It has been a very long time since I have attempted to blog or even thought about this blog!
After 4 miscarriages and a healthy amazing 2.5 year old we are thinking about adoption or fostering.

I am looking to change my blog name to mold it to what we im going to be writing about! Any ideas are welcome!

Its been months..a baby and 2 miscarriages

Wow can not believe how long it has been since I have blogged! We had our miracle baby on August 27,2011. He is perfect in ever way!! I can not believe he will be 2 next month!!!

Above are a few pictures when he was born and then his 1st birthday invite! I need to get started on his second birthday invitation and party!

What a long two years it has been. Tre has been amazing in every way! He has gone from nursing for 4 months to weening off the dreaded binky at 1 year. It was way easier than I thought it was going to be, just because daddy wanted it to last longer than i did!

He is now in his own bed, no more crib:(. He is such a big boy these days it makes me sad! At the store today people thought he was way over 2, NOPE he is still a baby in my eyes! 

Last April (2012) was great I turned 30 and thought we were going to have a baby sister or brother for Tre. Shortly after my 30th birthday I lost it. This was my 3rd miscarriage. It was tough and I only took a week off work because I had switched doctors and it was one of the worst experiences so i thought. We changed OB's and I thought it was going to be great next time I got pregnant! WELL I thought WRONG! 

This past April, 2013 we were about 10 weeks pregnant. It was the week of my 31st birthday. I ended up losing our 4th baby, a baby girl :(. I will go into more of the experience, negative experience next blog. I decided to take time off of work this time to recoup, take time for myself and my family. Then I get word my work is doing layoffs and guess what, I do not have a job as of August 2:(. 

As if 13 weeks of bed rest isnt bad enough.......

I have now experienced this horrible pain. I am not whining or complaining this is REALLY,REALLY bad. I am experience something called Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction (SPD).


What the heck is this?!

During pregnancy or birth, about one in 35 women will experience intense pelvic pain and may find it difficult to walk, climb stairs, and other movements that involve the pelvic bones. This pain is a result of separation of the symphysis pubis which is a joint in the very front part of the pelvic bone structure. There is cartilage that fills the gap in the bones. During pregnancy, hormones such as relaxin soften this cartilage allowing the pelvic bones to be more flexible for delivery. Some women, however, have too much play in the pelvis causing a large gap between the bones. This makes the symphysis pubis area extremely sensitive to touch. I have never experienced something like this. I can not get out of bed, walk to the bathroom, walk upstairs basically anything! It is the worst pain I have ever been in :-(.So I am going to the Doctor tomorrow morning to have him try and help me or figure something out. On another note my shower is this weekend! My cousin and Aimee and Scott get here tomorrow! If you didnt get the invite via email PLEASE call me! It is a BBQ co-ed shower and we cant wait!! We are getting our maternity pictures by the amazing Brandy Pellegrino of Pell Studios . They are not Boudoir pictures but she is amazing at that as well! I just hope I can walk into her studio! We are getting SUPER excited to see Tre! I just want him here already! Off to rest so I can get these pictures done! Crysta

32 weeks...almost!

This week marks 9 weeks on bed rest and a week since I was discharged from the hospital! 4th of July was tough, it is so hard to be on the couch while everyone is at the river, beach or pool. I know next year we will have an almost 1 year old and will be able to do these things. :-).We did have a couple of friends over and BBQ'd, just kept it low key. So it was nice to have company and be able to eat some good bbq!

I am so lucky to have Tony through all of this, poor guy really has been through a lot as well! He has been so good to me, not that he isn't, these past few months. 

This past week I have been having some cramping and back pain but held off calling my doctor because I had an appointment today. Everything went ok today and I am back on the couch! I have gained a total of 21 pounds! I am so happy because 9 weeks of bed rest and eating whatever I want, 21 pounds is great!
My doctor asked about a shower and hinted at wanting it at my house. I told him it will be local, in Escondido and he said ok. As long as I am driven there, put in a chair and I sit I am allowed to go! Hopefully we make it another 3 weeks! 

Shower invites have gone out via email, you should of received them.  If you didn't please let me know! 

I appreciate those who have stopped by or called and emailed! I am hoping I go another 8 weeks but this is going to really get hard and is already starting too! Visitors are much appreciated!! 

HOME!!

