I had my "dating" ultrasound on August 8th which I was extremely nervous about because...1) It would be the first time we would see the heartbeat and 2) It was going to be a pelvic ultrasound and I had seen the tool they use for those before...I was most nervous about the heartbeat because we had told our family about the baby and I was scared to death of not seeing a heartbeat and having to tell them bad news.
We arrived that afternoon and were called back to the ultrasound room. The girl doing the ultrasound was very sweet and reassured me that although it would be a little uncomfortable at first, I would be just fine and would eventually not be able to feel the probe. We got settled and the TV turned on above me and she started moving around trying to find the baby. Sure enough, there it was, a little peanut looking thing with a little white flicker in the center. She attempted to explain to us what we were seeing but both of us just stared at what looked like a blob on a screen. She took some measurements to figure exactly how far along we were and then advised us she was going to now take a look at my ovaries...
She started moving the probe to the right and left which I'm not gonna lie, was a little uncomfortable. I didn't care at that point because I had seen a heartbeat! As she looked around some more, there were different colors of grey, black and white showing up all over the TV screen (I had no idea what in the world we were looking at). She pointed out one of my ovaries and then stopped over several black spots. She called the "head sonographer" over to have a look and they started throwing out terms like "avascular," "are you sure," and "get the measurements for those two." While doing this they looked at Michael and I and said I know we are talking about things you don't understand but the doctor will go over everything with you after the ultrasound is over. I was terrified.
Not only was laying there for the rest of the ultrasound very frightened but then I had to go sit back in the lobby and wait for my actual appt which wasn't for another 30 minutes. I sat there and looked at the few little "peanut" pictures I was holding trying to think what they could be referring to...my first thought was that they were measuring tumors inside me and I had some sort of cancer or that I was going to die. I shared these thoughts with Michael and he reassured me that I was worrying for nothing and everything would be fine. I tried to take my mind off things by trying to figure out again where the head of the baby in the picture was. Finally they called my name...
We were taken back to the exam room and the midwife came in after a few minutes telling us that it looked like I was approx 8 weeks pregnant and my due date appeared to be March 22nd. She then proceeded to ask if anyone in my family had multiples...Micheal and I froze. Apparently those black "spots" they were measuring were actually two additional sacs. She then said..."you had triplets but only one of them is measuring appropriately." Oh my Word...triplets, really...I wasn't even convinced we were ready for one...three seemed like a cruel joke. I asked her what exactly that meant and she said the other two sacs should dissolve on their on and I seemed to have "dodged a bullet" because we were only going to have one baby! Michael and I were relieved that I did not have tumors inside of me and that we were going to have only one child. With that said, she did want to follow me closely and would discuss getting another PELVIC ultrasound in 4 weeks to keep an eye on things!
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
You're Going To Be GRANDPARENTS...
After my OB appt on July 27th Michael and I were headed to Banner Elk for the week. We knew this week/weekend was going to be very special. We were lucky enough to have my parents, my sister, Michael's parents, Michael's brother and my Aunt and Uncle along with their two kids there for the weekend. We arrived Friday night and were there with just my parent's, my sister and my aunt, uncle and cousins. I knew we were not going to be able to tell anyone that night because I wanted everyone to be there. Waiting was KILLING me. Michael kept telling me to relax but I was dying to tell my parents...
Saturday was a LONG day and I was incredibly tired. I think I slept most of the afternoon. My sister came to my room around 4PM to tell me that I had slept all afternoon and that I should get up and interact with the family...little did she know!!!
FINALLY the Mitchell's arrived to the condo because we had scheduled to go to Michael's favorite Mexican restaurant that night with the family. Our parent's were sitting out on the deck and I came downstairs and announce I had something for them...(I tried to play if off like it was no big deal by telling them I had had it for a couple of weeks but wanted to give it to them at the same time.) I brought two frames wrapped for them to open that looked like this...
I glued the phrase "Grandparents To Be" on a plain frame and put a picture of the positive pregnancy test...they LOVED it!!!
