Adding to the Family

We recently shared some big news on Facebook:

Bean is going to be a big sister this coming June!

So let me rewind the story back to where it starts in January! ***NOTE - the rest of this post talks about medical issues I had leading up to pregnancy.  If you don't care about the issues or the actual getting pregnant, just skip to the next blog post titled "Sprout"!***

 I started running last winter and got really consistent in December.  By January, I noticed some issues with my menstrual cycle and went to the doctor.  They thought there was a possible bacterial issue going on and put me on antibiotics.  It seemed to fix the problem so I didn't think much about it. I continued my mini-marathon training and increased my mileage in running.  Eventually, I noticed cycle issues creeping back in.  I just chalked it up to the running being stressful on my body and decided I'd go back to the doctor after the mini in May (I mean, what's 2 more crazy cycles by that point??). 

So I ran the mini and stopped running (mainly because I was "ran-out", but also had issues like losing toenails and cycle issues).  Steve encouraged me to take a break because he didn't think the positives of running were outweighing those negatives.  My cycles increased in craziness.  I finally cracked in June and made another appointment.  

So I went to the appointment in June and described how my cycle was all off.  I'd have some slight bleeding when a period was due, but it would turn to spotting, and then I'd randomly have a real period. The length of time of the pre-period bleeding increased from being a few days to being a few weeks by August.  At the June appointment, the doctor did an examine and said that the pre-bleeding could actually be from an irritation from a bacteria in my system (remember, I had that diagnosis and antibiotics only cleared it up for about a month).  I shared my concern with the doctor and he put me on a little bit heavier oral antibiotic this time.  I returned in July for a follow-up.  Antibiotics cleared up the bacteria, but the irregular bleeding remained.  

At the follow-up appointment in July, my doctor was out delivering a baby, so I saw his associate.  She decided that it was possible that my body needed a kick-start to get back onto a normal cycle.  We discussed going on birth control, but Steve and I were starting to toy with the idea of another kid. To me, that would solve my problem (irregular bleeding) -- get pregnant and stop it all together - ha! So she put me on Provera.  It didn't work and actually had some adverse effects.  I ended up waking up in the middle of the night and felt really weird.  My brain was foggy and I couldn't figure out what was wrong.  I went to the bathroom because that was as logical as I could think.  I ended up passing out on the bathroom floor. As quickly as the weirdness came on, I was completely fine after passing out.  I just went back to bed and told Steve in the morning. Haha

So I had a follow-up appointment at the beginning of September (number 4 for the year for those keeping track).  This time, I got to see my actual doctor.  He didn't agree with the Provera route (nice to know after the fact).  He came up with the theory that I wasn't ovulating.  We discussed that we were okay with getting pregnant, and he decided to just go ahead and treat me as infertile, even though it hadn't been a year.  The signs were there and his main goal was to get the bleeding and irregular cycle to stop. So he prescribed Chlomid.  I was to take it on day 5-9 of my cycle.  However, I wasn't positive what my actual cycle was! I was pre-bleeding for 2 weeks leading up to what I called an actual period.  He said go with my gut and choose the "actual period" as day 1.  

Enter time line into play -- day 1 just so happened to be the day we left for our cruise -- Happy Vacation! But since my cycle was a crazy cycle, I was fine by day 3 and enjoyed the cruise immensely! I took the medicine as prescribed days 5-9.  We weren't being intentional about paying attention to days after that (for those of you who don't know and want to know -- typical cycles work in 28 days, you ovulate somewhere in the middle -- day 12-14).  After all the issues of the year, I didn't expect the medicine to work so quickly let alone get pregnant.  

The next couple weeks went by and I realized I didn't have the irregular bleeding I had been having all year - Score!  The medicine worked! However, I did start to notice I wasn't feeling the best.  I told myself it was just side effects from the medicine and to not be crazy.  Well eventually, I started feeling more nauseous and achy.  I told myself it was a period coming, but in reality, I kept thinking, "the last time I felt like this was when I was pregnant with Bean. . . ".  I told Steve my thoughts and he just told me to stop being crazy.  When you take Chlomid, you have to have a blood test to check your levels.  I went and got the blood drawn on Monday and told myself to let the doctor contact me; besides, a period was to start on Friday.  By Wednesday, I was really feeling sick (and crazy!), so I called them.  They said my progesterone level was 60 - typically, they are looking for a number in the teens to indicate ovulation! Yikes.  I panicked. What does a high number mean?!  The nurse just said to wait to see if a period comes and then call back.  

