I am really excited that I will have made it through the first trimester as of this Thursday. I had another doctor appointment today. No sonogram but we did listen to the heartbeat and it sounded great. The doctor appointments so far always make me feel much better. I found out that I need to be drinking a lot more water. It helps with infection now and my nurse told me to get used to it because labor will be much easier if I am really hydrated (less painful, etc.). That's enough to convince me!
I also get to stop taking one medication which is awesome. I take progesterone twice a day and it is hard to remember. Plus, it has to be refrigerated so I almost always get to bed or ready to head out the door then realize I need to take it (and it is not fun to take). I also get to stop taking Metformin in two weeks. That one is three giant pills that I have to take with my evening meal. It is a pain when we are not at home or if I am not feeling like I can keep my food down. The downside is that two weeks later I have to take a diabetes test (this medicine is due to me having low blood sugar which throws off my hormones, a side effect of PCOS).
The most interesting thing I found out at the appointment was that the doctor thinks people will be able to tell by looking at my stomach that the baby is more to the right. It won't be terribly obvious but I should expect people asking if it is always sitting on the right. It will be interesting to see if we can tell.
Is it bad that I am already sort of going through a nesting stage? I think it is more that I am such a planner. We decided to furnish our basement. I wanted to get a huge comfy couch down there for a nice place to relax when I am huge and miserable in the spring and when we are trying to get some rest next summer. So we bought a big sectional, a 46" LCD TV, and a TV stand. It will be nice for the New Year's party too... which is still on pregnant or not! We are also going to have fully-furnished guest rooms so lots of beds for guests to stay in. I have planned out where I want each piece of furniture. Now if I just had some extra cash to redo my kitchen, put drywall in my living room, and remodel the garage entryway so that my car actually fits. That is probably asking a bit too much!
The other thing I have been trying to get done is scrapbooking. I have sooo much to do but I want to get caught up before I have another person's life to document. I got a ton of pictures developed and picked up supplies this weekend so I need to get to it.
Next on the agenda is another appointment on Monday. We will be doing some prenatal testing just to see if the baby is likely to have any genetic/chromosome disorders, etc. Insurance covers it so we decided to go through with it just so we are aware of anything that may be a challenge when the baby gets here. After that I have an appointment with a perinatologist (a specialist) on November 23 just to see if there is anything else we should be doing as a result of my condition. Then I have another appointment with my doctor on December 7 to check for diabetes and do a sonogram. My doctor said that I will have around 10 sonograms throughout the pregnancy... one of the positive effects of having to get out of work to go to an appointment every couple of weeks.
Sorry this post is so long... I guess I should post more frequently!
Showing posts with label PCOS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label PCOS. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Beginning & First Ultrasound
I am still in shock and cannot stop thinking about being pregnant. I sort of hope that I "get over it" (to an extent of course) so that time goes by faster and I can focus on things like work or cleaning my house instead of spending every free minute learning everything I can about pregnancy. In the past few weeks, I had been complaining about weird things like my stomach feeling yuck, the "twins" hurting, and other random things. I thought it was nothing since my cycles are often long and we thought it to be pretty much impossible to get pregnant on our own. But Brett thought it was funny and kept saying things like "maybe I knocked you up" or "are you pregnant?". I took my first pregnancy test when I was around 4 weeks pregnant. It came back inconclusive... even though I had bought the kind that says "pregnant" or "not pregnant." I didn't think much of it at the time except that it was a waste of money. The next couple of weeks I continued to feel really nauseous and still no period so I picked up a cheap-o pregnancy test at the grocery store. I took that test on Monday (Sept. 28) in the morning and it was pretty clear that it was positive. I called my nurse and was told to come in for a blood test. My numbers were really good and we had an ultrasound scheduled.
Today (Oct. 1) was my first doctor appointment and ultrasound. It was really neat and sort of made it set in that there really is a baby growing inside me. Brett perked up from the Consumer Reports magazine when he heard the heartbeat. Wow! I had no idea we would hear the heartbeat that early. We also got ultrasound pictures to take home.
Going into the appointment, we thought I was around 8 weeks pregnant based on my last cycle. So we would have conceived around Aug. 15. However, the ultrasound showed that the size of the baby was consistent with someone 6 weeks pregnant. This makes sense due to the fact that my normal cycle had been around 45 days without medication (rather than the regular 28 day cycle). So, conception would have occurred around the end of August. When the doctor told us that we were actually 6 weeks, Brett had a "shit-eating grin," if you will, on his face. He was doing the math out loud and I realized what he was thinking. We were in Vegas at the end of August and he had been wanting to be able to tell people that what happens in Vegas doesn't always stay in Vegas. The doctor got a kick out of that story.