As soon as we got in the car for dinner, my sister had a mini breakdown about what the baby would call her...she said we were not allowed to talk about anything else until we came up with a good name for her. She finally decided that since my grandfather always referred to her as "Mere-Edith" that she would go by "Aunt Edie." This is ironic since my mother had an aunt named the same! After that was decided, we were allowed to talk about our excitement of having a baby and dinner was wonderful!
My Aunt Angela, Uncle Tim and my cousins Blake and Nathan left on Monday but stayed to have dinner Monday night. My other cousins had just arrived to spend a few days. I was very excited about this because I wanted to tell them when they got there. Addie and Brett and their kids Cade and Brecken arrived Monday evening. We had decided to try to surprise them during dinner so my dad said the blessing and then told Addie we had a picture from the beach she hadn't seen. He handed her the frame I had made them turned upside down and when she turned it over, she was SHOCKED!!! She jumped up and down for several minutes while her kids looked at her like she had four heads. She told them that I was going to have a baby and they were going to have another baby cousin! Needless to say they were very excited as well.
After dinner, we decided it was time to share the news with some of my other family members. Thank goodness for technology because we were able to Face Time my Aunt Nancy and Uncle Rick and also my cousins Morgan and Krista! It was fun to see everyone's reactions when I showed them the picture I had made for mom and dad! We also called my grandparents and lots of Michael's family. Michael's little cousin Avery was spending the night with his Aunt and called her mother while we were talking to Aunt Michelle. She told her mom that I was going to be a Mommy and that Michael was going to be the Daddy! Everyone was super excited for us and was instructed to not say anything until further notice!
The rest of the week was so much fun, although I was tired, it was nice to be around everyone and hear predictions of boy vs girl and hear lots of pregnancy stories from the women! I feel super blessed to have such a wonderful, supportive family because I know I am going to need a lot of help through this pregnancy and when Baby Mitchell comes!
Saturday was a LONG day and I was incredibly tired. I think I slept most of the afternoon. My sister came to my room around 4PM to tell me that I had slept all afternoon and that I should get up and interact with the family...little did she know!!!
FINALLY the Mitchell's arrived to the condo because we had scheduled to go to Michael's favorite Mexican restaurant that night with the family. Our parent's were sitting out on the deck and I came downstairs and announce I had something for them...(I tried to play if off like it was no big deal by telling them I had had it for a couple of weeks but wanted to give it to them at the same time.) I brought two frames wrapped for them to open that looked like this...
I glued the phrase "Grandparents To Be" on a plain frame and put a picture of the positive pregnancy test...they LOVED it!!!
As soon as we got in the car for dinner, my sister had a mini breakdown about what the baby would call her...she said we were not allowed to talk about anything else until we came up with a good name for her. She finally decided that since my grandfather always referred to her as "Mere-Edith" that she would go by "Aunt Edie." This is ironic since my mother had an aunt named the same! After that was decided, we were allowed to talk about our excitement of having a baby and dinner was wonderful!
My Aunt Angela, Uncle Tim and my cousins Blake and Nathan left on Monday but stayed to have dinner Monday night. My other cousins had just arrived to spend a few days. I was very excited about this because I wanted to tell them when they got there. Addie and Brett and their kids Cade and Brecken arrived Monday evening. We had decided to try to surprise them during dinner so my dad said the blessing and then told Addie we had a picture from the beach she hadn't seen. He handed her the frame I had made them turned upside down and when she turned it over, she was SHOCKED!!! She jumped up and down for several minutes while her kids looked at her like she had four heads. She told them that I was going to have a baby and they were going to have another baby cousin! Needless to say they were very excited as well.
After dinner, we decided it was time to share the news with some of my other family members. Thank goodness for technology because we were able to Face Time my Aunt Nancy and Uncle Rick and also my cousins Morgan and Krista! It was fun to see everyone's reactions when I showed them the picture I had made for mom and dad! We also called my grandparents and lots of Michael's family. Michael's little cousin Avery was spending the night with his Aunt and called her mother while we were talking to Aunt Michelle. She told her mom that I was going to be a Mommy and that Michael was going to be the Daddy! Everyone was super excited for us and was instructed to not say anything until further notice!
