Preemie/ IF mommies...can or will you help?
For those of you who don't know, I am an instructor at a community college and one of the classes I teach (my fave) is human growth and development. In the past I know that I have not done justice to the subjects of IF and prematurity.
I have of course covered them, but not in the depth they deserve. I would like to help educate some of the ignorant people out there (plus most of my students are future nurses) about the struggles of these populations. When I talk about my own kid it sounds like I am up on a personal soap box, if I share other stories (in an anonymous case study format) I think it will touch the students and help them learn in a more profound way than from the textbook.
I know most of you have blogs, which I am sure are open to public read, but I would like to ask your permission to use some of your stories to help educate these young people.
If you could reply with a list of issues you dealt with (IF and preemie related) and your blog address or email me with what you would want to share, I would appreciate it. If you could also post a timeline of sorts that would help too. (i.e. what a lot of us have in our siggies)
I can prepare the case studies and then I will get your approval before using them. If you agree, I will use them in my class in January/February.
PS....I came up with this idea when I totally got sucked into Trish's blog. Her story from beginning to present really moved me. And I am hoping the same thing could happen with my students
TIA...
Re: Preemie/ IF mommies...can or will you help?
I don't know if I am the kind of person you are looking for as an example, but I don't mind if you use my story. I don't post a lot of personal info on my blog though, so I'd have to tell you what you wanted to know!
The short story is I was diagnosed with PCOS in high school. I've always had an annovulatory cycle since high school (no period unless I was on BCP). I was off BCP for 3 months, then 6 months on 500 mg of Met (and did not have any period), and then 3 months on 1000 mg and the first time I ovulated (I was charting) I got pregnant.
Noticed some spotting and other symptoms at 24w2d - went to the doctor and found my water was bulging and I was dilating. Was told I would be at the hospital until I delivered. (I was told it would realistically be 1-2 days.)
Then, I delivered at 26w2d (12/30/08) due to an IC..
Andrew came home on 4/24/09, about 3 weeks after his due date of 4/6/09.
Trish's story is amazing!
Of course!!!
I haven't gone into a ton of depth in my blog, especially early on but my basic story is (and I'll give you more if you want it, but I'm at work now):
TTC - diagnosed with low progesterone and luteal phase defect
9/07 - PG, low progesterone, start bleeding immediately and continue to bleed
12/07 - first abruption at 17w, 2 weeks of bed rest
1/08 - abruption is "healed" (LOL!!!)
2/08 - second abruption at 23.5w, admitted to hospital, told I would deliver within days. Manage to stay PG, constant bleeding causes PTL that is stopped with medication
3/14/08 - contractions can't be stopped, discovered to be 8cm dilated. Emma is delivered at 29.5w after 6 weeks in the hospital. My placenta is a mess, torn, bloody, some sort of tumor growing in it. Cord is attached in the wrong location and "should have" dislocated at some point, it's also the thickness of a pencil. Emma wasn't getting the nutrients she needed and some systems (digestive) are underdeveloped and she's small for her age.
Because of the blood she swallowed in utero and her digestive issues she has jaundice issues. We have a pretty "easy" course in teh NICU. Once she comes home she has issues growing and is a horrible eater. Is diagnosed as FTT.
www.ivoryandjamie.blogspot.com
Need help with high fat food ideas? Chunky Monkey
Me too, I know the two can happen together, but not always. So either or will work.
Wow, I'm so honored my story touched you that way. You are absolutely welcome to use my story and words in any way.
My Blog
This. I had a "different" pregnancy due to severe HG and DS is obviously a preemie as well but have no IF issues. If you would like my story, just let me know!
I will be covering the topics on separate days, so I would like to get examples of both. Each (in my mind) obviously deserves it's own day of discussion.
I know about prematurity, but not to the extent of some of you, my son is a 33 weeker. However, with infertility, I know very little, call me fertile myrtle...
We think mine was a problem with my placenta all along.
I had severe Hyperemesis. Morning sickness started at 5 weeks but was 24 hrs/day and I was unable to keep anything down. I tried every type of oral medication (Zofran, Reglan, Phenergan, etc.) but nothing worked. I was placed on bed rest, started on a Zofran pump and IV fluids at 11 weeks due to losing 40 lbs then hospitalized a few days later because my kidneys and liver were shutting down.
Once I was released from the hospital, I was severely dehydrated within 24 hours and got a PICC line. I was on TPN 24hrs/day as well as IV steroids, IV Zofran and IV Phenergan all 24 hrs/day for the rest of my pregnancy. I had an endoscopy at one point in time to check for issues with my stomach but it was fine. I got a staph infection which moved to my blood and I had sepsis at one point in time and was on IV antibiotics for that. (PICC lines are no joke!)