I am home, I am glad, but I am nervous! I know I need to not worry but it is really hard not too. My cervix was stable and the doctor said I can discontinue all medications except for the progesterone. She said I could stay if I wanted too but I would do better at home. So here I am home on the couch!
My OB was there today, not on call but doing surgeries and he saw me twice. I love Scripps, the Physicians and Nursing Staff are amazing! I am going to miss the food though! LOL I got to choose whatever I wanted and ate pretty well there!
The nurses were so nice and made sure I got some rest and spread out the monitoring and administration of meds.
Tre looks so cute, and he is now head down!

Thank you to everyone who visited, sent texts, emails and phone calls! It is very much appreciated! I will be home if you want to stop by, visitors make the days go by!

Love,

Crysta, Tony and Tre

Thursday and I get to go home!

Day 4 in the hospital and I just had my ultrasound to check the baby and my cervix. He was breech on Tuesday and now he is head down. Well my cervix is stable and the Perinatologist said I can go home and take it easy. I will be on bed rest and to relax but she said I look stable. I am just a little nervous with the positive FFN and every thing that has gone on this week but I am glad to be going home to see my cats! :-)

Hospital day 3

I finally got some rest,even at home i am not sleeping like i need to be! I think the ambien helped a lot! I finally got to sleep at 1145 last night after all me meds and monitoring were done. I was able to finish my homework my  for my 5 week statistics class that is finally over! Breakfast was great a ham and cheese omelette and a naked juice smoothie!
We didnt get to meet with the neonatologist and team yesterday but hope to today just in case. All the nurses and doctors are great so far!
Tomorrow at 11 i have another cervix check, i may get to go home tomorrow night or Friday depending on everything. Which has me scared with the results of the ffn and my cervix being short. we will see what the perinatologist says tomorrow.
Again thank you for everything so far! Thanknyou for the visits yesterday Megan, talbi, mom and dad. Thank you for all the texts, emails, faceebook messages etc.
Crysta and Tony

Update on ultrasound

This morning I was sent down to Perinatology, where I go every two weeks, for my ultrasound. This is to measure Tre's growth as well as check my cervix for shortening, funneling and beaking. Here are a few articles if you care to read or want a better understanding of what we are going through, Incompetent Cervix and Pre-Term labor . My cervix is measuring 1.6cm but Tre is doing well! He weighs about 3 pounds 10ounces and is measuring 30 weeks 5 days. I am currently 30 weeks  days. As I said in the earlier post we were given steroids for his lungs and a bunch of other meds daily. The FFN shows that I have a 50% chance of delivering in 2 weeks. With my previous uterine anamolie, the contractions and everything the doctors want to make sure I am watched so I am here through the week and possibly longer.
With us living in North County and the hospital in la Jolla I am glad they dont want to send me home. I just wish things were different. I hope I make it to our shower date or farther and I hope things work out!
Tony and I thank you all for all the calls, texts, emails and facebook messages. We truly appreciate each and everyone of you. I am sorry if we do not get back to you all but we want you to know we are grateful for our friends and family through all of this!
We are touring the NICU and speaking with the Neonatologists, ALS nurse and Respiratory therapist this afternoon just to be prepared. We do not anticipate anything happening but we want to be ready IF the time comes.



Feel free to ask questions or email or call!
Crysta

3rd attempt to post!

Long story short, since its taken me 3 times to try and post this! I came into labor and delivery after calling my doctor. i apparently had been having contractions since Sunday nivht and by 6pm Monday they were 2-4 minutes apart! My ob just happened to be on call so  i was happy!  He did an FFn test ( here is the link). I had this done on June2 and it wasnegative, well now it is positive. Dr came in and said this is not good, although it may not mean i will deliver soon heneeds to be extra careful with me. So he admitted me until hopefully Thursday. I was started on terbutaline and  nifedipine for the contractions and then betamethasone for his lungs just in case i do deliver soon.
Well i have been up since  3 am now with contractions, my next dose of meds are due around now, 430am.  Tday we have an ultrasound to check my cervix and measure Tre's growth. They are also having us tour the NICU which we are nervous about but know we may end up there and this will prepare us.
Im scared and nervous, this is not how i expected a pregnancy to go. Hoping i go home on Thursday I will be on strict bed rest and will need help. I van have 3 visitors at a time, so if you want to visitnjust letbme know i dont mind!

back to blogging...

I decided to write in this blog again, I figured not everyone on facebook wants to see posts about my cervix and uterus changing! Facebook to me isnt a place to post things like this, so here I am! While I am suppose to be writing my 8 page research paper for my statistics class that ends on Monday, I am sitting here trying to make this blog cute! Today is day 53 of bed rest and tomorrow I am 30 weeks pregnant! These past 53 days have been the hardest days of my life. I know that sounds bad and a lot of people probably think I am lucky because I dont have to work and I can relax. Well I have learned that this is nothing close to relaxing!

