Wishes Really Do Come True!

Steve and I are absolutely THRILLED to announce that we have another bun in the oven!

YES .... WE ARE PREGNANT!!!!

 

confirming it, over and over

I want to start off by saying that I started writing this post on April 29th, but wanted to wait several weeks until we heard the heartbeat, confirmed that there is in fact a baby in there and that we made it to the "safe zone." When Preston was one, we began trying for our third child. Even though our life was chaotic much of the time with two children under three, we always envisioned our lives with three. Two plus years later, we were still without. It brought us a lot of disappointment and sadness, but we thought maybe it was God's plan.

It wasn't until I began selling baby things on Craig's List or at consignment stores that the real sadness set in for me. After discussing it more, we decided we needed to give it a little longer. But before we kept doing what we were doing (which wasn't working), we had my OB run some tests (Feb 2012). Thankfully, all looked good inside of me, and Steve was in great shape. The first mode of fertility is usually Clomed, which she thought would work for me, so I immediately started that.  After a miscarriage, and bad bedside manner dealing with it, we decided to switch OBs in March.

That doctor continued with the Clomed for several months, slowing increasing the dosage, but nothing positive occurred, except "chemical pregnancies."  Basically that is when you get a positive pregnancy test, but it never goes further than that.  Dr. McKee decided after three months to pull the plug on my fertility, and refer us to a specialist (since time was not on our side).

Dr. Long and the ART Fertility Clinic ended up being a huge blessing.  Dr. Long is a compassionate, funny man who never rushes me out of his office.  He is honest, yet kind...a tough combination for a doctor.  He met with Steve and I and tried to gauge our expectations, and explained the risk-reward ratio of different fertility methods. Since Clomed and I did not get along (I had WILD mood swings), he immediately pulled me from that and tried a different drug, Follistim.  Once again we had several "chemical pregnancies."  By December, I was tired of crying all of the time and finally agreed to the laparoscopic surgery that he wanted me to do months before.  As it turned out, I did have some endometriosis (which he removed).  After waiting the proper amount of time, we finally got back on track with another round of fertility (what we had decided after 3 months off as our FINAL month). 

Since we had somewhat succumbed to the fact that we were just going to be a family of four,  we were shocked to take a pregnancy test and have it be positive.  I took one for several days in a row before I called the clinic for an appointment (trying to verify that it wasn't another chemical one).  So you can imagine our happiness when we went in for the initial ultrasound and saw the sac.  Several days later we went back and actually saw the heart beat!


We remained cautious, but week after week, baby Miz continued to flourish.  The heart rate got stronger, it grew and we watched it develop right before our eyes!  I have had weekly appointments for the past 7 weeks, and have not complained once, as it is such a blessing to be reassured each week.  Last week I saw it wiggle, so Dr. Long said my chances for miscarriage declined significantly.  Today the baby moved all over the place... flipping, kicking and the technician was able to get a wonderful close-up of its legs crossed and of it waving to us.  We loved seeing its little toes and fingers....GOD IS GREAT!

May 10th (5 wk 4 d)

 June 3rd (9 weeks)

June 12th: legs crossed and waving at us (10 wk 2 d)

We still have some hurdles, but we are cautiously optimistic that this was God's plan all along...he must have thought I needed more time between my kiddos.  We go in for genetic testing next week, and our final appointment with Dr. Long is on July 1st before getting discharged back to my regular OB who will see us through the remainder of the pregnancy.  Since I am still in my first trimester for another couple of weeks, I ask for prayers.   I am also weeks away from my 41st birthday, making me "advanced maternal age."  Of course we worry about the health of this little angel in my belly, but we are staying positive and praying for continued good news.  We ask that you do the same.  In the meantime, we promise to keep you posted until early January when he/she is due.