At 33 weeks I noticed decreased fetal movement but was an idiot and didn't say anything. At 34 weeks 1 day I went to an OB appt and mentioned the decreased fetal movement. Failed 2 NSTs, failed contraction test, DS was monitored and heartrate dropped dangerously low and would not come up so I had emergency c/s. Once they got my placenta out, we learned it had failed and DS probably wouldn't have survived more than 24 hours. He had stopped moving due to lack of oxygen.
Since they think HG is also caused by problems with the placenta regulating hormones, etc. my complicated pregnancy and DS being a preemie may all be placenta related.
I found out I was pregnant on December 23rd 2007
January 8 had my first baby appt first signs of high blood pressure
next appt was mid february and my blood pressure was even higher (130/100) it was at this appointment( 14 weeks) that I was diagnosed as "high-risk" with pregnancy induced hypertnesion. This is the earliest case my ob has ever seen in his years of practicing. This appt I was put on methyldopa/aldomet to try and control my blood pressure, it didn't work. Next appointment we added labetalol that worked for a couple weeks. I was also referred to a MFM (Maternal fetal medicine) doctor who I saw bi-weekly and was seeing my OB weekly. I had two hospital stays before giving birth. One was when we thought my kidneys were giving out and another was when we thought the baby was not going to survive.
June 9, 2008 -I took my blood pressure like I did every morning and it was HIGH really high. I waited a bit and took it again and it was still high so I called my doctor. They got me in immediately, determined that things weren't good and sent me to the MFM for a ultrasound/growth scan. The MFM did the pre-e test, where they have you pee in a cup...which I couldn't do. And it was determined that I was toxic. I was ordered to go immediately to the hospital and would be having the baby in the next 2-3 days. Unfortunately my blood pressure and body went totally haywire and I had the baby just a few hours later after nearly stroking out and dying.
Brendan was born at 11:39 pm weighing 2 pound 5 ounces. He did 58.5 days in the NICU.
katiedevinandbrendan.wordpress.com
when he was in the NICU I didn't have a blog but I did have carepages:
https://www.carepages.com/carepages/BrendanHadlich/updates/page/20
I don't know if you'd want to use my story or not, but you are more than welcome to. We got pregnant on our 2nd cycle trying... and unexpectedly ended up with identical twin boys. They were diamniotic/dichorionic meaning they had their own placenta and own sac. This is the "best" case scenario with twins ... they wouldn't have to share supplies for nutrients, blood, etc. I had a very uneventful pregnancy until the week before I delivered. On a Wednesday at 30 weeks I went to my MD thinking my BP was a little high ... I just felt off and had my BP checked by the school nurse. The MD didn't think it was too bad but ordered a 24 hour urine for Friday and a blood test for Saturday a.m. I was to call the on call MD after my blood test to find out the results.... this was Valentine's Day. I called and she wanted me to come in due to some elevated labs, spend the night, and be released after follow up testing in the morning. Within 4 hours of being at the hospital my water broke on Baby A and within 5 hours of my water breaking, baby A was delivered at 30w3d and baby B was born 17 minutes later. Nathan weighed 3lbs.13oz. and Joey was 3lbs.6oz. They were in the NICU for 5 and 6 weeks. My whole story is in my blog, but I'd be more than happy to just talk about it with you. Our blog is www.vautourtwins.blogspot.com (very bland... just for family mostly.)
I first got pregnant in September 2007. I had a miscarriage early on at 5 weeks which they called a chemical pregnancy. My ob ran tests to see what had happened and determined that I had MTHFR. He told me to contact a fertility doctor. I did and found out it was pretty much a fluke that I got pregnant in the first place since I don't ovulate each month and also my husband had some issues. He also found out I had another blood clotting issue so I was started on baby aspirin, extra folic acid, and once pregnant had to give myself lovenox shots everyday.
The fertility doctor recommended IVF and I got pregnant on the first cycle in January 2008 with twins. In the beginning of March I had my first visit to the ER with bleeding which turned out to be subchorrionic bleeding which stopped a few days later. Other than that my pregnancy was going well. I found out I was having a boy and a girl. 9 days later, on May 18th, my sac ruptured on my girl (baby A) at 19 1/2 weeks. I was hospitalized and the doctors didn't know if I would lose both babies, one baby, or none of the babies. 8 days later I started contracting and delivered my baby girl at 20 1/2 weeks. I then stopped contracting, got a cerclage, and stayed pregnant with Brandon until 26 weeks, 1 day when he was born because I started bleeding from his sister's placenta still being in me. It was causing his heartrate to decelerate. He was born via emergency c-section on July 5, 2008. The doctor told me it was a good thing they took him when they did or else I would have lost him. He weighed 1 pound, 14 ounces and was 13 inches long.
