Second Pregnancy Update: 7 Weeks

7 weeks! Not a great picture because
the lighting was bad inside.

The last couple of weeks have been really crazy for us. About a week and a half after I took my first pregnancy test, I decided to take another one. I admit that it was done purely out of emotion, not reason, which is the opposite from how I normally do things. When I found out I was pregnant with Addie, I had a hard time wrapping my brain around that reality. I ended up taking another test the following day, because I thought that the news would finally sink in with two positive tests. When I took the second test this time, it was after thinking about Addie. Again, the news was taking a while to sink in, so I thought another positive test would help. I took the test, waited three minutes, and was startled by the appearance of only one line. Negative? I had expected to see two lines again, so when I only saw one, I tried not to panic. As I stared at the test, I noticed that the left line (the line that normally appears when you get a positive result) was there, but the right line (the one that is always there regardless of the result) wasn't showing up. On the test itself and even on the box, that right line was always pictured. Maybe there has been some kind of mistake. I asked the Lord for help, texted G to tell him what happened, and called my mom, who then told me to call the doctor's office and ask them what I should do. I left a message on the nurse's answering machine, and waited for her to return my call.

Mom decided to come over so that I wouldn't be by myself, bringing more tests with her in case I felt like taking another one later. Maybe the first one was defective, or I was reading the result incorrectly. The nurse called back around lunchtime and told me to come in for a blood test. During this time, Mom had scoured the internet to see if she could find anything about the right line disappearing while the left line shows up. She read on one site that another lady experienced the same situation. That lady called the pregnancy test company to ask about her result, and they told her that her hormone levels were so high that it caused the right test line to disappear. Whether that happened to me or not, it eased my mind. The results of the first test came back the next day, and everything was fine. I was definitely pregnant, and all my levels were normal. I went on another day for a second blood test to make sure my hormone levels were increasing properly, and they were. So in hindsight, I feel a little silly for not just accepting my first positive pregnancy test. If I had not taken the second test, it would have prevented a lot of stress.

Last weekend was also stressful. My brother came to stay with us for a few days (which was great), and after service on Sunday, I went to the restroom and discovered that I had bled through all of my clothes. My heart sank a little and I thought, I'm having a miscarriage. I'm losing this baby too. In the midst of my concern, I remembered that God was still in control, and that He would take care of us. We quickly left the church and drove directly to the hospital. I spoke to my OBGYN on the way, and she gave me a brief list of things that could be happening, including miscarriage. She told me what to do, and what I could expect to happen when we arrived. We waited in the ER waiting room for 20-30 minutes, which really wasn't too bad. I knew that there was probably nothing that could be done, whether I was miscarrying or not, so I tried to relax and be patient. G took a few minutes to pray over me, which helped me a lot. We both thought I was probably miscarrying, and we prepared ourselves mentally and emotionally to receive that information from a doctor. Not long after we were taken back to a room, a nurse took me to another room to have some ultrasounds done. I also had more blood drawn, and another nurse came in to check my blood pressure. After waiting a little longer, a doctor came in to discuss the results of the tests.

It turns out that I have something called a "subchorionic hemorrhage," which is when blood pools up in a pocket between the amniotic sac and the uterine wall. Apparently these types of hemorrhages are fairly common, and as long as they aren't too big, they won't cause any problems. Often, the body will reabsorb the blood, or the pocket will drain, which would result in bleeding. In some cases, depending on the size of the hemorrhage, it can cause the placenta to separate from the uterine wall (which can cause a miscarriage). Fortunately, the hemorrhage I have is very small, so the doctor said I had a "threatened miscarriage." I had another appointment with my OBGYN on Tuesday, which worked out perfectly since the hemorrhage would need to be monitored closely. Fortunately, we found out that the hemorrhage had decreased since I was in the hospital, so it looks like the problem will resolve itself. The best part of the appointment was getting to see our baby! Of course, it's so tiny right now that it doesn't look much like a baby, but we were excited to take home the first ultrasound picture.

Here's the first picture of our little blueberry!

The next appointment with my OBGYN as well as my first appointment with the perinatologist will be in January. January 15, 2015 was Addie's due date, so I know next month will probably be challenging for us. Thank you all for your prayers!