I had told myself no pregnancy tests until a missed period.  We went to church that night and I had to chew gum the whole time because I was so nauseous.  As soon as we got home, I took a test.  I didn't even tell Steve.  If I was being crazy, I didn't want to admit it to him.  I wasn't crazy - the test was positive!  I immediately showed Steve and we just stared at each other - ha!

All About Baby

Be prepared, now that Baby is shared with the public, the blog will probably be baby crazy for awhile.  I'm debating on making the blog private (meaning you'd have to ask for the password from me and sign in to read the blog) but for now I'll keep it open.

Before going to Disney, I had suspicions that I was pregnant.  Before we left for the trip, I took a test but it was negative.  I was pretty bummed and decided to just not think about it and enjoy the week at Disney without thinking about it.  However, when we got there, it's all I could think about!  My suspicions grew by the day and I didn't bring another test with me.  So I tried to enjoy the week as much as I could (I didn't tell anyone other than Steve and nearly wanted to explode every day).  I rode all the rides (even the roller coasters!) and had a good time.  On the last night, I couldn't contain it anymore.  I wanted to be able to tell my parents in person about the possible pregnancy and knew this was my last opportunity.  So Steve and I shadily pulled them into our room and shared our suspicion.  I could tell they were both containing their excitement and they said to wait for a confirmation until I go crazy.  As soon as we got home the next day, I took a test and found out I was pregnant!

I never really felt nauseous or sick those first few weeks and had to constantly remind myself that I really was pregnant.  I went to my doctor to have it confirmed and set up baby appointments.  Originally, I was supposed to be able to do all the gynecological visits in office and not have to get another doctor: however, the practice I go to had a change in it and I had to be referred to an OB/GYN.  After my doctor confirmed my pregnancy (at home pregnancy test -- $2, exact same test at doctor's office -- $28 - not counting the appointment cost!), she set up some referrals.  I was supposed to be referred to an endocrinologist after the miscarriage in November, but that never happened.  They fast tracked my referral and got into the thyroid doctor the next day!

Thyroid appointment -- apparently there is a short window to test the thyroid levels at the beginning of a pregnancy before you get false information (I don't know if I believe that).  So I had that appointment and had to have several blood tests done bi-weekly to make sure the levels are looking correct.  I have a follow-up with that doctor this week!

Steve's family came to visit the weekend of his birthday (I was 6 weeks pregnant).  We kept our secret from all the rest of our family until we had the chance to let them know they would be first time grandparents this year!  I found a onesie at the store that said "Destination Grandparents" on it.  So I wrapped it up and put it in a little bag.  When Steve got off work (his parents came Friday after lunch and Steve got home in the late afternoon), he gave them the "gift" to open up.  As soon as they opened it, they got it right away and were really excited with our news! Steve's mom got to share the news with his sister later in the evening (by using the same onesie scheme).   After their visit, we called up the rest of our families to let them know of our secret!

An appointment was set up with the OB/GYN during the 9th week of the pregnancy; but at 7 weeks, I had a scare and called the doctor.  I had some bleeding that had me concerned and fearing a miscarriage again (only there was no pain).  They got me an appointment for the next day to see what was going on.  We had an ultrasound and got to actually see the baby's heart beating!  What  a relief!  The discovered I had a small implantation bleed and they said it should heal up on its own, but warned there could be more bleeding from it.  Whew!  I didn't get to meet my doctor on this visit, so they kept my "first appointment" till scheduled for 2 weeks later.