Brandon came home from the NICU after 12 weeks, 2 weeks before his due date.
I started a blog when we were going through IVF. It has my birth story along with everyday in the NICU and I still update it.
My blog address is https://karenandstu.blogspot.com
We had no trouble getting pregnant and it was textbook until my water broke at 23w1d. Was hospitalized until delivery at 27w3d. We still have no idea what went wrong.
Sarah's CaringBridge site is www.caringbridge.org/visit/sarahherring0721
Here's a link to our blog: https://marshallcecilia.blogspot.com. I started it when the babies were born at 26w, 6d. I had an IC and had them after 2 1/2 wks of hospital bedrest. I speak more of our NICU rollarcoaster in "flashback" posts.
Here is our IF story specifically-
https://marshallcecilia.blogspot.com/2009/01/octuplets-outrageous-misconceptions-our.html.
I think this is a great project you are doing.
The group you are trying to educate is part of the audience that I put my experiences in my blog for. I'm pretty honest about how this has all been for me and I have tried to put in info that would hopefully help others who are searching for info on what we've gone through/are going through.
I had spontaneous twins without IF assistance. Twins don't run in our families so this was obviously a total surprise. We found out about our bonus baby Evan at our 2nd viability u/s at 9weeks but knew right away there were problems because he was half the size of his twin. And that's how things were up until the day we delivered at 28wks 6days due to severe unexplained IUGR.
Cameron was 2lbs 15oz and Evan was 1lb 7oz.
I will say that I think after reviewing my medical records that the reason we delivered when we did was not because of the IUGR, but because the night before the boys had to be delivered by emergency c/s I had several blown IV's and several nurses who were terrible at putting them in. I believe it was the poor nursing skills that caused me stress and anxiety to accelerate the full reversal of blood flow from the absent end diastolic IUGR which caused Evan to go into distress. Something we had been waiting on pins and needles to happen at any moment but up until that night the MFM was amazed (to put it mildly) that we were doing so good considering the poor blood flow. I think that if the nurses had just let me be left alone for a couple of hours between attempting to put in more IV's I would have been okay, but they insisted that I had to have one at all times just in case I would go into emergency surgery.
We spent 68 days in the NICU having breathing problems, eating problems, possible complications from NEC (Evan and possibly Cameron too), we had a PDA (in Cameron), a very minor Level 1 brain bleed (in Evan), several blood transfusions, dozens of blown IV's all leaving really horrible scars on my children, and all the other nightmares of the NICU. Cameron came home on O2 for 4mos and both boys had such severe reflux/GERD that at 10mos of age they refused to eat and were put on GJ feeding tubes for four months until we graduated to G tubes. We are still on the G tubes as of 20mos and are working with many specialists including PT, OT, Speech, and a Feeding Clinic in Baltimore to convince the boys to eat and help them catch up developmentally. Neither boy was able to roll onto their bellies until they were about 14mos old, started crawling at 16 and 17mos, walking by 18mos, and now are just about to graduate from PT. We are dealing with severe stranger anxiety, doctor/nurse anxiety and have more than enough experience with IV's that I could probably do one better than most nurses and I work in human resources.
You can read and use my blog Taylo2Babies for your students and the link is in my siggie. Start with the post titled Introducing Cameron & Evan. Thank you for doing this, I think it's a wonderful thing to use real life experiences.
Here's the cliff's note version of my story. If you would like more details, just let me know and I can email you...
