My first Pregnancy!

I'm pregnant!  Holy cow!  How the heck is this possible?  Pinch me cause I must be dreaming!  Part of the pregnancy I didn't feel pregnant, there were a lot of times I truly "forgot" that I was pregnant.  I did have morning sickness... make that all day sickness... for about 3 weeks.  They about put me on IV fluids, I didn't want the fluids so I chose to take the medicine they were offering me.  The medicine worked so things were fine.  At 12 weeks we found out it was most likely a girl since the ultrasound tech said it would be impossible to get that flat if it were a boy!  I was getting the little girl I wanted for my father in law (FIL.)

I found out shortly after hubby and I got married that my FIL always wanted a girl.  His twin girls born Oct 1978 didn't survive.  A year later Nov 1979, my hubby was born.  He was raised an only child.  I decided we needed to give my FIL a granddaughter so he could have his little girl!  

Got another back story.  About a year ago, we got a call telling us FIL was in the hospital with a major GI bleed.  We knew he wouldn't make it to see our second child.  Hubby and I had decided to have 5 years in between our children, mostly for my sanity.  I didn't want to feel like a harassed mother with a newborn and a toddler, looking like I'm about to pull the last strand of hair off my head. (No offense to anyone else who has done this and lived through it, but I just didn't think I could handle that for me, personal choice.)  Hubby and I decided we would try Shettles method and diet changes to help increase our chances of having a girl for him.  I never dreamed my FIL wouldn't make it to see our first child.

March 15, 2011.  Hubby wakes me up early in the morning.  His father died that morning.  As the day unfolded, we received more and more details of what happened.  The last little bit of details came to us several days later, and it pissed me off horribly.  Apparently, FIL's wife (not hubby's mother, it was his stepmother) had been up and down with FIL all night.  Finally at 5 am she told him that she was going to lay down for a couple hours and when she woke back up they would go to the ER to get him fixed.  She woke up around 8 am.  Went in to wake him to get him ready to go and he wasn't breathing.  She called an ambulance.  When the paramedics arrived, they pronounced him, and said he most likely passed at 5:30 am.  If only she had taken him then!  I mean I know she probably didn't mean any harm from it, but I don't think I sleep knowing my husband was sick enough for me to feel I needed to take him to the ER no matter how long I'd been up with him over night.  How in the world could she do that?  

It was a whirlwind of activity.  The week previous to FIL dying, we had been on vacation to a friend's house 14 hours away.  We left their house Sunday March 13, and arrived home around midnight.  I had an OB appointment in the morning and then had to go to work.  Then we got the call about FIL, we spent all of the 15th making arrangements, dealing with the grave site fiasco (that's a whole other story in and of itself!  It's hilarious as well as stupid), and making phone calls to everyone to let people know.  The next day we had the funeral and graveside service.  Gotta keep in mind, I'm 4 months pregnant at this time.  I was exhausted after all this.  Hubby and I had Thursday off and I was back at work Friday and worked through Monday.  By the time Tuesday hit I was so exhausted that I couldn't get up from the couch for two of my three days off.  

I was upset that my daughter wasn't going to know her grandfather who wanted her so badly!  We were going to let her know she was born for her grandfather and we so badly wished she could get to know her.

We meant to tell him before he died that we were going to name our little girl after his twins that died.  We never got to tell him.  Fortunately, someone else did.  He was thrilled!  We found out that he wanted us to use Stephanie as the main name since he was so partial to it.  I named her Stephanie-Ann Melissa.  I thought the Ann sounded like and.  Stephanie Lynn and Melissa Jean were their names.  I know my FIL is up in Heaven playing with all three of them now.

Ultrasound at 10 weeks!

 Ultrasound at 12 weeks!

Belly pic at 14 weeks and 15 weeks.  We went on vacation for week 16, FIL died for week 17.

Belly pic at 18 weeks.

My story.

