Monday, November 15, 2010

Getting Closer to the End

Well the week has finally come where I can get back to work.  Plan is to go back on Wednesday, and to say I am excited is an understatement.


This weekend proved, if you do too much you regret it later..even though I learned that last week- I thought my energy was up.  One doesnt realize that when you do nothing for over a week...you body adjusts to that.  So me who I feel is very active, gets exhausted over simple things. From making dinner or a quick trip to Home Depot, when you are not use to it...it bites you in the butt.

I can say I am happy to finally be at this week, but scared as well.... who knows when the next episode will happen...though I have had no bleeding since last Friday, I have been, (sorry for the TMI) still having frequent brown spotting which my MFM said is good, and severe cramping...  I hope that I won't deal with any more episodes for a few months...though I know that once you are diagnosed with PP, and have had a bleeding episode...its not a matter of if you bleed again...but when...almost like a walking time bomb....what a great prognosis....

I must say today is a good day for my poor house...my cleaning company which we use about once a month since I went through the IVF in July, is here to save us from all the dirt that has been piling up... I think I will be using them bi-weekly from now end so its less work for Bryan...and less stress for me, since I know I shouldn't be doing it...

Thursday, November 11, 2010

A Tale of a 29 yr old and a Electric Shopping Cart

So ladies- any of you out there with a husband, knows that shopping for a man isnt the easiest...and my husband is no further from that.  So I decided I would go with Bryan to the grocery store (it had been too long and my poor fridge looked like a single man's territory).  But I am no fool so I thought- I will use the electric shopping carts those 80 years use....

Can you really picture me using those shopping carts?  Well I did...and let me tell you how many looks I had.... me driving the ESC, while Bryan patiently drove the normal cart behind me grabbing everything I told him too... we got more looks then I would have if I had purple hair!!  But hey it worked for us..I got everything I wanted, I didnt walk, and Bryan didn't get yelled at for buying the wrong crackers or too many apples (yes its happened before- I tend to overreact over apples :) )

I wish I had a photo to share with you all, but we failed to take a photo...but I have a feeling it won't be the last time....

Till tomorrow ladies!

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Just when you think everything is going your way

So you are all pretty caught up on whats been going on with the bedrest- and the Previa...well this morning I woke up ready to work from home, only to get a call from the Benefits department, literally as I was returning work emails.  I explain the situation to them, and their policy states if you are on bedrest, you don't work...you do just that.  So even though the doctor has given me the all clear to work..I am not allowed..

Now if you are normal person you may be saying to yourself, sweet...dont work..enjoy your time off.... well for me I know that my lovely prognosis of PP and the blood clot means I may be out again.  So this means I will have to use up 8 of sick days for this first episode of bed-rest.  If there is more, I will have to do the same thing... Problem is when I finally go on bed rest, and out for good- I have a 14 day waiting period before STD would kick in...so this means I will probably be unpaid for a bit....

I was all frustrated but I know there is nothing I can do, as I am explaining this to Bryan on the phone, the doorbell rings...a florist....My work has sent me Get Well Flowers.... so now I know I should just follow procedures, and hopefully this wont happen till next year when my sick days go back up...

Time to start a BUDGET!~

Today also marked the first day I could drive since last week...wow the things you take for granted....driving was always just a thing I did, but I enjoyed every minute of my 6 min drive to get Jacob from daycare....sure I won't always feel that way- but it felt so nice...

Time for my Anatomy Scan- and Hopefully Off Bedrest!

Well the time had come for my Anatomy Scan on Tuesday Nov 9th-- I was 19w4d.  I was hoping for good news.  The best part of the day- getting ready...got to put real clothes on (as much as I love sweats and all) doing my make-up and shit, I even curled my hair a bit too!

We dropped off Jacob at Daycare, picked up some Panera, and off we went.  What I love about the MFM (high risk OB) is that they get you in right away- no waiting!  So they took my blood pressure and I must have been excited to be there cuz it was 155/70!  So they took it again and it was 159/70...not good...