The rest of the week was so much fun, although I was tired, it was nice to be around everyone and hear predictions of boy vs girl and hear lots of pregnancy stories from the women! I feel super blessed to have such a wonderful, supportive family because I know I am going to need a lot of help through this pregnancy and when Baby Mitchell comes!
What To Expect...Over The Next Few Weeks
So my timeline so far was...
May 15th- off BC
July 15th- Pregnant
July 19th- Confirmation Appt...So I called Westside OBGYN since that is where I had been getting my yearly physicals done...they said before you could schedule your full OB appt, you had to schedule a time where you could come to the office with a urine sample and they could test your urine to make sure you were pregnant (so basically I paid $25 to let them run a third pregnancy test that was still positive).
July 25th- Had a "finacial" appt at Westside...this is where you meet with a person about what your insurance will cover throughout your pregnancy and come up with a payment plan to pay off what insurance won't cover in the next 6 months. Was pleased to see the result of what insurance would cover for Westside's Services vs. what I owed because Michael and I figured we would be taking out loans for the medical bills...haha
July 27th- 1st OB Appt...This appt was interesting...Michael didn't really know what to expect and neither did I. We met with a midwife named Darcy who was very kind and was able to put our minds at ease a little. She started by asking us what questions we had for her. I was thinking "umm what question do I not have for you." We determined that I was approx 5 weeks pregnant but Darcy wanted to do what they call a "dating ultrasound" just to make sure. I told her that I was nauseated most days as soon as I woke up and HAD to eat something before putting my feet on the ground. She assured me this was normal and keeping something beside the bed would help. I also told her how tired I had been feeling and she assured me that this would only get worse over the next few weeks...but then may get better once I reached my 2nd trimester. We talked about family support and many other things during that appt. Everything seemed to be going well. At the end of this appt, I scheduled my dating ultrasound and was informed this was going to be a "pelvic ultrasound." I knew what this meant because we order them all the time in the ER...however, I had never had one myself...If I had only knew what I was getting myself into!!!
May 15th- off BC
July 15th- Pregnant
July 19th- Confirmation Appt...So I called Westside OBGYN since that is where I had been getting my yearly physicals done...they said before you could schedule your full OB appt, you had to schedule a time where you could come to the office with a urine sample and they could test your urine to make sure you were pregnant (so basically I paid $25 to let them run a third pregnancy test that was still positive).
July 25th- Had a "finacial" appt at Westside...this is where you meet with a person about what your insurance will cover throughout your pregnancy and come up with a payment plan to pay off what insurance won't cover in the next 6 months. Was pleased to see the result of what insurance would cover for Westside's Services vs. what I owed because Michael and I figured we would be taking out loans for the medical bills...haha
July 27th- 1st OB Appt...This appt was interesting...Michael didn't really know what to expect and neither did I. We met with a midwife named Darcy who was very kind and was able to put our minds at ease a little. She started by asking us what questions we had for her. I was thinking "umm what question do I not have for you." We determined that I was approx 5 weeks pregnant but Darcy wanted to do what they call a "dating ultrasound" just to make sure. I told her that I was nauseated most days as soon as I woke up and HAD to eat something before putting my feet on the ground. She assured me this was normal and keeping something beside the bed would help. I also told her how tired I had been feeling and she assured me that this would only get worse over the next few weeks...but then may get better once I reached my 2nd trimester. We talked about family support and many other things during that appt. Everything seemed to be going well. At the end of this appt, I scheduled my dating ultrasound and was informed this was going to be a "pelvic ultrasound." I knew what this meant because we order them all the time in the ER...however, I had never had one myself...If I had only knew what I was getting myself into!!!
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Two Lines...