On May 3 Tony and I went to what we thought was a normal every two week appointment. Yup I have been going to the Dr.'s every two weeks since we found out we were pregnant. This is because I was considered high risk from the get go due to my history in previous posts. Our ultrasound tech Johanna notice some changes on my cervix. She went to talk to the dr and then he talked with us. Tre is and has been growing right on track and is doing fine but it is my Cervix that is not. The doctor told me that I basically needed to stop working especially since I work in a crazy busy Emergency Room. I was put on bedrest and ordered to take progesterone suppositories, which are pretty nasty if you ask me!
I was like others thinking, this is great im off work this is going to be great! Well I thought wrong. I cant go to the mall, grocery shop, do my own laundry or cook. I was even told I can not hold my cats!!
Fortunately I have found a lot of resources online and community boards with other women in the same boat as me. Not only has this been tough on myself it has been extremely tough on Tony. He is now left to clean, cook, take care of the cats etc. Thank goodness my family is close and have been very helpful as well as some of our friends. Thank you for the grocery trips, dropping off lunch here and there and the calls! I feel bad asking for help but I have come to realize that right now my main focus is to keep Tre cooking least 4 more weeks so I need to make the ask.
Well I must get to that paper!

Septum Resection 05/14/10

I had my surgery yesterday morning. Dr Rakoff warned us that it may not work, the septum (muscle) may grow back. He was able to cut 90% of it. He wanted to open my uterus as much as he could to make us able to carry a baby. I have a follow up in 2 weeks and then from then on out he wants to monitor it to make sure it doesn't grow. He said we would know immediately if it grew back. 

Surgery went well, I am in some pain cramping mainly but bad cramping. I am also super tired. 

Over all I am very happy with San Diego Fertility Clinic and my 2 doctors. They have been very attentive and done a great job. 

We dont want to try until after the wedding, which is in 3 months! Wedding plans are coming along nicely, I can not believe it is right around the corner!

Thank you for all your support and well wishes.  I will post more when we find out at my post op appointment. 

Septum Resection!

Well tomorrow 05/14/10 is my surgery date! 1030AM I will be under the knife! Hopefully all will work out, hopefully the doctor will be able to cut enough of the septum to open my uterus enough to have a baby full term. We wont know anything until tomorrow afternoon.
I will be leaving for the hospital at 7am, have to check in at 830AM.

Thank you for all your well wishes!

Crysta and Tony

here is a picture of a normal HSG

not mine but i found it on http://www.cincinnatifertility.com just to help you see what a normal one is. 

Another day another test, it frickin hurt!

Well today was the hysterosalpingogram (HSG) is an X-ray test that looks at the inside of the uterus and fallopian tubes and the area around them. (taken from webmd.) I have read a lot on this, how you feel, if it hurts, what to take. Many women say it isnt bad but OMG the pain was horrible. It was for a few minutes but even after taking a Valium ( Tony was there to drive me) and Naproxen it hurt. My OB, Dr Edwards was in the room inserting the die while the Radiologist doctor read the x-ray. At first they thought my left fallopian tube was blocked, but then the second time they inserted the die (which is when it really really hurt) it went through. You can see the die spots to the right of the uterus (heart shaped thing).  Below is what my uterus looks like, Dr. Edwards as well as the radiologist doesnt think this can be re-sected. BUT he didnt say I can not have kids. If you google uterus or look at other postings you can see this isnt normal. My Doctor has always thought this is how it looked but was hoping it wasnt. 

The baby has been implanting on the right, the bigger of the 2 uterus's which is good but still not a lot of room. I have made an appointment with Dr. Rakkoff a fertility specialist in San Diego through UCSD as well as Dr. Morales in San Diego. I told Dr. Edwards I made an appointment for April 7 today and he said he was going to see him this afternoon. He asked the radiologist tech to make a copy of this for him to take to Dr. Rakkoff's open house of his new facility. I really was impressed, I knew I liked my Dr. but for him to be this into my care I think is very cool. He was going to talk to him about my case at an Open House for his new facility.

Dr. Edwards said there are a few options, although he doesnt think it can be surgically fixed. I asked him about implanting into the right side to make sure the baby goes to the right side and he siad that is a possibility. He also says there are women who carry. I will definitely be high risk though.

