A little about us

So, I'm new at this blogging stuff, but thought I'd give it a try since these days I have little to fill my time! I have been married to the man of my dreams, for real!, for a little over two years, and he moved us from our home in Dallas and my job as an art teacher for five years (which I miss so much!) to another Texas town to attend medical school. It has been quite a ride...our first 2 years! I am no longer teaching, but do art full time both for myself and commissioned works. Although it took a good while, I now enjoy being at home and having my days open to paint (watercolor) and draw, then do a mural or watercolor here and there for people, and to foster dogs with our local Humane Society. But, as of today, I am 7 weeks pregnant with our second child, and although I feel pretty good, the doctor's orders are for limited movement...hence my hand at blogging! I'm a high risk pregnancy for too many reasons to count, so we're being really careful this time around!

Here are our conception woes:
I found out in the summer of 2007 that I have the heterozygous MTHFR mutation where my body doesn't absorb folic acid correctly (not good for pregnancy!) and makes my blood "sticky," for lack of a better word. That one's easily fixable with high daily doses of Folic Acid (4,000mcg) and a baby aspirin. It is still under debate among doctors, but the latest decision is that this is the only blood disorder that does not require a blood thinner, but alas, I am on a precautionary 40 mg daily dose of Lovenox during my pregnancy!

We also lost our first baby, a beautiful boy named Julian, January 24, 2008 when he was born sleeping at 29 weeks. It was deemed a cord accident and there were no complications to his pregnancy besides the MTHFR which was being treated. It has taken us nearly a year to be able to be excited about getting pregnant again. The difficulty and extreme grief that comes with losing a child is one that is not even fathomable, but it is absolutely amazing and horrifying how common it is. As soon as it happened to us, it seems everyone knows someone or has had a stillborn themselves. It is so sad, but so helpful to know we're not alone in this, since it is supposed to be one of those things that never happens anymore. It helped me when a woman I taught with, who had a stillborn a few years before me, told me how she and her husband dealt with the pain, and one thing that helped her, and helps me, is the knowledge that only 2 generations ago, women would sew a greiving blanket, while they were pregnant, to bury their baby in, in the event of a stillborn. It does put things into perspective of how far we have come, and how common it was...that so many families had, and expected such tragedies, but they, and I, have come through it to the other side where life is almost normal again...although Julian is always in the back of my mind and I think about him daily. I don't end a day without talking to him and telling him how much I love him and hope he is in a beautiful, loving place where I will get to see him again!

Ok, if I keep typing, I won't be able to see the screen anymore! So, another complication to this pregnancy is something I haven't been able to find any research on. I had the copper IUD put in 6 weeks after giving birth, and had it removed in December so my husband and I could start trying for a pregnancy, Februaryish. Although we were very careful, we got pregnant in December - according to our dates, we conceived before the IUD was removed, then implantation occured after it was removed! What a window, huh!! So I haven't been able to find if the risk of miscarriage is higher or not. Luckily I have an awesome high-risk doctor who took us in right away and we've had three ultrasounds in a week to determine how everything is going. I am happy to report that as of Saturday, we have a healthy pregnancy of 6 weeks and 4-5 days, with a strong heart rate of 113, and a fetal length of 4mm! Despite the bleeding and brown discharge (which we assume is from the IUD removal) all is well, minus a clot in my uterus which should resolve itself. As a precaution, I am on folic acid, Lovenox, a prenatal, and now Progesterone. Such exciting news!

What's strange is, even with my husband's access to medical information, there is nothing written about this...I can't imagine I'm the ONLY woman who got pregnant so quickly! I have seen women online who had miscarriages after getting pregnant immediately after having the hormone implant removed, since their lining wasn't built up enough, or so that's the thought.

Well, so far, I don't know if this is going to be a pregnancy blog, a medical student wife's blog, or just a random blog...I'm guessing a little of everything! My brain is so random that I'm sure I won't be able to commit to any particular topic!