Almost 13 weeks

I'm almost 13 weeks with #3.  I have been feeling either super nauseous or have absolutely no energy, which is pretty challenging with an almost 4 year old and a 20 month old.  My almost 4 year old K has been talking to the new baby through my belly.  I had an appointment with the MFM (maternal fetal medicine specialist, the high risk doctor) and my husband was able to come.  The baby was measuring right on dates and moving around a ton, and the doctor said everything was looking good right now.  It sounds like there is a good chance I'll need to be induced unless the baby comes early on its own.  The doctor seems happy with the current medication regimen and said I was an unusual case with the stroke where it was and so late after delivery.  I have an appointment with my OB next week at 13 weeks, 2 days and another MFM followup at 17 weeks, 1 day.

Almost 7 weeks

I'll be 7 weeks on Sunday and this Wednesday we saw the heartbeat at 6 weeks, 3 days.  I also have a subchorionic hematoma (pocket of blood in the uterus, abbreviated as SCH).  I had one with my oldest as well.  The OB talked the MFM (maternal fetal medicine doctor- high risk pregnancy specialist) and they decide to go ahead and start the Lovenox yesterday.  I had to go get a CBC (complete blood count) and clotting factors drawn before starting the Lovenox.  They also want me to go see my neurologist for a baseline so I'll be doing that next week.  Although my OB and MFM have concerns about progesterone, my NaPro doctors (who have the most experience with supplemental progesterone and have work with women with clotting issues) do not believe the risk of bio-identical progesterone is any greater than the risk of pregnancy.  Progesterone is also supposed to help resolve or at least keep the SCH from increasing.    I'll be seeing the OB again in 3 weeks at 9 weeks, 3 days for another ultrasound.  Hopefully the SCH will be resolving by then.  I haven't had bleeding this time since between 4 and 5 weeks.   My husband's grandmother died yesterday, so he'll be going to the funeral on the East Coast some time next week.

Pregnancy #3, pregnancy after stroke

I found out about 2 weeks ago that we are pregnant with our third child due mid-September 2015.  Since I had the stroke in August 2013, I will be on blood thinners during the pregnancy once the doctors confirm that the pregnancy is viable. I don't have any real lasting effects from the stroke.  I have been on 325 mg aspirin since the stroke.

My first beta was 623 at P+16 and 9620 yesterday at P+24, which is a doubling time of 48.6 hours.  I had an ultrasound yesterday at 5 weeks, 3 days.  They were able to see a yolk sac and gestational sac but no fetal pole yet.  I go back for another ultrasound next Wednesday at 6 weeks, 3 days and hopefully there will be a heartbeat then.  I will then start on Lovenox.  I will go see the Maternal Fetal Medience (high risk doctor) at 12 weeks.

Strokes in August

Late last August (2013), I had 3 ischemic strokes.  They were cerebellar and I have very few residual effects On August 23, I had the first one while I was in the shower with my oldest daughter K who was about 2.5 at the time.  I was sitting down and got very dizzy suddenly.  Since I was sitting, I knew that it wasn't good..  I got out of the shower and of course, baby E, who was 11 weeks at the time woke up.  I tried to call my husband, but he didn't pick up so I called one of our good friends who picked us (the 2 girls and I) and took us to the hospital after I tried to call my doctors who were all out since it was Friday.  By this time, I was terribly nauseous and very sick. I went to the ER and I was diagnosed with vertigo.  My husband D met us there and my mom came to pick up K and take her to her house until I was better.  I had a CT scan that day and it didn't show anything.  I was prescribed Zofran, meclazine and Valium.   I spent the entire weekend in bed since I couldn't move without being sick.  I just nursed baby E and slept.  Some time on Saturday I realized that my face had a numb spot on the side of my nose between my nose and my mouth.

On Monday, my husband had taken off work to take me to the ENT to do testing to find the cause of my vertigo.  They checked out my ears and found no problems so they arranged for a nerve test the following week. After the appointment, my husband had to pick up some things from his work because he was going to work from home until I was feeling better so he could watch E.  While I was in the car waiting for him, I was talking to my aunt and I heard a sudden buzzing sound, saw a bright light and suddenly I was not able to speak properly (and I knew it).  I hung up with my aunt and my husband came out to the car.  As soon as he got out to the car, my husband realized that there was a big problem so we started heading to the hospital by our house while he call the ENT to confirm that they agreed that was what we should do.