I know it is bad of me to think why me, but I do. I know I have my health and an amazing fiance and family as well as friends. But this is a lot to take in.
Im sorry if I come across as selfish, but sometimes I just wonder. I wonder how things will turn out, what decisions we will have to make in the future. This is getting harder on me as we find out more and more.

Again I am sorry if I dont go to your baby shower or something like that. I will get over this, there are so many babies being born around us. They are all so adorable and I can not wait to meet them all!

Thank you friends for being there and understanding. Tony and I appreciate everyone's support.

For now we need to concentrate on our wedding!
Wedding dresses, decorations and the fun stuff!

I will post again in a few days but for now that is our update.

Thanks for reading!
Love
Crysta and Tony

MRI tomorrow!

Tomorrow is finally here! It seems like it has taken forever to get here! My MRI is scheduled for 1030 AM but I wont get answers until next Wednesday afternoon :-(. I am hoping to get a copy of my MRI and have a few doctors look at it.

After my MRI i am going to look at wedding dresses FINALLY! Everything is coming along well though!

I will post more next week when I know whats going on!

Been a long week....

January 27 was our first due date, I wasn't sure how the week was going to go. It definitely started out crazy. I worked Mon-Wed 12 hours, Monday morning the lady who cleans the rooms on our floor asked me to do something and I for once said no. I know she doesn't understand and probably didn't know we lost two babies this past year and she didn't know it was our due date this week. But she asked me to create a flyer on the computer for her daughters baby shower. That was Monday morning, work was crazy busy which was good kept my mind off things.
Work was busy those 3 days and I was exhausted emotionally as well as physically.I am upset I missed a good friends CD Release party at the Belly Up in San Diego, it was Wednesday. I really hope she isnt upset, just wasnt a good week. She is an amazing person and starting to do well in the music industry.
February 10 can not come soon enough, actually February 17! The 10th is our MRI and the 17 is the follow up with the Dr..
Im glad the week is over, I need to focus on Relay and the wedding!

203 days until the big day!We are registering today finally! I cant believe Rachel Ray doesnt have a registry or her stuff in stores that do!
I hope everyone had a good week and weekend!

MRI has been scheduled....

On Friday I was told that my MRI was being sent to the insurance to be approved, I called just now and it was approved.
I just found out that the MRI is going to be with/without contrast through my veins! MRI is an hour long, after the MRI I will see my doctor on another day to go over the results of the test. MRI is scheduled for February 10 at 10:30am. I just made my follow up for the doctor to review the results for February 17 at 3:50PM. I wont really know anything until the 17th, thats another month of wondering!!

In the mean time I will have to keep myself busy with wedding stuff! I am looking for invites right now as well as dresses online.

Big game this weekend! Go Chargers~

back to work I go....

I have been off of work since November 14, and tomorrow I am going back to work. I will be on day shift and I hope it goes well tomorrow.

Mulleran Anomalies

Yesterday I went to my 2 week check up from my D&C. My doctor said I am doing great and ordered some blood test, chromosomal testing for both Tony and I as well as miscarriage panel which I do not know what that consists of. I will know the results of all but chromosomal testing soon. Until Tony gets his blood drawn; which some of us know he faints! :-); we wont know for a few weeks. I am sure the blood work is normal as are the doctors. They are pretty sure that I am miscarrying due to my uterine birth defect.

I got all this information from http://mulleriananomalies.blogspot.com/ as well as the yahoo group connected to this blog.

What is a Mulleran Anomalie?
The uterus, fallopian tubes and upper vagina are made up of two partially fused tubes, which, in the embryo, are known as müllerian ducts, named for physiologist Johannes Peter Müller, who first described them in 1830. They are also known as the paramesonephric ducts, and are at first present in embryos of both sexes.

Normally, these ducts run down vertically from flank to pelvic floor in the young embryo and eventually fuse into a double-barreled tube with two loose ends, known as the uterovaginal primordium, or UVP. The double UVP will eventually merge into a single-barreled uterus, cervix and upper vagina, while the loose ends develop into the fallopian tubes. In adulthood, these organs are referred to as the müllerian tract and congenital malformations of this tract are called müllerian anomalies, or MAs.

In the male embryo, in the presence of anti-müllerian hormone (AMH), the müllerian structures disintegrate during early development. They persist in the female because she does not produce AMH.

In the embryo, the müllerian ducts act as scaffolding for the mesonephric ducts, which give rise to the kidneys. Because of this parallel structural relationship, it is common for a kidney or other urinary anomaly to be present with a müllerian anomaly.


