Post-surgery

Warning:
Please do not read if you have a weak stomach.

Wow, what a week! For a few months now, I have really been looking forward to Thanksgiving Break so I can relax, knit, drink hot cocoa, and listen to Christmas music. At least I have been able to listen to Christmas music...
So here's what happened to me...
About a week and a half after Grant was born, I got what felt like a plugged milk duct. Well, I massaged it, kept nursing, and it never got any better. On the 4th I came down with my first fever. It only lasted a day, so we didn't think much of it. I kind of self-diagnosed myself with mastitis since the pain was getting worse, it was turning red, and nursing wasn't helping. I nursed, pumped, massaged, put heat on it, and it didn't get any better. I developed another fever the night of the 11th. By this point I would burst out in tears when I nursed because it was so painful. On the 12th I finally called the doctor and they had me start on an antibiotic right away. They didn't want to see me, they just called in the prescription, because of course it was mastitis, right? Well a week went by and there was absolutely no improvement--in fact, I'm positive it got worse. The pain was so much that I felt like screaming all day. The thought of nursing the baby would make me cringe because now, it felt like the baby had bruised me and that on top of the swelling was no bueno. I called the doctor again on the night of the 25th and he told me I should have called if the antibiotic didn't work after a few days. Well, I learned my lesson. He told me to go to the emergency room, so that's what we did. The doctor there told me it was mastitis and gave me stronger pain medicine and a different antibiotic. They also gave me a shot of something heavenly and I was on top of the world Sunday night. I was feeling really good. Well, my fever came and went and came back on Monday so I just stayed in bed all day. Monday during the night I started puking up all the water I drank during the day. (Ew!) Tuesday came and I had a high fever still. The antibiotic wasn't helping at all. I called the doctor yet again and they said to go back to the emergency room because they thought I might have an abscess since the antibiotics weren't working. So we went at about 4 in the afternoon back to the ER. I was scared for my life...and, well, it hurt so bad I thought I was dying. They did an ultrasound on my chest and sure enough found a big abscess that was fairly deep under the skin. For small abscesses, they can usually just poke you with a needle and get the pus out, but this was too big and too deep for that. They called a surgeon while we stayed in the room for over an hour. The surgeon came in and took a look and his reaction scared me just a little. He was surprised it was so red and swollen. He says he sees these types of abscesses only once or twice a year. So they prepped me for surgery. By this time I was so scared I didn't know what to think. I've never had a surgery before, let alone a surgery where I've been put to sleep. Well I don't remember a lot after that. I woke up in the recovery room and was very cold and I remember asking the anesthesiologist a ton of questions but I don't remember what they were. I eventually got moved up to a regular room and stayed there overnight. I was very sad that we had to start feeding the baby formula. Who knew there could be so many complications from breastfeeding!? I now have a drainage tube sticking out of my chest connected to a bulb with blood, pus, and milk in it. Yeah, you think that's gross? You have no idea!! It's coming out of me!! I think it is extremely gross and I have to clean it out. Anyway, I go back to the surgeon on Monday, when he hopefully will take the tube out so I can feel normal again. I'm not sure if I'll be able to continue breastfeeding at this point. I am still pumping a little bit for the baby right now.
On a happier note, please enjoy this picture of Grant :)

