MISCARRIAGE #4 :-(

No heartbeat and HCG numbers going down  :-(   Courtney has a meeting with the doctor tomorrow to discuss her options.  Natural loss or D&C.  I know this is an extremely difficult time for Courtney and Mike.

Having Nevaeh seems to make this loss a little less painful (or maybe just numb since this is the 4th time).  Knowing that she can get pregnant and have a healthy baby (with medical intervention, ie lovenox shots) sheds a different light on the situation.  Before we felt completely hopeless, thinking it just wasn't in the cards for them.  Now we know differently.  The first hurdle is making a healthy embryo.  The second hurdle is keeping a pregnancy with progesterone and lovenox shots.

I have no doubt that miracle #2 will happen sooner rather than later.  We will keep praying!

6w3d- ULTRASOUND- CAUTIOUSLY OPTIMISTIC

The ultrasound shows a gestational sac and fetal pole measuring 6w1d with no heartbeat yet.  However, the cervix is closed, the blood flow to the sac is good, the sac is perfectly round (which is another good sign).  The tech said that it is still early for the heartbeat and not to worry yet.....and the bleeding stopped.  Mike mentioned the second spot in the sac, but she seemed to skim over that and not really talk about it.  Could it be two?  Is it possible to have two yolk sacs on opposite side of the gestational sac?  Curiosity has the better of me so off to Google land I go! .....So this news is much better than expected.....What an emotional roller coaster we are all on. The ultrasound tech said that the other machine used could have been tooo old to pick up the fetal pole or the fetal pole was too close to the edge of the gestational sac to be seen vaginally. The above picture is abdominally....God I hope that is the case!   I know we can not change the outcome and all is in God's hands.....We pray we see a heart beat (or two) at the next ultrasound!

6w2d-EMERGENCY ROOM SCARE

Courtney started bleeding (light pink), so around 4am on Saturday morning, she went to the emergency room.  Her cervix was closed, which is a good sign.  However the vaginal ultrasound showed a gestational sac measuring 5w6d that was empty!  What?  How could this be when a fetal pole was visible several days earlier?  Of course everyone is devastated and expecting this is an early sign of a miscarriage.  After a lot of crying, Courtney and Mike decided to do an elective ultrasound at the same place that detected the fetal pole earlier in the week.  The appointment is set for 12:15 on Sunday.  This way, Courtney can have a second opinion of what is going on.  Praying for a better outcome!

6 WEEKS PREGNANT!

Little Peanut,

According to babycenter.com  your  nose, mouth, and ears that I'll spend so much time kissing in eight months are beginning to take shape. If I could see you,  I would find an oversized head and dark spots where your  eyes and nostrils are starting to form. Your emerging ears are marked by small depressions on the sides of the head, and your arms and legs by protruding buds. Your heart should start beating about 100 to 160 times a minute sometime this week — almost twice as fast as mine — and blood is beginning to course through your body. Your intestines are developing, and the bud of tissue that will give rise to your lungs has appeared. Your pituitary gland is forming, as are the rest of your brain, muscles, and bones. Right now, you are a quarter of an inch long, about the size of a lentil.

Your expected due date is Sept. 27, 2011......3 days past your Aunt Caitlin's wedding that your Mommy is in!  YIKES!  Since you will be born via c-section, the OB delivers at 39 weeks, which means your birthday may be somewhere around Sept. 20th, which is 4 days before the wedding! DOUBLE YIKES!!!  Mommy is determined to be in the wedding and not let her sister down!  She said, if I can go to class 4 days after a c-section with Nevaeh, I can be in my sister's wedding 4 days later!  I believe she can....she's a determined person!

Love You, Grandma Dason

6w0d PREGNANT WITH #2 AND.....

Your Mommy is such a smart one!  She just passed her National Boards for Occupational Therapy Assistant!  YAY!  You are a lucky little peanut to have her as your Mommy!

ICE STORM OF 2011 UPDATE

5 hours of ice later and this is what we saw!  Luckily, the temperature went just above the freezing mark over night, which turned the ice storm to rain.....all was gone when we woke up.  THANK YOU GOD!.....With the wind picking up, it could have been devastating!

ICE STORM OF 2011

This is the start of the 2011 ice storm!  We are suppose to get up to 1 inch of ice!  YIKES!

5w4d-ULTRASOUND!

 Courtney had another ultrasound, the above picture shows Nevaeh (10m25d) looking at Mommy and wondering what the heck she was doing!  Mommy was looking at the monitor and I was looking at the big screen TV....technology is wonderful!