So now we are just waiting for my next scan which will confirm whether our "Vegas Baby" is growing at an appropriate rate. We are also trying not to tell anyone until we are well into the pregnancy due to all the risks. I can already tell that this is going to be difficult. Our goal is to wait until Christmas and I will be four months along.
Today (Oct. 1) was my first doctor appointment and ultrasound. It was really neat and sort of made it set in that there really is a baby growing inside me. Brett perked up from the Consumer Reports magazine when he heard the heartbeat. Wow! I had no idea we would hear the heartbeat that early. We also got ultrasound pictures to take home.
Going into the appointment, we thought I was around 8 weeks pregnant based on my last cycle. So we would have conceived around Aug. 15. However, the ultrasound showed that the size of the baby was consistent with someone 6 weeks pregnant. This makes sense due to the fact that my normal cycle had been around 45 days without medication (rather than the regular 28 day cycle). So, conception would have occurred around the end of August. When the doctor told us that we were actually 6 weeks, Brett had a "shit-eating grin," if you will, on his face. He was doing the math out loud and I realized what he was thinking. We were in Vegas at the end of August and he had been wanting to be able to tell people that what happens in Vegas doesn't always stay in Vegas. The doctor got a kick out of that story.
So now we are just waiting for my next scan which will confirm whether our "Vegas Baby" is growing at an appropriate rate. We are also trying not to tell anyone until we are well into the pregnancy due to all the risks. I can already tell that this is going to be difficult. Our goal is to wait until Christmas and I will be four months along.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Treating Infertility
On June 11 after all of the infertility testing was completed, we had a consultation with the doctor to determine what the next steps needed to be. I was put on Metformin (started with 500mg and was told to work up to 1500mg). Metformin is an insulin resistance medication often prescribed for PCOS that helps regulate blood sugar which somehow gets the hormones straightened out. It is a pretty difficult medication to get used to. It really messes with the digestive system which is why you start with one pill and try to work up to three by adding another one every week or two. The pills are also huge which is sort of a pain. I was also told to take low-dose aspirin which has an unexplained positive effect on fertility and prenatal vitamins. So at that point, I was taking 5 pills each night. When my next cycle started (who knows when that would be), I would take fertility medicine and we would do the IUI procedure (think turkey baster).
You may be wondering about the cost of all this testing and treatment. Luckily, my employer's medical insurance includes up to $10,000 (lifetime) for fertility treatment. Additionally, many of the tests and maybe even some of the treatments were coded as a birth defect rather than infertility. We are extremely fortunate in that all of this only cost us a hundred dollars or so (most of which was for the medications).
Cycle Day "CD" 1 was July 1st. CD 3 through 7 I was put on a low dose of fertility medicine called Femara/Letrozole which was one pill per day. Luckily, the only side effect I had was a few hot flashes (some people have a lot of side effects with these types of medications). I was put on a low dosage because it is sort of a trial and error calculation to determine how much you need to get an egg to develop and grow and how much is too much, causing multiple eggs to develop. The low dose seemed to be enough because on CD 10 I had an ultrasound and there was a follicle measuring 12 (the goal is to get it to grow to around 20). The hope was that it would continue to grow. And it did - at CD 13 the follicle was measuring 19. It was a little later than normal but since my cycles are a little longer it made sense. Since the follicle was big enough, I was told to take Ovidrel which is a shot you have to give yourself in the stomach to tell your body to release the egg from the ovary. I could not get myself to do it myself so I had to have Brett inject me. The needle was so tiny that I didn't even feel anything. On CD 15 we had the IUI which was pretty awful and painful. Because the egg was on the right side, they had to inject into my right cervix which is very difficult to get to. Starting on CD 17, I had to start taking progesterone suppositories twice per day. Let's just say I am glad I am finally done with those! On CD 22 I had my blood drawn to determine whether I had ovulated (which would mean the egg was released). They are looking for a number above 10 and mine was at 20. Then it was the waiting game - after seven days I would take a home pregnancy test to see if this worked. On July 29, I took a test and it was negative. So we would have to start over next cycle. The doctor said that if IUI didn't work after 2-3 times we would have to move on to IVF which Brett and I were not comfortable with.
The next cycle started August 1. We decided to not do any treatment this cycle because Brett was traveling for work probably around the day that we would need him and we also had a vacation scheduled in Las Vegas at the end of the month. We would wait until the next cycle started... which was taking forever! It was almost the end of September (close to 2 months) and I had not started another cycle.
You may be wondering about the cost of all this testing and treatment. Luckily, my employer's medical insurance includes up to $10,000 (lifetime) for fertility treatment. Additionally, many of the tests and maybe even some of the treatments were coded as a birth defect rather than infertility. We are extremely fortunate in that all of this only cost us a hundred dollars or so (most of which was for the medications).
