Our First Ultrasound - week 6

It seemed to take forever for this appointment to come. I haven't really had many symptoms, just fatigue and thirst(so far) and it was making me wonder if there really was a baby there or not! When we showed up for the appointment the nurse told me my HCG count from the bloodwork results were really high, which could indicate multiples. There was a mini freak out going on in my head. She assured us that everything would be cleared up with the ultrasound.

Just one! Our one tiny baby measures 3.6mm. We even got to zoom in and see the flicker of the heart beating. Too cool. But even more amazing was when the doctor turned the sound up and we could hear the heart beat. I had to fight to hold back tears. It's heart is beating 100bpm. The doctor said everything looks great for where we are in the pregnancy; I get to go back to see him next week. Being diabetic, my pregnancy is high risk and he wants to see me pretty often for the first 10 weeks or so.

The results are in:

After 2 weeks of waiting to take a test, this was the result! The first test I took had a very faint line and I wasn't 100% about it, so I went out and bought a digital one. A couple of days later I went and got blood work done at my Dr's office confirming the results. I also had to pay a visit to my endocrinologist to change medications and really regulate my blood sugars during pregnancy. I've had to start insulin shots at bedtime just to bring down my fasting blood sugar levels in the morning. He also had me meet with a dietician to go over pregnancy health and diabetes. I'm supposed to eat 1800 calories a day with a limited amount of carbs. So, I guess I can't be one of those pregnant ladies who gives in to every craving. Anyways, we're due 12/21, a Christmas baby!

Round Two:

We went in to round two with the same game plan as round one. But this time we had to work around my husband's busy work schedule and him being out of town. I started the oral medication and went in for a monitoring ultrasound 3 days later. I had 4 follicles all about 10mm. The next 3 nights I did the follistim injections to help with follicle production. We were a little worried about overstimulation since I am still pretty young and responding well to oral meds. At the next ultrasound, I had 5 follicles: one at 13mm, 12mm, and 3 at 11mm. Five is a bit on the high side, so we were hoping that number would come down by the next ultrasound. Two days later, I had one magnificent 19mm follicle, one at 13mm, and a couple at 10mm that the nurse wasn't worried about. I've been trying not to get my hopes up, but the nurse printed out a picture of my perfect follicle and told me to save it for my baby book. So much for being pessimistic. I was injected with HCG to induce ovulation and we were ready for some baby making. But first I had to drive 4 1/2 hours south to get to my husband and I cashed in some really personal days at work. And the wait begins...

Round One:

Our game plan was to try an oral medication called femara that is similar to clomid, but with less side effects and better response for women with PCOS, injectibles called follistim to help with the maturation of eggs, and a trigger shot of HCG to induce ovulation, with timed intercourse. I started off with a baseline ultrasound to make sure everything was normal and ready for the process to begin. I took the femara a week later and went in for the next ultrasound a week after that. I had 7 "good" eggs between both ovaries. Two days later, another ultrasound showed 4 mautring eggs. We were hoping the number of eggs decreased so that we wouldn't over-stimulate and possibly have multiples. The RE erred on the side of caution and decided not to use the follistim. He said my body reacted perfectly to the femara and injecting follistim would just over produce. At the third ultrasound, I had 2 19mm eggs and was ready for ovulation to be induced. Two weeks after ovulation, we would know whether we were succesful or not. Unfortunately, my period started the day before my doctor appointment to get the results. Big fat negative. On to round two.

The Next Step:

In January 2010, we met with my reproductive endocrinologist to go over a plan. He explained PCOS a little more and went over the importance of a low carb diet, especially for someone with diabetes. Carbs effect the body the same way sugar does, so for someone whose body has trouble producing insulin to lower glucose levels, carbs cause a spike in blood sugar levels which causes an imbalance of hormones. All the body's hormones are linked in some way, so an imbalance in one has an effect on another, and so on, and so on. On our first visit with the RE, he put me on a low carb diet to regulate my blood sugars, which will help regulate my other hormones and hopefully get my body a little closer to normal. Since January, I have lost 10 pounds and lowered my BMI to 24.4. I get blood work done every 3 months for my diabetes endocrinologist. The measurement we pay close attention to is the hemaglobin A1C level, which is an average blood glucose level for the past 3-4 months. In a non-diabetic, the normal A1C is 6.0, putting their average glucose at 136. From my most recent blood work, my A1C level decreased from 6.2 to 5.5, putting my average at 118. Small victory for me!

The beginning of our story:

My handsome husband and I met back in 1999. We dated throughout high school and had an on again, off again relationship in college. We finally got ourselves together and got engaged on New Years 2008 and were married on April 4, 2009. Our plan was to get pregnant right away, like a honeymoon baby. But of course things never work out the way you plan them.
In 2007, I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. I come from a family of diabetics, so my diagnoses was no surprise. However, I never really fully understood the seriousness of the disease and other than taking oral medications, I never did much to regulate my blood sugar.
So, getting back to our baby journey, I had gone to my gyn in August of 09 because I hadn't menstruated since May and got nothing but negative pregnancy tests. He put me on a medication called clomid to induce ovulation, but it was not successful. After 3 rounds and several horrible side effects, he referred me to a reproductive endocrinologist. In December 2009, I was diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome(PCOS). My husband was a good sport and also went through testing to make sure we weren't suffering from male factor infertility as well. Thankfully, he's got great swimmers! Now, having put a finger on what our problem was, we were both eager to get the baby making process started.