Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Rainbow Baby

Right after Matt and I lost the baby, we knew that we wanted to start trying again right away.  Our desire to have two children was still as strong as ever, and we knew that we still wanted them to be as close together in age as possible. 

We felt like we were just giving it a good go for the next couple of months, but nothing was happening.  Another problem was that my cycles were waaay off.  Some cycles were 29-30 days, and some of them are 40-42 days.  That makes it kind of difficult when you're trying to have a baby!  In August/September, I spent a good bit of money on ovulation tests so that I could help our chances out a bit.  I tested for a LOT of days that month, and never got a positive.  Well, if you're not ovulating, you can't get pregnant.  Needless to say, I was pretty upset.

At the end of September/beginning of October, I decided to save some money and buy some cheap tests from Amazon so that I could test to my heart's content without feeling like I was wasting money.  I got 40 ovulation tests and 10 pregnancy test for only $10!  Score!

I decided that I was going to test with Ovulation Tests for every single day of my cycle until I got a positive or my period.  That way there would be no question as to what is going on. 

Finally, on day 28 of my cycle (October 11-13) I started getting positive ovulation tests.  Very late, but still positive!!  Honestly, I was really feeling pregnant BEFORE my ovulation tests were positive.  After I got positive ovulation tests, I really did not feel pregnant at all.  I honestly felt fine. 

                                    Positive Ovulation Test

Because my cycles had been so sporadic, I really had no clue when to expect my period.  A week and a half later, Matt was leaving to go out of town for pretty much the entire week.  I knew that my period *should* be here sometime that week, but didn't know exactly when.  Matt was leaving on Sunday, October 23, and I decided to test Saturday morning, just to see what would happen.  After everything we had been through, I knew that I wouldn't be able to keep it from Matt and "surprise" him when he got back - I would just want to tell him.  And I surely didn't want to do that over the phone.

I took the test, and I was pretty sure that I could see a faint positive!  I immediately called Matt into the room to have him look at it, and he could see it, too!  This was the same morning that I was hosting Emily's baby shower at my house, so I quickly had to get over my shock so that I could get ready for a house full of people. 

For those of you not verse in the ways of reading a pregnancy test, the dark line on the right is the control.  The faint pink line to the left of the control is the positive line.  If there's a line - it's positive.  No line - not positive.

I tested several more times on Saturday (just to make sure I wasn't crazy), and then again on Sunday and Monday - haha.  Last time, my tests were crazy and I could never get a straight positive.  This time, I wanted to keep testing to see if I kept getting positives.  And I did!

I took another test before church on Sunday and YEP!  Still positive!



I called Southern OB on Monday to schedule my appointment and they told me that they wanted to draw my blood to check my levels.  I couldn't make it there on Monday in time, so I went on Tuesday and then again on Thursday.  Last time, my levels came back pregnant, but low.  This time they just came back good!  After my level check, they finally scheduled my first OB visit for November 11. 
Getting darker!  A GOOD sign!

At my first visit, Marie said that she wanted to do an ultrasound just to see what was going on.  According to my calculations, I was about 6 weeks along.  According to my last missed period (which is was Southern OB goes by), I was closer to 8 weeks along.  She said that, because of my history, she just wanted to look in there and see what was going on. 

Matt didn't go with me to this appointment because I had no idea if they would give me an ultrasound or not, and usually the first appointment is very long and very boring.  When she told me that she was going to do an ultrasound, I got very nervous.  I've never had an ultrasound done early and gotten good news.

Immediately, I could see a little baby and a heartbeat!  Then I got nervous that maybe it wasn't fast enough like last time.  But then she checked and told me that it was 110 bpm - which was completely normal!  I was also measuring 6 weeks and 1 day, just one day shy of what I thought!  This put my official due date at July 4, 2012!

When I saw Marie again after my ultrasound, she said she wanted me to come back in a week and get another ultrasound just to make sure that the baby was growing (which is what didn't happen last time).  That next week was so nerve wracking for me!  Matt went with me to that appointment as we knew that there was going to be an ultrasound and he knew how nervous I was. 

As soon as the tech started the ultrasound, I could immediately see that the baby was so much bigger!  It just made my heart so happy!  But then I got nervous because I couldn't really see a heartbeat right away.  Nothing was wrong, she just had to get a good angle.  Once she did, we could see a strong heart beat.  This time, it was actually strong enough for us to hear!  It had moved up to 136 bpm and made us SO HAPPY!

I'm currently going there every week to get a progesterone shot just to make sure that we're going everything that we can to give this baby the best shot!  So far, everything is going great! 

In my online threads, I've seen people call babies that they are pregnant with after a miscarriage their "Rainbow Babies".  Once I thought about it, I totally makes sense.  Losing a baby is such a deep, dark place that is totally comparable to a bad storm.  Finding out that you're pregnant again after a loss is very similar to a rainbow.  A bright spot that is amazingly beautiful, but doesn't come without a storm.  God also used a rainbow in the Bible to symbolize his love and promise to his people that he would never again devastate the Earth with a flood.  I'm thinking of this baby as another promise to me from God - that He loves me and knows the desires of my heart.  That He wants to give those things to me, but that doesn't mean that I won't have bad storms in my life.

So please join us in thanks and prayers to God for this precious rainbow baby!




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4 comments:

Joeylee said...

OMG CONGRATS I'm so happy for you guys. Praying for a happy & healthy pregnancy!

Recording Megow Adventures said...

what a sweet post, and such a Thankful thing right around Thanksgiving :-)
I love the "rainbow baby" so true and meaningful, you know my hippie self would probably have her middle name as rainbow or something silly like that, haha!
So happy for you guys, love ya!!

hi, i'm lana. said...

Wonderful news, Robyn. I knew you would be blessed with another baby soon. Enjoy your pregnancy - and this special time with your big girl - to the fullest. I'll be enjoying pregnancy vicariously through you!

Rossie said...

What a blessing! I know you guys are so thankful!!! will you send me a link to where you bought the tests online? rossiekoon(at)gmail(dot)com