The Lima Bean Diaries
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I forgot to add that the doctor currently (since July) has me on Metformin. Normally this drug is used in diabetes patients. Metformin is an oral medication designed to help control elevated blood sugar levels in NIDDM (non-insulin-dependant diabetes mellitus). It is believed to work by inhibiting hepatic glucose production and increasing the sensitivity of peripheral tissues to insulin. The medicine does not increase how much insulin the pancreas makes but acts on the liver preventing it from producing excess sugar and stopping hyperglycemia (high blood sugar). I take it for my PCOS. Along with the classic manifestations of anovulation, hirsutism, obesity, and bilateral polycystic ovaries, there is an association of insulin resistance in women with polycystic ovary syndrome(PCOS). Individuals with PCOS have an increased risk of developing glucose intolerance, or non-insulin dependent diabetes. Metformin, an oral biguanide not related to the sulfonylureas, improves the action of insulin at a cellular level without affecting insulin secretion and is increasingly used in treatment of adult onset diabetes. Therefore I ovulate. There you have it. The stuff works!! I'm a believer and living proof!
Well today was our first exam. Everything went well. The doc said that everything is growing as expected. We got to hear the heartbeat but none of us could count that fast so I don't have a number for you today. I can deal with that as long as its beating. The numbers we have came from ultrasounds where the computer counts for you. Seeing it is far cooler but the sound is still nice to hear as reassurance.
Dr. W gave me the actual due date according to my last cycle and that is July 30, 2004. He said that is what we will go by so the due dates generated from the size of the baby on ultrasound are 8 days ahead of schedule. What does that mean you ask? I'm having a white Shaquille O'Neal.
After today I don't think Mike is looking for a new career as a gynecologist though, thank goodness.
I just wanted to let you all know that you may have fun reading this but it wouldn't be here without Brenna, my very talented Big Sis. Not only did she create this site for me but she also keeps it looking pretty for your enjoyment. When I screw it up she is just a phone call away, as long as it's after 8 when her phone is free. She may have to watch American Idol first but she gets it done for me fast.
I should have put this up first and I don't know how to change it now but I have to say thanks this is the coolest Christmas Present ever. It really is the gift that keeps on giving. When she asked me what I wanted for Christmas I said "I'll tell you after Christmas" (since I was planning on telling the whole family at Christmas.. that didn't last so we told the parents on Christmas) she said "are you knocked up?" yes, in those words. I said "no why???" Like she doesn't know we have been trying. Well I ended up telling her a few weeks later and then I said I wanted to have a site like her friends niece did and here it is.
I hope you are all enjoying it as much as I am. I will have more tonight after I see the doc. today.
THANKS BRENNA!!!
This picture is to show my progress. There isn't much there yet but it is getting hard to fit into my clothes. I am down to stretch pants (not the tight ankle dirty white at the laundromat kind) and two pairs of pants. I think it will be time for shopping soon. This picture is at 14 weeks. Im not really that mad, I set the camera up myself and I was hoping to cut off my head. LoL. Anyway it will be more fun to look at when I get bigger but this will be there for comparison.
I wanted to add this picture just because I have never seen anything quite like it. Our bean sat still for one second, long enough to get a profile shot. This appointment we had a quite active baby. It's no wonder its heart was beating so fast. Both times the baby measured ahead of its time and they keep moving my due date forward based on its size. I started at July 30th and I am now at the 22nd. 8 fetus days is big stuff. Maybe this baby will play basketball or something.
Ok so the next ultrasound showed a big change. Now you can actually see what you are looking at. The baby is now about 2 inches long and weighs about an ounce. I labeled the picture, I hope you can read it. This time we got to hear the heart beat and it was up to 167 beats per minute.
So if you are wondering where the name the lima bean came from it was the actual size of the embryo at our first ultrasound. This photo is marked with an arrow. The head is to the left and the rump is on the right.
At this appointment we got to see the heartbeat which at the time was about the whole size of the body. It was beating at 143 beats per minute and everything looked good according to the sonographer.
On the night of November 18, 2003 while Mike was over a friends house I walked in the bathroom and as I passed the closet I spotted a pregnancy test that I had gotten free in an unsuccessful ovulation kit 2 months prior. I thought it may be early but after 2 years of trying every cycle that passes includes a few tests. I figured what the heck, I'll try it. So I go ahead and take it and as I see the second line appearing immediately I almost fell on the floor. I took the test and put it on the toilet seat thinking if Mike came home he would have to go to the bathroom right away. Well, that's his usual routine because he has a bladder the size of a pea. Good luck potty training his baby... I thought ok, I know he has to take a shower so either way he'll go in the bathroom. Anyway, I'm waiting and waiting for him to come home. I didn't want to call him and tell him to come home because he would have thought something was fishy. I just waited probably 15 minutes but with this kind of news it felt like forever.
Finally he comes home and he's walking around rummaging through the fridge, taking his time, meanwhile I'm dying... He goes in the bathroom and GETS IN THE SHOWER. I think he took the longest shower of his life that day so I walked in and out pacing in the bathroom thinking maybe he would get out sooner. NO!! I go sit in the living room barely being able to stand the pressure of waiting anymore and finally the shower is off. Then he's yelling to me from the shower having a regular conversation and I'm thinking to myself okay tomorrow we are making an appointment for the eye doctor and then I hear "HONNNN WHAT'S ON THE TOILET???" in a very nervous yet excited voice. So I said "why don't you get out of the longest shower of your life and look."
Two seconds later he comes running out of the bathroom and says "does that mean what I think it means?" I'm like umm yeah! So then he said "well lets wait and see what the blood test says."