We got over to the ER and I wasn't able to sign the paperwork (when I tried to write I could only form the top halves of the letters).  I had to wait a while, but once I finally saw a doctor, they quickly got another CT scan and gave me aspirin.  On the second CT on Monday, I had 3 spots so they immediately admitted me and started getting other doctors consulting.  They also did an MRI to make sure what cause the lesions.  The neurologist told me that I had had 3 ischemic strokes.

I'll try to post again soon with the rest of story.

E's birth story

E is 3 months old, but here is her birth story.

We had to go in at 5 am on Friday for the induction.  My mom had come to town the night before so she could watch K for us.  Neither my husband or I got very much sleep that night.  We got up to the hospital and got checked in.  It ended up that we were actually in the exact same room as we had with K when she was born.  As they were getting me prepped for the IV and stuff, I actually started feeling like I would pass out, but thankfully didn't actually do so.  I had actually passed out while riding in the car over Memorial Day weekend and had to go to the hospital then.   Because they were in a hurry to get my IV started, they didn't get my blood work from the IV access and so they did another spot on my arm.  For some reason, they always try to do a weird vein when I'm giving birth or after, so I have a big bruise even through I have great veins.

When they checked me before starting the Pitocin, I was 3 cm dilated and 80% effaced.  I had noticed some contractions the afternoon and evening before, but they weren't regular.  They started the pitocin and eventually I started having regular contractions although they didn't feel too intense for a while.  My husband and I watched a few shows on the internet for a while.  The first time they checked after the pitocin, I was still at 3 cm.  They turned up the pitocin and checked me a few more times over the next few hours.  When my doctor came at 4 pm, I was between 3 and 4 cm still.  She asked to break my water and I said it was fine.  After my water was broken, things got way more intense quickly.  I remember thinking that I hoped this was transition, because I didn't know how long I could handle this intensity.  The doctor came back about 30 minutes after breaking my water and I was at 9 cm.  I had been in transition when I was thinking that.  The doctor went out to get things prepared for delivery.  I told my husband that he needed to go get the doctor.  He saw the baby's head crowning as he walked out so he told the doctor to hurry up and come back in.  The doctor and nurses came in and started preparing but the baby was not waiting for them to get ready before coming out and I was not actively pushing.  One of the nurses even told me not to push.  They didn't even have a chance to break the bed down for delivery.  E was born around 4:45 without an epidural.

Baby #2

Ella Marie is here.  Born at 1648, weighing in at 6 pounds 6 ounces, and 19.5 inches long.  Baby and Momma are doing great.

Baby #2 will be here tomorrow

It's not the way I wanted it to happen, but the baby was diagnosed with intrauterine growth restriction and I'll be induced on Friday at 38 weeks and 5 days.  Either my husband or I will post after the birth.

Preparing for the birth of #2

I know it's been forever.  Life has been crazy with a toddler and being pregnant plus working from home.  Baby Blondie #2 is due in less than 2 weeks and K is no longer a baby but definitely a toddler at 26 months old.  She is speaking well, has been doing well on going potty and wearing panties for the last week or so.  She is still nursing, so I'll be tandem nursing after the birth.  We'll see how it goes once the new baby comes.  Other than having to go to the ER because I passed out while we were traveling to our hometown a few weeks ago, the pregnancy has gone well.  I'm definitely much more tired than with K since I get less sleep working from home at night doing medical transcription and taking care of some kids (older than K) at our house during the day.

I have been getting ready obviously for the birth of #2.  There is definitely a lot less that we need to do this time around since it's not the first time.  We aren't worrying about pulling out the pack and play until we are getting ready to go to the hospital.  We have our hospital bag packed other than toiletries and I went to the grocery store to pick up some things to have on hand to eat when I am in the birthing time for #2.  Two other big things we did was get the doctor to sign the birth preference sheet (which I'll post) and get preregistered for the hospital.

Here's what is in my hospital bags (plus a couple things I'm planning on throwing in at the last minute):
Nursing tank
Yoga pants
2 shirts (that pull down in front for easy nursing)
A couple pairs of old underwear
A couple of newborn size diaper covers
About 8-10 flat cloth diapers (I have regular prefolds but I don't want to use them until we are done with meconium)
Wet bag for diapers
2 blankets
1 pair of socks
A couple of newborn outfits (since we don't know boy or girl, I'm bringing a few different options)
Halo newborn swaddle sack
Nursing cover (not sure that I'll actually use the cover while nursing but bringing it just in case)
Toiletries (shampoo, conditioner, body wash, shave cream, razor, face wash, toothbrush, toothpaste)
Overnight pads
I-Pod touch
Birth preference sheet

Foods:
Coconut water (electrolytes like Gatorade without all the added sugar and other additives)
Broth and noodles
Peanut butter granola bars
Crackers
Peanut butter
Applesauce

21 months (a little late), and 17 weeks with #2

I know it's been a really long time, but I am still somewhat around.