Cycle Day "CD" 1 was July 1st. CD 3 through 7 I was put on a low dose of fertility medicine called Femara/Letrozole which was one pill per day. Luckily, the only side effect I had was a few hot flashes (some people have a lot of side effects with these types of medications). I was put on a low dosage because it is sort of a trial and error calculation to determine how much you need to get an egg to develop and grow and how much is too much, causing multiple eggs to develop. The low dose seemed to be enough because on CD 10 I had an ultrasound and there was a follicle measuring 12 (the goal is to get it to grow to around 20). The hope was that it would continue to grow. And it did - at CD 13 the follicle was measuring 19. It was a little later than normal but since my cycles are a little longer it made sense. Since the follicle was big enough, I was told to take Ovidrel which is a shot you have to give yourself in the stomach to tell your body to release the egg from the ovary. I could not get myself to do it myself so I had to have Brett inject me. The needle was so tiny that I didn't even feel anything. On CD 15 we had the IUI which was pretty awful and painful. Because the egg was on the right side, they had to inject into my right cervix which is very difficult to get to. Starting on CD 17, I had to start taking progesterone suppositories twice per day. Let's just say I am glad I am finally done with those! On CD 22 I had my blood drawn to determine whether I had ovulated (which would mean the egg was released). They are looking for a number above 10 and mine was at 20. Then it was the waiting game - after seven days I would take a home pregnancy test to see if this worked. On July 29, I took a test and it was negative. So we would have to start over next cycle. The doctor said that if IUI didn't work after 2-3 times we would have to move on to IVF which Brett and I were not comfortable with.
The next cycle started August 1. We decided to not do any treatment this cycle because Brett was traveling for work probably around the day that we would need him and we also had a vacation scheduled in Las Vegas at the end of the month. We would wait until the next cycle started... which was taking forever! It was almost the end of September (close to 2 months) and I had not started another cycle.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Investigating Infertility
At my first appointment with the infertility doctor on April 20, 2009, I had a physical exam, an ultrasound, and blood tests. I had done quite a bit of research on fertility issues in the past due to my uterine abnormality so it did not surprise me when I was diagnosed with PCOS (poly-cystic ovarian syndrome). This was diagnosed in part by the ultrasound which showed many follicles on each ovary and in part by the blood test which showed that my blood sugar was lower than normal. I has previously suspected that I might have this because I experience some of the other symptoms, one of which was an irregular menstrual cycle - I would go anywhere from 45 days to 9 months between periods. PCOS is a very common cause of infertility in women and is basically caused by a hormone imbalance. This causes the eggs to not fully develop or release from the ovaries - which creates the follicles that were shown in the ultrasound.
The next appointment I had was an MRI on April 29th. The purpose of this scan was to determine which type of mullerian anomaly I had. Depending on the type, it is sometimes necessary to have surgery in order to increase the chances for a successful pregnancy. I was diagnosed with a didelphic uterus which was great news because the pregnancy outcomes are the best and there is not a surgical procedure to correct this defect. On May 4th I had an IVP performed to look at my kidneys because many people with mullerian anomalies also have kidney abnormalities. A lot of people have extra kidneys. The IVP showed that my kidneys were normal - I have two and both are functioning.
On June 3rd I had one of the most painful procedures I have experienced. It was an HSG where they basically insert dye into the cervix which is pushed through the uterus and eventually into the fallopian tubes. This test was a check to make sure my fallopian tubes were not blocked and that an egg could pass from the ovaries to my uterus. Because of the pain I was in and the difficulty in accessing the right cervix, only the left side was tested but it showed that that tube was in fact open.
The next appointment I had was an MRI on April 29th. The purpose of this scan was to determine which type of mullerian anomaly I had. Depending on the type, it is sometimes necessary to have surgery in order to increase the chances for a successful pregnancy. I was diagnosed with a didelphic uterus which was great news because the pregnancy outcomes are the best and there is not a surgical procedure to correct this defect. On May 4th I had an IVP performed to look at my kidneys because many people with mullerian anomalies also have kidney abnormalities. A lot of people have extra kidneys. The IVP showed that my kidneys were normal - I have two and both are functioning.
On June 3rd I had one of the most painful procedures I have experienced. It was an HSG where they basically insert dye into the cervix which is pushed through the uterus and eventually into the fallopian tubes. This test was a check to make sure my fallopian tubes were not blocked and that an egg could pass from the ovaries to my uterus. Because of the pain I was in and the difficulty in accessing the right cervix, only the left side was tested but it showed that that tube was in fact open.
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