My Labor Experience

First off, let me just say that I am thoroughly enjoying being a mom and I think it's the most wonderful thing I have ever experienced. I have loved every second if it!
Ok so here's what happened:
Tuesday, October 16th
We had our weekly checkup in the morning. I was dilated to a 2 and about 80% effaced with the baby at a 0 station. My doctor told us that since my cervix was ripe enough, he could induce me on the coming Thursday. I had a little panic attack when he said that, but Brandon got really excited. We talked about it between the 2 of us for a few minutes and decided to go for it! I had already been to the hospital a few days prior for some serious stomach pain so I was ready to have the baby come out. We had them schedule the induction for Thursday morning.
Wednesday, October 17th
I freaked out pretty much all day.
Thursday, October 18th
7:00am-We both woke up before our alarms went off because we were so anxious.
8:00-Brandon left for his volleyball class and I was left to freak out at home.
8:10-Brandon was back from his volleyball class because his teacher told him to go have a baby.
8:30-We left for the hospital. Let me tell you, that was the LONGEST ride to Orem I have ever experienced. We listened to pandora on the way there and the song "Don't worry 'bout a thing" came on. How appropriate.
8:50-We arrived at the hospital.
9:00-The nurse came in the room to get me all hooked up. She first put the IV in my left arm, but she didn't get it in my vein so my arm started hurting really bad. So she ripped it off and changed arms. The ripping off of the tape was the worst part of the morning. She eventually got it all right and we were left to be. By this time it was 10:00. (Oh, and now I have a huge bruise where she put the first IV...it is about 5 inches long on my arm. She really didn't have it in the right place.)
10:00-She started the oxytocin on a very small dose so I wouldn't get intense contractions right away. When we started the oxytocin, I was dilated to a 3 and still about 80-90% effaced. I decided that I didn't want the epidural until I was feeling pain, so I could still move at this point. The nurse came in every half hour to up the dose of oxytocin and to check my progress.
2:00-We were watching the Lord of the Rings and playing Phase 10 when she came to check me again. I hadn't progressed hardly at all so she decided to call the doctor to see what he would like to do. The contractions at this point were strong but not painful.
3:00-My doctor comes strutting in and says that he's come to break my water. I wasn't really prepared for that but we probably would have been there all day since nothing was happening.
3:10-My water was broken (what a weird feeling!) and everything was fine and dandy. I was expecting it to hurt when he broke my water but I surprisingly didn't feel anything except the gush of liquid. Almost immediately after my doctor walked out of the room, the contractions were very near unbearable. I told the nurse to get the anesthesiologist in there to give me the epidural as soon as possible. I only had to writhe in pain for about 10 minutes and he was all set up and ready to go. I was surprised how long it took for him to get everything set up and working, but I'm sure that's because I was in a lot of pain.
A few minutes later-My blood pressure dropped as well as the baby's. The alarm for code red was going off and a ton of nurses came running in the room. I couldn't breathe, I started shaking, and I got very light headed. My blood pressure was already very low during my whole pregnancy and epidurals lower your blood pressure even more, so that caused some problems. I think it got down to something like 70/40. The baby's heartbeat got down below 80 as well. I was put on oxygen and they gave me something to make my heart rate increase. This whole ordeal lasted about 30 minutes and then things were, for the most part, under control. Every time I had a contraction the baby's heart rate would drop alarmingly low. Because my water had been broken, we assumed that the cord was around the baby's neck so they went ahead and pumped me full of liquid. That helped a ton! By this point, both Brandon and I were scared and nervous. Brandon was glued to the monitors after the blood pressure fiasco and I was just praying everything would be ok.
6:00 pm-The nurse checked me and I was at a 6.
6:20-Dilated to an 8.
6:30-Ready to push!!
6:35-Doctor was ready, so we started pushing.
6:56-Baby was out and crying very loudly.
I did have to have an episiotomy, but other than that I am very happy with how the pushing went. I was very surprised that it was so easy. I was expecting the pushing part to hurt, but it was completely pain free. The baby didn't have the cord around his neck and other than just being a little small, he is absolutely perfect in every way.
The epidural took a long time to wear off. I wasn't able to move my right leg until a couple hours later, but the feeling in my left leg came back a little faster.
We stayed up pretty much all night just watching and gawking at the amazingly beautiful child that came to join our little family. We feel so blessed that he is healthy. We had a nurse come in and tell us that we were the only one of her patients that got to keep the baby in our room with us--all of the others were in the NICU. The only time the baby left was when the pediatricians had to check him out.
We stayed in the hospital until Saturday afternoon. I was feeling awesome (probably from the Percocet) so we went ahead and left. I am still pretty sore, but I feel much better than I did a few days ago. The baby is eating very well (which kind of surprised me because I've heard so many horror stories about breastfeeding) and we'll see tomorrow at the doctor's appointment if he's gained back any of the 6 ounces he lost during the hospital stay.
We absolutely love and adore Grant and we are excited for the years ahead. Thank you all for the thoughts and prayers in our behalf. We are so happy to finally have our rainbow baby after the long struggle with miscarriages. We know that the Lord truly blesses those who continue to be faithful even in times of discouragement and grief. We have definitely learned all about patience over the past 2 1/2 years and that things happen for a reason and when the Lord sees fit.

Only 2 1/2 weeks away!!

