Pregnancy

I was very reluctant to stop taking my Progesterone In Oil (or PIO) shots and move on to the Crinone 8% vaginal progesterone gel. When I begged my doctor to let me stay on the shots (crazy I know) he told me that I would love the gel - that it would be so much easier, a lot less painful, and would work just the same. Crinone 8% is most commonly used by women undergoing fertility treatments to provide progesterone to change the lining of the uterus to aid in implantation and then to sustain a pregnancy. I did not begin to take Crinone until after I was done with the PIO shots and continued to take it through 12… [more]

In a previous post I talked about our annual girls' trip and my friend who is struggling to conceive. Her particular situation hits so close to home because she has endured the same questions from the same friends, is dealing with eerily similar issues such as fibroids and polyps, and like me, seems to be truly content with the decision to pursue adoption. One thing that she did say that made a lot of sense to me, but that I had never thought about is that she really, really regrets not attempting IVF right when it was recommended as essentially her only option by her RE. Her initial consultation with her doctor took place over a year ago. She was finally… [more]

When you are struggling to conceive one of the things you long for the most is just to be normal. Nothing could make my jealousy peak more than when someone would tell of the fun and unique way they told their partner they were expecting. The innocence of a newly pregnant woman at only 8 weeks already planning her nursery and thinking about names would make me green with envy. The couple who talked about planning to have Johnny or Sally in the summer to coincide with vacation from teaching would literally make me want to scream. All of those reactions are very "normal" when you get pregnant easily, but when you stare at negative pregnancy tests month after… [more]

While I view my own fertility story as a successful one because it ultimately led me to my child through adoption, some of you who are reading this blog might not agree. For some of you, the goal is to become pregnant, and hearing the "A" word is not comforting to you. So, I would like to share some fertility success stories experienced by people in my life. These are not stories that I have heard about or read about: These are people in my life who have battled infertility and won by conceiving and giving birth to healthy children.

Clomid

One of my friends battled infertility for a while before finally becoming pregnant with the help of the drug Clomid. Soon… [more]

Prayer for a safe Pregnancy by Vienna Cobb Anderson from Prayers of Our Hearts. Along with this poem at the above link there are other prayers regarding pregnancy. Prayer for a Safe Pregnancy This life you have given us is so tiny, fragile, and vulnerable, safe in the womb of flesh and hope, yet subject to danger and death. O God of love, creator of life, hear our prayer. We want this baby so much. Please grant this child of ours a full term of nurture, the joy and mystery of life, and the blessing of your love. Grant us the fulfillment of our dreams, a baby to cherish and protect, a child to teach and guide, a blessing to our family. Amen. I have been in a prayerful mood today. And what should pop up on my screen, but this poem as my… [more]

Study describes new type of "semi-identical" twins by Will Dunham I have a brother and a sister that are fraternal twins that were born over 18 years ago. But even before this family association, I have been very interested in multiples. Through my mom's child care center, I've know 2 sets of triplets, many sets of twins. And with the increase of fertility enhancement procedures, the percentage of multiples continues to rise. I was very intrigued when this article came up on my screen. A new study has reported that there is a newly discovered way for twins to form. Initially, the two ways that were identified were where either 2 eggs were fertilized each with a different sperm, and the… [more]

Women with Sickle Cell Need Special Prenatal Care While I'm always on the lookout for current news on the fertility front, I'm also looking out for news about any type of condition that my family and I have, or in my dad's case, had before he passed away. One of my nephews was diagnosed with sickle cell trait in the early months after he was born. And talk about scary in the way we found out! He had had some blood drawn at the hospital, right after he was born to test for certain things. I'm sure that my sister signed something to this effect, yet she couldn't remember what they actually tested for. Well, when he was just a few months old, we got a certified… [more]

I got a phone call from my friend this morning. I knew that she was in for her other ultra sound yesterday, so while she was speaking, I tried to discern if she had good news or bad news to share. She began the conversation with some details about some plans that we had this weekend and some other family involvements that she has going. And then she said, "Now you know I had my ultra sound yesterday." And her voice sounded happy! Well, according to the report results that she got this morning everything looks GREAT!! Totally normal for a pregnancy of this length. She is over the moon and giggling. So, of course, I'm wondering. What was all of this for? What was all… [more]

I have been in search of a few more blogs to add to my daily reading and in my looking, I came across this article from www.lifenews.com. I think that I also heard something about it on AOL, but hadn't seen the actual data until yesterday. Being a preemie myself, I am always thrilled when I can read about a little one first of all surviving, and then going home after being born early. My mom always talks about what a great day that was to finally bring me home after months in the hospital. It was a relief and a worry to finally be my mom without all of the nurses around. Here is the info about little baby Amillia Taylor. And I mean little! Taylor was… [more]

Apart from wanting a baby, first off, do you have a preference of gender? With my first pregnancy, I felt for sure that my baby would be a boy. After miscarrying, we never found out the sex of the baby, yet we still refer to the pregnancy as a boy. Our second pregnancy loss was complicated with dates and timing and I never got a "feel" for what that baby would have been. With Ivy, I KNEW she was a girl. In all of my cells, I just got a "girl" vibe. We had decided to not have an ultrasound to reveal the sex, but being cautious, I had to know if I was right in my intuition. If the scan would have shown a… [more]