In the beginning - a summary of my TTC journey to date

Hello world! This is my first blog post on blogger. I have however, been blogging since late June 2008 immediately after discovering my first BFP and logging onto the website WTE. I was late for my period by six days and boy was I shocked and elated to see two pink lines! Sadly, I miscarried naturally just 6 days after discovering I was pregnant for the first time ever - and it happened on the 4th of July. Not to worry, I told myself, it's just God's way of saying - yes, B, you can get pregnant, so get ready, start eating healthy, avoid alcohol etc (you know, all those common misconceptions that us mc survivors tell ourselves). The miscarriage was over quick and seemed almost like a period, so my body got back into the "swing" of things so to speak immediately. I ovulated like normal, on CD 23 (I normally have 36 excruciating long day cyles) and lo and behold, on 8/8/08, just 11 DPO (a lucky day I believed) I got another BFP! Woohooo! This would be it I thought! I did everything right. I ate right, worked out right (I'm an exercise fanatic, so I cut back on exercises). I joined babyfit.com, and made sure I got all of the important vitamins and foods and did all the recommended pregnancy exercises. Then, dun-dun-dun-dun - the nine week ultrasound day arrived. I had never had an ultra sound before. DH and I went in and bam - our dreams were shattered. The technician could not see a baby, just a sac and a tiny speck of what appeared to be the baby. The doctor came in and explained, that the sac and "baby" were measuring only 6 weeks, and perhaps I was just much later than expected. He called my case a "mist". He ordered HCG level tests and I went back to my regular OBGYN for the results. She confirmed it, my levels were dropping, they went from 93,000 - 71,000. I asked for more tests, just to be absolutely sure (b/c I had virtually met one woman on WTE whose levels dropped a teeny bit, was told to have a D&C, only to discover right before surgery that her baby was alive. She was to give birth any day to a health baby boy). Sadly, the additional tests confirmed it, my HCG levels dropped again to 60,000 and another ultra sound 1 week later showed that there was absolutely no growth in either the sac and the baby. The technician (bless her heart) was wonderful and took the time to show me all of my "inner parts" the sac, and what appeared to be the baby - growing outside of the sac (WTF??). I also got to hear the "whoosh, whoosh" which she explained was blood rushing to or through my uterus. Were I to have a living baby, I would have been able to hear a heart beat. Talk about wistfulness - I longed for the day when I would hear a heartbeat and see a little baby squirming aroung, like so many other mommies-to-be report. I promised her I'd be back and we'd get to see a baby and hear the heartbeat. But that was not the case for me on that day. So, another week later, with no signs of spotting or bleeding, I had the D&C.

The D&C procedure went fairly smooth for me I believe. Recovery was very quick and I actually didn't really bleed much after. In fact, I didn't bleed at all until 8 days after the surgery and only for 1 day. I did spot after that day for 10 days though. It is now exactly 6 weeks and 4 days since the surgery and I still have not seen AF! But I do chart and it appears as if my temperatures have finally become consistent and I am currently 8 DPO. My LP (pre 2nd PG) was consistently 12 days) so I am hoping to see AF this Saturday.

Because I had two consecutive MCs I asked my doc to do all the normal tests to see if we could determine the cause. She ran some blood tests - all of them returned back normal. She said that I could just be very unlucky (ok, well she didn't use those words, but that's what I heard). She explained that typically a woman has 3 mcs in her life and perhaps I had two of mine early on. Of course, I continued to look for answers and I discovered a blog that discussed a septate and bicornate uterus (when the shape of the uterus affects a PG or causes a MC). I asked my doctor for a test to check for this. She agreed and ordered the test for me - having one of her colleagues perform it. So last Friday, November 7, 2008, I went in and he performed a sonohysterogram on me. Good news - my uterus and ovaries are normal. Bad news (or good news - I'm working on looking at it from this angle) is that he discovered a 2 cm fibroid growing on the inside of my uterus. He said that he believes that this is what caused my previous mcs. He also said they are very common in women and not cancerous. He said that there is a simple procedure that they can do to remove the fibroid and recommended that I not get PG until it is removed. But of course, I had to speak with my normal OBGYN about the results and my options. So I scheduled another follow up and that appointment is on November 19.

If you've made it this far. Thanks for reading. =) There will definitely be more on this TTC journey. I hope you come back to visit me soon.

BTW: yesterday was my one year wedding anniversary and it was great!