Well the tech came in and did the anatomy scan and we got to see our peanut once again.  He must have been excited for us cuz he was waving and pointing at us.  At this time I also got to see that my blood clot was covering my cervix.  This was news to me- I knew I had one but didnt know it was also at the opening of my cervix.  Double Whammy! BANG!  We also got to see the proud little fella showing off himself as well.  Oh Lord another Boy....God help me!! :)  These boys will eat me out of house and home!

Well the Doctor came in finally and told me that since the blood clot is also low lying- it is highly likely that I will have a c-section- AWESOME!  I also got hit with the news that they want me on bedrest another week just to be sure.... GREAT.... Positive side was that I could do more now (like driving, going out for an errand or 2, and sitting up).

But bedrest another week.....well that just sucks.

When You Feel Good, You Do More...well that was stupid....

Hey all- So Saturday the 6th I was feeling pretty good--- no real pain, bleeding had stopped (thank you!).  My dad came over to watch Jacob while Bryan worked.  To say I stayed in bed...welll I didnt too much.  But I tried- did a wonderful afternoon of online gaming...(DORK AM I) but to be honest I got up more that I probably should have... Well I paid for it on Sunday.  Most of the day I was in pain with some cramping on my left side. Luckily my aunt and uncle brought food over to me for dinner- but I did ahere and tried to stay in bed as much as I could.

Monday got better- and worked from home. (working in Online Retail its pretty easy) I had good feelings about Tuesday's ultrasound.....however I was sadly mistaken.......

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Why so many posts on Nov. 9th you ask?

So I guess you are wondering, why so many posts today.... well i couldn't bore you with a super huge post explaining "everything"...you would have stopped reading 5 mins ago... Since I just started it today, a week after my confinement started, I figured I would break it up for ease of reading...so how nice I can be sometimes :).

Where were we...oh yeah Day 2 of Confinement.... So Thursday Nov 4th, I am released from the hospital, with the dreaded bed rest guidelines, and told- we will see how you are next Tuesday for you Anatomy Scan... great now what.  I would just like to say I have the most loving husband- who has tried the hardest to do his best in making this work.  But lets be honest ladies....they try to be Superman on Day 1..get burnt out... and they themselves wonder..when will this end. Thursday was pretty much a day of reading up on PP (placenta previa as I will now call it), and resting... all that worrying makes a poor girl tired!  Friday was up and I am not going to lie, as much as I thought I would read a book, I was pathetic TV all day and slept...oh and of course Google... (can I just say that I think Google has made people crazy...the amount of information you can find, in either which way is insane...yet I admit, I "Google" everything!)

Forgot to mention in my previous post....how did my job and boss take it.  Very supportive.  They have all been very understanding and cooperative with whats going on.... not bad for just being there 4 months...  The well being of me and my baby is whats important....I am grateful for that.

How did I wind up on Bed-rest you ask??

So now you know how I got pregnant...now I will let you know how I got myself on 2 weeks confinement.  Here it is folks.  You know when you just feel that something isnt going to go the way you planned... well thats my life in a nutshell, in a big nutshell to be honest..I swear I have that ESP stuff - where you just know.  Well everything had been going pretty well in this pregnancy, almost exactly like Jacob's (minus the fact this little man was conceived in a petri dish).  Well that feeling kicked in about 2 weeks ago- when i thought to myself..."Gosh, I hope I don't go on bed rest, that would suck, especially since I have only been at my job less then 4 months"  I think that was the icing on the cake...next time, I will keep my internal comments to myself...and out of my head.