K is 21 months old now.  She still is an intense child, either very happy or very upset, and always moving.  She talks quite a bit and loves to copy us saying words.  She still signs sometimes too.  She can identify quite a few animals.  She was wearing an owl shirt yesterday and was able to tell us what was on her shirt without us telling her.  She has started climbing more but thankfully has not decided that climbing out of her crib is an attractive idea.  She loves books and will sit on the potty for long periods after going to read.  She has been doing reasonably well on going potty but still definitely is not fully potty trained.  We are still using cloth diapers and loving it.  She loves bread and cheerios.  She got a Cozy Coupe from us for Christmas and loves to ride around in it.  She loves cars and other vehicles especially school buses.  We have a school across the street from us and she loves to watch the school bus driving up in the morning when she wakes up and after her nap.

She is sleep reasonably well.  She goes to bed around 8 and gets up about 7.  She'll occasionally wake up between 5-6 to nurse.  She takes a nap around 1 that is usually around 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 1/2 hours.  She'll occasionally take a 2 hour nap.

We found out in mid-October (a couple days after my 32nd birthday) that we are having another baby in late June.  We didn't really tell people until Christmas and surprised our parents and families by having K open a big sister shirt as one of her presents.  We aren't planning to find out the sex of the baby since we had the drama of being told incorrectly with K and thinking she was a boy for a good deal of my pregnancy.  I had quite a bit of nausea this time just like with K, but I was able to keep it under control with Zofran which I got much earlier this time around.  I did have some spotting when I would get dehydrated.  We have another appointment tomorrow afternoon.

18 months, a little late

K turned 18 months on October 8.
She is says quite a few words including please and thank you.   She copies a lot of what we say.  She loves watching the school buses outside her window (her window faces the driveway of the school that is next to our house.  She asks for buses when she wakes up.
She is still a pretty voracious eater, although the toddler pickiness seems to be manifesting by eating only 1 or  2 foods at a meal (though eating large amounts of them).  Yogurt is almost always something she'll eat as are cheese, blueberries, raspberries and sweet potato.  She does like to throw me for a loop on what her food of the meal will be.  Many of her words are food related like blueberries, more, strawberries, raspberries, avocado, cheese and meat.
She's doing pretty well with going on the potty most of the time for BMs.  I know pretty much when she generally needs to go (timing and gas) and she is 50/50 on telling me if she needs to use the potty.
She loves to read books.  Sometimes I think she is just asking to sit on the potty because she likes to read there.  She is starting to point out different things in her books when ask about them like animals.
K loves to dance and will dance to my phone alarm or other things like that.  She loves to do the songs at the library story time especially If You're Happy and You Know It and 5 Little Monkeys.

It showed Monday afternoon

I finally started my cycle on Monday afternoon.  I finally got a call for my cycle review from PPVI this evening and they are supposed to call me back in the morning.  I'm hoping that the significant reduction in K's nursing will helping and that we won't have to wean completely anytime soon.  I'm definitely disappointed and I hope that we can at least have decent timing this cycle.  Last cycle cut it close only using P-2.

My progesterone and estrogen continue to look good and I'm wondering what Dr. H will suggest this time around.

Negative test, still waiting

I had a negative test this morning at P+14, but I'm still waiting for CD1 to show.  I tend to only go to P+13, so I had some hope that I might actually get a positive test.  After a long cycle (didn't ovulate until CD 25), I'm still waiting and I'm frustrated.  I don't want to deal with another cycle of TTC right now.  I'm tired and our schedules are not meshing well on that front.  If I do have to deal with another cycle, I just want to hurry up and get it started and do my cycle review and everything.

The last couple days we have been able to go to where K only nurses when she wakes up, at naptime, when she wakes from nap, at bedtime and then once in the morning between 4 and 6.  This is a vast improvement since she still sometimes nurse an hour apart even a month ago.  I do have to tell her no when she asks to nurse outside of those times (she signs milk please), but she seems to handle it pretty well until just before sleeping.  I have no problem continuing to nurse for at least 3 more months, especially if I can manage to get pregnant.

K had been doing really well with having BMs on the toilet, but she has started going in her diaper again the last couple days.  Yes, she is only 17 months, but it's frustrating when she had been having maybe 1 a week in her diaper for months and now she's gone 5 times in 3 days and isn't telling me.

