The Waiting Game

Over the past week and a half I have been spotting quite a bit. At first I wasn't too concerned because I know that spotting is not uncommon and that it often means nothing. But as the week went on I was growing more and more concerned. Tyler tried to stay calm about the whole thing (he did pretty good too!) but I could tell he was worried too. With this being our first pregnancy and neither one of us knows much about what is considered "normal", it didn't take much to raise concerns. I'm the type of person who HATES not knowing. Wondering makes things worse for me. I had no clue if this was just normal pregnancy stuff or if I might be having a miscarriage. I finally decided to go to the ER on Thursday after work. I didn't want to freak out and be this overly worried first time mother but at the same time I just felt off.

After almost 4 hours in the ER, giving blood and urine samples, a pap smear, and several ultrasounds, the doctor finally told us what was going on. According to the ultrasounds there is a pregnancy in my uterus (Good!) however, there was quite a bit of blood under the placenta (not good). She also said that my blood test showed that my HCG (or pregnancy hormone) wasn't rising like it should. In a normal pregnancy that hormone should double every 48 hrs. The Women's health Clinic on base had me get normal labs done on Tuesday in order to schedule my first OB appointment. On Tuesday my HCG level was around 9,000. On Thursday it should have doubled and been around 18,000, but instead it was only at around 14,000 (also not good).

So what does this all mean? Well, the doctor called it a "Threatened Miscarriage." (Could they have chosen a scarier name?! Geez!)  Basically it means that it is extremely likely that I will have a miscarriage. She told me what I should expect over the next couple of days should I have a miscarriage, things to watch out for, ect... She also said that she has seen women with this type of condition go on to have a normal pregnancy. Since my hormone levels were rising, I now need to go in for more blood tests every two days or so to track my HCG levels and see how the pregnancy is progressing. Although it didn't rise like it should have the last time, it did rise over 50% so that is a good sign. I need to go back in today and get more blood drawn.

Immediately after leaving the ER we went to my parent's house so that my dad and Tyler could give me a blessing. Let me just say right now how grateful I am for the Priesthood! It has been such a blessing in my life. I am very lucky to have a husband worthy to hold and exercise his priesthood authority. I couldn't imagine going through life without that influence. I am grateful for wonderful parents who raised me in the gospel. They are amazing examples to me and I love them very much! We hope and pray that the pregnancy continues to progress and I can continue to carry our baby to term. But for now we just have to wait and see what happens.