Saturday, January 06, 2007

Miscarriage Redux

I didn't post about this pregnancy. I think I will with the next one (yes, there will be a next one). I was more than a little spooked about it and had some vague superstitious idea that I didn't want to "jinx" it.

When I went for the fertility appointment, the doctor could tell I had just ovulated. We joked that I wouldn't need to take the hormones she had prescribed. Sure enough, I had a positive pregnancy test just before my 41st birthday. We kept this one a little quiet and only told the people we'd tell if something went wrong...

The Monday before we went to the U.S. for Christmas, I had a scan. The doctor felt something didn't look right so I had my HCG levels taken that day and then again on Wednesday. I was completely convinced that it would be bad news, but the doctor called and the numbers had almost doubled! (The numbers double every 48 hours in early pregnancy) We had another scan and she said things looked better. The little black area that was the beginning of a baby (or so we had hoped) was the right size. We left for a Merry Christmas with my family in Michigan.

All was fine until New Year's Eve. While at the zoo with my sister and her family, I started spotting. We went to the emergency room and got the bad news. Ten days after the last HCG reading, the number was nothing where it should be. The black area hadn't grown and there was no fetal pole, let alone a heartbeat (which at 7 weeks, we should have seen both). On Jan 2nd, I started bleeding and cramping in earnest. We got back to Denmark on Jan 4th and I called my doctor and went to the hospital. There it was confirmed, I was slowly aborting the pregnancy. We decided to move the process along and I had a D & C. I spent my first night back in Denmark at the hospital.

I'm a little numb at the moment. Especially after realizing that I've been keeping this blog for a year now (and trying for a second baby for longer than that). We're still committed to trying for another child, but there is most definitely a time limit.

Here's hoping the third time is the charm. If it's not, it will be the final straw...