In July I had a WONDERFUL vacation at Ocean Isle Beach with the family. Enjoyed being off work for a week and getting to see everyone who I love dearly. Dreaded coming back home to the reality of working full time and seeing the hubby in passing. BUT, I had one more relaxing day before going back to work on that Sunday night.
On Sunday, July 15th I decided to continue to theme of the beach by laying out on the deck and taking a dip in the 10ft pool that I set up on the patio. Michael was going to the YMCA to play basketball as he did most Sundays at 1 when he could and had planned on bringing lunch home. I got up, messed around the house for a while, looked at my calendar...and realized...hmmm am I late? It had been a good 4 weeks and several days since I had experienced the "curse of being a female." So I decided to check. I mean what could it hurt...Michael and I had talked about it, but that sort of thing takes several months after coming off birth control...right, I mean 2 months, no way...must just be a little irregular since I had been on BC for the past 4 years. UMMM WRONG!!!
There were TWO lines...
My thoughts were as follows;
1) Maybe I'm reading it wrong, besides I had only taken the test ONE other time. So I grabbed the box and looked again...sure enough two lines meant PREGNANT...
2) You can have false positives right? Maybe I should just wait a few days and take another one. But then I got to thinking...off BC, late period, very unlikely that this was a false positive...
3) What will Michael think...this one was the one that made me the happiest...why was I freaking out??? We had talked about this, that was the whole point of me NOT using the BC. He didn't have a choice but to be excited because he agreed!
How to tell him though...
I decided to get a necklace box that I had saved from some occasion and put the pregnancy test with two lines inside...on a piece of paper inside I wrote Will you be my daddy???...wrapped the box up with tissue paper and wrote "To Michael...come and get me before opening. Love, Mel."
On Sunday, July 15th I decided to continue to theme of the beach by laying out on the deck and taking a dip in the 10ft pool that I set up on the patio. Michael was going to the YMCA to play basketball as he did most Sundays at 1 when he could and had planned on bringing lunch home. I got up, messed around the house for a while, looked at my calendar...and realized...hmmm am I late? It had been a good 4 weeks and several days since I had experienced the "curse of being a female." So I decided to check. I mean what could it hurt...Michael and I had talked about it, but that sort of thing takes several months after coming off birth control...right, I mean 2 months, no way...must just be a little irregular since I had been on BC for the past 4 years. UMMM WRONG!!!
There were TWO lines...
My thoughts were as follows;
1) Maybe I'm reading it wrong, besides I had only taken the test ONE other time. So I grabbed the box and looked again...sure enough two lines meant PREGNANT...
2) You can have false positives right? Maybe I should just wait a few days and take another one. But then I got to thinking...off BC, late period, very unlikely that this was a false positive...
3) What will Michael think...this one was the one that made me the happiest...why was I freaking out??? We had talked about this, that was the whole point of me NOT using the BC. He didn't have a choice but to be excited because he agreed!
How to tell him though...
I decided to get a necklace box that I had saved from some occasion and put the pregnancy test with two lines inside...on a piece of paper inside I wrote Will you be my daddy???...wrapped the box up with tissue paper and wrote "To Michael...come and get me before opening. Love, Mel."
Michael got home with lunch and came to get me from outside...as he opened the box, I was excited, nervous, scared but mostly just eager for him to open it so I wouldn't be the only person that knew! He did a double take and looked at me stating "really?" (No Michael, I used someone else's pregnancy test...lol). Then I got a huge hug and a huge smile that let me know he was really, really excited.
He looked at me and asked, "What do we do now?" I thought, hmmm that is a good question...what do you do after a positive pregnancy test??? I sure didn't know, we weren't telling anyone else so I couldn't ask anyone else...so I went to my only other option....GOOGLE.
WHAT TO DO AFTER POSITIVE PREGNANCY TEST???
Eventually after looking for a few minutes, we had a game plan...confirm another positive pregnancy test in approx 24-48 hours, call and get an OB appt...wait to tell family until after OB appt...and although Google doesn't tell you this, I tacked on the phrase START PRAYING...
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