 (Baby looking like a turtle at the first ultrasound.  Heartbeat was 155)

At the "first appointment", I had another ultrasound.  It's crazy how much baby changed in 2 weeks!  It went from looking like a turtle blog to an actual human.  Seeing it's little heart beat and hearing it really made it more real.  Up until this point, I still hadn't dealt with any nausea or morning sickness.  I had just been feeling really tired and lacked energy to get anything done.  We got to meet my new doctor and he went through a bunch of information with us.  He was quite comical and eased a bunch of my fears of a potential miscarriage or things going awry.

(Starting to look human!  Pretty sure it is upside down, but I honestly don't know - ha ha.  Heartbeat was a strong 171!)

Now speed up to this past week -- I've hit the 12 week mark and closing up the last week of my first trimester!  I still can't believe there's a baby inside me - ha ha!  That's a daily discussion in our household.  Even though things are supposed to get better into the 2nd trimester (like nausea going away), it seems that mine is finally picking up!  Every pregnancy is different and there's really no scale to measure from, some people are sick the whole time, others never.  My mornings start off fine and by the end of the day is when I'm feeling sick.  So I guess you'd say I have evening sickness??  It still hasn't been anything to complain about (although, I have gotten lots of attention from Steve over it, so I do complain a little bit I guess).  The main issues that I have are heartburn, nausea before & after eating, and being hungry a lot (refer back to the nausea around eating - ha!).  But like I said, it's nothing to complain about, just sharing what's going on!

Another weird thing is that I've been having issues with my hips hurting.  I've always had issues with my hips and used to see a chiropractor a lot growing up.  It looks like I may have to resume that if things don't shape up soon!  I can't imagine how they'll feel when I'm carrying around extra weight!  I got a crazy pillow to help sleep at night and it seems to be helping with the hip issue.

So I think that pretty much sums up everything baby related that I've been dying to blog about.  I'm sure there's stuff I've forgotten.  I've been trying to keep records of the pregnancy thus far (and been taking pictures, but none impressive to share yet).

Craziness

We are 1 day away from heading out on 2012 Europe Trip 2.0.  We are not packed, I still have some shopping to do, and the house is in need of attention.  I had great intention to be ready to go by this evening, but the Olympics just keep reeling me in.  I am a HUGE Olympics fan, and it's just so hard to get stuff done around the house when there is only 1 tv in the living room.  Luckily, next week while Steve is working in Belgium, I will be able to watch the Olympics LIVE!!  Woooohooooo!

I will be bringing my laptop with me which is a perk for me, and perk for you.  I will be able to blog our trip while it's going on!  (Assuming that all our locations have wifi, which they are supposed to.)  I kept going back and forth on whether it would be worth taking, but after finding out more of Steve's schedule the first week (and me being left to entertain myself for entire days) it has been deemed a necessity.

Since the next few weeks will be full of Europe updates, I need to catch up on what's been going on with my health stuff.  First off, my eyes have been deemed "perfect" and can resume all normal activities!  It made for perfect timing as I found out I could go swimming the day before we went to the beach -- Sweet!

Secondly, that ridiculous pain (deemed ridiculous not because of the pain's intensity which has lessened, but because of it's length -- 4 months now!).  I had an appointment with the gastrointerologist who actually did my procedure in June.  It was good to be able to talk to him and get his "first hand" advice on what to do next.  He is pretty convinced that there's nothing really there causing the pain, but decided a CT scan is the next step.  We get back from Europe on a Sunday night and the next Monday morning, will be the scan - ha!  Welcome back to America!

Now to finish packing. . .

LASIK

It has been a lifelong dream of mine to undergo LASIK eye surgery.  Growing up, I would joke that it would be a college graduation present to myself.  However, life happened.  I met and married Steve, we graduated, moved to TN, looked into buying a home, moved to Ohio, went to Europe, and finally I had LASIK!

I was absolutely TERRIFIED of going through with it.  I was a bundle of nerves the day of, and thank goodness my mom went with me.  She knew just what to say and do to help calm me down.  Even though I had paid the morning of, there was a part of me that just kept saying "back out now".  But, I did it and I think I'm glad I did it - ha ha.  I'm still dealing with post-surgery symptoms like itchiness, dry eyes, tired eyes, goopy medicine around the eyes, and such.

