Our Baby Journey

Baby makin' isn't always so easy.  I know so many people that decide its "the right time" to have a baby and{poof!} they're pregnant within a few months. Heck, I thought Josh and I would be one of those couples too. That, unfortunately, wasn't the case.

Lets go back, way back....

Josh and I were married on August 18, 2007.  After about 5 months of "trying", I was due to have our first baby in September 2008.  That pregnancy ended in a miscarriage.  We were sad and scared.  However, our doctor told us miscarriages are quite common and it wasn't necessarily a sign of any "trouble".  From there, it took us about ten months to conceive Nash, who was born in June of 2009.  Now, some people may think, "You guys got to have sex all the time for 10 months? What's wrong with that?". Not so much. In reality it looks much more like this.... date counting, temperature taking, peeing on ovulation sticks, planned "encounters", doctors appointments, negative pregnancy tests (over and over, month after month), worrying, stressing, blah, blah, blah. Sounds romantic right? Think again. Let me tell you, there is nothing more frustrating than being a woman and not being able to get pregnant. That is what a woman's body is made for after all, and when your body isn't cooperating... it isn't fun. Period!

So, back on track. Nash was born in June 2009. He is such an amazing gift, that's for sure!

Once he was a few months old (October 2009), we began the daunting task of "trying" again. Remember how romantic and stress free it was the first time around?! Fast forward to September 2010...11 months of "trying" later.  Josh and I had just arrived home after a night in the cities with our friends Katie and Greg.  I was walking across the room when... BAM! I was suddenly hunched over in excruciating pain, unable to move.  I had no clue what was going on.  I told Josh that I needed to go to the emergency room.  At the time we were still living in Durand, so we quickly drove to the local (very small!) hospital.  The first thing they did there was a pregnancy test.  Sure enough, I was pregnant!  They suspected an ectopic pregnancy and said that I needed to get to the ER in Eau Claire as soon as possible.  They offered an ambulance, but Josh drove me instead.  Once we arrived in Eau Claire, I was admitted into the ER.  I sat in this little room, still in horrific pain, while different doctors and nurses kept coming and going.  I waited at least 45 minutes for pain meds, after asking over and over for some.  That was one LONG wait because the pain was only getting worse!  They drew blood, hooked me up to IVs, gave me an extremely painful ultrasound, and said I would be having surgery shortly.  By this point I was also having a really hard time breathing.  The OB/GYN suspected it was because my fallopian tube had already burst and that blood was filling my body cavity--- surrounding my lungs, making my breathing so painful.  So off I went into surgery, with Josh waiting all by himself.  He said he was very scared, and couldn't stop thinking about the worst possible scenarios.  After surgery, the doctor came in and told me that my fallopian tube had in fact, burst.  She showed me pictures of what my "insides" looked like before and after she was done removing all the excess blood.  She said she was unable to save my fallopian tube because it was too badly damaged.  She also showed me a picture of my other fallopian tube... it was wrapped around my ovary!  Super. What else could go wrong?! She had no way of knowing if that fallopian tube actually"worked" or not.  At some point, I would need to have a hysterosalpingogram (HSG).  Which is an x-ray test that looks at the inside of the uterus and fallopian tubes.  A dye is injected to see if everything is flowing properly.

In October 2010, I had the HSG done. The dye flowed, but not exactly how it was supposed to.  After following up with an OB/GYN it was determined that the end of my remaining fallopian tube had quite a bit of scar tissue on it, causing the slow flow of the dye.  This all means that my eggs didn't have a very good chance of getting "out" and sperm didn't have a very good chance of getting "in".  Besides that, my tube is still wrapped, which puts me at high risk for another ectopic pregnancy.  At that point, we were told IVF was probably our best {safest} route, and possibly our only option.

We didn't want to jump right in to IVF so we decided to "try" for a little while longer.... Six months later (March 2012) we had our first appointment at RMIA in Woodbury, MN.

The first appointment was L-O-N-G! We met with the financial department, Josh had his labs done, I had mine. We met our doctor, who performed a sonohystogram and a trial transfer procedure on me. The trial transfer is essentially a "practice" transfer for when they actually transfer embryos. The doctor does all the steps (except for actually transferring embryos) and takes any necessary notes. Then before heading home, we discussed the ALL the meds I would be taking/injecting and planned a "start" date of May 8, 2012.  Here's a breakdown of how everything went from there:

Tuesday, May 8, 2012-  I began taking numerous medications, including injections (either Josh gave them to me or I did them myself). This process wasn't enjoyable. Certain medications had to be taken at exactly the right time each day. They caused TERRIBLE migraines! By terrible I mean... thinking I was going to die terrible. Some of the meds were disgusting and left an awful taste in my mouth. I was hopeful it would all be worth it. See, romantic right?!

Thursday, May 17, 2012- RMIA @ 9:00am for blood work (5 minute appt....literally!)

Monday, May 21, 2012- RMIA @ 8:45am for blood work (5 minute appt.)

Thursday, May 24, 2012- RMIA @ 7:00am for blood work (5 minute appt.)

Friday, May 25, 2012- RMIA @ 7:45am for blood work and ultrasound of eggs/follicles

Tuesday, May 29, 2012- Egg retrieval and semen "donation" from Josh at RMIA

I was put under for the egg retrieval. When I woke up I was disappointed to hear that they only retrieved 5 eggs. Out of those five, only four were mature. My ultrasound earlier in the week showed a large number of follicles, so our doctor was extremely hopeful there would be quite a few eggs. Unfortunately, many of those follicles had eggs that were too immature (small) or no eggs at all. Now we just had to wait....wait to see if my eggs were able to be fertilized and if so, if they developed into mature embryos. On the way home I threw up in the car and then went to a job interview after we got back into EC. Yep, it was an interesting {stressful}day.

Sunday, June 3, 2012- Embryo transfer at RMIA--- Upon arrival at RMIA we are taken into a room where we waited for the nurse. At this point we still didn't know how many of our embryos were viable. The nurse came in and showed us a picture of what she called "2 perfect embryos"!!!

They asked us again if we still wanted to transfer two embryos, (they asked several times at each appointment, I swear!) we said yes. From there, they prepped me for the transfer. I wasn't put under this time, which was nice! This appointment was just like the initial "trail transfer" at our first appointment, so I knew exactly what to expect. It didn't take very long at all...they transferred our two embryos and sent us on our way. Time for another waiting game.....

Wednesday, June 13, 2012- RMIA @ 9:00am for hCG level blood test to determine pregnancy (5 minute appt.)

Friday, June 15, 2012- RMIA @ 8:30am for second hCG blood test (5 minute appt.). Later that day they called to say.....YOU'RE PREGNANT! Yay!!!

I took a home test, just to be sure :)

Tuesday, June 26, 2012- RMIA @ 11:15am--- 6 week ultrasound shows a singleton baby (not twins)

Friday, July 13, 2012- RMIA @ 11:15am--- 8 1/2 week ultrasound.  Everything with the pregnancy looked great so far! From there, we were told to see our local OB/GYN for the remainder of the pregnancy.

August 2012- Nash's pregnancy announcement!

 October 2012--- It's a GIRL!!!

 

It has been a long, stressful, emotional and draining journey. People who don't really know us, or don't know our story, always ask if we'll have more kids. Or they say things like "I know what you two have been up to" {in a silly, sarcastic tone}. Josh and I just smile. If only they "really" knew. We'll see what the future holds. But for now, we are excited to meet our baby girl who is due in 13 days!

xoxo
Erin