As I sit here bouncing on my yoga ball trying to induce labor, I figured it was the perfect time to update the blog since I've slacked off lately.
Things have been really great the past few months. I really can't complain because I know so many women have things far worse off than I do. Everyone keeps telling me I'm so small, but I am measuring exactly where I should be so I have no idea what they're talking about. I feel huge and that's what really matters, right? We finally have everything we need for the baby (except a stroller.....) and we are just getting excited for the day to finally be here! We made our predictions for when we think he'll come a few weeks ago. Brandon says this Thursday (which would be cool because it's 10/11/12) and he will weigh 6 lbs 4 oz. I said the 15th (which I promise has nothing to do with the fact that I have a midterm that day..........) and he'll weigh 6 lbs 10 oz. We will see who is right! (I secretly hope Brandon is right because that means we will see him this week!)
We have been taking long walks lately and I have been bouncing on my ball in hopes that it will speed things up a little, but to no avail. We also went out for Chinese food the other night and that didn't work, either. I guess we just need to be patient.
I've been reflecting a lot lately on our journey to have a baby, and I'm extremely grateful that Heavenly Father decided it was time for us to raise a child. We thank Him every night for the baby and are aware that this is a special opportunity for us to learn and grow. Thank you so much for your support and love through this long journey--the prayers and thoughts have been much appreciated.
Anyway, until next time...(we will have a baby next time!!)

22 Years and 29 Weeks

Yay for being a year older! Now I'm feeling really old since both my mom and Brandon's mom had their first child when they were 19 and here I am at 22 having my first one. Oh well! Let's just say we hit about 5 road blocks on our journey to start a family. Anyway, the past few weeks have been good for the most part. Sleeping has really gotten quite uncomfortable, but what can you do? We took our summer vacation this past week to Oregon. Neither of us had been there before, so it was quite the experience. The humidity was a very nice break for us. It almost felt like home, except for the extreme amounts of cloud cover we experienced. We had fun traveling around the city and going to Todd and Jessica's wedding at the Portland temple. The baby kicked me pretty much the entire time and I had quite a few braxton hicks contractions which made me a little nervous. 

My birthday was pretty awesome. We stayed in a little town called Astoria in Oregon which is really close to the beach. We traveled up to Long Beach, Washington and Brandon actually thought it was a good idea to stick his feet in the water. We were wearing pants and coats, so I don't know what made him think that would be at all fun, but hey, boys will be boys. Needless to say, his feet were very cold once he got wet. It was fun to see the ocean, though. We had some seafood for lunch and then headed back to Astoria for the evening. We went to a really nice restaurant for dinner that was sitting right on the big river there (I think it was the Columbia River) and had a delicious steak dinner. Then, Brandon surprised me and got us a room at a bed and breakfast for the night. It was pretty cool! I definitely think we'll stay in another one. On our way home, we got to stop by Brandon's grandparents house and stay with them. It's always fun visiting with them. We played games and ate lots of food and watched the Olympics. Nothing too terribly bad happened on our trip and we had lots of fun so we're calling it a successful summer vacation! We do think, however, it was a little too much driving...especially with how uncomfortable I am these days. 

Enjoy some vacation baby bump pictures!

25 Weeks!

Holy cow! I'm 6 months pregnant...and people still can't tell. Hmm. Not so sure what to do about that. Maybe I should walk around intentionally pushing out my belly. I may not look huge, but I really do feel huge. I am now fitting snugly into the pants I normally wear not pregnant. (I really don't like wearing tight clothes, so my family always makes fun of my "saggy butt" pants). How funny. Anyway, we had a checkup last week and it seemed as though everything was normal. I'm just a little underweight, but my doctor didn't seem concerned at all. He said I should consider myself lucky I don't have to deal with extra weight during the hot summer. The heartbeat was good--I can't remember the exact number, but I remember it was in the 140s. I went in today to get my blood drawn to see if I have gestational diabetes. Whatever it was that I had to drink before made me a little sick and the baby was kicking pretty hard.
For the most part, things have been really great. I have felt really good and been able to do a lot of things. However, on Sunday, something really strange happened, and I still don't know what it was. We were at the garden and I was just minding my own business weeding. I suddenly got a shooting pain in my right side so I got up and out of the garden. In just a few seconds it was near unbearable pain. I couldn't bend over and I felt like I couldn't move. Soon enough, it had spread into my neck and my right arm. Oh, and by this point I was crying because it hurt so bad. So I painfully walked over to the picnic table and sat down for a while. I seriously have never been in so much pain. It was terrible. But you know us Rodmans, we never go to the doctor--even if we're dying. After about 20-30 minutes, Brandon and his brother were done watering the garden so it was time to leave. While I was sitting there, I had managed to stop crying, but as soon as I stood up the pain was back, as were the tears. On the way home, things calmed down a bit and the pain eased up. I think maybe the baby kicked a nerve or something and laying down in the car helped on the way home. By the time we got home, the pain was completely gone and everything was back to normal. Now I know my parents would say that I just made that all up to get out of weeding the garden, but seriously...I thought I was going to die. So I plan on asking the doctor next time I see him about it. Everything has been normal since then, other than the occasional foot cramps, so I'm not too worried. I still feel the baby move (and might I add, A LOT!) so I know he's doing just fine.
Other than that, there hasn't been too much excitement. We watch the baby do somersaults every night, which is extremely weird to feel and see, but it's really fun. He kicks me really hard sometimes and my whole body will jerk. Those ones are always fun. My baby app says he's 13 1/2 inches long and the size of a rutabaga. Whatever the heck that is. I've never heard of a rutabaga.