The surgery itself probably took less than 5 minutes.  Before going into the laser room, I had to undergo a bunch of numbing drops (the night before, I had to start doing my own antibiotic drops).  I had a little melt down after they took these foam wedges soaked in numbing drops and placed them under my eyelids for a 10 seconds.  Have you ever had foam wedges placed under your eyelids???  Even though I couldn't feel it from the previous drops, it sort of got to me in my head, but my mom was able to sit with me through all this and she got me focused onto other things.  My eyes started stinging while I was waiting and I had these visions of the numbing drops not working and feeling the whole laser process, but the assistants put more drops in and assured me there would be continual drops throughout the process -- whew!

**Disclaimer -- the next two paragraphs do describe the LASIK process, read at your own risk -- hahahaha!  Just keep in mind, if I could go through it, you can read it!**

I was then walked into the laser room (my mom had to wait outside) where I laid on this swiveling bed that could be moved to both lasers.   After being swiveled a coupld of times to make sure everything was lined up, they taped down my right eye and placed a "ring" over my left eye that suctioned to me eye (my vision went grey).  I was swiveled to the left laser that created a flap in the cornea, opening up my eye.  I was then swiveled back to the middle, ring taken off (vision was blurry), that eye was taped closed and they did the same process to the right eye.  Only when they were done creating the flap with the right eye, I was swiveled over to the right laser which actually did the correcting of the vision.  After the right eye was done with the laser, I was swiveled back to the middle where they flushed out the eye, placed the flap back over and then taped my right eye shut.  They then un-taped my left eye, opened the flap, swiveled to the right, used the laser, swiveled back to the middle, flushed the eye, closed the flap, and I was done!!

Like I said, I was in the laser room for under 5 minutes.  They had a tight schedule and an assembly line of patients so they had it down to a science.  The whole thing was really bizarre because I was able to see things but not feel it.  I had a light that I had to stare at during both lasers to make sure I didn't move my eye (which I was assured if I did, the laser did track the eye movement).  The absolute WORSE part was when they were closing the flap, they had this little instrument that I could see move back and forth over the eye, and there was pressure so I know it was touching the eye, but I couldn't feel it. It was very disorienting and I got all light headed from the process (just me freaking out).

When they had finished, they helped me sit up and I was rejoined with my mom in an exam room.  Now that it was all done, and I was over my nerves, I did get faint.  They had to lay back the exam chair, open some smelling salts (which is horrible to do to somebody), and give me some juice.  I was feeling better and they sat the chair back up and examined the eyes to make sure everything closed smoothly and properly.  They said everything looked excellent and I had done a great job despite my explaining how nervous I was beforehand.  I got a little dizzy again, but I had a granola bar that they let me eat which solved the problem.  I hadn't eaten in like 4 hours which did not help the whole dizziness.  (I had to be at the office in Columbus -1.5 hr drive- at 10am, but I didn't get called back for surgery until noon.)

After they saw I was okay and that my eyes looked great, they sent us on our way.  I just had to keep my eyes closed for at least 4 hours after the procedure (sleeping encouraged) in order to kick start the healing process.  I also was given a pair of sunglasses that wrapped completely around the eyes which I had to wear on the way home (I even wore them in the house because of the sensitivity).  I fell asleep in the car for the first hour, then we stopped and ate some lunch (which I did have my eyes open for that).  I kept my eyes closed for the last half hour in the car, but I was awake.  When we got back home, I fell asleep again.  Somehow, I slept through a crazy storm with 65+ mph winds.  There's more on the storm portion of the day's events in the next post.

I have 3 different eye drops that I have to use on a pretty strict schedule.  I have "tears" to use every half hour, a steroid every 2 hours, and an antibiotic every 4 hours.  After day 3 (today!), the steroid changed to every 4 hours along with the antibiotic.  I am also restricted on different things for the next week -- no makeup, dirty/dusty environments, or strenuous activities, and no swimming for 2 weeks.  I can't rub my eyes, and even have a special pair of goggles to wear while sleeping.

