Pregnancy Update

I've been wanting to write a more detailed pregnancy post, but life keeps getting in the way.  Here is my first attempt at a belly shot that I took two weeks ago.

So that was 12 weeks, and I am currently 14.  I'll have to get another picture up soon.  I have shifted into maternity clothes now, I definitely popped out quicker this time than with Tyler.  I started growing out of my pants at 10 weeks, and by 13 only elastic waist bottoms fit.  I can wear my own tops, as long as they are long, but I have also been wearing some of my less maternity looking tops too.

I feel fortunate to not have bad morning sickness.  I do feel queasy throughout the day, but as long as I eat, I am good.  Unfortunately, my eating anything that sounds good to me has caused me to gain 6 pounds already.  I have been tired, but that could also be because I chase after two 2 year olds every day.  I have had only 2 migraines the whole first trimester, compared to about 10 with Tyler, so that's good.

While my first pregnancy was completely uneventful, this time around I am considered high-risk.  I guess I should back up and give the long version of how I found out I was pregnant.

Last April I thought I started my period like normal.  After two weeks, when I was still spotting, I began to worry.  After a google search, I learned I could have cysts, be having a miscarriage, early menopause, or some other messed up hormone situation.  The next day, I suffered back to back migraines, a pregnancy symptom for me.  I thought I must have had a miscarriage.  I decided to take a pregnancy test, thinking maybe levels would be high enough still to show up positive.  The test was a clear positive, so I called my ob and made an appointment.

When I got in to the office, I explained that I had been bleeding for over two weeks, and thought I was miscarrying.  The tech took me back for an ultrasound.  I was shocked when she pointed out the embryo, and even more shocked to hear a heartbeat.  I was six weeks.

But why the bleeding?  I had a subchorionic hemorrhage.  Basically it is a clot or pool of blood that gathers between the uterus and the chorionic membranes surrounding it.  It can lead to miscarriage or later in a pregnancy to preterm labor.  However, most of the time they end up not causing problems, and the body will either bleed it out or absorb it back into the body.  I had one that bled out (boy was that scary, seeing that much blood), but I still have one that is there and being monitored.  Because of the hemotoma, I was sent to a high risk doctor. 

I have one other complication on top of all this.  Seven years ago I had a blood clot in my lungs, so I have always known that if I ever got pregnant again, I would run the risk of getting a blood clot.  Therefore, I am on a daily dose of Lovenox, a blood thinner that I get to inject into my belly every night.

Wow this has been long.  So I have felt pretty good, but have had a stressful time worrying that all is well with the baby.  There has been one positive to all this--I have already had 9 ultrasounds.  It was quite amazing to see the baby grow from 6, to 7, to 8, to 9 weeks.  Yes I was having weekly visits and ultrasounds.  Everytime I hear that heartbeat I can just breathe a sigh of relief.  Next week is my next visit, and I will have to update then.