Smoother Please!

As I had mentioned before, the last couple weeks were a little tense.  Fluctuating hormone levels and a threat of a tubal.  A few extra trips to the clinic and a couple more needle pricks to the arm (and now my butt), and we were in the clear....or so we thought.

Yesterday saw us rushing to the clinic with the dreaded thought that I was having a miscarriage.  Cramp-like pains and bleeding.  It was hard not to think the worst.  As soon as the bleeding started I called the clinic and pushed for an emergency ultrasound.  Within an hour my IP's and I were in the ultrasound room full of worry.

I guess this is going to be another pregnancy of firsts. This is the first time that I have had implantation bleeding.  That's what we were told by the tech.  There is a pocket of blood next to the embryonic sac.  My body is trying to get rid of it and that's what the cramps were.

Baby P was floating around, happy as a clam.  There was a strong heartbeat of 113 bpm.  It was so nice to see that flutter on the screen....even if I had no clue what I was looking at.  You would think that with this being pregnancy #5 I can decipher baby parts, but all I see is snow on a TV.

Needless to say the car ride home was much more pleasant than the drive to the clinic.  We even got Dairy Queen!!!

Next week we have another ultrasound and appointment with the fertility doctor.  This will be when we are released from the clinic and go to my OB after that for prenatal care.

Grow Baby Grow

After last week and the scare of a tubal pregnancy we thought we were in the clear when we saw Baby P on the ultrasound.  We were wrong.  We have since has the worry that my Progesterone levels were continuing to drop and we may be facing the start of a miscarriage.  After my blood work on Tuesday my Progesterone levels were are 17 and I was instructed to switch from the suppositories to the intramuscular injections.

It's been three stressful days.  I went for more blood work today and my Progesterone is back up to 40 and my HCG has doubled again to over 18000.  What a relief for everyone!  The clinic is confident that we are out of the woods and can now concentrate on cooking a healthy baby.

I will remain on the intramuscular injections until the end of the first trimester.  I will have a sore backside but it will be well worth it.  I'm very lucky to have an amazing husband that administers the daily injection even though it really hates doing it to me. 

This is what it looks like when I get ready for an injection.  Two types of needles; one to pull the meds and the other to inject.

I would like to send a huge thank you out to all the well wishers, prayer warriors and friends who have been sending us their thoughts, prayers and love this week.  It's amazing to feel the support from everyone who is sharing this journey with us.  Thank you.

Bumpy Road

Once again our path is not a straight one.  Ours has some twists and turns, and definitely some bumps.  Last week when they confirmed the pregnancy they saw my Progesterone levels had gone down from over 40 to 38.2.  There was a concern that could be a sign of an Ectopic Pregnancy.  We were scheduled for an ultrasound for today.  Nothing like waiting five days (and over a long weekend) for a test that could reveal something like that.

Today we had the ultrasound and Baby P was there.  We saw a yolk sack and since I am 5w3d it's too early to see the heartbeat.  Everything looked great.  So what's the bump?  More blood work was done and my Progesterone level has now dropped to 17.  My HCG levels have gone way up over 9000 but the low Progesterone could mean one of two things.  Either I need a boost of the hormone and all will be okay or I am showing signs of a possible miscarriage.  I am starting the intramuscular injections tonight.  If that's all that I need we will see an increase in my levels come the blood work on Friday.  We are praying that's all I need and everything will continue smoothly after this hurdle.

So, if you are a praying person please send one up for us.  We could really use it.