The day after surgery, I had to return to the office for an appointment to make sure things still looked good.  They did an eye exam and said I have 20/20 vision already in my right eye, but the left eye is weaker (which is normal, and that my eyes will change over the next week on a daily basis).  They also cleared me to drive.  I go back for another appointment this week.  Everything looked great with the eyes, except for that my left eye has a hemorrhage (blood vessels broke) from the ring they used in making the flap.  They said that's normal and that can take up to a month to disappear.

People have asked if it's worth it, and I think it's too soon for me to answer that.  Right now, I'm frustrated with all the drops -- they leak through my eyes into my sinuses and I taste it in my throat, which is gross; the steroid is really goopy and makes the area around my eyes sticky, especially in the lashes; and my eyes feel very tired.  But I will say, it's nice to lay on a pillow and not have my glasses get in the way.  It's also weird not to reach for my glasses in the morning or after showering.  Totally bizarre.  It's also weird to wear sunglasses again!

(The night before surgery and my last picture wearing glasses!  I know you can't tell, but I was completely freaking out from this point on.  I didn't even sleep the greatest because I just kept thinking about what could go wrong.  You have to read through a consent from that releases them from liability on certain situations and I definitely should have read way sooner -- the night before just added to my nerves._

(My mother snapped a picture of me rocking out the wrap-around sunglasses while napping.)

(HAHAHA, these are my awesome sleeping goggles!  They aren't as bad as they seem, but they do make my face hot -- which may be more form the high heat and minimal AC.  I only have to sleep in these for a week and then I should be cleared to go without them.)

(Yay!!  No more glasses.  Can you see the hemorrhage??)

(Here's a clearer pictures with the hemorrhage.  It's the red spot on the right eye -- well, really it's my left eye, but the right eye in the picture.  I was told that the red will fade and it'll turn yellow.  They said it's just like a bruise only on your eye.  It throws me off when I look in the mirror, and I know Steve isn't used to it either.  Although, he's not used to me not having glasses on either -- even though I remind him that when we met and got married I rarely wore my glasses and just relied on my contacts.  I got rid of my contacts in November of last year, so I guess I'll give him a few more days to get used to no glasses.)

The Dreaded Update

I have been procratinating this update just about as long as I could.  This post is filled with so many frustrations, impatience, and emotions.  I guess it's about time I filled everyone in on what's going on with my health issue.

I'm on month 3 of a mysterious pain in my lower left abdomen/pelvic area.  I have gone to my personal doctor a couple of times, and a couple of specialists and have had 2 procedures down all to no avail.  My doctor explained that the only 2 things in that area is an ovary and the colon so she ordered an ultrasound to figure out if it was the ovary.

I had to go to a different doctor to have the ultrasound done.  Nothing showed up on the ultrasound and I was told that both ovaries (they went ahead and looked on the right side, too) looked fine.  So with the ovary eliminated, I was sent to a gastrointerologist.

After an unpleasant appointment with a gastrointerologist, I was scheduled for a colonoscopy.  I apparently went into the appointment knowing way to much about gastrointerology.  If you remember, I had decided to try a gluten free diet a while back just to see if I noticed a difference.  Well the doctor did not appreciate that I took matters into my own hands and she sort of chastised me for it, but after explaining that I have a specific form of hypothyroidism that is closely associated with celiac disease, as well as a mother with celiac disease, she finally came around and said I should maintain the new diet.  Anyways, she didn't care for me, I didn't care for her, she hasn't followed up on a blood test she ordered for me, and I'm choosing not to return to her.  But, I did go ahead with the colonoscopy (which another doctor did).

So last week, my dear mother came to visit me and take me to my colonoscopy which really wasn't that bad.  People hyped up about the preparation being the worse part, but that was quick and painless for me.  The worse part for me was the IV.  It stung like crazy and they gave me a special pillow to lay my arm on so I'd quit complaining.  After it was all done, the doctor explained to my mom (I don't remember much after the procedure other than being woozy and thinking I could walk by myself) that everything looked normal and he  didn't think the problem is in the colon or intestine.  He said after reviewing my file, he thinks it was an ovarian cyst that had burst.  However, the ultrasound didn't show anything, and I'm still in pain (which he didn't grasp).  He did go ahead and take a few biopsies to make sure there's no infection or bacteria causing the problem.

