Surprise!

I had a great summer.  It started off with a local country music festival with a friend, me training for a 5k (which I had never run before in my life) and many other fun surprises.  I had run on and off for many years at the YMCA, and truly did enjoy it.  I ran on the track, with no wind, amazing a/c, and no hills.  When I realized that I should try running outdoors, I was in for a very rude awakening!  I could run three miles inside, but I could seriously not make it one mile out in the heat and humidity.  It was AWFUL!  So, I woke up early every day, and slowly but surely built up some stamina.  Each day I made it farther than I had the day before, and was feeling very accomplished when I only had to stop once, on July 10th.  My goal for the next day was to make it as far as I could without a stop, finishing the full 5k.  However, I was really sore that day, and when I got home and took off both sports bras (sorry if tmi:))  something seemed, hmm, off...  I chalked it up to being close to that time of the month, and went to the store to stock up.  While in the "hurry up and get your stuff and move it" department at Shopko, my eye caught on something I had not needed for over 2 years, and lingered.  Oh dear.  I grabbed a pink box that claimed to "test as early as 5 days before your first missed period,"  but I should have saved my money.  I knew immediately. 

 

Still, I took the test.  I did my business, and waited for the test line to pop up.  Oh, there it was, wait, which on is the test line again?  Because I saw two very dark pink lines.  Ugh..  Of course Aaron and Maizy were gone, and I knew I would have to get to the doctor that day.  It has been my full experience that every time I have had two lines on a pregnancy test (other than when we were pregnant with the twins) the fetus has not been in my uterus.  I have had 5 ectopic pregnancies, and have had many unpleasant side effects from the flushing medication (such as gaining an obscene amount of weight) and with one had to have one of my fallopian tubes removed.  It was never good news, to say the least.  So I called Aaron, who left immediately to meet me at home, and I called my mom to see if she could watch Maizy.  Sadly, I can't remember all of the events of the day, except at the hospital, there were unable to locate the fetus (too early) but confirmed a pregnancy somewhere in my body. They also noted that the corpus luteum (sp?) was on my right ovary, meaning I had ovulated from my right side.  I have no fallopian tube on my right side, so I knew that the embryo could not have actually reached my uterus.   I was to return in a week and take it easy in the meantime.  No. More. Running. 

 

A week crawled by, and I returned for another full formal ultrasound, hoping to locate the fetus.  The woman performing it told us that this early they may not be able to find anything, but she would let us know what she saw, and that we would meet with the doctor afterward.  I could see her tilt the screen away from us, and in the mirror watched her measuring and snapping images to save.  At the end, she tilted the screen our way, and showed us the gestational sac.  "I can't see anything in it, but it may just be to early.  It could also be what we call a blighted ovum, meaning a pregnancy began, but didn't continue."  I understood, and asked where the pregnancy was located.  I was praying for no surgery, and praying I would not have to take that awful medicine that would launch me into obesity.  "This is inside your uterus" she replied.  At that point, I am sure Aaron and I sounding like the most obnoxious hillbillies she had ever met.  We were giggling and shouting "Shut Up!  No way"  "Ah ha ha ha!"  "Are you serious?"  She very quietly replied (in attempt to tell us that we were clearly making too much noise) "Umm, yes, it's there, but there is no visible fetal pole or yolk sac, so we don't want to get too excited just yet."  More stupidity continued on our parts with "I can't believe this.  Are you sure?"  I think she was confused, because she again informed us that this wasn't necessarily good news.  I told her that we DID understand, but we were in shock, and as Aaron and I high fived each other, I am certain I saw the beginnings of her rolling her eyes.  :)

 

A week later, we returned to check for a fetal heartbeat, and the yolk sac.  Both were present, and this time we behaved like full blown cave men, shrieking and yelling with excitement.  I am sure it is noted in my file somewhere that we are both lunatics but unless you have been in these shoes, it's hard to understand the concept that somehow this could have actually worked!  I know what you are thinking, how are you so surprised about this... if you do certain things, and are not preventing a pregnancy, isn't it kind of likely that you would become pregnant?  And, yes.  I am always annoyed when women claim to be shocked that they are pregnant.  Unless you haven't actually had "relations," it really shouldn't be shocking, right?  Well, here's the thing.  I was on the pill.  I had some breakthrough bleeding, and stopped taking it until I finished the cycle off, and would have started a new pack that following Sunday.  And, I ovulated on the wrong side.  There is nothing about this that makes sense, believe me.

 

We have not been without a lot of anxiety on this.  At 9 weeks or so, I had some bleeding, and a scan at the hospital showed my cervix had started to open.  After taking some medications, it seemed to help, and although there was still some concern, a week later it did look better. 

 

I met with the high risk doctor at about 14 weeks.  We talked about a plan to keep this baby in place for the next 26 weeks, and determined that I will be seen every 2 weeks for a formal ultrasound to measure my cervical length, and if it starts to shrink, they will stitch it up (Which they could do now, but there are many high risks associated with that as well) and I will get a weekly intramuscular shot with progesterone to help keep that canal shut tight.  With this, along with thousands of prayers, we are hoping that next spring, we will bring another sweet baby home.  We are now 17 weeks along, as baby is due March 17th, 2013  (thanking my Grandma Klassen for sending us some luck of the Irish from above.) 

 

No cute bump yet, I look like I have eaten a large bowl of pasta every day for the last 3 months.  Along with being super bloated, I am as sick as a dog.  I have managed to gain one kilogram despite the daily vomit sessions, including up to three during the school day:(   Some of my pants don't button, so I use the pony tail holder trick until it's time to step up my game into full blown maternity gear:) Anyway, we are all over the moon with excitement.  Although we would not have planned to have our children this close in age, we do know that all children are blessings, and we will welcome her with open arms.  Yep, I said "her" (as far as we have been able to tell during that last 2 ultrasounds.)  The doc told Aaron to be prepared to be outnumbered, although the official ultrasound isn't until October 28th. 

 

Oh yes, and although I obviously wasn't allowed to run the 5k, several of my friends did.  My mom also did, which was her very first 5k!   She finished with a good time, and was the oldest runner at age 61:)