As far as other news goes...
We bought a piano! Yes, a real acoustic one. It's a pretty old junker, but it works! The lady who tuned it said it was the 2nd flattest piano she's ever tuned (for you music people, it was a whole step flat in the high register). But now it sounds great. Ok, not great, but bearable.

Brandon took the LSAT and got his score back. He's starting applications now for law school. Hopefully the wait won't be too bad to see if he gets accepted to the ones he wants.

This thing has been in the oven for 20 weeks and it's still not done!?

20 weeks!!!! That's halfway!! Can you believe we've made it this far? It seems like just yesterday we found out I was pregnant! Time has seriously flown by! Anyway, enough chit chat...
We had our 20 week ultrasound yesterday--they check to see if the baby has arms/legs/brain/heart and all that good stuff. The tech said everything looked great! It was amazing that we could see all 4 chambers of the heart. I had no idea ultrasounds could do that. Oh, and she confirmed it was a boy again.
The baby has been super active the past couple weeks. He kicks me quite a bit, but it doesn't hurt. Sometimes it just surprises me. Brandon felt the baby kick a couple weeks ago and while he was kicking last night I totally saw my belly move! It was so incredibly weird! I guess normally, you can't feel the baby kicking on the outside for a couple more weeks but we asked the ultrasound tech about it yesterday and she said it was because I am so dang skinny. I have gained a total of 6 pounds this pregnancy. That doesn't seem like it's been enough. So for the next 20 weeks, I will be accepting cookies, cakes, pastries, and other fattening foods to try and fix this situation (I like chocolate). :) The baby has 10 fingers, which I pointed out to the tech was great because that meant he could play the piano--I was afraid if he only had 3 then we would be stuck with a trumpet player (gasp!). As we were getting our things together, the tech nonchalantly said "Everything looks great, just a little big." I laughed really loud and said, "WHAT!?" {Those of you who I have not talked to personally--I will NOT have a big baby}. She told us he weighed a little over a pound. WHOA!!! HANG ON! A pound!?!? My little pregnancy tracker app on my ipod says the baby should only weigh 10 1/2 ounces. And my baby weighs over a pound!?!?!?!? As you can see, I am quite distraught over this. That is waaaaaaaaay bigger than what it needs to be! And the funny thing is that I really don't have much of a bump yet...so I don't know where this big guy is fitting in my tummy! Anyway, I just have to take deep breaths to try and deal with it.
I have been having some pains in my side all day today. I haven't had anything like these yet, and I haven't been able to find anything about them. I really hope they will be gone by tomorrow.
I have had a lot of trouble sleeping lately and I know it will only get worse with time. I need to get some more pillows!
Oh, another bit of sad news--the ultrasound tech said we don't get another ultrasound! I guess unless my doctor is worried about something. But looks like so far we're doing pretty good so our chances are slim that we'll get another one. Oh well! We were pretty spoiled getting so many so we'll just have to deal with it (although Brandon has expressed he may twist their arm so we get another one).

Brandon takes the LSAT on Monday--be sure to wish him luck (and say a prayer, too)!

Oh, boy...

Well, there ya have it. We're having a boy. Not going to lie, just a little disappointed since my side of the family is very much dominated by girls, but I'm sure by the time October rolls around I'll be mentally prepared. We went to the doctor this morning expecting an ultrasound and turns out that they weren't going to do another one until 20 weeks. We must have been really spoiled at the fertility center because we got one every week over there. To top it off, the doctor wasn't even there because he was delivering babies so all we got to do was listen to the heartbeat again (don't get me wrong, that is fun...just not what we were expecting). So at the office, you can request a gender scan earlier than 20 weeks so that's what we did and they fit us in this morning. Luckily someone didn't show up, so we got their spot! The tech had some trouble getting the cord out from between the legs--she had to push down on my stomach quite a bit (ouch!) but it finally moved out of the way. I can't tell you how excited Brandon is--there are no words to describe that kind of excitement. The tech said as we were walking out, "at least boy diapers are easier to change!" Ha. Funny.
To those of you asking about a name, we have not yet decided. I'm not a fan of the whole naming-your-baby-before-it-comes-out thing. For now, we will call him baby.

