Thursday, April 25, 2013

Our Infertility Story- Part 5

 Since it is National Infertility Awareness Week, I have been sharing my own infertility story via my blog this week.  My hope is that someone else will read my story and maybe not feel so alone in their own journey.

 A little background information:
Nov. 2006- I had my first miscarriage, a blighted ovum, at 9 weeks.
Nov. 2007- Benjamin Scott was born (he was conceived in the first month of trying)
Apr. 2010- Caleb Blake was born (again, first month of trying)

We've been trying to have a third baby for 14 months with no luck.  I've had two miscarriages: one in November and the other in March.  This is our story.

Wednesday, 06 March 2013

Yesterday I went to see Dr. Makkapadi to talk about my miscarriage.  She did an internal exam (which I was NOT ready for!) and verified that my miscarriage was complete.  Then we talked about moving forward.  She wrote me an order for bloodwork, which had to be done at the hospital because of how it needed to be stored immediately.  She also gave me a prescription for a progesterone suppository and told me to fill it the minute I get another positive pregnancy test.  She said that there was no guarantee with it, but it might help.

So I took my bloodwork order to the hospital, and when I handed the phlebotomist the order her eyes got huge and she said "are you serious?"  This is what we were testing for:
-Lupus
-Anticardiolipid antibodies
-Prothrombin Activity
-Gene mutation
- Factor V Leiden
- TSH (thyroid)
- HcG quantitative
- Progesterone
- Karotyping

There were a couple others that I can't remember.

In all, she took 15 vials of blood from me.  While she said that wasn't the most she's ever taken from a person, she said that it's much more than she normally does.  I felt special :)

My bloodwork results should come back in a week or so, and Dr. Makkapadi said she'd most likely refer me to Dr. Cooper and Dr. Young.  They are fertility specialists in Des Moines. 

So for now, we wait.

By the way, my bleeding is mostly done and I'm physically feeling much better.

Wednesday, 13 March 2013

Moving Forward

On Monday I got a call from Dr. Makkapadi's office that all my bloodwork results were in and everything was in the normal range.  She gave me a referral to Mid-Iowa Fertility, and I was able to get an appointment the next morning at 9:20 with Dr. Young. (they had a cancellation.  Otherwise I would have had to wait until April 18th!).

 My good friend Kristen came over to watch the kids, and I met Scott at the clinic.  Dr. Young was very nice, albeit a bit socially awkward.  So, here is what he told us:

- There is a good chance my miscarriages have been because of chromosomal abnormalities, since I have two children already and all my miscarriages have been very early.
- There is also a good chance I have a Vitamin D deficiency, which causes my uterine lining to not grow thick enough to sustain a pregnancy.
- There was also a good chance that I have issues with my uterine structure (polyps, cysts, scar tissue).
- From a fertility standpoint I'm doing ok, since I've been pregnant twice in the last year.
- Scott could have an issue with his sperm.

Moving forward, he told us he wanted me to have a hysterosalpingogram (hsg) test done and then later, on day 2 or 3 of my cycle, have some more bloodwork done to test for genetic factors as well as hormones.  Also, I need to have an ultrasound of my ovaries done to check for egg quality.  We were actually able to schedule the HSG for the same afternoon, so I've already gotten that one out of the way.  It was very quick and very painless;  Dr. Young shot dye into my uterus  and then used an x-ray to watch where it went and make sure it spilled into my ovaries.  It did, which means there were no blockages, and my uterus is structurally sound. 

Now, we just wait a couple of weeks until I get my period and can have more testing done.  I'm glad that we are moving forward with testing and hopefully we can get some answers soon.  Dr. Young did tell us, though, that there is a chance we will never have an answer.  At that point, we'll decide whether or not we want to keep trying, knowing that there is a chance for more heartache.  I guess we'll figure that out when the time comes.



No comments:

Post a Comment