The Big Update

I have been wanting to update my blog for forever now, but knowing everything that has been going on has made me dread the task. But here goes nothing....


After several years of heartache and roller coaster emotions Chad and I are going to be having our first baby!!!! Yay, it's a boy and we couldn't be more thrilled. To get to this point has been somewhat of a challenge, but one worth taking especially since it's gotten us to where we are today.


Chad and I got married on September 28th 2007. He put me through nursing school for 2yrs and then we thought our plans would just fall into place to start having kids...Well needless to say that didn't work. I had often felt in my heart growing up that I might be the one that will struggle when it comes to having children. More so because I had always struggled with my cycles and horrendous pain that often put me in the ER or the insta care. So glad those days are over and pray that they don't come back! Well I do believe I was blessed to get a job at Valley OBGYN right out of nursing school. I have had the best resources available to me and the providers have helped immensely with this process. I did several fertility treatments starting with regulating my cycle after being on the depo provera BC shot, then several rounds of clomid, then clomid plus HCG triggers, then surgery, then waiting, then clomid and HCG triggers again and lots and lots of prayers and tears (Poor Chad had to put up with so much) needless to say... Nothing worked. Chad was checked as well and he didn't have any problems, I had surgery and several blood tests that all came back normal and so I was somewhat given a default diagnoses of PCOS. This might sound silly to some but I was devastated. Here is a run down of the syndrome.


Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is one of the most common female endocrine disorders.


PCOS produces symptoms in approximately 5% to 10% of women of reproductive age. It is thought to be one of the leading causes of female subfertility and the most frequent endocrine problem in women of reproductive age.


The principal features are anovulation, resulting in irregular menstruation, amenorrhea, ovulation-related infertility, and polycystic ovaries; excessive amounts or effects of androgenic (masculinizing) hormones, resulting in acne and hirsutism; and insulin resistance, often associated with obesity, Type 2 diabetes, and high cholesterol levels. The symptoms and severity of the syndrome vary greatly among affected women.


I had a hard time with this diagnoses because I didn't fit 90% of the symptoms. I didn't have irregular cycles (in fact I was regular to a T), I didn't have masculine features with hair growth or acne, my blood work all came back great and I wasn't insulin resistant, I didn't struggle with weight or cholesterol....etc The only thing that I had is I had many follicles on my ovaries at one time, sometimes 6+ on one ovary. So needless to say I had a hard time with this diagnoses especially because it does increase your chances for diabetes later in life. I didn't tell anyone but my husband about the diagnoses and I just felt that there was a mistake and it wasn't right.


After two years of trying to get pregnant with the resources that I had available to me, Chad and I made the decision to see a fertility specialist. We saw Dr. Russell Foulk at Utah Fertility. He was amazing! He was the nicest Dr and you could really tell that he was in it for the purpose of helping couples to achieve their dream of becoming parents. One of the things I liked best about our consultation was the fact that he said I was misdiagnosed and I in fact did not have PCOS...phew I was so relieved. Side note...I understand that there are several people out there that struggle with this syndrome and I sure hope that I don't hurt feelings or cause anyone to be upset about this post, I just didn't feel that it was an accurate diagnoses for me.


Anyway Dr. Foulk gave me the diagnoses of unexplained infertility...This I felt was just as hard because I will never have any answers as to why we couldn't get pregnant. I'm sure I had something to learn from this life lesson and I am grateful that it did bring me closer to the lord. I would pray often and study the scriptures just searching for answers. The spiritual aspect was an even harder part of the Journey. We would often ask ourselves "ok are we meant to have children?" or "Let's just wait and if it's meant to be I'll get pregnant" we'd go 6 months without trying anything and putting it in the lords hands and then nothing...Heart breaking to say the least. Then I would here talks and read lessons on families and I'd cry yelling in my head I'M TRYING!!!! My other thought was okay I can't just sit by and not do anything because faith without works is dead right? So for me I felt that I needed to do everything I possibly could and then turn the rest over to the Lord. So on to our journey with the fertility specialist. Dr. Foulk put me on several medications to stimulate ovulation and to make sure that I had good follicles and then our plan was to go ahead with IUI. Intrauterine insemination. Where they basically make sure that I am fertile enough and then they take the mans sperm and inject it up into your uterus bypassing what could be an inhospitable environment that could be killing off the sperm before it even has a chance to become fertilized. Short detour in our plans...I apparently am an over achiever because instead of having just two follicles to work with which is what they want, I had four. They gave us three options...


1-put me on BC and wait for the next cycle


2-go against medical advise and try on our own and see what happens


3-a follicle reduction where they go in and take out 2 of the follicles


I was frustrated because we had already poured money into this round of fertility treatments and didn't want to just sit and wait to start all over again and I didn't want to pay extra for another procedure. In the end I couldn't get Chad to be on my side and just see what happened especially after he heard there could be a chance of getting quads... lol I don't think that would have happened but it would have been a risk we'd have to take. We went with option three and had the follicle reduction and then the IUI procedure.


We were very blessed that it worked on the first try. Many couples have to go through several cycles before they get pregnant and ours worked on the first try. What a blessing. We found out on our anniversary, what a special gift! We went in for our first u/s early because my levels were abnormally high and it showed that we were pregnant with TWINS (I have wanted twins since I could remember and I was ecstatic!!) However one baby was lagging behind the other and wasn't measuring as far along, so the only thing to do was to wait and see if it progressed like the other. That was a long couple weeks and a has a sad ending. We lost that one, it just never progressed. The Dr. did have a good point and said that I was lucky that I had two because if it was the only one then I'd be starting over and going through this whole process again, definitely understandable but I was still sad. Well end result is that we are pregnant with a health little boy who is due June 6th. He has been the best little boy already and I have had a great pregnancy. I honestly have nothing to complain about and I am just trying to enjoy every moment. June is going to be here before I know it and I will admit I am a little scared. We have all the big stuff and now are just trying to decorate a nursery and give this little boy a name.


Here are some belly pics, I'll have to figure out how to put them together in a collage. I wish I had been more consistent and worn the same outfit to really show the change but oh well. Not the most flatering pictures but you get the point.


4wks

8wks

12wks

We had an u/s done a couple of days before Christmas when I was 16wks and Chad opened it on Christmas to find out we were having a boy. I could have sworn we were having a girl, Oh boy was I wrong.

Christmas Day 16wks

I Missed a 20wk shot but here is 24wks

29wks

33wks

This little boy is super low and is already measuring big...I'm a little worried because Chad was 9.13 and I was 8.8.....if he is anything like his parents, he's going to be big. OUCH! I haven't felt very big but after looking at the most recent picture WOW that is one big belly :)