Here's our little peanut resting on the yolk sac!  YAY!  The sac was readily seen via ultrasound on the belly vs. vaginally, like a week ago!  WOW! The fetal pole is measuring ahead at 5w6d, the sac is measuring right on track at 5w3d- perfect expected growth from last ultrasound.....YAY!!!!  This dates the pregnancy around 5w4d. The ultrasound tech even caught motion (but couldn't call it a  heartbeat yet) but was very pleased and said all was right on track!!!!  The next ultrasound is scheduled with OB on February 11.  At that appointment, the baby should measure 7w1d with a heartbeat for a healthy progression......PRAYING FOR YOU LITTLE PEANUT!

4w5d-DARK LINE-HPT

Courtney took another hpt to ensure the line was remaining dark....It showed up instantly.....way before the control line.....that is a good sign!

4w2d-ULTRASOUND

Courtney had an ultrasound to date the pregnancy.  We were thinking she was around 5 weeks, but the gestational sac measured 4w2d (transvaginal check).  The ultrasound tech said that it looked like a healthy round sac for the "age" and not to worry.  If this is the case, then Courtney picked up the hcg on the hpt VERY EARLY....around day 5 or 6 after ovulation.   She set another appointment next Monday to check on the growth.  If all is well, then the gestational sac should measure 5w3d!  In the meantime, the ultrasound tech said to keep taking the hpt tests to ensure a nice dark line....if so, then the pregnancy should be progressing nicely....if the line starts to get lighter, then there may have a problem.....but before leaving, she reassured Courtney that all looked good! At the next appointment she hopes to see a yolk sac and fetal pole!  PRAYING FOR YOU BABY BARNETT!

21dpo- HCG CALCULATOR!

I found this website with an HCG doubling calculator:
http://www.countdowntopregnancy.com/tools/beta_doubling_calculator.php

I put this baby's first Beta of 92 and second Beta 224 = doubling time of 37.39 hrs.

I put Nevaeh's first Beta of 200 and second Beta of 6000 (7 days later)=  doubling time of  34.24

The doubling time is well below the normal 48 hour time frame, which is a very good sign! ...........  By the way, Mommy is very nauseous and sensitive to many smells, not to mention TIRED! But she is a trooper....taking care of your 10 month old sister and studying for National Board Certification in Occupational Therapy Assist.  She is taking the test tomorrow.  I am confident she will pass, but Mommy is worried sick!

Praying for you Baby Barnett....and you too, Mommy!

20dpo- OB APPOINTMENT

Courtney had an OB appointment to give a urine sample after taking the new antibiotic for the infection.  Her weight and blood pressure was taken. Thankfully, Courtney's blood pressure is under control (without meds). This time she spoke with the nurse practitioner midwife within the same practice.  Courtney was a ball of nerves because she felt the other OB really wasn't concerned about her high risk issues.....This time, the midwife listened and gave answers and reasonings behind the answers to some of Courtney's questions/concerns:

1. Ultrasound is scheduled on Feb. 11, at 8:30 to determine due date.....especially since we cannot pinpoint ovulation.  With Courtney's low hcg numbers, the midwife is guessing she is newly pregnant and nothing would show up on the US for us to see other than the sac......No reason to give Courtney one more worry about not seeing a heartbeat.....because most likely it is wayyyyy tooooo sooon for that.

2. She is considered high risk, but this pregnancy is not giving them warning signs to do anything different other than progesterone and lovenox shots right now.  Even if they monitored her every two weeks....it wouldn't prevent a miscarriage.....or promote a healthy pregnancy......these early stages are in God's hands ......since all other medical bases are covered with meds and shots.  We need to pray that this is a healthy pregnancy and we see a heartbeat at the ultrasound in a couple of weeks.

3. Courtney asked to stay on progesterone during the whole pregnancy like before (she even cried, while begging for it.....which I could tell softened this midwife even more  :-) ).....She did explain that the progesterone only promotes the first phase of pregnancy until the placenta takes over.....but she didn't rule the possibility out....So she didn't say yes and she didn't say no......she will look over Courtney's charts from previous pregnancies before making the final decision.  At least this answer was kinder than the one from the No Bedside Manner OB!

4. Her thyroid will be monitored with blood draws at each of the trimesters.

5.  At 36 weeks, she will be switched over to Heparin shots (2x day) ......stop the shots 24 hours before a scheduled c-section at 39 weeks.  This is different from her last pregnancy.  She stayed on Lovenox until a few days before a 37 week induction.  (Ohio has different medical rules and regulations regarding how early to do planned c-sections).  Now why couldn't the other OB tell Courtney this rather than leading her to believe he simply wouldn't listen to her concerns about the shots and the delivery?

