an ER, the unknown, and a baby

We shared our happy news on Monday about our sweet bean and I wrote this (long) account of our experience back when I was 5 weeks along. If you're interested, read on!
___________________________________________________________________________

Mark and I had decided we wanted to get pregnant soon. Around the summer of 2014, we decided we would start actively trying in December. December came and it was time! We tried, and then we waited…

…during the ‘waiting’ time, I started having some pain on my right pelvic side. It was severe for a few seconds but then just felt like I had pulled a muscle. It lasted for 5 days before I decided I needed to go the doctor. I had been reading ALL of google over the weekend and had self-diagnosed it as a corpus luteum cyst. So, off I went to the doctor with hopes of a similar diagnosis and a possible positive pregnancy test.

Once I got checked in, the nurse took my temperature and I was at 100.2. Whoa! That’s weird. Oh well, I felt fine. Back I went to see the doctor who chatted with me and did an exam, including an ultrasound to look for a cyst. He made one passing comment while explaining the ultrasound to me, “you’ve got a nice thick uterine lining…” (sorry if TMI) and then carried on the exam. No sign of a cyst, but my fever concerned him. They came back and did two more temp readings (on my forehead) that were even higher. That’s when I started feeling sweaty. He said that he was concerned of appendicitis, and while I wasn’t showing all the symptoms, I wasn’t showing symptoms of anything else and the best way to rule out a seriously threatening case of appendicitis was in the ER. Yikes.

I had to fight my natural urge to ignore him and go back to work because, hello, I felt fine! After a frantic call with Mark, my mom, and my cousin whose husband is an ER doctor, I decided I should go in, just in case. So I went home, changed, and Mark and I headed to Baylor Plano.

Things were fine and normal while we waited. We laughed, chatted, made jokes, and were our normal selves. I would get a little twinge of pain and think, “really? This is what appendicitis feels like?” and then move on. After a blood draw, IV, contrast solution and a CT scan, we were released four hours later after the CT scan showed fluid around my ovary, the result of a ruptured cyst. Adding to the anti-climactic ending was that I had seen “HCG negative” scribbled on my paperwork, meaning my blood came back as negative for pregnancy.

I told Mark after we left the hospital that it didn’t work and I wasn’t pregnant this time. Oh well, we would try next month. I tried to put it out of my mind and turn my attention to Mark’s birthday the next day and the upcoming holidays. A full day back at work the next day was pretty normal and I came home to an empty house as Mark was out for his birthday with his dad. I think it was part boredom, part stubbornness, and part of the doctor’s whisper about my ‘thick uterine lining’ that made me say ‘what the heck’ and pull out another pregnancy test (I had taken about 4 prior to this). I sat there, calling myself stupid for even trying and already prepared for that blank space I had seen before – when lo and behold, there was a line! What?! My face went flush and I couldn’t believe it…

…My elation only lasted about 2 minutes. In the back of my head, I remembered something about a corpus luteum cyst being able to cause a false positive. Could this be real?! I called the ER feeling foolish but hoping to get some insight into my tests that were run just 24 hours before. The nurse on call immediately said “no, you can’t ever get a false positive” and then said “wait –“ and yelled to someone in the background. After the doctor confirmed that it indeed COULD happen (read your pregnancy test instructions – people –it’s possible) he was just as flabbergasted and confused as I was. I hung up with no answers.

Mark came home and I shyly told him about how some cysts can cause false positive results….and…I had gotten two positive results that night. His face looked like I had told him he just won $1.000,000. I don’t think he heard my explanation, but I’m glad that he was so excited because it allowed me to accept it a little more each morning when I had a darker line and a positive result, one after the other.

Christmas was hard. I had the PERFECT way to tell my family. I had bought my sister a planner months in advance, not knowing about a pregnancy, and was going to write the due date in it and have her flip through it. Christmas was only two days after that first result, though, and I wasn’t confident yet. My doctor was closed for the rest of the week but had scheduled me for blood work on the 26^th, which I wouldn’t see the results until Monday the 29^th. I just knew, though, if I told my family, the results would come out negative. So I waited…

We saw them twice after that, and after 7 positive results, a darkening line, and a missed period (sorry, y’all), I decided it was real enough and I wanted to tell someone. I wrapped a sweet onesie up with our due date on it and gave it to my mom for her birthday, after she had unwrapped the other presents. I was a nervous WRECK – I don’t know why! I knew it would be much anticipated news! Long story short, my mom was excited and said she was expecting it (who knows why!), my sister was totally shocked (mission accomplished) and my dad and Chris were equally surprised, I think. From then on, we got the positive results from my first HCG, shared the news with Mark’s family (who were equal parts excited) and got great numbers back on my second round of HCG tests, a week after the first confirmation.

Phew! As I type this, I’m 5 weeks and 1 day along. That means I was only 3 weeks and 2 days along when I found out, which is super early! I was so anxious to know but I also think time would move more quickly if I hadn’t found out until 6 weeks or so. Oh well! Mark and I are overjoyed and can’t wait to see where this year takes us. We are praying for a healthy 9 months and delivery and an even healthier and happier lifetime with this little one.
_______________________________________________________________________________

I'm 12 weeks now and luckily things have been much less eventful for the past 7 weeks! We have seen a healthy baby and a healthy heartbeat and we are just nurturing this baby right now. Thanks for all of your kind words!!!