March 2007 went off birth control
Feb 2008 diagnosed with PCOS
July 2008 pregnant, but ended in m/c, decided to go on a ttc break and start medicated cycles in the fall
Aug 2008 pregnant again, progesterone levels low again, so had to do supps for first tri to sustain pregnancy
Sept 2008 find a superficial blood clot in my leg, have testing done, diagnosed with mthfr and start lovenox
Jan 2009 monitored for preterm labor, put on light duty at work (which was hard-I'm an occupational therapist and a workaholic!!) , now considered high-risk
March 2009 I had a dr's appt on the 16th. My mom was here and able to see the bpp/sonogram. My bp was fine and passed the nst with flying colors. On the 18th, I felt kind of funny and was extrememly swollen. I took my bp at work and it was a little high. Called the nurse and was sent to the hospital for monitoring. When I got there, I was contracting every 2 minutes. I was having back labor and thought my back was sore from being 34 weeks pregnant and working 9 hr days. When the dr checked me, I was already 5 cm dialated. They didn't progress my labor, but didn't slow it down. Around 10 that night, my bp spiked and i was started on pitocin. DD was born the next day. She spent 10 days in the nicu.
dd's nicu stay: 12 hrs on cpap, bili lights for 5 or 6 days-I don't remember exactly, but she was jaundiced pretty badly. She was a feeder and grower.
After we got home, we dealt with a colicy baby and reflux. She caught up, size wise. She's meeting her milestones, but on the very late end of "normal" And she's sassy. She's already perfected the art of "talking" back!
started ttc in august 2007. found out i was pregnant the day after christmas. had first u/s at 8 weeks because i started spotting. found out i had been pregnant with monoamniotic twins & they both had died just a day or two prior.
tried again in march & got pregnant right away. turned out to be an ectopic preg.
tried again in july as soon as we were allowed & got pregnant again right away. m/c at 11 weeks. had genetic testing done on fetal tissue. was a normal baby boy.
had all the testing done under the sun. nothing turned up. decided to do progesterone & baby aspirin for first tri of next pregnancy.
got pregnant again right away (4th pregnancy within a 1 year period). started hemorrhaging at 8 weeks. diagnosed with really bad subchorionic hemorrhage. given a 50% chance of losing the baby. went on bed rest. bled on & off until 14 weeks. had amnio at 16 weeks due to poor first tri screening results. amnio results were perfect. at 20 weeks my dr. started mentioning that the baby looked small on u/s but not too bad. at 24 weeks my cervix started to shorten a bit. started having FFN & non-stress tests done at each appointment (every week). went in the day after memorial day because i had swelled up like a balloon very suddenly. BP was so high the midwife wouldn't even tell me what it was. protein was +3. was admitted into hospital. labs started to go bad within 24 hours. had steroid shots & stella was born the next day (2 lbs, 13.5 inches).
she was on the vent for almost a month. under the bili lights on & off for a week or two. got pneumonia when she was 2 weeks old which really killed her lungs. was on CPAP for a week or two. then the high flow canula until about 2 weeks before she came home. she was in the NICU for 89 days (2 weeks past her due date). she came home on O2 & i still on O2.
Our NICU journey is in my blog. as far as IF, even though i get pregnant really easily, i have m/cs like it's going out of style. i was diagnosed with a weird blog clotting disorder while pregnant with stella (protein s deficiency) but we're still not sure what caused the sudden onset of crazy pre-e/HELLP.
This is an off shoot of our main blog. We wanted to let those who care have a way to know what is going on with our newest additions with out having to send out mass emails or have to explain it a thousand times.
Harmon is our beautiful toddler, born in Jan 2008. Because of infertility we decided we might as well not wait to have another baby. Needless to say we were shocked this past February that we were expecting twins. Since Harmon was always referred to as Baby Cakes (cakes rhymes with our last name) we decided to call the twins affectionately the Cupcakes. We were thrilled even more when we found out it was a boy and a little girl. We felt so blessed!
This pregnancy was going great until the 4th of July when I experienced pre-term labor. On July 7th I was hospitalized in El Paso. Being only 24 wks at the time we really needed a miracle to hold off long enough to give them a shot. Despite some close scares I remained in the hospital on Magnesium and Terbutiline for 8 more weeks. At that point my doctor actually thought I was getting stable enough to go home.
Unfortunately the minute they took me off of the Magnesium I went into full blown labor. Before 24 hrs was up I was facing an emergency C-Section on Aug 28, 2009. Rachel was born first at 3 1/2 lbs and Callum came a minute later at 3 lbs.
After 6 wks in the NICU and many ups and downs they are happily home. This blog follows life at home and how we are all doing.