I call the doctor's office the next day and talk to the nurse and she says well when is your period due and I told her Friday. She said "it's a little too early to do a blood test, why don't you wait until at least Friday and come in." So I hang up and wait until Friday while taking 3 more tests at home in the meantime. 7:45am Friday I am sitting in the waiting room for a blood test. I had to wait a little while because they don't open until 8, good thing I'm not anxious.... So she draws my blood and back to work I go, like I can concentrate on work. My office phone rings at 11:00 and the nurse says "everything looks good your numbers are great, they are 431." (the numbers are the pregnancy hormone they measure for with a blood pregnancy test) So I called Mike and told him that I got the call everything is good and we need to have an ultrasound at 7 or 8 weeks because I have a history of early miscarriage.
Well where do we begin? Ok, so I guess it started somewhere around August 2001 when we got married and had these big hopes of having a baby right away. Doesn't everyone think it happens that way? So we started "trying" and in the meantime I made an appointment with a new gynecologist since I would have new insurance. I set it up with an OB/GYN infertility specialist so in any case I wouldn't have to switch again down the road, whatever road that would be. I kind of thought something had to be wrong because of my history with abnormal cycles and all the stuff that went along with that. I had no idea what it could be though, I just thought it had to be something - I was not normal. I scheduled my appointment for November 7, 2001 as just a regular exam. The doctor's office sent me a questionairre to fill out and the more questions I answered the more it seemed like something was definitely wrong, so I just waited very impatiently for my appointment to come. Finally, November 7th my big day... I get to the office and before my exam even begins Dr. W, my new doc, says "I think we have a case of PCOS". I'm thinking, "He doesn't think I know what that means right?" Well, he didn't think I knew and he went into detail about what this does and what problems we may face.
To let you in on the real name it is Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) also known as Stein-Leventhal syndrome or functional ovarian hyperandrogenism, it is a complex endocrine disorder associated with a long-term lack of ovulation (anovulation) and an excess of androgens (male hormones, e.g., testosterone). He sent me down for all the blood work to confirm his diagnosis. Sure enough, he was right. Pretty good for a guy who never met me! Basically what that meant to me was I couldn't get pregnant on my own or without fertility drugs. That was probably the worst news a girl like me could get after taking care of every Tom, Dick and Harry's kid my whole life. I was just hoping that something would work right away. Right, like that happens.
I started Clomid (an ovulation stimulating drug) in January of 2002 and with a few increases in the dose I did conceive but unfortunately that didn't last too long. At my 7 week ultrasound I found out what I had was a molar pregnancy also known as a hydatiform mole which occurs in very rare cases when an egg is fertilized (i.e., the beginning of pregnancy). A hydatiform mole results from over-production of the tissue that would normally develop into the placenta. (The placenta nourishes a fetus during pregnancy).These tissues instead develop into a mass. The mass is usually made up of placental material that grows uncontrolled. Often, there is no fetus at all.
PCOS if I'm not mistaken occurs in 4% of the female population and hydatiform moles occur in 1 in every 1000 pregnancies so what do I do now? Start playing Lotto. Just kidding. I had to wait to "try" for a year because this type of mole can spread to other parts of the body and become malignant and the tissue can keep growing. So after two D&Cs and a lot of crying I came to terms with the fact that there was nothing we could do for at least a year. So I spent that time in a drunken stupor. JOKE!! Without a sense of humor I would be a basket case. Well, we waited. What could we do?
So the year went by and we were free to start all over. I went back on Clomid - Dr. W felt that since it worked the first time it would work again. WRONG!! I had a procedure called a hysterosalpingogram which is where the doctor injects some dye into my uterus and a radiology technician takes some xrays to watch the dye flow through and make sure the pathways are clear. Well, as it turns out I had some scar tissue in my uterus we think as a result of the two D&Cs. I also had numerous cysts. So as I am laying on the x-ray table in excruciating pain my doctor says "Looks like you are going to have to have surgery, I'll have my scheduling nurse call you." I'm looking at him with disbelief and get out "Can I think about it?" So he agrees to let me think it over and after talking to him personally and also to a PCOS friend I decide to go ahead with it. So 3 days after my younger sister, Shannon's wedding I have the surgery, August 19, 2003. Holy crap is all I can say. You want to talk about sore and bloated, woo weeee! I wake up from the procedure to my Aunt Marianne, oh wait no I woke up to the nurse, Aunt Mair was out getting Dunkin' Donuts for the two of us. The thought was there and the effort was there to force the bagel down the throat that had a tube jammed in it a few hours prior. So when she gets back she speaks to Dr. W, who feels great about the surgery, and she looks at me with a great big smile and says "WE EVEN HAVE PICTURES, LOOK!!" So there I am on more drugs than a junkie looking at fresh photos of my ovaries with big holes in them where the cysts were "drilled" out and it was then that I realized why this was called the "wiffle ball procedure". YUCK! But the good news is that at my follow up surgery appointment (where the doctor seemed surprised that I was in pain for more than 48 hours) he also told me that if I didn't get pregnant in the next two or three months I would have to go back on fertility drugs. Why is that good news you ask? Because that means that this man has hope that I will conceive without the drugs. So I leave there with a positive attitude and call Mike right away to let him in on the good news and he was just as excited as I was, not because I didn't have to take meds but because he didn't have to deal with my mood swings. Kidding. I'll tell you what though, anybody that needs to pump that many hormones into their body each month better hold on for the ride of your life - not to mention the trying-to-conceive roller coaster!