Part of the Reason I Haven't Blogged Much, Lately

I know, I have pictures already. That's part of the story, though. So, on to the huge saga...

*major Too-Much-Information alert--don't say I didn't warn you. Anyone of the male persuasion will want to stop here. Here's an adequate summary for you.

We're pregnant! (Yay!!!)
There were medical issues...(Oooh...)
But everything is fine now. (Yay!!!)

Now you can skip to the bottom*


I could skip the first several months but those are part of the story, too, and one really should "start at the beginning." You'll notice that posting took a major nosedive in October and that's because that's when the Grand Debate began. The Grand Debate was on whether to follow through with the Really Retarded Plan. The Really Retarded Plan was to be cute pregnant--but not whale pregnant--for our 10 year reunion this spring/summer (I know it's a dumb reason to get pregnant [see the name] but at least we had a plan). Arbitrarily place baby ETA in late July, count backwards, and conception would be last of October/beginning of November. Now you see the Grand Debate. Did I want to be pregnant yet? Could we afford it? If we're moving to St Louis, I want to be done before we leave (I don't want Missouri babies! And I don't want to find a new OB at 8 months!), but if we don't leave, I can wait. Blah, blah, blah, and it raged on for weeks. Anyway, we decided to go for it, because I knew I'd be able to handle the logistics of pregnancy (if not the actual child) if we were in Texas, and that meant now. And we started counting days. In six days (my birthday!) I saw every single one of the signs that had been present when I first found out I was pregnant with Joseph. For one glorious day I thought we'd made it. The next day, though, everything started to go downhill. I started my period a full week too early and it lasted for two weeks. I did take a pregnancy test and it was negative, but I don't know if it was a)too early, b)cheap and insensitive, or c)actually negative. This was all troubling and puzzling, but I couldn't do much because we didn't have insurance. The next month, it happened again. The second half of my cycles were already dangerously short, fertility-wise, but this was bad. So, January came around and we started counting yet again, hoping to see a sign of improved health. I made it to 7 days (beat October/November), then 9 (beat December). At 11 days (normal for me, ever since I'd had Joseph; 14 is average) I thought/hoped maybe the last two months had been a fluke. By the time I got to 13 days, I knew I was pregnant. I tested on day 14 and got a positive. A few days later I started spotting. I'd spotted with the other two pregnancies, but not this heavy, and not for this long. I called my doctor the next Monday, and they said to come in as soon as I could, that afternoon. I got blood tests, a physical exam, and a trip to the ultrasound office. This last one had plenty of good news. I was not ectopic, the baby was also nowhere near my cervix, there was only one, and it had a heartbeat (which is impressive for 5 1/2 weeks). The blood tests, though, said my progesterone levels were low and I now have a prescription for progesterone, which I have to take twice a day until they can hear the heartbeat on the doppler. After that, I'm not sure. Anyway, I'm stable now, and things are going fairly well. Yes, I feel cruddy, but no I'm not *sick* --that day is still another month and a half away, and I'm not sure if it's better when you know exactly when to expect it. We'll have more news next time the doctor checks me out.

*end TMI portion*

I figure I'm due Sept. 26th or 27th and no one at the doctors' offices has offered anything different. Oh, and the whiter spot, near the bottom arrow, is the heart. It was way cool to see it flutter.