I like that term better than "habitual aborter." Somehow I had hoped that after giving birth one time to a healthy baby I would never have to endure the pain of miscarriage again. I knew that was really wishful thinking, but here I am. Already. My son is going to be 8 months old on Saturday and I am pregnant again (for the moment). I realize an infertile reading this is going to scream and say, "F you- I don't want to hear you complain about a damn thing, you have your miracle and you should be grateful." I am extremely grateful for my miracle, but I realize now that this was not the end of my losses. I can't keep going through this, it is physically and mentally draining. Because I will be turning 40 soon, we decided that we would not "try" to get pregnant, but that we would not "not try" either. IMHO, you are technically trying if you are not using protection. Either way, by some miracle I got knocked up **almost** like a normal person. Very strange indeed. Not even sure why I took a pregnancy test, but it came back positive right away. I finished the last few sips of wine in case this would be a long-term thing. My hcg on Halloween was 39 (probably 12dpo). Two days later my hcg was 127. It tripled, but then so did the hcg with my last blighted ovum...
Now, tell me if it is strange that I am already bugging my doctor's office for the earliest possible ultrasound so that I can get this overwith. I have planned the d&c in my head and need it to be on Nov. 23rd or at the very latest, the 30th. Those are the only days my husband and I are both available. I do NOT want to drag this out like last time I had a blighted ovum. How do I know it is a blighted ovum, you ask? Well, for starters I have no breast tenderness. Same as with my blighted ovum in December/January 2009 if you care to read. My main "symptom" is that I am completely and utterly exhausted. And that is probably from taking care of an almost 8 month old while working a lot. Fortunately, this kind of thing is a million times easier than when it happens before you have a live baby. I am very distracted between work and my son that I often forget that I am pregnant at all. NOT a good sign, really, as far as a healthy pregnancy goes. At least my doctor hasn't said, "Think positive." Yet. I think he knows that this is a blighted ovum, too. The whole thing is sad, but there is FAR less anxiety associated with it after having gone through this all sooooo many times already.
Will update again as soon as I get everything figured out. My guess now is that nobody is going to want to read a blog like this... I apologize for being "that" person.
Another reason I know this is a blighted ovum is that my husband and I share a dq alpha match of 4.1. My husband is an 0201, 0401 and I am an 0301, 0401. Men who contribute a sperm with 0201 will always be blighted ovums. Which sucks. I HATE having d&cs. They are just plain unpleasant.
Anyway, we will see how this goes and if I can get an earlier scan. In the meantime, I will sit here with my zero symptoms and start the grieving process for another loss...
Showing posts with label dq alpha match. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dq alpha match. Show all posts
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Saturday, July 30, 2011
My two cents may save you $15,000...
So, I am not quite ready to post a full update, but as I was pondering when I might be able to post I realized that I didn't need to necessarily post an update. I really just want to throw some information out there that someone may need right now to save them from even just one BFN.
If you are reading this post because you saw that your medical profile is similar to mine (borderline high FSH, fibroids, advanced maternal age, recurrent pregnancy loss, thyroid issues, activated NK cells, DQ Alpha match (4.1-one of the toughest matches to have), homozygous MTHFR- A1298C, failed IVF cycles, horrible egg quality, mild endometriosis, possible adenomyosis, yadda, yadda, yadda), I want you to promise me you will try two things before you give up or move on. These are two things that I feel are the reasons I was able to get pregnant and stay pregnant:
1. I stopped eating gluten and dairy, though I did not test positive for Celiac Disease. I think that I may just be intolerant. I have always had issues with dairy, but spent many years in denial (I mean, really, a Wisconsin girl cannont live without cheese, right?). I think that gluten and dairy were both causing inflammation in my system which in turn affected my hormone levels, which in turn may have affected my egg quality. Now, I am not a doctor so I don't know anything for sure. All I know is that things were different after I stopped eating gluten and dairy.
2. I had food allergy testing done. I had other food sensitivities that I also feel were causing inflammation (beans, pork, beef, GARLIC!!! etc.). I also avoided these foods.