Maybe I should back up some, maybe like 3 years ago when I got the diagnosis.  I knew something was wrong when my period didn't let up for 6 weeks.  I was begging for it to stop.  So the doctor told me to come in for an ultrasound to see what was going on.  I will never forget the what I saw on the screen.  A big black hole that covered the entire screen basically my ovary couldn't be seen around it.  Seems I'd had a cyst burst and there were more all over my ovaries.  So it was back to the birth control pills until we could decide it was time for us to have a baby. A kick in the gut since I was told I wouldn't be able to conceive without medical intervention.


Summer of 2010 we decided to go for it.

We tried for 6 months on our own to conceive on our own.  I temped everyday for those 6 months, bought OPKs (ovulation predictor kits), I even tried a fertility test since it came in the box I had bought.  Nothing.  I was getting tired of before I got up putting the thermometer in my mouth to get my temp, then going to the bathroom to see if my hormones were high enough for me to ovulate and putting all the information on an online chart.  Sex every other day for a week or two.  

That last cycle was murder on me.  It was 45 days and I was miserable, PMS symptoms like crazy and my period wasn't coming.  Through my charting I found that I didn't even ovulate that cycle.  So did the doctor.  It was clear we weren't going to be able to do it on our own.  So here comes the fertility drugs.  I temped again every morning, used the OPK every morning, had a pill to take on cycle days 3-21 and another one to take on cycle days 5-10 and sex again scheduled by the doctor (he marked a chart for me.)  I did everything exactly like the doctor "prescribed."  


December 12, 2010, I got a negative test.  A negative test doesn't mean anything until the big red dot shows up.  Plus it wasn't time for my dot to start, I was being hopeful.  I felt weird.  I was suffering from something I had no idea what it was for several days, I had to look it up on google to find out what it was.... heartburn.  For the first time in my life I had heartburn!  I was cramping too.  I never cramp before my period.  The day before my period would be due, I took a test to see if I should be expecting it.  

December 14, 2010, A faint positive showed up.  I called my hubby's boss who was supposed to be helping me tell hubby.  She was going to tell him he needed to call me ASAP and make it sound like a big emergency.  I waited until I was to get a call from him so I could call the doctor.  Since it was past time for him to be at work, I wanted to make it look like I had tried to get him and couldn't before his boss got to him so I sent him a text telling him to call me ASAP.  He did.  He was late getting into work and my text got to him first, (dammit).  I told him I got a positive.  We're having a baby and I'm calling the doctor to set up our first appointment!  


I called the doctor to set up the appointment, I have to come in for blood work first.  OK how long before you get it back?  If you come in before this time we'll have it back today!  All right, I'm on my way.  They called me back later telling me my progesterone was fine, and that I was REALLY early, well yes by my calculations I'm 3 weeks 4 days!  Yes very early!  My beta number was 88.7.  


I had to tell my mom so I tried being subtle about it.  I told her we needed to change the lottery numbers and I needed to know how many numbers we needed to complete it.  I knew we needed 5 numbers, so I said well I know I want the numbers 8, 26 and 11.  She didn't get it.  So I tried it a different way, 8-26-11.  Still didn't get it.  How about August 26, 2011?  Nope.  I said I wish your phone could get pictures cause I'd send one to you.  She gave me her work email.  So I sent it.  She told me later that she had to get one of the "younger" ladies to let her know what it was.  "Oh someone's pregnant!  Who's pregnant?"  Mom said she yelled so loudly that she had to let everyone know there.  Now she gets it!


December 16, 2010, I took another test to make sure the test was going to get darker.  It did.  Went to the doc to have another beta done the next day.  Beta numbers 314.7.  Last beta done December 20, 2010 number: 1887.  My first appointment was scheduled for January 10, 2011.  (A snowstorm would prevent me from going in that day, but we were able to go in the next day.)

First pregnancy test December 14,2010

                            Second test December 16, 2010

                            First ultrasound January 11,2011 (fetal nickname           Kakuna after the Pokemon that looks like a cocoon.)

Heartbeat!