Thursday, May 23, 2013

Meeting Our Little... Dot.

Our first ultrasound was scheduled about 2 weeks after I found out we were pregnant.  Although I was very grateful that we were able to have an early ultrasound this time around (most people don't receive an ultrasound until 12 weeks or later with my doctor's office), it didn't take away the extreme anxiety I had for those full 2 weeks!  I worried all the way up until the day of the ultrasound.

The afternoon came, and we went to the office just as we did in January, hoping for much different results.  The sonographer started with an abdominal ultrasound, but couldn't see anything, so we switched to a transvaginal ultrasound instead.  After emptying my bladder, I returned to the room, laid on the table to begin again, and after about ten minutes of the sonographer saying nothing, she quietly turned the screen to me, and it was at that moment I knew everything was going to be okay.  She proceeded to show us the tiniest dot on the screen, which she explained was our baby!  After moving the wand around a bit, she then asked us if we could see the small flicker on the screen.  We did, and it was exactly what we needed to see at that moment.... a heartbeat!  The sonographer turned on the speakers and we got to hear our baby dot's heartbeat.  It was faint, since I was only 6 weeks and 2 days, but it was beating at 102 beats per minute and was quite simply the best noise we've ever heard.  

She continued to finish the exam, taking pictures of my ovaries for quite some time.  She then asked me to wait for a second in the room when we were finished.  Her and the nurse came back in, telling me I needed to get bloodwork right after the appointment and that I also needed to come back for a follow up with the doctor immediately the next morning.  This had me worried, and asked the nurse if I needed to be concerned.  She explained there was no need to worry, we saw a heartbeat and that's a great thing!  Yet, it still didn't convince me that everything was okay. 

The next morning, we went back for our follow up.  Dr. Juarez went over the ultrasound, explaining the baby looks completely healthy for as far along as I am, with a good heartbeat and good measurements!  He also explained that they had found something on my left ovary.  He believes it is a corpus luteum cyst, which is very normal in many pregnancies and usually causes no harm.  It provides the hormones to maintain the pregnancy, so in most cases, they monitor the cyst and it ends up disappearing by the second trimester.  He also explained there could be an extremely small chance that along with the viable intrauterine pregnancy, there could be an ectopic pregnancy on my left side.  The chances of this are so slim that he has only seen it twice in his whole career, and the statistic of it happening to me is 1 in 20,000.  I felt comfortable knowing that it probably wasn't the case, and they scheduled me for another ultrasound the following week to watch the cyst and maintain it's growth.

I know I won't feel 100% comfortable and out of the woods until we reach the second trimester, but this is already going so much better than the last and we are trying to maintain a decent balance between excitement and reality.  Getting to see the heartbeat was extremely reassuring, and we're grateful that we get another ultrasound in a week to see our little dot again!  

Until then!


Saturday, May 11, 2013

Round #2....

Here we go again....


WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!!!!

Let me first just say, I'm trying to take this pregnancy a little less to heart.  I know how awful that may sound.  It's a fine line to be excited for this to happen so quickly again, but also terrifying based on what happened last time.  

We found out on Saturday, May 4th.  For a week or so before, I again had my "gut" feeling that I may be pregnant.  I had constant reflux, I found myself waaaay more emotional than normal (I cried when a girl I hated on American Idol was eliminated.. um, what?) and those very vivid, extremely detailed, terrifying dreams were coming back.  Yet, I didn't want to get my hopes up.  I had been testing every 3 days for a positive result, and still hadn't gotten a BFP until Saturday.  That morning, the faintest line appeared, but I knew that was it (see below)!  I raced over to Jason and made him confirm that my eyes were really seeing the slight line.  He agreed, and five minutes later I somehow squeezed more pee out of my bladder to test on another, this time the digital test that spelled it out for us: P-R-E-G-N-A-N-T (see above).
Seriously, the faintest line possible!

All day Saturday, I was thrilled.  Nothing could rock my world, I was pregnant again and I was extremely confident this was it!  On Sunday, reality set in.  I started panicking and found every excuse to think any symptom was a bad one.  I spent all day in the complete opposite mood as the previous 24 hours; I went frrom complete ecstasy to complete anxiety. 

Monday morning, I went to Dr. Juarez's office as soon as they opened.  He had told me the last time we met, that the next time I got pregnant, I was to get bloodwork done as soon as possible.  They got me in quickly and tested my levels for Progesterone and HCG.  I would go back Wednesday to get the second blood draw to see if my HCG went up.