After eliminating these foods from my diet, I felt less bloated, less crabby and just better in general. Within four months of doing this, I had gotten pregnant twice. I STRONGLY believe that food sensitivities may be one of the causes of many diseases including infertility and I believe that most REs do not want people to know this because it would impact their earnings. I am not saying that this is the answer for everyone, but I do think there are people who have similar profiles to my own who certainly could benefit from such simple (and almost free)changes.
I do also want to throw a shout out to my friends, Lovenox, Prednisone and Intralipids. I believe that while I was not using these items at the time of conception, I did begin using them within days of my first positive hpt and I feel that they played a role in allowing the pregnancy to continue.
Lastly, PLEASE do not hesitate to disagree with your doctor or be persistent about being prescribed prednisone, lovenox, progesterone, intralipids or whatever it is that you may need. While my regular ob/gyn made me swear I would not get pregnant again for at least 18 months because I kept him on his toes, I do not regret my sometimes feisty attitude toward getting whatever it is that I felt I needed to sustain a pregnancy. (For the record, I would NOT have wanted to have me as a patient either...).
Anyway, I know that every case is very different in the land of infertility, but if anyone with similar issues can benefit from what I have learned the hard way it will make my journey more meaningful. I would not wish 6+ years of infertility on my worst enemy.
I hope my two cents can save someone the $15,000 an IVF cycle might cost...
More later!
P.S. Check out Dr. Sher's blog at ivfauthority.com. He knows a lot about immunologic implantation issues!
If you are reading this post because you saw that your medical profile is similar to mine (borderline high FSH, fibroids, advanced maternal age, recurrent pregnancy loss, thyroid issues, activated NK cells, DQ Alpha match (4.1-one of the toughest matches to have), homozygous MTHFR- A1298C, failed IVF cycles, horrible egg quality, mild endometriosis, possible adenomyosis, yadda, yadda, yadda), I want you to promise me you will try two things before you give up or move on. These are two things that I feel are the reasons I was able to get pregnant and stay pregnant:
1. I stopped eating gluten and dairy, though I did not test positive for Celiac Disease. I think that I may just be intolerant. I have always had issues with dairy, but spent many years in denial (I mean, really, a Wisconsin girl cannont live without cheese, right?). I think that gluten and dairy were both causing inflammation in my system which in turn affected my hormone levels, which in turn may have affected my egg quality. Now, I am not a doctor so I don't know anything for sure. All I know is that things were different after I stopped eating gluten and dairy.
2. I had food allergy testing done. I had other food sensitivities that I also feel were causing inflammation (beans, pork, beef, GARLIC!!! etc.). I also avoided these foods.
After eliminating these foods from my diet, I felt less bloated, less crabby and just better in general. Within four months of doing this, I had gotten pregnant twice. I STRONGLY believe that food sensitivities may be one of the causes of many diseases including infertility and I believe that most REs do not want people to know this because it would impact their earnings. I am not saying that this is the answer for everyone, but I do think there are people who have similar profiles to my own who certainly could benefit from such simple (and almost free)changes.
I do also want to throw a shout out to my friends, Lovenox, Prednisone and Intralipids. I believe that while I was not using these items at the time of conception, I did begin using them within days of my first positive hpt and I feel that they played a role in allowing the pregnancy to continue.
Lastly, PLEASE do not hesitate to disagree with your doctor or be persistent about being prescribed prednisone, lovenox, progesterone, intralipids or whatever it is that you may need. While my regular ob/gyn made me swear I would not get pregnant again for at least 18 months because I kept him on his toes, I do not regret my sometimes feisty attitude toward getting whatever it is that I felt I needed to sustain a pregnancy. (For the record, I would NOT have wanted to have me as a patient either...).
Anyway, I know that every case is very different in the land of infertility, but if anyone with similar issues can benefit from what I have learned the hard way it will make my journey more meaningful. I would not wish 6+ years of infertility on my worst enemy.
I hope my two cents can save someone the $15,000 an IVF cycle might cost...
More later!
P.S. Check out Dr. Sher's blog at ivfauthority.com. He knows a lot about immunologic implantation issues!
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