ICLW Introduction

Greetings to those visiting from ICLW!

I'm sure some of you are wondering who this person is and what's going on here, so I'll give you a little "up-to-the-minute" briefing. Please feel free to look around and explore whatever tickles your fancy.

My first pregnancy was very rough, but no one thought it was unusual (least of all, us). I was beyond sick for almost the entire nine months and it was really hard to stay healthy and happy during that time. In fact, I was one of the few lucky people who actually came out of my pregnancy almost 25 pounds lighter than I went in. After being so sick, my water broke (at work, of course - forty minutes from home) a month early and we met our daughter, Katie earlier than we expected.

Although it was a tough pregnancy, my doctor didn't think there was anything unusual, except for the fact that I could NOT progress in labor (after 23 hours, I had managed to get to 2cm) and had to have a semi-emergency C-section when Katie went into fetal distress. We didn't think anything of it.

Well, all of that changed when we decided it was time to have another child. Funny, "decided" is so the wrong word for these situations, isn't it? Our first pregnancy began normally enough in October of 2009, but at six weeks, we realized that the embryo wasn't developing past a cellular level. After monitoring HCG levels every other day for several weeks (and if you've ever waited on those numbers, you know what agony this is - especially over weekends), we found the numbers didn't rise and then fell. This was declared a "chemical pregnancy."

We managed to get pregnant again in the spring. This one did not start out as well. After getting what I thought was my period, I got a positive pregnancy test at the doctor's one week later in April of 2010. We knew that wasn't good. More waiting on HCG levels for weeks: will they go up or down? Waiting and worrying. After being very sick and in a lot of pain, the numbers finally started to go down. A D&C followed this one. My doctor wasn't concerned and didn't want to do any tests. She said it was probably ectopic, but that we don't need to be concerned about anything until I had had three miscarriages in a row.

Well, glad to oblige. I got another positive pregnancy test in November of 2010 following some bleeding. I knew these signs and knew they weren't good. If you want to read all of that drama - switching doctors, hospitalization, ectopic pregnancy - well, that's all documented right here in daily blows.

In March of 2011, we finally received a positive pregnancy test after being diagnosed with an MTHFR mutation. I began progesterone and daily shots of Lovenox, which I will continue throughout my pregnancy. We have battled three kidney infections, lots of fear, and some less-than-fun restrictions, but are now into our second trimester. We're not safe by any means, but we're hopeful.

So, that's us in a nutshell. Hope to see you around more often; the more positive viewers and comments there are, the better we all feel :)