12w6d u/s, a fall, and b/w results

Last Wednesday (2/22), I went for my "piece of mind" u/s.  The tech was very thorough and we got to look at the little baby for 20+ minutes.  She gave us a CD with about 5 min of video.  Little One (LO) was bouncing all over and moving his/her arms and legs.  It was such a reassuring visit.  All of LO's measurements were on track and we left on cloud 9!

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Yesterday, I took our dog to the park while our realtor showed our house.  As I fumbled for my keys and tried not to drop his water or my phone, he got under my feet and I tripped and fell to the ground.  I felt a gush of a discharge.  These days, I swear I could pee every 10 minutes so I wasn't sure if it was urine or something bad.  Panic set-in quickly and I called my DH.  In my melt down, he got the point - I had fell.  He told me to call the OB's office.  I called them and they wanted me to come in to check the heart rate and make sure all was ok.  On the way, I stopped at a gas station bathroom and to my relief, no blood.

The OB used the fetal doppler for a good 3+ minutes, which felt like an ETERNITY, and could not find the baby's HB.  At one point, he thought he did but then wasn't sure.  He couldn't make eye contact with me when he said, "Let's go to the u/s room."  I made brief eye contact with my DH when I was getting off the table and had to bite my lip.

Immediately on the u/s, we could see the baby and he/she was moving around.  LO waved at us once and brought his/her hand up to his/her face.  It melted my heart.  He measured LO's HB at 159.  THANK GOODNESS!  I asked if we needed to be concerned or is everything ok?  The OB said everything is fine with LO and just to "be careful".

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When the OB first came in (before the doppler), he said that some of my b/w results were back and we need to address some things.  He ran through the results but really, I didn't listen until AFTER the u/s.  Then, we discussed things.

I have Factor V Leiden disorder, a Protein C deficiency, and a Protein S deficiency - which all cause blood clotting issues.  The fix - I start Loven.ox injections today and will continue throughout my pregnancy. 

The OB thinks these are the reasons for my 2 early miscarriages.  He asked about why the 2 REs didn't do this....I don't have an answer.  I remember that I asked about blood clotting issues with our first RE and they dismissed it.  At our RE #2, they just really picked up where #1 left off with treatment.  They didn't have us repeat tests or order new tests.  Maybe because we were 100% OOP and they were trying to save us a buck?  Maybe because we didn't ask for more tests or this b/w panel? 

I don't know...but we are here.  These are the cards we're dealt.  As long as our baby is healthy and in our arms in 6 months, I will joyfully be a pin-cushion until then!

Catching up...

We went for u/s #3 on Jan 27th.  Everything was great and the baby's HB was 174!  That was 9w1d and the baby's measurements had caught up some.

Yesterday, I had my monthly OB check-up and we HEARD the baby's HB!  It was an amazing and almost surreal moment!  The OB said the HB was measuring about 160!  This was 12w4d. 

I go tomorrow for a "piece of mind" u/s, at my request just to be sure everything is on track before we share our news with the world.

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I was really sick this past week.  It started with flu-like symptoms Sunday, Feb 12.  By that Wed, I had severe head congestion.  My OB's office recommended Sud.a.fed decongestant.  In my 35 years, I've never taken that stuff and I don't think I will for the next 35.  By Thursday night, my heart was racing out of my chest, had chest pain, and pain going down my left arm.  By 6am on Friday, I told DH I needed to go to the ER.  He kinda freaked out because he didn't realize how much pain I was in. 

The hospital ran all sorts of tests and everything was mostly fine.  Because the pain was primarily on my left side and had piercing to my shoulder blade, they were concerned about a blood clot.  Also, one of the blood tests came back that the marker for clotting was "elevated."  This led to lung x-ray and a subsequent CT scan of my chest/lungs.  Everything checked out ok.  After about 6 hours, they released me with a pain med and the theory that it was either the medicine or GI issue (really bad reflux). 

I slept the rest of Friday and thru the night.  By Saturday afternoon, the pain had stopped.  I've continued to deal with the sinus congestion but it's improving each day.  Laying in bed Saturday morning, DH wondered outloud, "Why can't storks just deliver babies so we can skip all of this worry?"  I agreed :o)

*** 
My OB was on vacay this week so I saw a different one in the practice yesterday.  At first, I was frustrated but it turned out to be a blessing.  He offered a different perspective on my history and in light of the events of last week, and the b/w with the elevated marker for a clotting issue, he ordered a full panel work-up.  We had a long discussion of why my REs hadn't ordered this before, and really, I don't have an answer.  My only guess is that since we are 100% OOP for infertility coverage, it was a cost they were sparing us.  Regardless, I'm relieved that we're going down this road now.  For peace of mind for the rest of this pregnancy and for more information for the future.