Julia is the contributing editor for Early Pregnancy Loss. She writes daily at Life After Infertility and Loss where she covers all of her children--the ones who are here and the ones who are gone.
Who am I? Good question - I ask myself this every time I see myself in the mirror. I guess you could say I am "middle aged" - 40 in November. Though - I certainly don't think middle aged. Born the oldest of a Marine Corps helicopter pilot and his creative, slightly hippie, Liberal Arts major wife; oldest of 8. I sing, I sew - read like I can't get enough words.
I got married in 1992 and we both wanted a big and quick family. The big we got - the quick, not so much. A little annovulation and a low sperm count landed us in the doctor's office after a year of ttc with no joy. Some clomid, BBT charting and well timed intercourse later we achieved our first pregnancy. Delivered a live baby at 39 weeks. Got pregnant again on Clomid a year later and promptly miscarried. Then I miscarried again. And again. Live baby. Miscarried again. And again. Lather, rinse, repeat. Seven miscarriages all by 12 weeks. The reasons are varied and not certain, some just suspected - blighted ovum, late implantation, ectopic-non-tubal, heterotopic (uterine and tubal pg), low progesterone, placental blood clot. The answers - not so clear. Been through much of the acronym gamut - TTC, BBT, FSH, TSH, ANA, SA, Lap, HSG, ad nauseum . . .
Somehow I ended up with 6 amazing children - they came with their own set of acronyms as well - BHcg, Prog, BA, LTCS, NICU, SCU, PICU, PPD, etc. . . and some scary moments (abrupting placenta previa anyone?), but somehow we pulled it off.
After 13 pregnancies it isn't clear whether I really suck at this pregnancy thing or not. At any rate - it is good I am not superstitious as I am no longer on active ttc duty. My particular brand of reproduction and endometriosis landed me at the door of another acronym -TAH, total abdominal hysterectomy, and I go under the knife once more in September '08 to remove my somewhat flaky uterus. The BBT has been retired and I am just trying to get on with life . . . after.
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1 comment:
wishing you well with your upcoming surgery. thanks for sharing your story here.
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