Trip to the ER

***Warning, this may be TMI***

Well, we've had our first official scare with this pregnancy. Earlier today, I went to the bathroom, and noticed the toilet water had turned red. It stayed bright red with about three wipes, and then turned brown. I spotted frequently with Aidan, but this was unlike anything I ever experienced with him. First, it was just bright red blood, and there was so much. Then when it turned brown, all I could think of was what happened last year's miscarriage (I spotted brown). I'd been having minor cramps on and off the last couple of days, so I was really starting to freak out. I walked into the living room, trying to find the words to tell my husband what was happening and I couldn't. Luckily for me, he knows me so well, he knew just by looking at my face. We called my OB's answering service and I told him what happened and he told me to go to the ER. At this point I'm crying because I can't think anything but worst case scenario. Aidan, concerned that I was crying, held my face and said, "Mommy please don't cry, everything will be alright, I promise." No words for how much that melted my heart. After I calmed myself down enough to change clothes, we dropped Aidan off at a friend's house, and sped our way to the ER.

Once we got there, everyone was so nice. We were taken right away, thankfully. They explained they would take some blood to check out my hCG levels and give me an ultrasound. The doctor came in and took notes on what I was experiencing and told me that we would have to wait a bit for them to call someone in to do an ultrasound (apparently they don't work on weekends). After about an hour, a woman came to take me to do an ultrasound. They wouldn't let Casey come with me, which was hard on both of us. We were both so worried, and he was pretty much keeping me together. If I was going to get bad news, I would need him with me. But hospital policy outranked my wants, so off I went by myself.

The tech tried an abdominal scan first, and she was able to see there was a baby right away. She said she had a lot of measurements to take, but that there was a baby (she showed me on the screen) and there was a heartbeat (THANK GOD!). After that wave of relief I watched as she measured everything she could possibly measure. She measured the sac and the baby last, and they came back at 9 weeks 6 days, which is still within range of my 10 week 2 day GA based on my LMP. She measured the heart rate and it was 169, which is also good. She gave me two pictures of my little one to bring to Casey because she knew he was upset he couldn't witness the ultrasound:

In the top picture you can see the head at the right, and make out the eyes. In the picture on the bottom you see more of the whole baby with a head, belly, and four spots where his/her hands and feet are. It was such a relief to see my baby was doing OK. After the ultrasound, we waited another hour for the radiologist to give the go ahead to release me.

They have no idea where the bleeding is coming from. They released me with a diagnosis of a threatened miscarriage. It doesn't mean I'm definitely going to, and just because the baby looked OK, doesn't mean I'm not going to in the near future. So they told me to go home, rest, avoid any heavy lifting or strenuous exercise. My OB called while I was there and he was told everything that's going on. My hCG came back at 95,000 and that seems to be a good number for 10 weeks. I will probably have another draw on Monday or Tuesday, depending on what my Dr. wants to do. I feel a little better having seen the baby, but I'm still concerned about not knowing where the blood came from. It's not completely gone, but it has tapered off to just a brown spotting. Hopefully it just completely disappears. For now I'm just going to try and relax, and pray that I get some answers when I see my doctor. But I ask that everyone please keep baby bean in their thoughts and prayers. Hopefully this will be the only scare I have this time around.

9 Weeks!

I avoided writing any blog posts until after our first prenatal appointment. Not that anyone was missing much, since this pregnancy is already going much more smoothly than Aidan's did. My nausea is minimal, as opposed to all day, every day like I had with Aidan. I'm tired, but nothing I can't manage with a nap here and there. And the girls have grown to what I feel are massive proportions, which may be attractive to my husband, but it's just downright painful to me. Those are pretty much the only symptoms I have, so a tiny piece of me was worried that our appointment would not go as we were hoping.

But, good news, our appointment was wonderful! I was extremely nervous...it was like dejavu because this time last year I went to my first prenatal appointment and received bad news. Even the nurse who was taking my bp remarked on how fast my heart was going (sidenote: despite my nervousness, my BP was a phenomenal 110/70, so it looks like no PIH this time around!). My husband, however, happened to be extremely confident in the fact that I was still pregnant. He said, "Do you want me to prove to you that you are still pregnant? Let's go get pizza...buffalo chicken pizza..." On a normal non-pregnant day, I'd be all over it. For some reason though, this baby does not do pizza, not even of the buffalo chicken variety! Needless to say the suggestion turned my stomach and I got nauseous thinking about it. Even still, I was grateful he was able to put my mind at ease, if only for a few minutes.

Enter the doctor. He congratulated me on producing an egg all by myself (yay!). We went over what medications I'm still taking, and my past history. He did the physical exam and the whole nine yards, and then it was time for the ultrasound. I anxiously keep my eyes on the screen, and as soon as the wand was inserted, I could see a big black void with a blob. He readjusted the wand and there it was, my little jelly bean! He adjusted again and I could see his/her tiny heart flickering nice and fast. Here is a picture of my little bean:

Relief is not the word to describe that moment...more like complete and utter joy. I teared up a bit, thanking God that my little bean was doing great. After that I was on a high for the rest of the day. I think I called everyone I could think of to tell them we have a heartbeat! And amazingly, I am keeping my original due date of May 10th, because at 8w 6d, the actual baby was measuring 9 weeks even. I was worried that my irregular cycles would mean I'd have to push my due date back because I rarely if ever ovulate on CD 14. But luckily for me, I keep my due date and only have 3 more weeks left in my first trimester.

So everything went really well. I'm staying on the metformin until my next appointment on November 2, at which point they will start to wean me off. And I will be taking the synthroid throughout the entire pregnancy, which is good. Other than that I just need to relax, and try to curb my cravings for junk food. This baby LOVES potato skins! Until next time, here's a picture of the 9 week pudge. I wasn't this big with Aidan until about 13 weeks, but I guess that's what a healthy appetite and lack of nausea will do for you!