While I was in the office Monday morning, one of the nurses I've spent a lot of time talking with over the last few months finally snapped me into an epiphany.  It was quick for me to realize and decide that I wasn't going to spend this pregnancy worrying about the "M" word.  If it's going to happen, it's going to happen.  It's not worth wasting my first trimester worrying over every twinge I experience.  The best thing I could do is already being done, by monitoring my blood levels, and that's it.  That's all I can do.  She told me to just enjoy it.... and so I left feeling a little bit lighter and more like how I felt Saturday morning.  This can happen.  I will have this baby!

Tuesday my progesterone levels came back at 47.3!  Both Dr. Juarez and the nurse agreed this level was great, but to continue supplementing with progesterone once a day, just in case.  On Thursday, my second draw results came back.  I was extremely nervous to get these numbers... but to my relief, my HCG had more than doubled within 48 hours!  I went from 119 on Monday to 377 on Wednesday.  We have an early ultrasound scheduled at the end of this month, so we're praying we see that yolk sac and a fetal pole!  

I'm trying to be as confident as I can this time around.  I do feel a little different than I did the last time, yet I'm not letting my guard down completely.  We're hoping and praying that this time around goes better than the last.  January 2013 was the worst, most devastating month of our lives, but we're hoping that January 2014 is going to be the absolute best month of our entire lives by welcoming our baby into this world.

Baby Kelton is due January 2014..... Here's to the next 8 months of meeting this baby!!!





Wednesday, May 1, 2013

April Happenings

Spring has settled in Vegas and we've been trying to enjoy lots of things outdoors to soak in the nice weather while it lasts and before it gets too crazy hot!  

Stacey came into town again this month, so we went downtown to check out some country singers that were in town for the ACM Awards.  Fremont Street had Sunny Sweeney, Joe Nichols, Kip Moore and Gary Allan performing for free, so we caught some of their shows and hung out downtown.  We also checked out a new bar in the Fremont East district, Park on Fremont, grabbed some food and some drinks, and continued our night bar hopping downtown.  It's always great when Stacey comes into town, we always have so much fun together and I love my bestie!

Besties!
Jason and Aaron

Spring always means I get to buy loads of daffodils for super cheap, so I splurged on some at Fresh and Easy one afternoon:


Since Harley did so well at Bark in the Park last month, we decided to take him on another outing, this time to Pet-A-Palooza!  A local radio station (Mix 94.1) hosts this festival every year.  There is live music, food, and lots of vendors from local shelters and rescues to many different pet suppliers and homemade treats.  This year it was held at Sunset Park and there were a TON of people and their dogs there.  Harley was a little bit overwhelmed.  He barked only a few times, mostly because he was a little off guard with so many other dogs around.  Overall he did really well, but wanted to stay close to mom and dad the whole time we were there.  

Harley's on his way to Pet a Palooza!





Beach Bums Hawaiian Ice finally opened back up this month, so we enjoyed our first snow cones of the year!  This little snow cone shack is right down the street from us, so we go quite often during the spring to fall.  It's the perfect dessert for a summer night!


My mom got to babysit these little cute things one weekend this month.  She works at an elementary school, and every year they hatch eggs for the kids.  Once the babies are hatched, they need care 24/7, so teachers and staff volunteer to take care of them on the weekends.  This weekend my mom happened to be the lucky one to get all of them!  They are way too cute and snuggly.  Harley thought they were food though, so I don't think it would work out for us to raise chickens any time soon...




I finally finished a Pinterest project that I've been waiting to do for months.  I'm not the best green thumb and have pretty bad luck with plants, but I've been wanting to plant something around our house for some decor in the backyard.  I searched through Pinterest and found lots of different ideas for succulent planting.  So one weekend, Jason and I went to Star Nursery to buy a tree for our front yard, and I finally took the time to select the succulents I wanted and got to planting!  I'm so happy with how they came out, I just hope I can keep them alive!





When we weren't spending time outside, we were holed up inside for a whole weekend watching The Walking Dead.  We started from Season One and watched it all the way through (we may have sat on our couch for a reallllllly long time and achieved nothing for a whole day... or two).  We're hooked and now we can't wait for Season 4.... Hurry up October!


That's it for the month of April!  Until next month!