17 Weeks

Yay for almost being halfway!! I'm beginning to feel like a whale and have had a lot of growing pains these past few weeks. Nothing too exciting has happened...other than actually being pregnant! We went and listened to the heart beat 2 weeks ago since we were over at the doctor's and it was at 146 which was quite a bit lower than what it was in the first trimester (usually it was 160-170). Our ultrasound is on Monday and we're nearly positive they will be able to tell us what we're having. (You should guess by voting over on the right.) If we do find out on Monday, you probably won't have to wait long before we announce it to everyone! Until Monday, you can enjoy another lovely baby bump picture.

Belly Photo!

Wow, look at that belly! Looks a little weird on the picture, but maybe that's just me. Anyway, we'll hit 15 weeks tomorrow!! That means only 5 more weeks until we can find out what we're having. Maybe, hopefully, possibly sooner, though. We have a checkup near the end of the month and if they do an ultrasound we may bribe them to see if they can tell that it's a girl ;) We finally started cleaning out the piano room and tackled cleaning the desk. That was quite a chore! Now it's time to clean out the closet and make room for more baby stuff. Not much else has happened in the past week. We are just enjoying relaxing (me more than Brandon) and the warm weather. We are still trying to get rid of the organ, so if you know anyone who knows anyone who knows anyone who really is dying to get an organ (who does that?), let us know. Otherwise the baby will be sleeping on the organ bench when it's born. 

13 Week Checkup

Well, we went to a new doctor today. It was very interesting. He was...an interesting guy to say the least. We got another ultrasound and the baby is looking more and more like a baby! The subchorionic hemmhorage is still there...and still bleeding out. The doctor said the bleeding will stop at 20 weeks. That seems like forever away!! They didn't really tell us anything new that we hadn't already heard before. Oh, except that they are moving my due date up 3 days to October 25th, but that really isn't a huge deal. Morning sickness has pretty much been non existent this week, which was a huge relief. I only got nauseous a few times (mainly when Brandon was cooking........). This week is finals week, and oh boy, I am ready to be done! I have 3 more performances this week plus 2 finals and then freedom for the summer!! We are so excited that the weather is so nice now--Brandon is already planning a camping trip with the neighbors. We don't have another appointment for a month, but I may decide to update next week or the week after depending on how things are going. They may have little to do with the baby....like cleaning out the piano room to make room for the baby or something along those lines. Until next time!

It is official! Baby Riches will be here in October!

Well, we are at 12 weeks so I can officially announce that we are expecting! The end of the first trimester is over!! We are so excited that things have gone so well up to this point and we have faith that come October, we will have a beautiful baby girl (um, I mean Brandon will say boy...but I say he doesn't have those maternal instincts like I do) Anyway, we had our doctor visit today, and she said everything looks perfect! She could still see a sliver left of the subchorionic hemmhorage but it actually took her a little while to find it. I was so excited to finally have a regular ultrasound! And it was surprisingly clear, contrary to what we thought. Today was our graduation day from the fertility center, so we will be seeing a new doctor next week! The doctor said she wants a picture of the baby when it's born and everyone who works at the clinic was so excited that we were on our way to bigger and better things. We are a little sad to leave, though, because that means we won't get another ultrasound until 20 weeks! Luckily we got a Doppler so we'll be able to listen to the baby's heartbeat once in a while for some reassurance. This past week has been a really rough one as far as morning sickness goes. It didn't help that I had the flu on Thursday, but today was totally different and I felt the best I have in a long time. Maybe it's the fact that I only have 4 days of school left...I don't know. But anyway, until next week! I really hope the doctor we chose is a good one!

Cheerio, darling

Wow, what a day! So all day yesterday, I was having some pains in my stomach. I wasn't sure what they were, but they hurt pretty bad. I decided to eat some cheerios, because those always make me feel better. It was a really strange feeling I was having, but I just kind of shrugged it off and went about my daily activities. (I did take a nap for all you that were worried about me...) We tried calling the doctor a few times to see if they could tell us what the pains were, but no one answered, so we had to wait until this morning to call again when there were people in the office. We got an appointment early and headed in. We were a little nervous, but these weren't the same miscarriage pains I had had before. So we got in to the ultrasound and she had to stick the awkward thing up me again (even though last week she said we were done with it!!) and  she about jumped out of her chair!! I couldn't see the screen from where I was laying, so I exclaimed, "What!?!" She turned the screen to where I could see it and I about jumped off the table! I couldn't believe my eyes! Brandon was laughing in the corner of the room with a confused look on his face and then it just got silent. I mean, how do you tell someone that the baby they have been carrying for 11 weeks has turned into a cheerio??? I surely wouldn't know how to do it! Obviously there wasn't a heartbeat, so she just kind of put the ultrasound stick away and stared at us. I never knew that eating that many cheerios would turn it into one!! I guess we will definitely have to name it Lester now. 