Trying to trust God and my husband

After some frustration with the "trying" aspect of TTC, I am trying avoid it feeling like work.  I'm working on trusting that if God wants us to  have a baby, he will make sure that we get together at the right time (as long as we are not actively trying to thwart him).  Me initiating and pushing is removing the unitive aspect, and so I need to back off and let my husband let in that department.  It's not easy since we are doing our 21-day antibiotic right now and it's hard to feel like they aren't being wasted if we don't have good timing.  Also, I'm trying to trust that whenever my husband decides to initiate will be fine whether it means our timing is good or not.  Our schedules right now make it a challenge to find time for it after K is asleep.  This cycle's late ovulation is making it more difficult, and I think that I may have finally ovulated yesterday, but we only used P-2.  I need to work on releasing control, especially over my fertility (or lack thereof).

Frustration

I feel terrible saying this when I have already received the blessing of one wonderful, smart (although very intense) daughter, and others are still waiting for even one.  I'm jealous of pregnant women.  A friend of mine recently announced her pregnancy with their 3rd child.  My body does not seem to be cooperating this cycle and I'm on day 24 or so and haven't ovulated yet, and the scheduled marital act is getting old, although we did have a talk about it last night after some frustration on both sides.  I'm not really yet secondary infertility and I am still breastfeeding relatively frequently.  We are on the 21 day antibiotic this cycle, so I have 3 weeks of nausea without the benefit of even being pregnant yet (I had it with the cyclical before conceiving K as well).  Well, I'd better get to bed since I'm done working for the night and K will be up in about 6 hours or so.  I need to balance out by posting about K soon.

New Cycle (#4 TTC #2), What to do?

We are onto our 4th cycle TTC #2.  I'm trying to figure out what I need to try this coming cycle, since I'd like to try a few more things this cycle to feel like we are making a strong effort.  I need to figure out what else to ask Dr. H.ilgers about during my cycle review.  I'm still breastfeeding K (16 months tomorrow) fairly frequently and want to continue to feed her on demand until 18 months at which point I will try to wean to about 4 feedings a day (early morning, after wakeup, before nap, before bedtime).  I do try to offer her other options like water or a snack and she has to ask with signs for more milk.

I didn't need any ovulation medication to get pregnant with K although I did take either Vitex or a fertility blend herb that cycle.  I wasn't on progesterone until after the post pregnancy test.  We did take the cyclical antibiotics that cycle.  I am already back on Hydrocort and T3.   I did do the Benadryl P+5-P+9 when I got pregnant and this past cycle, and I will probably do that for future cycles.  Four months before getting pregnant with K, I had a laparotomy for endometrosis.  Dr. H also found inflammation and yeast during my surgeries.  I took Diflucan a few cycles before getting pregnant with K.  My progesterone and estrogen are both around 20 P+7 for the previous 2 cycles that I have had tested.  Is there anything else that I should try or ask Dr. H about?

On Bloomburg and formula, i.e. Formula IS medicine

Bloomburg is a crazy nanny statist, but in the formula area (not a ban if you actually read about it, just having nurses not hand it out like candy really), he is right.  Formula is medicine.  This is coming from someone who had to supplement with formula for 6 months of her child's life (I still continued to breastfeed and am breastfeeding her still at 16 months old).  All  they are doing is having mothers request the formula instead of formula being pushed on them by nurses find it easier to hand out formula than give a mom who is trying to breastfeed the support she needs to be successful.  Breastfeeding is hard work and many mother fail at breastfeeding successfully because of lack of information and support, not necessarily the true ability to do it.  Moms should be given every possible resource to help them to breastfeed their children and women should not encouraged to automatically pop a bottle of formula in their child's mouth at the first sign of problems.  The formula companies spent the 50s convincing mothers that formula was better than the "old-fashioned" breastfeeding, and it has taken decades for people to realize otherwise.   Lack of breastfeeding knowledge from older generations is why we are still having so many mothers chose not to breastfeed or not have success at it.

Biting

K (15 1/2 months) has started biting, but thankfully she is only biting me and not her friends.  It seems to happen when she is frustrated.  I tell her no biting, and put her down and walk away for a minute, during which time she usually cries.  She's been teething, so I'm also giving her a toy that she can bite on afterwards and telling her that if she needs to bite, to bite the toy instead of Momma.

Any additional suggestions?

