Wednesday, September 30, 2009

(not so) Quick look of our Fertility History

  • July 1999 - Met and started dating.

  • June 2000 - Got married and decided to wait few years to have children. Started using birth control.

  • August 20002 - moved to Dallas, TX

  • January 2004 - Returned to Iowa.

  • November 2004 - Bought a new house.

  • Summer of 2005 - started to try making a baby.

  • Fall of 2005 - unsuccessful. Went to OB-Gyn for consultation. Suspicion of PCOS given due to irregular menstruation. Had blood tests for hormones. Everything normal. Recommended to start Prenatal vitamins and Clomid. Did not pursue Clomid. Loraine continues to work 2 jobs. Halted plan to have baby for next year as both thinking of job change. Started birth control again.

  • Dec. 31, 2005 - Loraine experienced bad menstrual cramping. Jason went to store for Midol. No relief. Drove to ER but miraculously got better once we arrived in the hospital. We sat in the lobby for an hour just in case cramping comes back. It did not, so, we returned home. Upon returning home, Loraine noticed a glob of tissue in her pad. Did not think of it as anything of significance and flushed it in the toilet. This is our first miscarriage.

  • Summer of 2006, we tried on and off again. August 2006, Loraine had a new job in home care and decided to hold off having baby until next year.

  • Sept 2006 - Found out I was pregnant. Not very happy initially due to new job but accepted it eventually. Went to San Francisco for planned vacation. Miscarried 2nd day of our 4 day planned vacation. Passed the tissue in ER. Stayed in the motel near the airport for the rest of our SFO getaway. We were both depressed and felt guilty. Returned home. Broke the news of miscarriage to people whom we shared our pregnancy news. OB-Gyn said, "At least you know you can get pregnant." This is our 2nd miscarriage.

  • January 2007 - We tried again.

  • End of February 2007 - Found we were expecting again. Very happy. Loraine with morning sickness.

  • March 2007 - First prenatal visit. Everything was going fine. Heard heartbeat at 8 weeks. We were elated.

  • April 2007 - first ultrasound. Baby was moving but about a week smaller for gestational age. No concern from the doctor. Very busy at work. Had several heavy lift patients but doctor did not give me any lifting restriction, so, business as usual.

  • May 2007 - Loraine was feeling better. Very busy at work. Had 16th week prenatal visit. Unable to locate fetal heartbeat through Doppler. Doctor decided to give me another Ultrasound, unable to locate any heartbeat even with US. Baby stopped growing at 12 weeks and 3 days. We were devastated. Next day had D&C. This is our 3rd miscarriage and we are not the same since.

  • June 2007 - Had several blood tests again to figure out what causing multiple miscarriages. Everything normal . Very frustrating.

  • September 2007 - returned to doctor as Loraine missed 3 mos. cycles. Negative pregnancy test. Doctor suspected increased stress due to Loraine's father just moved in with us from the Philippines. Prescribed oral progesterone (which she did not take) to start menstruation. Had blood tests again for hormone level. Everything normal (again). Used natural topical progesterone from health store instead of synthetic prescription one. It was successful in inducing menstruation.

  • October 2007 - started using herbal supplements to enhanced fertility. Started phasing out sources of toxic chemicals at home. Loraine started using topical natural progesterone to normalize cycle. She did not know that it also inhibited her ovulation as she was using it as what was written in the direction - apply twice daily at 14th day of cycle. She does not ovulate until the 16th (sometimes 17th day) day cycle. RE said that if you used it before ovulation, you will not ovulate.

  • October 2007 to April 2008 - we tried to get pregnant but unsuccessful.

  • April 2008 - we decided to see a Reproductive Endocrinologist (RE). Was given several blood tests according to cycle day. Had ultrasound of the ovaries. HSG to see if tubes are open and not scarred. Everything is normal and functioning well. Very frustrating. He prescribed Clomid. Instructed Loraine to stop progesterone and herbal supplements. Started Clomid.
  • May 2008 - Found a schoolmate in Friendster and she read in my blog about my fertility issues. She recommended the book Taking Charge of Your Fertility. Started taking basal temperature. Clomid seemed to normalize mentrual cycle.
  • August 2008 - Found to be pregnant. Went ahead for our planned vacation to Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado per RE's approval. Beta level seemed to be doubling every 48 hours. Loraine had some bouts of abdominal cramping. Discussed to RE possible need for progesterone supplement. Was told by RE that progesterone level normal and did not need it. Had US at around 6 weeks of pregnancy. Everything was fine.
  • September 2008 - At 8 weeks of pregnancy, returned for another US. No heartbeat found. Devastated. After a week, Loraine had another D&C. Chromosomal testing for Jason, Loraine and baby done. Jason and Loraine are normal. Baby found to have trisomy 16. This is our 4th miscarriage.
  • October 2008 - Returned to RE. Okayed to start trying again. Prescribed Clomid again. This time he added Metformin and with Loraine's request progesterone suppository to be applied after ovulation.
  • November 2008 - Stopped Metformin as it caused bad gastrointestinal side-effects (diarrhea and nausea).
  • December 2008 - Stopped Clomid as Loraine read that it can cause increased miscarriage and dries up good cervical fluid. Loraine very busy at wok. Travelled in the middle of snow storm more than 100 miles to help out another facility couple of times. Missed period this month but negative pregnancy test.
  • January 2009 - Resumed Clomid. Normal cycle but work very stressful. Had 2 car accidents. Loraine's father moved out to his own apartment. Called RE to discuss next step - possible IUI or IVF. Earliest appointment that can be given was March 1st.
  • February 2009 - Stopped Clomid. Started Metformin again to normalize hormone. Continues with basal temp monitoring and progesterone suppository. Ovulated at 16th day cycle.
  • March 1st 2009 - First day of missed period. Had appointment with RE. Pregnancy test that morning. Came out positive. RE notified. Beta level elevated. Returned after 48 hours and it more than doubled. Continued with Metformin and progesterone suppository. Called regular OB-Gyn. RE would like to do US but we decided to just hold-off for our regular OB-Gyn. RE office not happy.

Loraine continued to take Metformin up to 10 weeks of pregnancy and progesterone suppository at 12th week. We'll see the end of this story.

4 comments:

Makis said...

Wow, what a journey, Loraine! And you are so brave to have gone through it all. In the end, good things always come :)

malor said...

I hope so Makis. I was not expecting to get pregnant last feb. as I stopped Clomid. I was not expecting anything but as my due date comes to a close, I have now lots of hope. Thanks. I pray the same to you. Don't give up. You are still young and you have the desire in your heart...

Ed said...

Definitely a heart wrenching story to read but one that will have a great ending I'm sure. We will keep you in our thoughts these last weeks of your pregnancy.

malor said...

Geri, Yes I did read your miscarriage stories last year. It actually gave me hope, though, I have had more miscarriage than you do. I waited long to divulge this pregnancy (except for few people such as my boss, Makis and one good friend). Still have that anxiety and doubt. I would be so relieved once I, physically, hold my little one in my arms. I was at the brink of giving up. I waqs planning of travelling ang going back to school. I would prefer to have a baby, though.

Ed, Thank you very much. I need all the support. It was said that after 1st trimester, the cahnce of success goes up dramatically. But my anxiety did not lessen at all. I work on becoming positive. I am hoping for a happy ending to this story.