Click here for the real update :)

11 Week Update!

Well, first of all, I want to wish you all a Happy Easter! I hope yours was much much much more enjoyable than ours! Yesterday morning I started getting a lot of pains in my stomach (no, they weren't hunger pains). It kind of felt like someone was poking my with something but they hurt. So that was slightly alarming. Well, they say "as long as you're not bleeding then there's really nothing to worry about." And guess what happened...yep I started bleeding. Awesome. So I came home from church early (I was a little bummed because of the whole Easter thing, but you gotta do what you gotta do, I suppose). Anyway, the pain never let up all day but the bleeding did. Until right before I went to bed. And this time it was enough to make me scared. I've been through 5 miscarriages...I know what it looks like and I tell you what, this had me scared. So we went to bed nervous, and I tossed and turned all night hoping and praying things were all right. We had tried to call the doctor on Sunday afternoon but no one answered the after hours emergency line and I really didn't feel like this deemed a trip to the emergency room. So I woke up this morning and the bleeding hasn't stopped. So we waited until the doctor's office opened and got an appointment for this morning do we didn't have to wait until this afternoon to figure out what was wrong. The funny thing is that my normal doctor was not in the office today. Of course the one time I have a problem, she isn't there. But the NP that helped us was really nice and she knew exactly what she was doing. We started the ultrasound and it took her a couple seconds to find the heartbeat (it felt like 10 minutes!) and then the baby started moving around. Oh my gosh, can you say a sigh of relief!! So she said that the bleeding was because of the hemmhorage, so it was a good thing that it was bleeding out and she told me to expect to bleed a little more over the next few weeks, but that everything was completely normal and the baby is growing as it should. We could see its tiny hands and feet! It was pretty awesome! The pain is round ligament pain, just my body getting ready to get bigger, I guess. So, next week I think we are going to have a huge party celebrating 12 weeks...because that's a huge milestone, right?

 you can see the little arms!

 the heart beat was 160, which is perfect!

5 cm long!

1/4 of the way!!

Well, we've finally hit 10 weeks! It feels like it has been forever since I found out I was pregnant!
I'm still nauseous pretty much all the time, and I really haven't found a food that consistently sounds and tastes good. I still have pretty bad heartburn.
We saw the baby kick pretty hard on the ultrasound this morning, which was really weird, but pretty exciting! The heartbeat was 160 this morning and the baby has grown since last week! It's also turned all the way around so now it's sitting upright. I really need to go and get some new clothes, especially some summer ones since it's getting warm outside. If you have any clothes you would like to donate to the cause, let me know! We are also still trying to sell our organ to make room for the crib, so if you know anyone who wants an organ for cheap, send them our way! I'm so excited that it's finally April and I will finally have a degree after 4 years of college! We enjoyed General Conference yesterday and heard a lot of talks on raising children and being good parents. Brandon is working hard right now. He's the campaign manager for a candidate running for the state house and he's also a maintenance worker for a bunch of apartments, so his days are pretty busy. We are ready for the warm weather and all the fun summer will bring! Only 3 1/2 weeks of school left!

9 Weeks

Wow, I made it pretty far without having to throw up! Unfortunately, though, all that nausea turned into something, and I had a lovely encounter with our toilet very early this morning. I'm really glad I didn't eat very much last night so there wasn't much to throw up. But enough throw up talk and on to baby...had the ultrasound this morning and the baby has grown a ton! It was so big on the screen! The heart was beating, the umbilical cord was there, and we even got to see the baby moving around a bit! Pretty exciting stuff! We're happy things are going so well..I just wish they would go well without the accompanying nausea! Oh well. Happens to the best of us, I suppose. Brandon thinks we're going to have a boy (and so does his mom) but I am hoping for a girl. I thought it was kind of funny when the doctor said it's almost time to start looking at baby stuff. (I started doing that a while ago!) Anyway, all is well in the dark depths of my tummy. The subchorionic hemmhorage is still there but barely noticeable. She had to search around to find it. Until next week!