Right now, we are in the waiting phase and praying for a healthy heartbeat on Feb. 11th !

15 dpo- OB APPOINTMENT

Courtney had an OB appointment today after a successful rise in hcg numbers.  He did a vaginal check and all is pointing in the right direction with good signs.  The main concern right now is a urinary/kidney infection (which plagued Courtney's last pregnancy with Nevaeh....in fact, all of the previous pregnancies).  Macrobid (sp?) merely masks over the problem for her, so this OB prescribed a different medication, Keflex, 500mg,  2x daily (category B drug).  Courtney goes back next Wednesday for another check to be sure the infection is gone this time.

The biggest concern Courtney has this time (since she is seeing a different OBGYN, due to a move) is that this OB refuses to keep her on one progesterone pill past 12 weeks of pregnancy.  The previous OB kept her on one tablet during the whole pregnancy.  THIS SCARES THE CRAP OUT OF COURTNEY, due to 3 previous miscarriages.....even though the previous OB did say that progesterone does nothing for the pregnancy past 10 weeks due to the placenta taking over vs. needing the lining of the uterus for nutrients....But he let her, in order to help keep her anxieties down.....This OB won't budge on this decision!  She is going to request a blood check on progesterone levels (after 12 weeks) for peace of mind!......Thank GOD he agreed to the Lovenox shots for the MTHFR blood disorder.  We are trying to keep in mind that this OB is actually one of the best in this area....otherwise Courtney would be searching elsewhere!

PRAYING FOR YOU BABY BARNETT!

13dpo

Courtney's HCG numbers are rising nicely from 92 to 224 (13dpo).....as I write the dpo, we are just guessing.  When Courtney went in for an ovulation check on Dec. 17, there was no sign of ovulation ....even on 100mg of clomid.   So she ovulated some time after that....we are guessing about 2 weeks later....time will tell with an ultrasound for exact date. She could be earlier pregnant than first guessed due to not actually knowing when ovulation occurred.  For now, we are holding onto the rising HCG numbers!  YAY!  Here's a picture of the hpt test that Courtney took before the doctor phoned in the numbers.  The wait was toooo much (at least for this grandma!).....With the pregnancy line showing before the control line and darker than the control line, eased our waiting minds!

11dpo

As you can tell....Courtney wasn't satisfied with the lines from previous tests, so she bought a digital one.  Yep.....She's pregnant!  Her HCG level was 92 this morning.  She will have another blood test on Wednesday.  Sure hope the numbers double!  We are guessing that since a faint line was shown on Saturday....then maybe the HCG was around 25 (that is usually when hpt detects the hormone)....if so, today's double number would have been around 50 plus......right?  We are hoping that 92 is a good number.........I know.....we shouldn't get stuck on the number, it is the doubling in 48 hours that counts.......The OBGYN called in the Lovenox shots for her to start!  Praying for you Baby Barnett!  We love you already!

9 DPO

Courtney tried to send me this hpt picture over the phone, but in the photo you couldn't see the difference in the line color from yesterday's.....so she sent it as a negative picture to show the boldness of the line 9 dpo.   She says that you can definitely see that the line is darker when compared to yesterday's (in person vs. picture).  I guess I will have to wait.  Knowing that the HCG levels are rising (darker line), Courtney went ahead and started her Lovenox shots that were left over from the pregnancy with Nevaeh (well within the expiration dates :-) ) She wants to make sure this baby has a great start, just like Nevaeh did.  Next step is to call the doctor tomorrow and request a blood draw for HCG levels.

BFP- 8DPO- OMG!

At first, Courtney thought her eyes were playing tricks on her!  After 3 miscarriages, diagnosed with MTHFR one copy, and lovenox shots through a whole pregnancy...they finally got a beautiful little baby girl (who is 10 month old as I write this!)....more complications with ovulation problems and no periods, a thyroid problem was discovered.....Cynthroid and 100 mg. of Clomid (see side bar for history) were given and finally.........this BEAUTIFUL LIGHT PINK LINE APPEARED (The above picture is 8 dpo....but she started seeing a line around day 6)!  Tomorrow, Courtney is calling the doctor for a blood draw.  Pray for good HCG levels!

With her MTHFR, so far she is taking progesterone 3 x per day, low dose aspirin, prenatal vitamins, DHA supplement and Cynthroid for her thyroid.....next step will be to start her  40mg lovenox shots once a day with a positive blood draw.

Mommy and Daddy have been trying soooo very hard for you!  You are already loved baby Barnett!