Well last Monday I was feeling a cold was coming on, or something cuz I felt like poo...Tuesday after lunch I felt sick to my stomach and actually thought I might throw up at work.  I also noticed some spotting as well.  I left around 3 to go home and rest.  But by the time I got home, spotting turned bright red, along with cramping.  Worried I called the doctor that evening.  Told to stay resting and to come in the next day.  Well unfortunately the bleeding didn't stop, just slowed a bit.  After the initial exam by my doctor, it was off to the hospital to Labor and Delivery (L&D as I will call it throughout this blog) for monitoring.  Well after getting there and changing, the nurse came in, asked me for my due date, and then asked "why the hell did they send you here, you are less then 20 weeks?"  well geez woman I don't know, I am bleeding and you as asking me that?  So I am told to change and that I will be wheeled down to my MFM (high-risk OB) for an ultrasound since I am under 20 weeks.

Get down there and they do both a regular ultrasound and vaginal one.  The tech asks if I want to know the sex, worrying that something may be wrong with the baby, I say yes, because I needed to know to call the baby a he or she.  Oh Lord, another boy on my hands!  Baby boy Woods showed himself proudly.  At least I knew he was safe.  When the doc came in, he had a strange look on his face- bad poker face (should play Texas Hold 'em with him).  Told me I had a blood clot as well as "Placenta Previa".  Then went on to draw it out so I would understand.  Good news is the placenta isn't "completely" on my cervix opening, bad news is the opening is completely covered by the placenta as well as the blood clot. Doctor "Bad Poker Face" suggests a night in L&D to be safe and then proceeds to tell me about all the bad things that can happen with a Previa (hemorrhage, blood transfusions, premature delivery, need I go on).  But does say a C-Section is in my future at about 36 weeks before he starts to prepare for delivery. So back up to L&D to spend the night.

Long story short...wait its already too long..oh well...is that I spend the night at the hospital googling all the horrible information out there, only to find on page 3 of one site (90% of Previa's deliver just fine).  I am released the next day, though still spotting and told to be on bedrest for at least a week....

How will I make it through a week...and God forbid, longer.... at least BB Woods (baby boy Woods) is safe.

In the beginning....how did i even wind up pregnant, IVF of course!

Hello all!  After a week of bed rest, and confined for another week I thought I would share my story of how it came to be.  I've been on Google way too much this past week looking up information on what I have and who has been through it- and its made me crazy, so after a friend told me to start a blog (shout out to Lara!) I've decided- hey what else should I do with my time!

But back to the beginning.... when I say the beginning I can mean so much- so I guess I will clarify and explain a little how I got to this pregnancy and then to this bed-rest.  First off... I am a happy mom of a wonderful son named Jacob who was born on March 9th, 2007.  My husband, Bryan, and I decided in the spring of 2009 we were ready for another child.  Now who ever said things go as planned..does not know me at all.  To clue you all in, I have a couple different issues that make conceiving hard.  First up Hashimoto's Disease (auto-immune disorder) causing Hypothyroidism.  Next is the lovely PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome) which is my main reason that having a 2nd child posed a problem.  The the newest condition, cuz those weren't worse enough...MTHFR Mutation A and C (a lovely blood clotting disorder).  With Jacob we took 3 rounds of Clomid and bang! we were pregnant.  Well 3 round of Clomid in 2009 did nothing..nadda..zilch...no ovulation- let along a pregnancy.  So we decided to enlist the help of an RE to get us our next baby.

Dr. Charles Miller was our man to get the job done.  We went straight to IVF, because 1) insurance covered it (thank you CitiBank!), and 2) it were the best odds and we wanted our baby now!  We went ahead with IVF round 1 in early December- and success we were pregnant!  However on New Years Eve 2009 after a great dinner out, I came home and passed a horrible blood clot.  We went to the ER and nothing was seen on the u/s (however I was only 5 weeks- but deep inside me I knew).  Went on bedrest, and went to the doctor the following Monday, however, they too saw nothing on the u/s and my numbers dropped.  Saddened, we knew we had to keep going.  After several months of cancellations, and missing the cut off to start.  We did our 2nd full round of IVF in July.  This time again success!!!  We were pregnant and have 12 frozen little embies on ice!  I was given the all clear, released from Dr. Miller, and told enjoy the pregnancy..... this I did until the first week of November.......