Sunday, October 21, 2012

IComLeavWe

The last time we met, IComLeavWe, way back in May, I was newly pregnant and had no idea how difficult the next four months would be.

Here's an excerpt from my last ICLW post:  (I sound kind of excited, don't I?)

"I signed up for this month's ICLW right at the end of last month's close and SO MUCH has happened since then!

My first IVF was a success (so far) and I am 5 weeks 4 days pregnant.  I'm feeling tired, my boobs are sore, and I'm having some other random symptoms, but they come and go in frequency and intensity so often that I often doubt that I'm really pregnant.  Although I really have no good reason to believe I'm not.

My husband and I have were TTC for 20 months, since the middle of our Costa Rican honeymoon.  We had a chemical pregnancy last September in month 14 which spurred us to go to see an RE.

I started acupuncture in January, and have done 3 unsuccessful Clomid IUI cycles since then.  We started our first IVF with an antagonist protocol in April, had our retrieval April 26th and our transfer of 2 embryos 5 days later. 

Our first ultrasound is in 8 days and I can barely handle the wait!  I'm sure my husband thinks I'm completely crazy by now, but I guess that's part of this pregnant after infertility adventure!"

That's a pretty accurate summary of our story up until that point.

I have shared basically EVERYTHING that has happened since then which has caused my blog to get a lot more attention.  Much of it positive, but some extremely negative.  I'm not going to rehash old issues, but here is a summary of the past four months:

At our 1st ultrasound, we found out that we were pregnant with Quads after transferring 2 embryos (1 split into triplets, the other was a singleton). One of the triplets didn't progress past Week 7, so we were then pregnant with Triplets (1 set of identical twins, 1 singleton).  We decide to reduce the pregnancy to a singleton based on the risks of a triplet pregnancy and my individual risk factors.

I had only a couple of weeks that I felt "good" the entire pregnancy.

At 23 weeks I started bleeding and contracting and was admitted to the hospital.  I stayed there on Magnesium and bed rest to lessen the contractions for two weeks before my water broke.  I had contractions, sometimes extremely painful, the entire time.  After my water broke, they stopped trying to prevent labor in case of infection and I went into labor and had my son less than 24 hours later. (There was no determined cause for the bleeding or contractions.)

My son Dylan was born at 25 weeks and 3 days on October 7, 2012 - 2 weeks ago.  He's doing pretty well in the NICU and will be there quite some time.

Now I'm pumping 8 times a day, visiting Dylan twice a day, and trying to stay sane.

*     *     *     *     *
Here are a few topics that I know I want to write about during ICLW:
  • Single Embryo Transfer.  This is the one thing that we would have changed.
  • Postpartum Emotions after having a Micropreemie
  • Dylan's Birth Story
  • Pumping
I have another site devoted to Dylan's progress.  If you'd like the link, you can email me.  I don't want to link it to this site.

Welcome!

18 comments:

  1. What a crazy few months you've had!!!!! Wishing you and Dylan nothing but the best :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi from ICLW. Wow a lot has happened to you in since the last time you did ICLW. Congratulations on the birth of your son.

    ReplyDelete
  3. What a crazy year for you. Hoping for Dylan to get stronger everyday.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wow, what a lot to catch up on for someone like me who's been out of the ICLW loop for 8 months! So glad to hear you're both doing well right now, though! I look forward to reading more of your posts.

    ReplyDelete
  5. So glad you made it through ALL of this and wishing you the best! Praying for strength for you!

    ReplyDelete
  6. That is a lot to have gone through in months!! Wishing you and your family all the best.

    ReplyDelete
  7. This is my first time participating in ICLW. I know first hand how stressful the NICU can be, and I'm glad to hear Dylan is doing well. Take care of yourself!

    ReplyDelete
  8. It's crazy how much has happened for you over the last few months. You're a mama! x

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thinking of you and your precious little one.

    ReplyDelete
  10. been following your story and last year seems like yesterday to me, although you and yours have been through a lot with more work to go.

    wishing you the best. please do keep us updated on dylan here, even if it's just to say, "he's ok".

    best wishes and congratulations!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hello from ICLW! Wow, what a crazy few months you have had! I'm so sorry that you've had to deal with negativity here on your blog...a place that is supposed to be for support! Hoping that Dylan keeps growing big and strong and that his NICU stay flies by!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hi from both ICLW and Hellobee :) I am glad to hear that Dylan is doing well in the NICU!

    ReplyDelete
  13. You're doing a great job so far. Keep up the good work Mama!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Glad that everything is going well for you right now. You have been through so much in the past few months! Hoping that your son continues to get bigger and stronger over the next few weeks. I am sure you can't wait until the day when you can bring him home. Hoping the next few weeks go by fast for you. Congrats!!

    ReplyDelete
  15. oh wow! I am so sorry this happened to you and your lil guys! You are doing the best thing for him by giving your milk! One of my twins was born weighing 3 lbs 12 oz (I know it doesn't compare!), but his did so well in the NICU and I attribute that to my pumped milk! Wishing the best outcome to your family! xo

    ReplyDelete
  16. I would love, LOVE to keep up w Dylan's progress, if you don't mind! There's another blogger, EndoJourney (http://journeywithendometriosis.wordpress.com), who is on this micropreemie journey right now, too, after having her son at 24w5d. Looking forward to seeing both of your sons thrive!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Hi from ICLW! Thinking about you and Dylan!

    ReplyDelete