Thursday, July 23, 2009

12 Week Ultrasound and More!

Last Tuesday we had our twelve week ultrasound. It was really fun! The baby is growing right on target and everything looks great. It was moving around all over the place. The baby kept opening its mouth and then swallowing, and we got to see all of its important parts like the umbilical cord, the spine and so on. It was so great to see the baby growing nicely and still having a good strong heartbeat at 166 beats per minute! It has long skinny legs which unfortunately you can't see in the picture, but the dark spot where legs should be, its legs go all the way to the end. My scanner decided not to work for me today so I just took a picture of the picture (I know super classy right?), its not great quality but I wanted to post it anyway! So here it is, our baby at 12 wks 2 days!
Many of you asked how I have been feeling and I have been feeling pretty good. I have my good days and bad days. From about 5 weeks until 10ish I was sick almost everyday but I never threw up I just felt like I was going to all day. I started to feel a little bit better but now that I'm out of my first trimester is evidently when I get to deal with the throw up. NOT FUN! Its only been 3 times so I can't complain too much because I know there are some of you Mama's out there (like mine!) that threw up everyday for 9 months and my heart goes out to you! Next Tuesday the 28th I have my next prenatal visit. I will blog about it but it may take me a while to get to it!
So next week we are moving again! Ugh! My friend Greg says that we are worse than a military couple. This is our 4th move in 4 years. Oh well! With the baby coming we decided that it would be best to not renew our lease at our beautiful yet very expensive apartment and find a more reasonably priced apartment. We will be moving into a 2 bedroom townhouse with 1 1/2 baths and just as much square footage. We will however be losing a bedroom and a shower but it will worth it to save just shy of $400.00/month on rent! This week will be a lot of packing a cleaning to get ready for the big move, thankfully I have great brothers that have been willing well slightly bribed to come help us pack. They have been a huge help and so far we have gotten a lot done!
Lastly I wanted to thank everyone for the overwhelming response we had to my last post. I was really hesitant to share our very personal story but as I thought about it I knew that in order to really know our excitement for this pregnancy you had to know what we have been through. It was great to hear of others stories and struggles that they went through to become parents as well. If I touched just one person going through the same thing than I feel like I did my job. Nick I want to thank you all for the prayers, love and support. We have been truly blessed with the BEST friends and family in the world and we love you all dearly so, thank you!

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Excitement, loss, hope and joy!

After 2 ½ + years, 2 miscarriages, 1 fertility specialist, 1 hematologist and 1 clomid cycle later Nick and I are delighted to announce that we are expecting our first child in January!!! January 26th, is my official due date and that makes me 11 weeks and 4 days pregnant. It has been a long emotional rollercoaster ride to get here and we couldn’t be more excited! I would like to share our journey from the beginning.

In October of 2006 we decided we were ready to start a family, we were so excited and like most couples never thought it would ever be a challenge to get pregnant. So, much to our disappointment month after month went by and I still wasn’t pregnant. Our excitement quickly started to fade into what if’s and frustration. After about 9 months of trying we decided it was time to talk to our doctor. We all agreed that it would be a good idea for me to try a drug called metformin. After first cycle with metformin I was pregnant. We were so excited and we couldn’t help but tell EVERYONE.

We had our first ultrasound at what should have been around 8-9 weeks but the baby only measured around 6. It had a very faint heartbeat and my Doctor was a little worried but said that dates may have been off and he would like to do another scan in 2 weeks. Well I never made it to that appointment. Less than a week after that scan I began bleeding, had an emergency ultrasound to find out that the baby had passed away, and had not grown at all since my 1st ultrasound. Needless to say we were beyond devastated! It was bad enough that we had to endure it at all but it seemed much worse that we had to tell everyone about our loss and hear everyone’s opinions. Dr. Herman really encouraged us not to lose hope and told us in a couple months we could try again.

Once again first try on metformin we became pregnant and once again miscarried. This time we decided not to tell anyone until after our first ultrasound. At that scan there was no heartbeat and we knew it was not a viable pregnancy. It was still hard to endure but we had that hope that we could get pregnant right away again.

A year after my 2nd pregnancy loss much to our disappointment we still weren’t pregnant. We tried many different treatments in that time such as increasing my metformin, trying different hormone supplements, etc. We had a visit with my Doctor once again and he suggested that we be referred to a fertility specialist.

In February of 2009 we had our first visit with my fertility specialist Dr. Johnson at Overlake Hospital in Bellevue. Immediately we knew we would like him and his “style” as much as we like Dr. Herman. He was so encouraging and gave us hope that we would soon become parents. Over the months of February, March and April we did A LOT of testing to get to the conclusion that I have Polycystic Ovary Syndrome and I have a diminished ovarian reserve. Both make trying to conceive very difficult. The fix that worked for me was Clomid.

We also had a course of tests done to find out why, once I finally became pregnant why I couldn’t stay that way and that is where the hematologist (blood Doctor) comes into play. I had an abnormal platelet test result and so I was sent to the hematologist. We found out that my factor 8 platelet count (makes blood clot) was too high and protein S platelet count (makes blood stop clotting) is too low. So when I would become pregnant my body would treat that pregnancy as if it were a virus and would destroy it. My body would begin clotting in my uterus and the clots would get so big because I couldn’t stop the clotting fast enough so the clots would literally suffocate the pregnancy. The fix: baby aspirin once a day, and heparin (strong blood thinner) injections twice a day (yes I have to give myself shots) to fix the factor 8 issue and extra folic acid for the protein s issue.

