BIG News!

If you didn't you didn't already know, we are pregnant!!  This little Robison clan will be one larger in March!  We are due around my brother's birthday and on our nephew's birthday which is pretty awesome.

It has been a struggle for me to get here but I am so glad that the Lord blessed me with the ability to conceive and has blessed our family with this baby.

 I don't know when the first pictures were taken- probably around week 8 when we told our siblings, and I was wearing a shirt under this one so it doesn't look natrual at all. lol.  

The following picture was taken Sept.21, the day after my birthday, on week 14- the baby is supposedly the size of an orange now.

For those of you who don't know, I have been struggling with infertility and have been undergoing tests for the last year... Literally since last June so it was so exciting to hear that it has only taken us a year of testing and working with the Regional Fertility Clinic (RFC) to have this blessing.  It was only a year but I felt every second of it and continually wondered what I was supposed to be learning.  I know some people struggle with infertility for much longer and my heart goes out to those families.  It is so hard to see other people get pregnant easily and then complain about being pregnant or having children.  I promised myself that if I got pregnant, I wouldn't complain about being pregnant even if it was hard.

It started last June when I went in for an ultrasound on my kidneys because I was experiencing what the walk-in doctors thought were kidney infections; three or four in as many months.  It turned out that my kidneys were fine but my ovaries looked different.  So, when we didn't get pregnant, my doctor sent us to the RFC for tests and help.  We both got tests done and Scott's all came back great.  The problem turned out to be on my end.  I was diagnosed with Polycyctic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) which means that my ovaries weren't working properly.  In a normal case, the ovaries have follicles that become stimulated and become larger, only one of these follicles grows large enough to become an egg and detaches from the ovary and travels down the Fallopian tube and becomes a baby if implanted.  The rest die off.  My follicles are being stimulated and growing but not detaching or dying but becoming cysts or growths on my ovaries.  I didn't know it at the time, but the kidney infections that I thought I was having were in actuality, my ovaries in pain and swollen, so only a doctor who knew what to look for between the two would have even thought that there was an issue.  And because they never confirmed the Kidney infections through tests, it's very likely that this was the issue.

So, what did this mean for me.  First I was not up to date on my vaccines and the RFC needs you to be such to start any treatments so then I got more shots and had to wait a month to start trying again.

Our doctor at RFC told us their first option with PCOS is Clomid, an oral fertility medication.  She said that it was 80% effective in cases of PCOS.  She told us they would give us a trial of three cycles and after that you have to take a break for two cycles and if we are not pregnant by that time, we would come back in to see her and see what the next plan was.  She also told us that there is a higher chance of multiples because of the Clomid.  She told us the chances in having multiples without medication are 1% and the medication increases to what we both thought she said was 80%.  Both of us were not surprised because we had both heard that the chances of multiples increase on Clomid.  Then she talked about how that wasn't a huge increase and it is still unlikely.  I asked her, "Is that 8% or 80%?" Her reply was 8%.  OH!  Well, that wasn't much higher.  Although I am sure with multiples running in my family, my chances could be higher than that, they were by no means 80% and that we could handle.

Clomid makes you moody!  The side effects are basically those of being pregnant so I felt bad for Scott as I cried because of the wind after the first two weeks of being on the medication.  It is also a bit expensive as it is not covered by Alberta Health Care and is $50/pill.  (If you think this should be covered by Alberta Health Care, you can go to this link and sign the petition or send your MLA a letter.)

I was supposed to go in for blood tests on day 21 of my cycle to see if I ovulated and take a pregnancy test on day 30.  I did both and on day 30, the day we left to girls camp, I got a negative test.  I was a little sad but girls camp really helped me and I loved being able to be there with such sweet daughters of God and know that He had a plan for me as well as for each of them.  Then at my sister's wedding I got a call from RFC saying that I had ovulated and that I needed to take a pregnancy test on day 36 not day 30.

I was pretty upset.  I knew that the drug was working, that I wasn't pregnant even with it working and now I had to take another pregnancy test to disappoint myself and show that things were still not working.  I didn't even want to take the test again.  but on day 36, I quietly took the test upstairs in the bathroom while Scott was on the main floor.  I wasn't going to say anything, just climb back into bed and cry- yup, that was the plan. lol  But instead there were immediately two pink lines...  I didn't even really believe it so I waited the five minutes and the lines were stronger... We were pregnant??  I told Scott but honestly didn't know if I believed the test; I thought that if the first could have been a false negative, this could just as likely be a false positive.  We called my doctor and got in that day.  And the doctor confirmed that we were pregnant!!

I have got to say that although this is what we have been working towards, I was quite nervous when she confirmed that we were in fact going to have a baby.  I don't have a permanent position and Scott is still in school until April and if calculations in my head were right, this baby would come in March... Wow...

Because of the fact that I am on Clomid, I was sent in for an ultrasound to make sure this pregnancy was viable and to date the pregnancy.  Basically, the egg could have implanted in the Fallopian tube, there could be more than one egg, and they didn't know when I had ovulated.  So, in I went for another internal ultrasound- they say these are unpleasant, but both were painful, the second less so than the first, in which I bled afterwards.  Not just unpleasant for me... But I have a sister who says she had one and it wasn't bad so if you have to get one, don't go by what I said.

NEWho... during the ultrasound, they saw one healthy baby, attached in the uterus with a good heartbeat, which I got to see!!

When I talked to Scott, we had both decided that we were ok with twins because if we have to go through medication and RFC every time we want to get pregnant, it may be easier to just get a two in one kind of deal but I am actually pleased that there is only one. :)  I think we will adjust better to one baby to begin with and things will be that much easier, although I am sure they are not that easy.

Sorry for the long story, we can't wait to meet our little one in March!!  My body is already changing which is crazy-cool and I guess I was told that the smaller you are the earlier you show cause there is nowhere for your uterus to go but out.  Years ago, my sister Crystal and I compared our body structure and we realized that I am all legs, I have one inch of space between the top of my hip bone and the bottom of my rib cage and I have a very short torso... So, there really is no place for this baby to go but out. Of course my belly isn't the only thing expanding and I only fit into one of my bras.  I had even bought three new bras in May and now I will have to wait to wear them again someday.  To date, I have gained 8-9lbs and I have no clue if that is good or bad- only that I'll keep growing.  But what does that mean?  Shopping!! Although I wasn't as enthused about maternity shopping as I would have been for clothes that will fit me for years- but hey, if we get pregnant again, I will have something.

I am into my second trimester now and life has been great.  Yes, pregnancy is different than not but everyone knows that it will be like that and I have not been like some of my friends who needed diclectin their entire pregnancies, so I am a happy camper.

We have decided to find out the gender of the baby so in about four weeks we will see if we are having a girl or boy with 90% acuracy or something close to that. lol  Can't wait!!