Our Journey Through the 1st Trimester (Part 1)

Now that the cat is FINALLY out of the bag, I can share what my experiences have been over the last 13 weeks. I say 13 weeks, but in reality we’ve only known about our little rainbow baby since December 28th so not the full 13 weeks. These last few weeks have been amazing, challenging, and anxiety ridden all at the same time so it’s going to take me two posts to break it all down for you!

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Let me first talk about how and when we found out that we were pregnant (this is going to be a winded backstory so just stay with me because it’ll make sense haha). When Zach changed jobs we had to change insurances, and my OB that I had throughout our miscarriage was no longer in network which as you can imagine stressed me out! So I did so much research and reached out to countless people in the area and finally settled on a new OB. Problem was his first available new patient appointment wasn’t until February 11, 2021 which was 3 months from when we switched insurances which didn’t make me very happy. But I got on the waitlist and called/checked in daily to see if I could sneak in early. Day after day I would check for a new random available appointment and one finally came up the week of Christmas. I was so thrilled I couldn’t even believe it was happening! So I went on December 22nd, 2020 to meet my new OB and discuss with him my past history and everything I was concerned about. I explained that my miscarriage took 14 weeks to complete and since August my cycles have been all over the place again. I told him that I was concerned about my body not being able to sustain a pregnancy if I were to get pregnant and he was so attentive and listened to my concerns. We discussed me starting a progesterone supplement following ovulation until the end of my cycle (your period) just to see if it would help. He explained that in no means does this mean there is something wrong with my progesterone levels, but that women who are more slender tend to have lower levels and therefore have a hard time maintaining a healthy pregnancy. I was so thrilled to start this supplement and it just gave me more hope! So I started it right away after that appointment and was instructed to take a home pregnancy test 12-14 days after my confirmed ovulation before stopping the medication. So I had about 9 days before my period was supposed to start where I was taking the medication.

On Monday December 28th, I was working out with Zach and I just felt off. Any move in plank was giving me really bad indigestion which I had never felt before so after we were finished I decided to take a First Response Early Response test. I had no hopes of it being positive as I had literally just started the medication and I just didn’t think this cycle was going to be “the one”. But after 3 short minutes it was POSITIVE!!!! I couldn’t believe my eyes, I ran into the kitchen to show Zach who was equally shocked. I mean what are the odds that I would 1. get into my new OB 2 months early, 2. start progesterone just 7 days prior and get a positive result the same cycle! Well we all know it has nothing to do with odds, it’s all a part of Gods plan.

I sent a message into my OB to see what the next steps would be with my history and they ordered blood work to see where my HCG levels were at and I went in on Tuesday. On Tuesday they were only to 117 which like I mentioned before we found out SO early since I was taking the progesterone supplements. I decided to go buy a digital test that day just because I wanted the cute “pregnant” pic this time. After my draw on Tuesday they wanted me to repeat on Thursday just to ensure that my HCG was rising. On Thursday my levels had more than doubled to 350 so everything was looking good. Since I had a history of loss we were able to go in at 6 weeks, 2 days to get an early ultrasound done. On January 15th we had our ultrasound appointment and as you can imagine I was a wreck! I was so nervous and was having a lot of negative thoughts about everything. While we waited I prayed and prayed for peace and comfort and for it to be in His will for our baby to be healthy.

As I laid there waiting for the US tech to get everything ready my breathing was sky high and my hands were shaking. Thankfully Zach was there to hold me hand and help try to calm me down but it was the moment of truth…. We got to see our little peanut and were told the heartbeat was strong at 115! She explained that at this stage all they want is something 110 or over is good so we were very relieved. We got a picture of our little peanut and were so excited to tell our families!

Our next appointment wouldn’t be until 4 weeks later on February 11th (ironic right since that was the date my initial OB visit was supposed to be). I was a little bummed that I was having to wait 4 weeks, but since that’s normal I just took it as a good sign. At this appointment I was 10 weeks 1 day which was super close to the date that we found out last time we had miscarried. Once again, I was pretty nervous but this go around was so different than the last time in terms of symptoms (which I’ll address in the next post), so I did feel some peace going into it. We got to the Dr. office and the nurse explained that I wouldn’t be having a formal ultrasound at this appointment and I was in shock. I kindly asked her if there was any way we could do one just for peace of mind for me and she said they would (praise). We went over all of the history and all of that good stuff and then finally got to hear our little one’s heartbeat on the doppler and it was MAGICAL! At first she was a little too high and was having a hard time finding it and then bam it was there and it was a strong 180! Both Zach and I were so relieved to hear that sweet little sound, I could have listened to it all day.

Then our OB came in and we got to see our little one on the ultrasound. It was the craziest thing as we got to see them move around and wiggle and at one point it looked like they waved at us! It was so great! We elected to do the genetic testing and with that you also find out the gender earlier than 20 weeks. I had all of the bloodwork drawn that day and we were told it would take 7-10 days to get the results. I had this whole thing planned out where we were only going to look to make sure baby W was healthy and then have my friend look at the gender to get us a cake so we could do something cute for it of course. So we waited patiently for the results and we randomly got them on Sunday, February 21st. Zach and I were sitting on the couch just watching tv when I got the message that they were ready to be viewed. So obviously I was like okay I’m only going to scroll enough to make sure we are low risk for any genetic abnormalities and then no further. Well of course that’s not how that worked because my brain is like a pile of poo right now and I scrolled too far. We saw the gender and immediately started crying. I was crying because I was so happy but also because I was so mad at myself for ruining our original plan and we were both crying out of disbelief that we are having a BOY! We both initially were totally convinced that it was going to be a girl but then as my symptoms got stronger, we switched gears and started thinking more boy. We were right!

Our last appointment (at 13 weeks, 5 days) was Monday March 8th. I was 13 weeks 5 days at this point and starting to feel *more* human every day. Every appointment gives me some anxiety I’m not gonna lie, but this one I felt the calmest yet. No ultrasound this time, but we got to hear his little heart beat again and it was a strong 158! Such a relief to get to hear that sweet sound. Everything looked good with my vitals and his, so now we just wait for our next appointment on April 7th!