On May 17th I had a positive pregnancy test, we were both so excited, nervous, and filled with joy that we cried. A few days later, I went to my specialist in Bellevue and had my first ultrasound and of course endless blood tests. All of you mama’s know what I’m talking about, it seems like every time you turn around they need your blood. Those stinkin’ vampires! Anyway my first ultrasound, the baby was so small that they couldn’t even measure the pregnancy, it was only around 4 or 5 weeks. We do have a picture of a little teeny tiny dot from that day.

A week later was ultrasound number 2 at 6 weeks 4 days and this time we saw a small jelly bean baby with the most beautiful thing in the whole world; a HEARTBEAT!!! And a strong one at that! I was so nervous for this appointment because of my past experiences that when the Dr. said “there’s your baby’s very strong heartbeat” I began BALLING, I was so relieved!

Two weeks later we had ultrasound number 3 at 8 weeks 4 days, and this time we saw a gummy bear baby with a big head, little arms and legs, and an even stronger heartbeat! The baby had tripled its size in those two weeks. The nurse was able to count all of its toes (there’s ten) and we got to see the baby move around for the first time. It was so surreal to see the baby move and now know that we are really going to be parents this time. We also heard great news from the Dr. “after three positive ultrasounds you are now released to your regular OB. You have less than a 2% chance of miscarrying. Even with your history, because we have seen the heartbeat twice, the baby IS growing, and you haven’t had any complications. Congratulations!” At the clinic we went to they never say congratulations until it’s the real deal, so that was wonderful to hear!

Here is a picture of me the week my mama belly decided to make its grand appearance. This is me at 9 weeks 6 days

This is me on Tuesday, 11 weeks 2 days.

It scares a little me that I’m showing this much already, I’m going to be huge, but hey at least it will be worth it when I hold my sweet baby for the first time. My next ultrasound is Tuesday and I can hardly wait! The other pictures I have probably won’t turn out super well so I haven’t posted them, but hopefully this one will be clear enough to post. We can’t wait to find out what we are having so we can start shopping and narrowing down names!

After all of our excitement, loss, hope and joy we are so thrilled that we will soon be parents. Thank you to our families and friends for all of the prayers, support, hugs, and tears we have shared over our journey to get this far. We wouldn’t have made it without you holding us up. We love you!

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Vacation, Vacation!

We had a great time on vacation but I must say that it was WAY too short and we didn't get enough family time! We stayed at Nick's aunt Debbie's house (thanks again!) which was a blast! Her house always seems to be where the actions at, there always seems to be a party even if it is just with Her and Nick's cousin Danny. So after all of the wedding stuff was over this is what we were up to in Utah.
On Friday we went to the open house for the Oquirrh (pronounced Oaker) Mountain Temple. This is the newest temple in Utah and is located in West Jordan Utah (about a half hour from Salt Lake). For those of you who aren't members of our church, when a temple is newly built or remodeled, they open the temple for public viewing before it is dedicated. This is the only time that non-member's of the church can enter the temple. They take you on a tour and explain what each room is used for. If you ever get a chance to go, its a great way to learn about we do in the temple and why it is so special to us.
After the open house we ate at our favorite place in Utah, Cafe Rio! Its a really fun Mexican restaurant, where they serve you almost in a salad bar style much like Taco Del Mar, where you get to choose what you want. It is however 1 million times better than there. Our trips to Utah are never complete until we eat at Cafe Rio!
Nick, Mitch and I went to Provo Friday afternoon to go to visit the BYU campus. We bought some of their famous chocolate covered cinna-bears from the candy shop in the bookstore! YUM!!! Later we met up with Nick's cousin's Danny, LaRae, Mike (LaRae's other half) and Aunt Debbie for dinner at a restaurant called 5 guys. Its a really good hamburger place.
And like we did almost every night, we went swimming at my parent's hotel. This particular night we stopped at a Wal Mart and bought several water toys, like the whale, my killer floaty chair and a beach ball to bring with us. It was so fun! In this picture is me, Garrett, my cousin Jordan, and Nick. And no, Nick is not wearing a shirt, he just has a serious farmers tan! Saturday Nick, Danny and I went to Park City, we first stopped at the outlet stores. Nick couldn't resist trying on these size 19 shoes! They were as long as his shin! We wanted to go into downtown Park City where that have a bunch of cute little shops and fun restaurants but they had some kind of 4th of July festivities and there were roughly 8 bi-gillion people around and no where to park so we decided to scratch that idea. We met up with Nick's Grandma, Aunts Julie, Debbie and Wendy, Uncle Michael, Cousin's Keith, Danny, and LaRae for lunch. Are you seeing a pattern here too? We must really like food! It was great to have a little bit of time to catch up with everyone. That night, aunt Debbie had a forth of July BBQ. It was so fun! We got to see the rest of Nick's family that live down there. She also so graciously allowed my family to come too, so they would have something to do for the 4th. This is the whole clan getting ready to eat!
Nick and Danny did the fireworks show. It was short and sweet! Just how I like it! Here is Danny, Nick and cousin Keith while they were getting set up for the show!
Here are all of the spectators
Mom, Aunt Debbie, Mitch and my dad waiting for the show to begin.
Me and my dad!

We are so happy that not only did we get to go down to Utah for Kristl and Aaron's wedding but we also got to see family! It was great to see everyone. They really made our trip worth it! Next time we'll need to plan a trip just for visiting!

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Kristl and Aaron's Big Day

Kristl and Aaron are finally married! They were married in the Salt Lake Temple on July 2nd. It was a beautiful wedding and she looked absolutely stunning and Aaron looked very handsome as well. Here are some of the pictures we took of them on their big day.

Congratulations Mr and Mrs Densley! We hope you're having fun in Cali on your Honeymoon.