Blog link is in signature and email is franciscainvegas@yahoo.com
this is great that you are doing this. i had no idea about preemies, NICU's anything until it happened to me. i am 28, dx with PCOS at 23 had it since 20. got pg first cycle. no problems, until 28 wks. went to dr for a fasting bs test on monday, but had a migraine since sat. migraine worsened until mon morn i was fevered, sick, vomiting, etc. went to dr, they didn't care. gave thema urine sample and everything. ran a low grade fever on and off mon, tues, wed. woke up fri morning 4 am in pain, went to hospital, having contractions, water broke before a dr could examine me.gave me mag but couldn't get it stopped long enough to get me to the closest NICU, had him at 1:41 that afternoon. all because someone was too lazy to test or write a script for some pennicilin or amoxicillin for a severe UTI. it landed me in the ER again a week to the day later.
stress how important watching for UTI's are. i had already been treated for 2 during the pgcy, but was showing no symptoms, i thought i had the flu or something. when im not pg, i know everytime i get one, this time, had no idea. so sad all this happend from something so simple and preventable. dr's offices just overbook and keep booking, booking. LO is still in NICU after 5 weeks. hoping he's home before xmas and hoping for no lasting damages to his health. this experience is something i wouldn't wish on my worst enemy.
Feel free to use anything in my blog. The link is in the siggy.
In brief, I was on the depo provera shot as birth control for 5 years. Once I went off it I was unable to get back any sort of ovulation. I began fertility treatments in March 2008. We did three IUIs, all of which failed, before moving on to IVF. We had two failed IVFs before our successful one in January 2009. We became pregnant with triplets, but the pregnancy was super rough. I had bleeding at 7, 14 and 16 weeks. At 9 weeks pregenant I was rushed to the hospital in excruciating pain because my right ovary had twisted aroudn my fallopian tube and I needed emergency surgery to remove it. At 18 weeks I was put on bedrest for a shortening cervix, and at 20 weeks it ws worse. When my OB and MFM refused to do a cerclage to help me (they don't believe they help) I found an MFM who did believe in them and had one performed. I had the cerclage done at 21 weeks, and less than a week later I came down with C-Diff and was hospitalized for 8 days. Was home for 2 days before my water broke on Baby A (Charlie) at 24w3d on June 18th. I spent 9 days in the hospital before delivering via c-section at 25w5d on June 27th. My due date was October 5.
We had the usual rocky NICU road, but on August 21, 8 weeks after birth, our daughter Annaleigh was diagnosed with severe NEC and passed away the following day. Charlie and Lily spent 95 and 99 days in the NICU before coming home. Every day of our NICU journey is documented in my blog.
Let me know if you need anything else!
The story is on the blog but here are the clif notes
My wife and I decided to start our family and we decided that I would go first since I am older (35 at the time). Since I had no known fertility problems and insurance would not cover treatments until we "tried" for 6 months we started unmedicated IUI with donor sperm with a mid wife. I got pregnant on try 3. I had a completly uneventful pregancy other than terrible morning sickness until week 15.
I started getting pretty swollen and having head aches around 28 weeks but chalked that up to the end of the school year and being pregnant in the summer. I began to feel really sick on July 4th but after resting and drinking lots of water felt better. On July 8th after working my nanny job and feeling fine. I started to feel sick to my stomach. By 10pm I was throwing up and told my wife to take me to the hospital. Once getting there I developed epi gastric pain and my bp was unreadable. I was given the steroid shot and started on mag. then transfered to a hospitlal with a level 3 nicu. I recieved the second steroid shot then went down hill quickly. An ultra sound showed the baby to have reduced flow to the baby and measuring at about 2 lbs. My kidneys and liver started to shut down and they could not control my bp with any medication they tried. I had an emergency c-section on July 10th and Ella was born at 2lb 5oz 14 in (at 30 wk 4 d). She was intubated for less than 24 hours to get surfactant and on C-pap for 3 days. She was on the high flow canula (room air only) for a while (can't remember how long exactly). She had pda which cleared after medication but other than that her time in the nicu was pretty uneventful...just long. She gained weight very slowly which caused her to be in the isolette for a long time. She was in the nicu for 69 days and came home 3 days after her due date. She is now doing well but is reaching her milestones at her adjusted age and has reflux that she is medicated for. She was 10lb 8 oz at her 4 month check up. I am still medicated for high bp and they had lots of trouble trying to get it under control after delivery. I was in the hospital for over a week and was almost readmited 2 times due to very high bp (160/100) while on meds. Feel free to use any of the story in your class and if you have any questions about lgbt conception, pregnancy or parenting let me know.
I don't have a blog, so here's the story...
No infertility issues for us. We conceived the first month we tried, and got the BFP on Christmas Day 2008. My pregnancy was fairly easy - some 1st trimester bleeding, but no morning sickness, minimal aches and pains, and some fatigue. Then at my 34-week appt (34w1d), pre-e appeared. My BP (normally on the low side) was elevated, there was significant protein in my urine, and I'd gained 10lbs in 2 weeks. I was sent in to the hospital for tests and monitoring and my doctor didn't like my labs. She gave us her opinion that DD should be born the next day since delivery is the only cure for pre-e and she didn't want me to get any worse.
