How to begin...

Well I'm horrible at sticking with blogs but I hope my excitement will keep me disciplined. Plus this is a great way for my family to stay involved now that I'm no longer living in Cali. There will be lots of updates, pics and joy to share!

How to begin...

It's public knowledge now that my husband and I are expecting our first child. What most of you might not know is this is our second pregnancy. Without getting into all the gory details we suffered a miscarriage a few months back at about 6 weeks along. There was never a heartbeat detected and at 8 weeks the embryo was measuring 6 weeks which means it stopped growing. Later blood work would show that my hCG levels had dropped as well. A chromosomal abnormality is what the Dr. chalked it up to be. Basically, there was nothing we could have done or not done but the embryo simply didn't evolve how it should have. While it was a difficult situation our faith, understanding of how miscarriages happen and the numerous stories from other women I know who went through the same thing helped us through. The creation of a human being is truly a miracle and something to never take for granted.

Here we are now a few months later and I can only say that I truly believe the miscarriage was a huge learning experience. It humbled me, made me respect pregnancy more and made me appreciate every single difficult experience that we're going through now with the second pregnancy. I see through a different set of eyes than before and I do my very best to not take this experience for granted. I prayed for wisdom and that's what God provided. I am forever grateful and feel so blessed!

Weeks 3-14:
In a nutshell I found out I was pregnant on 12/28/12 when the doctor's office gave me a false negative result. Then a couple hours later received a voicemail from them stating it came up positive after I left the office. Marco and I ran out to CVS that night for a home test. We took one that same night and another the next morning. Both came up positive!

In the weeks to follow I underwent a lot of blood work, Dr apts and ultrasounds. Due to the previous miscarriage my doctor wanted to keep a close eye on me. While it's typically not necessary until someone has had 3 miscarriages consecutively she just wanted to ease my worries (and make some extra money I'm sure haha). Everything came back normal except my progesterone levels, as in PRO Gestation. These levels are very important in keeping an embryo/fetus growing properly. My levels were on the "low end of normal". I was required to take a supplement daily to increase progesterone (thank God it wasn't the shot in my butt) but the doctor stated this could have been a reason for the original miscarriage. I'm grateful they ran this test and it's always nice to know for future pregnancies as well. My ultrasounds also showed some spots of collective blood. While very small I was warned I might spot during those weeks. I was placed on pelvic rest (no lifting, stay off my feet as much as possible and no sex) until further notice.

Week 12 we moved from Cali to Colorado and I experienced another minor set back. Without going into detail I suddenly began to bleed. It quickly dissipated however left me scared and unsure of what was happening. The on call doctor at the time stated it sounded like I just did too much lifting and moving around with the move and needed to stop and just sit or lay down. I scheduled a Dr apt for the first week I was here.

More details in my next post but all is still well with the little one! <3

Your baby mama,
Kirstie

P.S. "Baby on Drums" is an inside thing we have with our friend Becky. However, when we saw the last ultrasound the baby was moving and flipping and throwing his/her little fists in the air. Baby on Drums stuck so now he/she is part of a never ending but never practicing/performing family band!