2 Months!?

We made it to 8 weeks! Hip hip hooray! We went to the doctor again today and had another ultrasound. The baby is a lot bigger and the subchorionic hemmhorage is much smaller! We could barely see the pocket on the screen...which is really good! The baby's head is really really big, but I guess that's pretty normal. I went on the band tour this past week with the UVU Wind Symphony and everyone was really worried, but everything was just fine. I had some cramps one night and got to stay in the hotel and relax, so I was being very careful. I can't fit into my pants anymore, which is weird because the scale I use says I haven't gained any weight yet. I had a lot of heartburn this week and a lot of nausea (haven't thrown up yet though!), but I couldn't decide if that was just because I was on a bus all day...I usually get car sick anyway. The doctor says now there's only a 5% risk of miscarriage, whereas a month ago there was a 30% chance. I think I'm allowed to look at baby things now...maybe even start knitting some. If it's going to be born in October, we will definitely need an orange blanket...

Shrimp!!

Here's a picture of our little peanut! Peanut on the left, blood pocket is the triangle on the right. The doctor said the baby has a nice strong heartbeat. The pocket of blood hasn't gotten any smaller, though. This is the farthest we've made it! Only 33 more weeks to go! Oh man, that's a long time...anyway. Main symptom this week was heartburn. Yuck. Horrible. Oh well...what can we do?

6 Week Ultrasound

Well, we went in for the ultrasound early this morning! It was great fun! Ok, I'll just cut right to it...but i'll give you the good news first. We saw the baby and the yolk sac, which was really exciting! We even got to see the heart beating, which was even more exciting!! The doctor wasn't expecting to see the heart, but we definitely did. And now for the not so good news...we saw another "lump" which was bigger than the baby's "lump" and my first thought was, "Oh no! Twins!!" But the doctor said since it was a weird shape (not like the baby's lump) that it was most likely some fluid, which she said is probably blood. Awesome, right? So now I have a huge pocket of blood in my uterus that shouldn't be there and she said there's not really a way to take care of it. Sometimes it fixes on its own, sometimes you'll bleed, and sometimes you'll bleed and miscarry. So I am supposed to pretty much not do anything that takes any strength so that the latter doesn't happen. We have another ultrasound in a week...I really hope that 2nd lump will be gone with the 1st lump still growing...

6 Weeks!

We made it! The 5th week came and went with only one scare, and now we are at 6 weeks! Main symptom this week was an occasional headache. I have an ultrasound early tomorrow morning and we will hopefully get to hear the heartbeat. Looks like the progesterone supplement is working its magic! I am getting really excited, but Brandon is still a little weary and doesn't want to get attached. I hope the morning sickness decides to stay away for a little while longer! Knowing my luck, though, right after I post this I'll go throw up.

I'm pregnant!!

So apparently there has been a lot of confusion over if I'm actually pregnant or not. Hopefully this cleared it up for you if you had any questions. I am 4 1/2 weeks along, due at the end of October. If you are wondering why I am announcing this so early, please feel free to read previous posts (because if you're wondering, you obviously don't know what's going on :) ) Our doctor's appointment went great on Monday and she had me start right away on progesterone. I'm feeling great--no morning sickness yet. We are very excited about this pregnancy...we are praying really hard that I will carry it full term. At the end of each day, you can imagine our excitement when we realize we've made it one more day without miscarrying! I'm trying to relax a lot, so naturally the dishes have piled up, but I'm hoping to get all of my knitting projects done! Anyway, back to baby...I have to go in for an ultrasound at 6 weeks and then every week after that. Oh and we already have names picked out, but I am still looking for a middle name for a girl. Any suggestions?
I will be updating the blog regularly no matter what happens, just so you know...

6th time's a charm!

Well, I'm pregnant again! I don't know about you, but I'm pretty excited!
I guess it's normal in our society to wait until you are 12 weeks to announce that you're pregnant to avoid the awkwardness of telling everyone that you miscarried...but...when you have had as many as I have, I think you would agree that the more people that know about it early on means that many more prayers will be said on your baby's behalf.
We are going to the Utah Fertility Center tomorrow early in the morning to see what they can do for us. Thanks to all who have been praying for us! We really appreciate it. I have a good feeling about this one...but from my past experiences I can't let myself get too excited. It takes a lot of faith to try doing this again. Call me crazy, but this is what I was made for, right? Wish us luck! We hope to have a happy and healthy baby the week of Halloween!

Here we go again...

