Unfortunately at our first OB appointment in October we learned that the baby had no heartbeat and had probably stopped growing sometime in the 6th week. I had a D&C soon after. Btw I highly recommend doing it. So anyway I knew that I might have issues getting pregnant again and told my husband, C, but he felt that we should take some time and wait until the following summer before deciding to see a fertility specialist. (You see one of my best friends was seeing one and conceived her first baby using follistim, an injectable hormone therapy, so it was a topic I brought home to the dinner table frequently). C didn't believe and/or understand that I would have any trouble getting pregnant again. So...I went with it for a while.
By February I had had enough. My periods were random and erratic. My "bestie" at work was ready to call the doc to try for baby #2. I was getting super impatient and summer seemed so far away. I called and made my first consult appointment for late February. C was furious but allowed me to keep the appointment (yay!). He got over it haha.
Turns out I have PCOS. Shocker!! I knew this but never could get a regular doctor to confirm it. Basically it meant that without medication I have a huge risk of miscarriage due to hormone imbalances and poorer egg quality. I was put on metformin daily to help my ovary function and unknown-to-me insulin resistance, a hallmark of PCOS. I also began a regimen of femara, a nice little breast cancer drug that just so happens to help induce follicle and egg growth in the ovary! We tried this until June (3cycles) with no success before adding IUI to the process. I had a total of four rounds of IUI/femara/ovidrel (with 2 "chemical" pregnancies) before I finally conceived again in the first week of September!!! YAY!!!
This time I was under the care of my wonderful RE until I was about 7 weeks along. C and I got to see the heartbeat which was so amazing. I was a little concerned that the heart beat was only in the 120s but was assured by the nurses and doctors that it was fine, on the low end of normal. I was released to my OB, so I finally started to relax a little.
My first OB appointment was about a week later and everything looked good. I was seeing a new OB (same as my bestie lol) and he was great. Heart beat was there and he said everything looked good...except I had a bit of blood behind the placenta. He said no worries just take it easy, no lifting, no "relations" hahaha. His term not mine!!
Ok so that brings us to November 1, a fee days to a week after that appointment. I woke up with a little red bleeding. Freaked out, called Dr W, and he said to call back if it continued it worsened. I was really nervous because I had a teeny, tiny amount of blood in my first pregnancy too. By the afternoon, however it was gone. I felt a little better and didn't bother calling him back.
Big Mistake. Went I went to the next appointment I should have been about 11 weeks. No heart beat. Baby measured 8 and a half weeks or so. I was by myself. I was devastated. Two times? Really? Yes. Really. So I had another D&C the week before Thanksgiving and called my RE about a week later.
This one was more difficult because more people knew about it. For one thing C insisted on telling his family and mine around the 9 week mark. I had been nervous to say anything (intuition perhaps? I know my body!!). Also another "bestie" at work was pregnant at the same time and only a few weeks ahead of me. The real kicker was that a few if my students were starting to suspect (they decided I had to be pregnant with my attitude lol!!). Oh well. My principal and staff were all super supportive and let me take off the whole week leading up to the holiday to recover.
Back to the RE I went. To make it short (lol as I start the 1000th paragraph) I resumed my femara treatments and after three weird, unsuccessful cycles, I started on injectables. Now this is what my best friend at work used for her kids and it worked the first time, each time. She even had a set of twins! So needless to say I was excited to get started. 4 unsuccessful cycles later I am sitting here with my period, annoyed with all normal women, and super frustrated. We have decided to move on to IVF and will begin "treatments" soon by starting on the pill (I know, seems backward but after having to go on it each cycle to reduce cysts I get why). So that's where this journey is headed!!! At least I'll have the month of August free of needles, doctor appointments, and ultrasounds. Stay tuned!!!
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