My Dr who is just a regular OB seems to think I have one of two issues ;




A.  Uterus didelphys (UD): The müllerian tract fails to fuse along all or most of its length. There may be complete duplication of the vagina, cervix and uterus, and the two halves may be divided by a ligament of connective tissue. UD is reported to have the best pregnancy outcomes of all the MAs. SEE IMAGE BELOW.

 Bicornuate uterus (BU): The uterine fundus fails to fuse and a myometrial division extends down to the cervix in a complete bicornuate uterus, or part way to the cervix in a partial bicornuate uterus. The division is visible on the outside of the uterus, evidenced by a groove or cleft in the uterine dome exceeding 1.5 centimeters. Cervix and vagina are usually single but may be septate or duplicate. BU has relatively few pregnancy complications when compared to SU or UU, with breech presentation being one of the most common. SEE IMAGE BELOW.

 We wont know until February when the MRI is scheduled but for now this is what may be going on. 
I go to Scripps Hospital and my OB/GYN is very knowledgeable, he has only known of 1 other doctor besides the one he has seen do this surgery procedure. So we may have to get many different opinions,,. My doctor said he can do the surgery and will with another Doctor present if he has too. We wont know anything until February.


I just read on Ivillage.com that 15% of women with bicornuate uterus have recurrent pregnancy loss. they  said 65-85% have normal pregnancies.  I will get more statistics on everything later on. It just amazes me as I read that I never had abnormal periods, more pain with periods or anything different until I got pregnant. 
My doctor told me he looks forward to delivering a baby for us but obviously we need to fix whats going on. I will get a few opinions and have subscribed to a yahoo group solely for Uterine defects. 


I never knew until August this was a case, it is crazy to  me. I used to think you get pregnant, carry for 9 months then boom a baby. Not in my case or many others. I just hope my friends and family will understand if  I dont attend a baby shower or something of that nature. I know it will pass, but for now this is hard for Tony and I. It seems so easy for many couples, but for us it is not. 
I do not know what is in store for us, I hope I will be able to carry a child of my own one day, but i know there are other options out there. 


I will post more as I know, but will probably post more wedding stuff for now until we know more about me! 


Thanks for caring, understanding and following us in our adventures! 

Its been a long few months..

So all of this started in May when we found out we were expecting, our due date then was January 27, 2010. Yup so in 3 weeks were suppose to expect "Baby G #1." After complications off and on through out the first 14 weeks we found out on Aug 4( not sure on date) that we had lost it. We do not know what the sex was or why we lost it. We were told it just happens. I took a month off work and returned, only to find out that a month later  we were expecting again! In the meant time I had switched back to Scripps physicians and found a new doctor. I started having complications again, much like the first time around. I was put out on "rest" to be returning to work on December 30, 2010 hopefully getting out of our 1st trimester. 


My new doctor, I didnt like to start our with. I should of switched! We had been seen every two weeks, saw a heart beat and were told everything was going fine. This doctor as well as ultrasound techs noticed something on my ultrasounds. I was asked in Urgent Care one night if I had two horns? What the heck was two horns, I had never been asked that. The tech kept asking me all these questions and I kept saying no I am fine. The Urgent Care doctor then told me it looked like I had what is called a Bicornuate Uterus, I had no idea what this was. She reassured that many women have this and carry just fine. After seeing my OB and doing research on a bicornuate uterus I decided to elect in the 1st tri-mester screening since I would be able to see the Perinatoligist sooner than I would if I were to wait until my 15th week or so.  So I scheduled the testing of neck thickening on the baby, which does no harm to the baby just a more in depth ultrasound. I did this so I could ask questions about my so called birth defect. 
December 18 Tony and I went to Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla, we were expecting to get some answers and see our baby maybe even find out the sex, since the ultrasound is that good. We were suppose to be 13-14 weeks, when the ultra sound tech asked me when my last ultra sound was...I knew thins weren't right. Sure enough we had lost it, the Perinatologist came in and double checked. After I tried to settle down she brought us in and talked to us. With out more tests and exams she wasn't able to tell us everything right then and there. She did say I definitely have a uterine birth defect, which she thinks is why I miscarried two times. She said I would have to go through blood tests and a few other xrays in order to find out exactly what was going on and possible a surgery down the road. I first had to have another D&C for what was going on that day. After I recover from this procedure I will be able to start testing... Ill post another blog in a bit about what happened yesterday at the doctors! Im off to the gym or a run for now in this lovely weather we are having in San Diego!