Monday, January 12, 2015

We have a Due Date!

Finally...we have an official due date! Baby Monnier was measuring 9 weeks 3 days today with a strong heart rate of 183! I should technically be 9 weeks 5 days today based on my sister's egg retrieval date, but the past two ultrasounds before this one Baby M was measuring three days behind. Today, he/she was measuring just 2 days behind! That gives us an estimated due date of August 14th, 2015! Here is a picture of our miracle from today's ultrasound:

 
Baby Monnier is starting to look like a baby!
 
 
Today was the first time after an ultrasound appointment that my husband and I started talking about plans for our baby.  We discussed how and when we want to find out the gender, middle names we would chose for each gender, who we would want to babysit our child while we worked, and baby shower ideas.  I've been feeling much less anxious the past two-three weeks and feeling like this baby really will become our Rainbow Baby. 
 
There are a few things that I am hoping to get addressed with my doctors this week though.  I had a bunch of blood drawn on Wednesday last week to check out how my body is responding to this pregnancy.  Despite taking 1500mg of Metformin daily, my fasting insulin was the highest it's been at almost 30 and it should be below 15.  I check my blood sugar twice a week and it is always normal...and I've even checked it a few times after eating two or three meals and it is never high so I have no idea why my insulin level gets high, especially when taking medication.  I also do not know how this could affect me or the baby so I am hoping to get a response from the doctor tomorrow.  My anti-nuclear antibody was also elevated which is a sign that my body is attacking itself, and could potentially attack the baby.  I am already on an auto-immune protocol with the Prednisone, Intralipid Infusions, and Lovenox but I do not know if this is enough....again, hopefully Dr. Braverman will respond tomorrow and let me know what he thinks is going on.  All my other auto-immune tests came back normal, but I also was not tested this time for Lupus or Rheumatoid Arthritis which can flare up while pregnant.  I'm hoping the doctor will test me for those two things just to see if that is what is going on.  I've been tested for Lupus so many times because I have a lot of the symptoms...but never when I'm pregnant, and it's always been negative.  Lately I've been getting really bad Charley horses in my feet, ankles, legs, and rib areas (started before pregnancy and has gotten worse) and I don't know if this could be related to the ANA elevation, or possibly something else like low magnesium (never been tested) or my abnormal amino acids (my muscle building amino acids are currently low). I've been on Synthroid for 1.5 years for elevated thyroid stimulating hormone and this past week when my level was tested it was the lowest it's ever been, almost abnormally low, so I don't know if I should decrease my medication or again, how this affects the baby.  Hopefully Dr. Braverman has some answers on all of this! The good news is, my Homocystine level has remained stable which drastically decreases my risk of blood clots. 
 
Everything else remains status quo.  I thought I only had 6 days of Progesterone injections left but my doctor wants me to remain on them until I make it to 12 weeks.  I was really looking forward to no more jabs into my hips and gushing blood from my blood being so thinned out from my Lovenox injections.  But I guess I can handle a few more weeks.  My husband has come to enjoy giving me these injections...it's like a sick guilty pleasure of his!
 
I was released by my fertility doctor today and meet with my regular OB for the first time next Tuesday, January 20th.  It will just be a regular appointment to discuss how we got pregnant and how things have gone so far.  My next ultrasound is scheduled with my OB on January 29th, my father-in-law's birthday and the day before my 28th birthday.  I pray to God everything is still great with Baby M....we have not made it that far into a pregnancy since our first one 7 years ago.  I will be 12 weeks on my birthday....and it will be the best birthday present I could have ever had if all goes well at the next ultrasound! Our furthest miscarriage was at 10 weeks 4 days...so please keep the prayers coming for this baby!!! 


3 comments:

c.hambleton said...

Hello! Ive been following your journey as your blog has been popping up on my news feed. :)
I wanted to say something about the blood sugars you had. I had a rough time getting pregnant last year due to PCOS and insulin resistance. I was able to get pregnant, but was quickly diagnosed with gestational diabetes. After some research and talking with my doc, it turns out I had "dawn phenomenon" meaning my blood sugars were great all day and after meals, but my first one of the day was always super high. I'm wondering if that's what's going on for you? Metformin and glucophage did nothing to help for me, I had to alter my diet and add a lot of protein before bed to help keep my levels steady through the night so that my silly pancreas didn't dump too much insulin in :) I was able to stay off insulin, have no complications and have a healthy baby boy who just turned a year old this week! If your sugars keep causing you problems, it might help to look into Dawn Phenomenon and see if it fits what's going on with you.
I wish you and your family much luck through your rainbow journey!!!

Brianna said...

Not really much to comment on all the medical stuff. I hope you get some answers soon, and make sure to keep an eye on you insulin levels. I'm T1 diabetic, so knew that as long as my blood sugars remained in good/tight control, baby and I would be fine. I knew going in that my insulin needs would likely triple by the end of the pregnancy, but I'm not sure how all of that is different for someone who is not T1. Definitely make sure that you understand what it all means, how you need to control it, and if you feel you want to be aggressive with your control and go on insulin (if needed), then do it.

August 14 is a great due date--Rainbow 1's birthday is August 18!!

Sheila said...

Hi Lindsay

I saw you post on the Infertility Support Group Facebook page. Congratulations on your pregnancy and very best wishes that the great news continues - you have been through so much, you really deserve to have your dream come true. xx

I went through 6 years of unexplained infertility until I finally fell pregnant on our 3rd ICSI cycle (I miscarried on our 2nd cycle at 6 wks) & our darling daughter is now 4 yrs old. I didnt go through anything like you but battling with infertility is not something you ever forget. So that I may help others going thought a similar journey, I am launching a fertility magazine in February - it will be bi-monthly and free online. Fertility experts have provided articles, information about online resources, true story, recommended book, recipe, to name but a few of the features that will be in the first & subsequent issues.

As you have been writing a blog about your experience I am assuming you, like me, are happy to share your experience in the hope that others will see that they are not alone and that what you have been through may help someone else see their dream come true.
So I was wondering if you were interested in writing your story for My Fertility Specialist magazine? Particularly about your sister giving you her eggs. I expect this is not very common & although my friends daughter offered us her eggs, my husband & I declined. But what an amazing things for someone to do, your sister must be a wonderful woman. Both your stories would be amazing.

If you are interested you can contact me through www.myfertilityspecialist.com & I can then get back in touch with you.

Everything crossed for you and your husband and Baby.

Best wishes
Sheila xx