell into place, thanks to a wonderful donation from family, so we've signed up and have just started our 5th round of IVF, this time a fully medicated, fully ouchy needles, cycle. Will this be our last one? I don't know, I think i'm giving up saying that, but reality is the family donation will only cover one cycle. But I do know this is our last year of trying. I turn 39 this summer, my body had a hard time keeping our little guy safe last time, and age is not going to make that any better. We've both made a pretty firm decision, that if the cards don't align this summer, we're a family of 3 for the long haul.

So...we're on week 3 of acupuncture (this time B is trying some out too - there have been some new studies out showing increased motility with acupuncture), and day 4 of injections. The cycle is identical so far to the one we ended up with our baby boy from. I'm starting to feel the effects already - bloating, painful mid section - it's amazing how quickly those effects begin.

Wish us luck....

The end of the story.

Just hoping for a different result doesn't really change it, as we've learned the hard way this last few weeks. Yes, we were pregnant. Yes, we saw a baby on the ultrasound at 6.5weeks, heartbeat and all. Baby measured 3 days behind where they should be, so we went back the next week. Baby then measured 7 days behind where they should be. Our last ultrasound yesterday, officially at 9 weeks, and baby had no heartbeat.

We knew from reading up that that was the most likely outcome. I have a tilted uterus though, so there was this glimmer of hope that that was getting in the way and showing less growth than was real. Yesterday that all came crashing down, in many ways it was good to have a final answer, a resolution, rather than the uncertainty that we've had in the last month. The low hcg readings, the slightly smaller baby, then even smaller than it should have been. In all likelihood there were genetic issues - we're just shy of 40, so that isn't so unrealistic.

And now another wait. My body has yet to miscarry our deceased baby. If you're infertile a D&C is not a good idea (and who knows, maybe that 1 in a billion natural pregnancy might happen to us, so we don't want to affect those already low odds), so we wait. It could be days, it could be weeks, or it could even be months. It's hard to know our baby is still in there, still whole but not alive.

To say we're crushed would be an understatement. We have an amazing baby boy who we love and adore, but we're both mourning the loss of yet another (our 4th) child who we never got to meet. It is easier, having what we have now, but it's still so hard, we so wanted to give our little guy a brother or sister to run around after. Minus a financial windfall, that is all gone now, somehow we need to pick ourselves up and be as happy as we can as a family of 3. Both of us grew up with siblings, so this all seems so bittersweet that our little guy will never get to experience that.

So that is the end of our story. To add a level of reality to those considering this route, we've spent around $60,000 on fertility treatments to be where we are today. Those loans will be with us for sometime to come....roll on insurance coverage for fertility treatments, it is so cruel that they are not.

We wish you all the luck in the world in your infertility journey.