Pregnancy Update and ER Visit 2.0

So much has happened since the last update that I don’t even know where to begin. Currently I am 16 weeks 5 days pregnant with our little boy, Caleb Robert. 

  
My morning sickness has still stayed away. Thank goodness it wasn’t just a fluke. I have continued having itchy ankles, legs, arms and abdomen as well as restless legs. The itchiness got so bad that I finally caved and called my doctor a few days before our monthly OB appointment. It was preventing me from sleeping I couldn’t imagine waiting a few more days. I had tried everything. There was one night that I was laying in bed, encased by my pregnancy pillow, covered in calamine lotion with Vicks vapor rub on the soles of my feet with socks on them and frozen bags of broccoli covering my legs. Just to try and get some sleep. I should have had Hubby take a picture! Anyways, I gave them a call and left a message. I got a response that afternoon that they wanted to bump up my appointment to the next day because they were concerned about the itchiness. 

  
The first thing the doctor wanted to check at the appointment was the spot on my cervix they saw last time. Luckily the results of my Pap had come back and negative so there wasn’t too much concerned. Well, up in the stirrups and I go and guess what? The spots (plural) were still there. Smaller. But still there. She said they appeared to be filled with fluid and tested one. It contained tissue as well. She decided to take a biopsy of it right then and there. Yup. Worst fear of this appointment confirmed. That was not a fun experience. Definitely not something I want to do pregnant or not. Apparently I was bleeding a lot and she had to put some magic cream on it to stop the bleeding. Luckily, the pathology report came back the other day and the sample was normal! One crisis averted!

Now it was time to talk about the itching. Since I have a history of gallstones and the itching was mainly on my ankles/legs and wrists/arms, my doctor was concerned I have intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy (ICP). Normally it shows up in the third trimester but it is possible to appear earlier. It can be very serious for mom and baby if left untreated, especially in late pregnancy. She went ahead and had some blood drawn to check my bile salt levels as well as my iron levels for my restless legs. Those tests came back normal, thank goodness! Want to know what the culprit was? We changed our laundry detergent from Ecos to Baby Dreft and apparently I am allergic to it. Once we switched back, within a few days the itching went away!!

  
Today, I called my doctor because I have had a migraine for 2 days and my pregnancy safe meds were not working. I was advised to go to the ER to get some medication to break the cycle. I met my husband there and was taken back fairly quickly. They were very nice and efficient and I saw the doctor immediately. He prescribed what he called “The Migraine Cocktail” which was all pregnancy safe medications. Pretty soon I was hooked up and given Reglan, Benadryl and magnesium. So shortly after the Benadryl kicked in the nurses came in with a fetal doppler to listen to Caleb’s heartbeat. Since I have one at home and I know exactly where he is, I advised them. Of course they didn’t listen to me. She tried for about 10 mins to get his heartbeat but couldn’t find it. At this point I wasn’t super worried because she wasn’t pushing very hard or in the right place. I even offered to do it since I know where he is. She ignored me. She had the other nurse go and get the ultrasound machine. She found him but in her words “I can’t find a discernible heartbeat” and proceeded to ask the other nurse if she saw anything. At this point, in my drugged stupor, I started to worry. A few more tense minutes (probably seconds) pass then I saw him move! Sigh of relief. She still didn’t find the heartbeat on the ultrasound but when she went back to the doppler she found it. I honestly don’t think she had any idea what she was going. When we got him I found his heartbeat within 10 seconds on our doppler. Definitely a great investment!

  
So I realize this long update is filled with drama and issues I have been having but in reality it has been a very positive few weeks. We got the mural painted in the nursery and got the crib built. We also visited my mother in law who broke her hip a few weeks ago and she gave us a load of wonderful things for Caleb. We have been doing a lot of housework and yard work. It has been nice to finally be showing and have a baby bump to rub! I will leave you with a few pictures of the nursery: 

   
    
    
   

ER Update

  
So…Murphy’s Law continues…as soon as I posted the last blog, a new nurse came in and said that they needed MORE blood from me. I actually said outloud “You have got to be kidding me.” Unfortunately, even though the first nurse took 7 vials (one of every color, her words not mine) the “blue” vial didn’t “work”. What do you mean it didn’t work? It was probably because the first nurse was so inept at the blood draw. Chris actually had to help her with the vials because she was fumbling so much and that needle was wiggling in my arm like crazy. Of course it’s the same vein that all the blood draws have come from because I only have two good veins and it hurt like hell. End rant. 