I was started on Cervadil that night and Pitocin the next morning at 6am, then my water was broken at 9am. DD was born at 5:34pm. After her birth, I had to have a D&C to remove the placenta, which was not coming out naturally. My doctor thought the issues with the placenta could be related to the pre-e, but I'm not sure if there's any way to know for certain. The only other risk factor I had for pre-e was that it was my first pregnancy.
My blog is in my siggy, which may or may not help, but here is the abbreviated version:
Oct. 2007 - First BFP
December 2007 - Missed miscarriage discovered at 11w6d. D&C
September 2008 - Classified as sub-infertile. Had HSG - all clear! Got BFP #2.
October 2008/November 2008 - Blighted ovum discovered and confirmed. Miscarriage induced with meds.
January 2009 - BFP #3: Chemical Pregnancy
February 2009 - BFP #4! Pregnancy uneventful until...
August 2009 - Pre-term labor, cause unknown at 29w6d. Positive fetal fibronectin put me on bedrest.
September 2009 - Labor begins again at 32w3d, again the cause is unknown. Try to stop labor, but...
Sept. 4, 2009 - Richmond is born at 32w4d at 4 pounds, 10 ounces. We spent 24 days in the NICU.
BFP #2: 9/25/08; 10/27/08 - Blighted ovum discovered, 11/5/08 - b/o confirmed
BFP #3: 1/19/09 - Chemical Pregnancy
BFP #4: 2/12/09; EDD 10/26/09 - Richie born on 9/4/09 at 4 pounds, 10 ounces
BFP #5: 5/27/11; EDD 2/4/12 - Sylvia is on her way!
My Blog Attempt
That's really awesome that you are addressing preemies and IF. I studied psych in college and never once heard about either, even in my child development course. So I really think it's great that you're touching on those issues.
Anyway, here's my story: I always thought I'd have a tough time conceiving. I was 14 when I got my first period and by the time I was 16, I'd only had 2 or 3 periods and they were VERY intense. I went on the pill to help regulate the periods and after I got married, DH and I decided to go off the pill within 6 months or so after. Went off the pill, no period. That was Feb of 08. Went to the OB in June 08 and got diagnosed with PCOS. I actually had kind of guessed that would be the diagnosis based on what I'd read here. In Dec of 08, we had our first meeting with the RE. Dec was spent doing all sorts of tests and getting medicines and dosages figured out. January of 09 was our first treated cycle. I did 100mg of Clomid, which didn't work, followed by Gonal-F. That started my ovaries going and the day before we were supposed to trigger we got the news that I had overstimulated and we had to cancel the cycle. I was devastated. I was immediately told to abstain due to the likelihood of HOM, which I did, and start back on the pill, which I did. When I finished my pill pack, my period was late. It was a Sunday, and I wanted to call the RE's office on Mon to tell them my period was a no-show and I was not pg. So I took a test so I could tell them I'd tested. Surprise of my LIFE, it was positive
Fortunately, we were pregnant with a singleton.
Fast forward through my pregnancy. All was well, no problems or complications. My blood pressure was a little borderline in the 2nd to 3rd tri, but other than that it was a perfect pregnancy. No morning sickness, nothing. at 33w6d, my water broke unexpectedly. It was terrifying. Ellie was also quite small for her GA, 3lb 12oz. But she came out breathing room air and did great in the NICU, so we were able to take her home in 16 days.
My blog link is in my siggy - feel free to use anything you'd like
Quick version.
TTC since August 2006. Diagnosed with PCOS, blocked left tube, Low morphology. May 2008 got pregnant via IUI with Gregory.
18 weeks - placental abruption caused pre-term labor that could not be stopped. Delivered my son, Gregory, stillborn.
December 2008 got pregnant via IUI with Gwen. Diagnosed with protein S deficiency, irritable uterus and incompetent cervix. Had ultrasounds every two weeks to monitor baby. Cervix was funneling and baby started measuring smaller. Modified bedrest and continued monitoring. Routine ultrasound at 34 weeks showed dangerously low fluid and baby needed to be delivered immediately. I was induced that night. Baby girl born at 4 lbs. 10 oz. 8 day stay in NICU with major issues being temperature control and weight gain. If I didn't go in for that routine ultrasound, the doctors said we would probably would have lost her too.