Here we go again...

Now that Peanut is 18 months old and getting a little more independent (we ditched the bottles this week!), my husband and I are thinking about #2.

One part of me thinks we're crazy to think about this so soon. We've had a really difficult year and a half.

The other part of me is very excited and hopeful to try again. I want to experience being pregnant, big belly and all. Peanut is so much fun and to think of having another makes me happy. I like the idea of kids being close in age and getting passed the newborn stage. We originally wanted 3 kids, so we'll see how #2 goes.

If things don't go smoothly, it'll be really difficult handling whatever situation is handed to us while taking care of Peanut. But we have to believe things will go as they're meant to, hopefully smoothly, or we'll never get through this sane. We also have a huge support system in the area.

And so it begins. We are officially not avoiding. I think He'll take care of us.

Weekly Inspiration

Every day do something that will inch you closer to a better tomorrow.
Doug Firebaugh

New Discovery Health Series on NICU

I can't wait to see this new series about the NICU and prematurity on Discovery Health. It airs on Thursday, July 15th at 10 PM.

The series follows real families as they experience the roller coaster of emotions that come with having a baby born too soon or with other complications. During the broadcast, viewers can use their mobile devices to text the word “hero” to 20222 to donate $5 to the March of Dimes.

We don't have cable but I think it'll be on Hulu.com. Click the link below:

New TV Series on Discovery Health NICU Highlights Struggles of Premature Babies & Families

Options for Cervical Insufficiency

As we consider expanding our family, here are some options as we see them. For us, doing nothing isn't an option, as we're terrified that our next baby will be born prematurely. Doctors have advised us that certainly it will and it isn't unlikely that it could happen even sooner next time.

My ob-gyn said that we could get pregnant and to call when we did to schedule a vaginal cerclage (cervical stitch to prolong pregnancy in times of cervical incompetence) procedure. (In Layman's terms: sewing the cervix closed!) However, being 2 engineers, my husband and I wanted more of a plan, more data, and more assurance than that.

We met with an amazing MFM (Maternal-Fetal Medicine) doctor. We saw our options as either:
1) Get a vaginal cerclage at the end of the first trimester - easy procedure, somewhat successful
2) Get an abdominal cerclage at the end of the first trimester - placed via C-section surgery - proven to be very successful
3) Get an abdominal cerclage before pregnancy - placed via laparoscopic surgery - experimental

There are lots of advantages and disadvantages to these. There is a weigh and balance of risk of procedure vs. possible outcome. For us, we wanted to pull out every trick possible to prevent extreme premature birth.

Traditional ways of thinking indicate that option #1 is suitable for a case such as mine. Being a more major sugery, often abdominal cerclages might not be used until multiple losses or premature births are experienced. But those options are not acceptable to us.

So - We opted for #3. A few weeks ago I had an transabdominal cerclage placed. I am not pregnant. And it was placed via the DaVinci robot (it looked like the bad guy from Spider man 2....awesome) This is an experimental surgery and was considered a success. It was considered outpatient, but I was kept in the hospital 1 night for observation. I was feeling totally normal within about 4 days. The worst issues I had were recovering from the anesthesia and back pain as my stomach muscles healed.

We felt option 3 was the best for us for a few reasons:

1) We wanted the abdominal cerclage because of it's somewhat better success rates (ie: pregnancies that go to term) than a vaginal cerclage (note I don't have this statistics)

2) I believe that the probability for bed rest or hospitalization is less with the abdominal cerclage. This is also really important for us because we have a toddler at home to take care of.

3) The obvious advantages of the laparoscopic surgery are that it can be done before pregnancy and has a faster recovery time. I'd read some negative info on the internet about this method, but my doctor is an expert in this field and so I trusted his advice for our particular situation.

We weighed the risks of the experimental, major surgery vs. the reward and felt that option 3 was the best for us.

Some other factors that entered into our decision:
-Success rates (of carrying baby to term)
-Risks to mother
-Risks to fetus
-Probability of being on bed rest, resuming "normal" life during pregnancy, including taking care of toddler at home
-What happens if you have a miscarriage with option #3
-With vaginal cerclages you would have to repeat the procedure with future pregnancies, abdominal cerclages are permanent
-Abdominal cerclages require c-section at delivery of baby

Weekly Inspiration

"Tough times never last, but tough people do." - Robert Schuller

So now what?

These days Peanut is 1.5 years old and doing great. So great in fact, that we want to do this again, and Peanut has only been home from the NICU for a year. I mean, he's just so darn cute. And he needs a brother or sister to give him trouble because he's crazy stubborn.

So many questions are in my head.

Will my PCOS result in struggles in getting and staying pregnant? Will I carry a baby to a viable gestational age? Will I carry a baby to term? What precautions should we take when considering down this path again? Will I end up on bed rest in the hospital, and if so, how will we meet our toddler's needs? Are we emotionally ready to handle this again? Are we crazy?

Nobody knows what will happen. My husband and I have done some research, talked to other moms, and have seen one of the leading high risk doctors in the country.

We have a plan. Will my body and the baby stick to the plan? Well, that's anybody's guess, but you better believe we'll be following God's plan.

More on our plan and decisions in another post!

Weekly Inspiration

"Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies."

-Mother Teresa