Coming Attractions...

Well, this post is long overdue (as I hope I will not be!!!!!). Baby Doyal #2 (also referred to as Ramon- he likes it when you roll the R) is coming to a hospital near you on September 4, 2011!!!

Many of your have been asking for an update to this crazy fiasco so I apologize for the wordiness of this post. If you already know what's going on, you can just look at the pictures!!!

Wednesday, December 22- I had already taken a pregnancy test on Sunday, but just had a feeling so I took another one. Note to self- DO NOT buy generic pregnancy tests! There's places to skimp and this is not it. I called David at work to tell him I took a pregnancy test and saw a VERY faint line. He said I was hallucinating, but agreed to buy me some more tests on the way home. POSITIVE!!! We were shocked, yet excited as was our family when we told them at Christmas!

Monday, January 17- Our first appointment- FINALLY!!! David accompanied me to the doctor's office and we got to see our little angel for the first time. We also got to meet my new archnemesis- Seymore the Ovarian Cyst (which unfortunately I do not have a picture of!). It seems that I have a corpus luteum ovarian cyst which formed during ovulation. It is not harmful to the baby, but since it was about the size of a racketball had me a little worried. I was instructed to come back in 2 weeks and left with lots of fear! Of course I did the unthinkable, I googled it!!! Actually this time around, googling was good because it gave me more info and I read stories of women who had survived their entire pregnancy with these things.

Here's the lowdown (in my very rudimentary medical terms): When the egg leaves the ovary on its way to the uterus, a small folicle in the ovary where the egg came from can turn into this type of cyst. During the first trimester of pregnancy, a woman has crazy levels of hormones in her body which feed the cyst and make it bigger. Normally, later in the first trimester, these levels taper off and the cyst either stops growing or actually starts shrinking. There is not must risk to the baby other than if the cyst gets bigger, the baby can push against it and it is very painful for the mother. The two things we have to be on the lookout for is rupture of the cyst (which apparantly is very painful) or ovarian torsion (where the cyst gets so big that it actually starts twisting your ovary around a membrane and cuts off blood supply to the ovary). As luck would have it, there is no medication that you can take to get rid of the cyst that is safe during pregnancy. It can only be surgically removed if necessary. OUCH!!!

Okay- enough of that- here's the bambino!!!

Thursday, January 20- On Wednesday night I started some bleeding which got me a little worried. Yes, I bled a small bit at the very beginning with Bailey, but wasn't sure what this was about. I called the doctor's office on Thursday morning and apparantly they were a little more worried than I was because they wanted me to come in for another ultrasound. The baby was still fine and had grown since Monday (see picture below), but Seymore had grown as well! He was now approaching the size of a tennis ball (I tried to relate Seymore's size to fruits like any good pregnant woman, but David says ball are more relatable). My progesterone level was very high (which is reassuring because progesterone helps the cyst shrink), however I was not very reassured because my cyst seemed to be doing the opposite of shrinking! My doctor put me on bedrest until my appointment on Monday.

A note about bedrest: Bedrest is fun for the first day. WOW- laying around and watching movies all day is the life! Then when you house chores start piling up around you and your 2 year old wants you to get off the couch and play- it's not so convenient.

Monday, January 24- Another day, another appointment. At this point I had been to the doctor's office 3 times in one week and already (honestly) had more ultrasound pictures of this baby than I had the entire 9 months with Bailey! Finally some good news!!! The baby was still good and growing (see pic below- and no, my child does not have 2 heads. That upper circle is the yolk sac that nourishes the baby before the placenta steps in). And finally Seymore seemd to be shrinking- he was back down to racketball size again. I was starting to feel a bit of pressure from the cyst (apparantly the cyst is growing inside of my ovary and stretching it out a good bit), but I can deal with that right now. We talked about the risks again (I'm not out of the woods yet) and I got "upgraded" from bedrest to restricted activity.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to all the dear friends and family who have/are still praying for us throughout this, have brought meals, offered to take care of Bailey, and called to check on me. It really means a lot! We definitely feel your prayers and hope you keep them coming!!! We can't wait to meet Baby Ramon (okay that won't really be his/her name) and have already learned that he is a trooper! All of this drama, coupled with constant nausea, had really had me down, but I am truly blessed to have such wonderful friends and family to keep me going!

I promise I'll post an update much sooner after my next appointment (Feb 3).