Yay! We couldn't be more excited to announce that Baby Kelton 2.0 is on the way, with an estimated due date of early May 2016! Nolan is excited about being a big brother, as much as he realizes what that even means, and every time he is asked if the baby is a Brother or a Sister, we get a confident and loud, "SISH-HER" response, so we're hoping he's on track with a sixth-sense about this. Either way, boy or girl, we are so thrilled and excited to be brewing another little babe, as it's been a long(ish) road once again with TTC and my fertility issues. Read below to hear all about our journey thus far!
We had talked about trying for another baby once Nolan had turned one, but with lots of fall weddings planned to attend, some out of state, we figured we should push back trying until our 9-months would be past those dates. Once March rolled around, we decided, let's just try, with no medication help, since we used Clomid, a low-dose fertility medication to conceive Nolan, due to my PCOS.
We tried for a couple months with no medication, and I began taking the Clomid shortly after, ready to be pregnant and confident it wouldn't take too long, since with Nolan and the miscarriage that we conceived once before on, I was pregnant on the first try with the help of the medication. Once month three rolled along, I was starting to become mildly worried, because the instructions of the Clomid, pharmacists, doctors and Google alike all agreed that once the third round of Clomid is reached and failed, other options should be tested and it's most likely the Clomid wouldn't work at the current dosage.
I met with Dr. Juarez to discuss these options, and he had mentioned he thought I may have endometriosis, which causes infertility in many cases and went with many of the symptoms I told him I had been experiencing since my cycles had returned after Nolan's birth. We scheduled an ultrasound to see if I had any signs of endo, and possibly leave a laproscopy as an option right after the results of the ultrasound. To say I was devastated was an understatement, and here I was, yet again, going through these "out of my control" fertility issues that we also met with while trying for Nolan. I hated this process and seriously considered taking a break for a while because the highs and lows of TTC were really a lot for me to handle.
So, on the morning before leaving for Erin's bachelorette party in San Diego, a week after my appointment with Dr. Juarez, I decided to test, just to make sure I was okay to drink for the weekend. Lo and behold.... the absolute faintest line appeared, so I tested another, digital this time, to compare. "Not pregnant."
Confused, I called Dr. Juarez's office and told them my results. They asked that I come in, since it was a long holiday weekend, get bloodwork for my hCG and Progesterone levels, and also get a prescription for the Progesterone since I had a history of it being low in the past (and to take ASAP if I ended up getting a positive).
The next morning, before I left for my San Diego weekend, I tested again, and this time, confirmed that there was definitely a line! I knew at this point that one, I wouldn't be drinking for the weekend, and two, our third, LAST round of Clomid worked!
While in San Diego, I continued to test (yes, I'm a crazy person), as well as when I returned home until I got my redraw (at 4w4d) for the hCG bloodwork and results. When Dr. Juarez's office called and confirmed that yes, I was pregnant, and that my Progesterone and hCG looked good, I was thrilled! The Progesterone count came back at 44.5 and my hCG went from a 17 to 245, so it more than doubled in the amount of time needed, and although it started very low, it really just meant that I picked up the pregnancy extremely early, at 3 weeks, 6 days from the moment I got the first test result (hence the positive and negative digital test in the same day, the digital didn't have enough hCG to read)!
We went in for an early ultrasound, that was originally my endometriosis scheduled ultrasound (ironic) with Dr. Juarez shortly after, and based on my previous history, I was a nervous wreck, as to be expected. Ever since that first miscarriage, I try to prepare myself for the worst news, but luckily this time, after performing the ultrasound for a good ten minutes, not saying a word, the ultrasound tech finally turned the screen and showed us the tiniest dot, which was baby! Even better, we saw a flickering heartbeat on the screen and even got to hear it, although it was faint since it had probably juuuuust started beating. Based on my LMP, I should have been measuring 6w3d, but the ultrasound measured 4 days behind, at 5w6d.
Our results of the ultrasound and all my bloodwork came back great, and I had started with queasiness and nausea, so I knew these were all good signs! Yet, when I started spotting around 7 weeks, we took extra precaution and headed to urgent care to see what was going on. After 4 hours, a pelvic exam and an ultrasound later, it was determined that baby was fine, and I had a slight subchorionic hemorrhage that was causing the spotting. I again was measuring behind my LMP, this time at 7w4d (vs. 7w6d). The hemorrhage was so tiny that none of my doctor's seemed to be concerned, and just advised to take it easy and limit my activities and weight carrying.
I finally had my first "OB" appointment with the new doctor's office that I would be joining, since Dr. Juarez was retiring (saddest news ever, but, it worked out in our favor because we had been paying cash to see him since Jason's insurance wasn't contracted with his office anymore). The new office provided another ultrasound for me, confirming I had a ticking little heartbeat and a growing babe, measuring at 8w2d, still 4 days behind my LMP at 8w6d. The doctor explained the measurements being a bit off is totally okay, and not enough to cause concern for changing our date. At this point, we would go off of my LMP date, which was fine by me! We also got our first official picture to take home of the baby bean... Meet baby Kelton 2.0!
We finally just recently had another appointment at 12w6d, and all is well as the doctor picked up baby's heartbeat on the Doppler rather than another ultrasound. I have also been using my Doppler at home almost every day, to reassure that baby is still beating away, and it gives me a little extra comfort in these early weeks that everything is going to be a-okay! I first picked up baby's heartbeat at exactly 9 weeks. Faint, and hard to catch, but I found it and have been listening in ever since!
We've had quite the adventure leading up to this point, but we're feeling confident and happy to share our news. We hope this pregnancy goes smoothly and cannot wait to welcome another little babe into our family come May! YAY!
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