Ok, I'll just cut right to it. The report from the doctor said, "Everything looked great. Continue with infertility treatments." I actually laughed when I was on the phone with the nurse and then got a little frustrated when I told her there were no infertility treatments! She was surprised that there wasn't anything being done because that's what the doctor said. So I had to explain everything to her and tell her that my doctor (the same doctor who said to continue with the treatments) had said that this HSG was the first step in finding out what's wrong. I wish they would write stuff down at this place. It would make things a lot easier, I think. So what she wanted to do is have me come in and get on something that would help me get pregnant...which I then had to tell her that I have no problems getting pregnant so I didn't want to do that. Then she told me that I can just get pregnant and come in immediately and they will give me a progesterone supplement. Yay!! Finally!! I really think we should have been able to try this first rather than make me pay nearly $300 for an awkward X-ray of my uterus that came back completely normal...but hey, I'm not a doctor. Anyway, that is what we are going to do! Wish us luck! Oh, and if you want to donate to our baby fund, feel free to. Ha! All these tests are expensive!! A lot of people say having a baby is expensive, but most of those are completely normal pregnancies...I'm not even pregnant yet and we have had to pay a lot. If I wasn't so high risk I would seriously contemplating having a home birth, but I know my doctor would never let me have one. Oh well. Hopefully another update comes very soon saying I'm pregnant! And a big thanks to everyone who is praying for us! Thank you so much!!!

HSG

Well, that was an extremely uncomfortable procedure! The hysterosalpingogram (HSG) is finally over with! Now we can all rejoice...well, sort of. The doctor didn't really tell me anything "official," but he told me that everything looks fine. Whatever that means. He's putting together his report and will send it to my doctor over at valley OB and then she will call me and tell me what is going on. They said that call will come sometime tomorrow. I was able to find out, though, that my Fallopian tubes look normal and aren't blocked, and that I do have a uterus. Yay! I'm female! Man, was that reassuring.
School is going great! I'm doing 3 different competitions this semester, which is crazy...but it's really fun and motivating when there is the possibility of winning some money! I'm only taking 12 credits, though, so it's really not too bad. I now have 24 students, and they are keeping me busy! I feel like I am buying new books for them every week, but that's good, right? I also just got called as the Stake Music Chairman and stake conference is in a month, so I am going to be busy planning for that really soon.
Brandon is keeping really really busy this semester. He's interning at the Utah State Capitol for a pretty important guy, so he is busy busy all day long. He leaves at 5:30 every morning and usually doesn't get home until around 7. He's also taking an LSAT prep class which has him gone until 10 some nights. (I really want to start a knitting group so I'm not as lonely on those particular nights!) He plans to take the LSAT in June. He's still the director of family history in our ward, so he also has a lot to do at church.
Overall, we're having fun living it up in Provo. We do, however, wish it was warmer outside. This cold, dreary weather is really getting to us.

Update

So we got the results back from the progesterone test. The first time the nurse called me she said it was fine, but the second time she called she said it was a little lower than they would like. But before they will give me a progesterone supplement, they want me to go to the hospital and get a Hysterosalpingography done. Yeah, sounds fun, huh? It's basically where they use dye during an ultrasound to see if anything is wrong with your uterus. So I guess that is what we do next. I surely hope this works!

Progress!

Brandon got really fed up with my doctor and called her himself to see if we can get any tests done. And guess what....!?!? The doctor said she thought I had already taken the tests! How funny! Not. So I will be going in next week for them to check my progesterone level. Apparently the first time they tested my levels I was miscarrying so that's why it was so low. So that will hopefully be at the end of this week or beginning of next week. The doctor also ordered an ultrasound of my uterus to see if it is a weird shape. I'm not able to have that one done until later this month or early next month though. But the fact that tests are ordered and scheduled is a HUGE step in the right direction! Oh, and the doc also said they have tested to see if my thyroid is normal and it is. But I am excited that we may finally get some answers after a year of nothing! Wish us luck!

New Year

We are finally at the beginning of a new year! As many of you know, this past year has been a slightly rough one for us, but we got through it in one piece. While relaxing this past week I have been reflecting on how it has been one year since I had my first miscarriage. I have been trying to think of some blessings that have come from having 5 miscarriages in the past year. I think most of all, they have helped us become closer as a family and I have seen that there are a lot of people that care about us and many that have shown us love and friendship in many ways. I still don't know why I have had to go through so many miscarriages or what the lesson is that I'm supposed to learn, but we appreciate all the support from everyone as we try to figure out what is going on. Thank you!
We start a new semester this next week! Brandon has an internship with a Utah legislator that he is really excited about. He will start that later this month. The only downside will be driving to Salt Lake every single day. I just have a regular semester. I will be getting my Associates degree in April, and I'm really excited to finally get a degree after 4 years of college! I have 20 piano and flute students lined up for this semester. I hope to eventually get about 30 students later on this year. Teaching, knitting, and school will hopefully keep me busy this semester while Brandon is in Salt Lake all day. We also hope to get some answers as as to why we can't keep a pregnancy. We hope this year will be a successful and fulfilling year for us.