 

Vein four days after ER blood draw

 
  
Anyways, new nurse comes in to stick me again and since my two veins are shot she goes for my hand and I freak out. I mean, full on crying, shaking, hyperventilating, the whole nine yards. In my years of needlephobia I have trained myself to cope with blood draws from my two good veins. If anything veers from that path (like the IV in egg retrieval #1) then I flip out. And of course I had an audience of two doctors and a nurse see me turn into a 3 year old. Oh, did I mention all of this was while I was draped in the stirrups ready to go because they were set to do the ultrasound? Must say, it’s not one of my proudest moments. It’s a good thing I have no shame. 

Then comes the ultrasound. As if I hadn’t been poked and prodded enough. The doctor was all up in there for probably about 10 minutes. No exaggeration. The good news was there was no fluid build up. No blood. No fluid causing OHSS. All of that was good. The doctor did note that my right ovary has decided to hide itself behind my uterus. Didn’t think it was that big of a deal. My right ovary likes to move around and is often snuggled up against my uterus. No biggie. All the poking and prodding with the wand was quite painful. I have been hardly able to walk or sit for hours because of the pressure my own body is putting on itself let alone a hard wand being repeatedly jabbed up there. 

Ultrasound was over and I am still in pain. Doctor said everything looked okay and she had been very worried that she was going to scan me and see blood and have to immediately take me to the OR. So no blood = good. She said maybe because we got so many eggs this time and my ovaries are so big (the size of baseballs) that everything is just extra sensitive and painful. She said she would write me a script for stronger pain medication and we would just wait for my blood work to come back before I could go home. 

Oh yeah, remember Murphy’s Law? Well, the doctor comes back in the room and hands Chris a prescription for Percocet and then starts up the ultrasound machine again. While it’s booting up, she does a physical palpitation examination down there. Ow! She then tells us that she spoke to Dr. Bohler who was concerned my right ovary may be torsed. Apparently at retrieval, a mere 12 hours earlier, it was not anywhere near hiding behind my uterus and it was kind of weird for an ovary the size of a baseball to make it’s way back there. The doctor wanted to check the blood flow to my ovary to see if it was twisted…but Murphy’s Law strikes again…the ultrasound machine we were using was an older model and it was very difficult to see blood flow on it. Normally there is a setting that shows color to see where the blood flow is, but this showed barely any. She even ultrasounded a vein and it showed zero blood flow. She was able to see a bit of blood flow in my right ovary and based on her physical palpitation she does not think it’s twisted, but the only way to know is to go to the OR. If we went to the OR and it is twisted, she may be able to untwist it or she may have to “take it”, i.e. remove my ovary. She feels I would be in more severe pain if it was torsed. 

So what’s the plan? She sent me home with Percocet for the pain. I am to drink a lot of water and Gatorade, do an injection of Cetrotide which will help my ovaries go down in size and start my antibiotic as instructed after retrieval. If the pain gets worse, I call her and come in and we head to the OR. If the pain is the same tomorrow morning, not better and not worse, then I come to the clinic at 8am for another ultrasound with a better machine to show blood flow. If the pain is better, then I call the nurse and let her know so my doctor can stop worrying about me. 

  
Well, we got the pain medication and I am already doped up and it is definitely helping. Chris stabbed me with the Cetrotide (remember when I thought we were done with shots? Ha!). I have taken the antibiotic and have drank a large amount of Gatorade. I am now laying in bed, somewhat painfree and reflecting on the events of today. It has really been one for the books. Right now, I am looking forward to tomorrow and hearing our fertilization report. I am hoping to get some sleep. Hopefully the pain medication will help with that. I am focusing all my positive thoughts and good energy on our embryos that are now growing in the lab. This little scare is just another bump in the road but it won’t shake us. I can get through this. I will get through this!