So I decided to use today's five to give a run down of how our journey to baby numero dos came about.
ONE - The First Step
If you aren't familiar with my story we faced fertility issues when trying to conceive Lucas, and I was diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, which essentially means that I don't ovulate regularly presenting a huge problem when you're trying to get pregnant, clearly. After having Lucas I continued to have this issue, so we knew that when the time came we would have to return to the fertility clinic if we wanted to have more children. It took several months to conceive Lucas, countless ultrasounds, tests, and overall frustration when you are trying to figure out what will work for your body. We were obviously ahead of the game this time, since we knew what would potentially work. We decided in September when Lucas turned one that we would start the process, since we didn't know how long it would take to get a positive, and we knew that we wanted to have the siblings close in age. The medications that I took with Lucas did their thing, and we tried our first round of IUI (Intrauterine Insemination) which didn't take. I'm not going to lie, I was more disappointed than I thought I was going to be, I had this unrealistic expectation that it would happen really easily since we knew what worked, yup not so much. So we braced ourselves for the potential of many months of prodding and appointments.
TWO - When at first you don't succeed, you try and try again
In retrospect I realize that September to December was a really busy time of year for us. We were on the go a lot, I was stressed, I let a lot of external things bother me, that all contributed to the subsequent IUIs not taking. Although every time I took the medications leading up to the IUI my body was indeed doing exactly what it was supposed to, in even a better way than when I got pregnant previously, the weeks after the IUI I was never in the right mental state, and for many women that plays a huge part in successful pregnancies. In the beginning of November I was already in need of a break, since enduring all the appointments, and inconveniences of every cycle along with caring for an active toddler were already wearing me down. On the behest of my doctor I continued taking the medications in hope that it would not ruin the momentum we had, and I just took a step back. I wasn't in any rush and I wanted to get back to being excited about the process.
THREE - Surprise Cycle
After deciding that we would be taking a break, the intention was to return to the clinic in March, but then after on cycle away from the clinic my period came on its own in the middle of December. I had to make a decision fast on whether we were going to pursue it, since you have to start monitoring on day 3 of your cycle. We took the fact that my period came of its own volition as a sign to go ahead. We told no one that we returning to the clinic, and handled all appointments between the three of us. Funnily enough Lucas was an absolute dream every time Gianni couldn't stay with him and I had to bring him along. He would just sit in his stroller while I dealt with the ultrasound, and in fact he became pretty popular with the staff at the clinic. Three days before Christmas we were ready for the IUI, we did all we that was needed and went home to enjoy the holidays.
FOUR - The Two Week Wait
I decided to tell my mother that we had in fact just done an IUI on Christmas day, only because I didn't want to drink and I would rather that she knew why instead of her speculating and thinking I didn't want to share it with them. I'm so glad that my parents were really respectful of our wishes, and never hounded me during our two week wait, although I'm sure they were anxiously wondering as much as we were. The two week wait was a completely different experience from when I got pregnant with Lucas. While pregnant the first time I was very tired all the time, and experience some serious cramping, and overall lethargic behaviour. I'm sure the main reason this time I didn't live in pajamas and stay in bed until 10 am on the days I could has something to do with the tiny person that requires my full time attention. I was definitely more tired at the end of the day, but besides that nothing. I was pretty convinced that it hadn't taken again, and I was ok this time. I was mentally preparing myself for an inevitable negative.
FIVE - Positive
A few days after the New Year we headed to clinic to do the mandatory blood test, we enjoyed a nice family morning, with breakfast out, and then headed home. Lucas goes down for his nap around 1 pm, I decided to stay in my room and read with my cell phone visibly ready for the call, while Gianni stayed downstairs. As the hours passed I'm not going to lie I got more excited and convinced that maybe just maybe it was positive. You see the clinic usually calls the negative tests first, so every time I got a negative I usually got a call by at least 1:30, so when it was almost 3 and I hadn't yet heard from them I started feeling a little more hopeful. Sure enough at 2:50 the phone rang and the nurse gave me the news that would change the outlook of 2014 for the Baccega household. I ran downstairs and the moment Gianni looked up I just started crying, he did his happy dance and just held me.
I have my weekly updates starting tomorrow, and at 14 weeks I sometimes till can't believe that I'm carrying baby number two, although my voracious appetite helps me not forget :)
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