15 months and TTC #2

K turned 15 months yesterday.  She has been walking full time for about a month or so now.  She is still a pretty good eater, although she is eating a little less at every meal.  She is still nursing all the time.  She started taking 1 nap a day about 2 or 3 weeks ago even though her nap is usually only between 1 and 1 1/2 hours long.  She has been pretty good about waking up for a brief nursing between 6 and 7 am and then going back to sleep for another hour or so, especially since we got some new curtains for her room.

K is saying quite a few words.  She says momma, dadda, yeah, no, hi, bye, na-na (for thank you), night-night, more (and she signs more), book, wow and "itsy" when she wants us to sing Itsy Bitsy Spider (which she is obsessed with...she also does the motions for it).  She signs all done (in many contexts).  She is getting to be very talkative around familiar people even though it's not really English yet.

I'll know her weight and height when she has her well-child visit tomorrow afternoon.  She's wearing mostly 12 month outfits with some 18 month outfits thrown in.  She is still quite petite, but she is perfectly plump for her age.  She has 5 teeth (3 top, 2 bottom) and 1 coming in on top.

She loves to swim.  She's been swimming at my SIL and BIL's house in a big pool as well as going to the splash park and playing in the baby pool at our house and friend's, and she always loves it and doesn't want to be done.

I'm feeling a little anxious about what I should be doing for TTC#2.  I feel like I need to go a bit harder core if we aren't pregnant this month.  Yes, I realize that this is only our 3rd cycle TTC #2, but I want to get as many things in order as possible and it took 3 years for K.  I'm currently on T3 15 mg and hydrocort as well as a relatively standard prenatal.  When we conceived K, I was also on Pain and Brain (a curucumin supplement), sustained release B6, Mucinex, the cyclic antibiotics CD 6-15 for both my husband and I, Benadryl P+5 through P+9 and did acupuncture.  My progesterone and estradiol have been ok but not as good as when we conceived K.

Onto cycle #3, round 2 and K is almost 15 months

K will be 15 months on Sunday and I just had cycle day 1.  We only used 1 fertile day this time and it obviously didn't work.  I'm back on T3 and hydrocort and I've called for my cycle review and we'll see what  Dr. H has to say.  I'm still breastfeeding K pretty often at least 6-8 times a day and that doesn't seem to be changing very quickly.  I definitely plan to breastfeed on demand until at least 18 months and if I'm not pregnant by then maybe try to get down to 3-4 times a day.  This upcoming cycle is odd since I'll probably ovulate around our 5th anniversary and if we actually conceived, the new baby would be due around my husband's birthday and K's birthday (they are 5 days apart).  I'm not sure how I feel about that.  We aren't going to avoid, but I'd almost rather a new baby got a separate time.

K is down to 1 nap a day.  She usually wakes up between 7:30 and 8 (with a quick feed at between 5-7 and back to bed), then naps around 1 for about 1 1/2 hours and then she goes to bed about 8.  She is still a pretty good eater most of the time.  She is also now a full-time walker and says quite a few words and does a couple signs.

I've been super busy with traveling quite a bit, taking care of K, watching a friend's baby twice a week and getting ready to work from home doing medical transcription.  I'm going to try to do a 15 month post for K.

Cycle #2 of Round 2

I'm on CD 3 of my second cycle.  We had had good timing and I felt really hungry and then nauseous, but it turned out the nausea was just a horrible stomach virus so I felt terrible most of Tuesday and Wednesday.  I had tested Tuesday morning and it was BFN obviously.

I had my annual with my new OBGYN (my old one who delivered K retired and this doctor took over the practice).  I really like her.  She seems to have the same philosophy on birth as I do (minimal intervention).  The only thing that I didn't agree with was that she didn't want me to get pregnant while I'm breastfeeding.  I don't have any plans to wean K soon, and I don't think that it's something I'm going to worry about.  If I can get pregnant while breastfeeding, so be it and we'll continue as long as we both want to.

I did my cycle review with the PPVI nurse on Friday afternoon and they are going to talk to Dr. H and call me on Monday if there is anything in addition to doing the P+7 bloodwork that they want me to do.  By the way, my P+7 levels this past cycle with K still nursing 6+ times a day were progesterone 21 and estrogen 16.4, which is pretty decent.

K will be 14 months on Friday and she is walking indepently part-time.  She still crawls a lot and insists on holding onto my hand, etc.  I'm still hoping she'll be walking full-time by my SIL's wedding, but it's only 2 weeks away now, so I don't know.  She has been having a cranky couple days; we're pretty sure it's the teeth that are trying to come in.  It's really trying dealing with the whining all day long.