So I'm back to square one.  I am no further into figuring out the pain than when it first started.  After the surgery, the pain came back in full force like how it was when I first discovered it.  The gastrointerologist set up another appointment with the first lady I met with.  I'm going to try and see if I can switch to the doctor who did the colonoscopy so I don't have to play round-robin with the lady again -- but that appointment isn't until the end of July.  I don't know if that's because they are waiting on the biopsy results or if they're just that busy.  I don't know, I guess I just have to call the office and haggle with them, but I hate doing that.

So in the meantime, I'm going to go back to my original doctor and see if maybe something has been missed or if there's a different procedure I should be looking into.  You would think with all these people working on this problem it'd get fixed quick.  Oh well, I guess I don't fuss enough.

In other news, I'm having LASIK done in 3 days --- AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH.  I'll update on that after the surgery!

A New Endeavor

I generally don't share health issues on the blog (other than "we're sick"); but recently, health issues have been popping up with us.  Since we share all of our "antics" on here, I guess we can share the health stuff, too.  (Especially since I will need some encouragement in my new endeavor!)

In the past 6 weeks, I've been to a doctor 3 times for various reasons, and have another appointment today.  The first one was for a sinus infection upon returning home from Europe.  I was given a 10-day antibiotic which cleared up the sinus issue.  A few weeks after that, Steve and I had a joint "new patient" appointment to get set up with a doctor here in Lima.  Steve was given antibiotics that time for sinuses, but I was cleared with "good health".  Not a week later, I was having some crazy lower abdominal pains and a fever so I went back.  I was diagnosed with a bladder infection (even though I had no regular symptoms and know what that feels like because I've had several) and given another round of antibiotics.  The doctor thought the abdominal pain was deferred from the bladder; however, after being off the antibiotics for a week, I still have that constant pain, which is what today's appointment is about.  Plus, the antibiotics the second time really hurt my stomach.

Now we need to go back in time to set up my overall health.  When I was young, I had an unexplained seizure that left me unconscious and in a coma for 3 days.  I snapped out of it and had to do some therapy to relearn basic motor functions.  5 days later, I walked out of the hospital on my own with new explanation of the experience.  A few months later, I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's Hypothyroidism -- meaning, my thyroid not only doesn't function but is slowly killing itself.  For 15 years now, I have taken a small pill everyday to help my thyroid function (okay, I will admit not everyday because I forget a lot -- you'd think after 15 years I'd remember, but nope!).

Recently, I've done some research on Hashimoto's and have discovered that 9/10 people with Hashimoto's also have Celiac disease. That hit close to home since my mom has been diagnosed with Celiac and my brother & niece both are gluten intolerant.  When I went to the doctor for the new patient appointment, I got tested for Celiac Disease (via a blood test) which came up negative.  I have decided to go ahead and try a gluten free diet for a few weeks just to see if I can notice a difference.

I've always fought my mother on the fact that I don't have celiac symptoms; however, after research and talking to other "normal" people, I've discovered I have quite a few on the list.  Just to name a few, I get lots of stomach pains at various times, I have constant skin rashes,, some other digestive issues, and just general lethargy (which can also be from my hypothyroidism).  I figured, I'll never know until I try it.

Now, this is a new and very difficult endeavor.  I LOVE wheat, I LOVE a good crusty bread, I LOVE pasta, and I ABSOLUTELY LOVE cakey desserts and brownies!  I know that there are several gluten free substitutes for all of those things, but let's face it.  Eating gluten free is less convenient, more expensive, and doesn't taste quite like the original wheat products.  OH well, I am reminding myself to stay positive on what I can eat.  (By the way, I'm still pretty positive right now because it's only day 2.  I'm expecting to hit a wall during week 2).

I plan on continuing this diet through the end of May.  After a few weeks of no gluten in my system, I'll introduce it back in and see if I notice a difference.  I have no idea if the current paint I deal with is tied into the thyroid/digestive issues I have or if they are unrelated.  I get pretty frustrated over health issues because there are so many different variables when it comes to health.  I'd appreciate prayer and encouragement during this time as I try to figure out the crux of all my health issues.