First Trimester Fun

LENGTH WARNING: Last post and this post are catching you up and will serve as a memory for us in the future, so we apologize they are a little long.

Once we got home and settled from our European adventures we hunkered down while I fought daily fatigue, a decent amount of nausea, a few food aversions and a heightened sense of smell that often left me holding my noise and running away from its source. Our first doctor's appointment was scheduled for 8 1/2 weeks and it seemed like forever away.

One huge blessing is working from home where I don't have to get ready or act "normal". Stefan and Andrew helped out with some cleaning, cooking and errands while I really took it down a notch. I normally have a hard time resting and relaxing and not accomplishing much in a day, so my July was a bit different.

The first appointment was great for the most part. We got confirmation and even got an ultra sound. We could see it's little heart beating although we won't get to hear it until our next appointment. 

8 1/2 weeks

Everything went smooth until I pulled out this piece of paper we needed to ask about. My maternal grandma was somewhat recently diagnosed with a blood clotting disorder called Factor V Leiden. My mom eventually got the blood work to get tested and she has it, too. Since this becomes more of an issue if you are pregnant, having surgery, flying for long distances or doing anything where blood clots chances may be increased I figured I'd check it out with my prenatal blood work. As soon as I showed our Nurse Practitioner mom's blood work results, she said she got goosebumps. We had no idea it would be that serious! She said if I had this disorder as well we would need to review some treatment plans, so I got my labs the next day and waited the "7-10 business days" to get the results. Two Fridays later I got a voicemail at 4:45 p.m. from the Nurse Practitioner saying I did in fact have Factor V Leiden as well and that everything was okay but she made an appointment for me on Monday to come in to discuss them. Since I didn't get that until 5 p.m. when I got off of work we did some internet research to prepare us for Monday's appointment when we could talk to both the NP and doctor.

10 1/2 weeks

The nerves were high and my perfect blood pressure from my appointment two weeks ago was up when I got checked in to my appointment on Monday. Stefan was so great in completely rearranging his schedule last minute to come with me. Despite a vision of what we thought our pregnancy and delivery would be, I learned already that things may not go as planned but you can roll with them and breath through the anxiety. We did, however, get to see our little one again to make sure everything was still going okay. 

I'll be taking daily injections to help prevent any blood clots throughout and immediately after the pregnancy. Oh, its quite lovely really, every evening I get to pinch some flab together on my stomach and put a needle into it. The first few times I had Stefan do it, but I've now taken over. It wouldn't be so bad if it didn't burn afterwards. We are thankful for good insurance so these aren't too expensive. We are even more thankful this is a tried and true treatment that does not at all harm the baby but will help keep us both healthy and safe!