The Tea Leaf

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Opposition in all things

It has been an event filled month for us here! I just got back from the hospital yesterday and I've been getting a lot of questions. So, I wanted to record this so that I could remember all of the details, and to answer questions.

I found out I was pregnant around Quincey's birthday. Around the same time that we moved into our new house, I started having EXTREME morning sickness. I was nauseous 24 hours a day and throwing up around 6-10 times a day. I also was aware that my belly was growing abnormally fast. We were suspecting twins. We were worried though because I was having some spotting.

On friday morning (Feb. 19th). I woke up in a pool of blood. I called my practitioner and she suggested I go in to the office to get my blood drawn to make sure that my hormone levels were decreasing. That night I was still throwing up and feeling nauseous and I started passing huge blood clots. I called my midwife on Saturday morning because I was still throwing up. She got my blood test back and said my hcg hormone was abnormally high and so I had to go and get my blood tested again on Saturday. They were suspecting either that I had been pregnant with twins and lost one of them or a molar pregnancy.

On Sunday morning she called and said that my test came back and my hormone levels had gone up 75 % in just one day so they were pretty sure it was a molar pregnancy. So, I packed my bag and went into the ER. I got an ultrasound which confirmed that there was no fetal tissue and that it was a complete molar pregnancy. If you aren't sure what that is you can read about it here. But basically, there was a defect with the fertilized egg and it produces the placental tissue which forms a tumor full of grape like clusters inside the uterus.

The treatment is a D&C, but my doctor said that I was high risk for complications in the surgery for 2 reasons one because my hormone levels were so high (a normal pregnancy would have been around 100,000 or 200,000 and my levels were 1,570,000) and two because my uterus was so large (it was the size of a 4 month pregnancy). She was afraid that they wouldn't be able to stop the bleeding and they weren't as equipped to handle that at the hospital here. So, I got to go on a 40 minute airplane ride and was transferred to a hospital that is a 3 hour drive away. Geren drove and met me there. My surgery was on Monday. It went well. She removed a liter of blood and material. They didn't give me a transfusion but I am really low on blood, so I am taking 9 iron pills a day to try and build my blood supply back up, which takes about 3 months.

Geren got the pathology results back today and it is cancer-free.... so that is good. I'm told that the most important part of this disease is the follow up because it can come back and it can spread. If it does come back I will have to get Chemotherapy. So, I have to get my blood tested monthly for the next year to make sure the pregnancy hormone stays at 0. Which is also why I can't get pregnant for at least a year.

So that should be about it!!! We are sad about everything that has happened but so thankful that the surgery went well and that things seem to be on the way up. I am excited to not feel nauseous anymore. I still feel pretty weak from all of the blood loss and I've been having really bad headaches. I missed my kids and was really excited to see them again. They were excited to see us again too. I also feel so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family who have stepped in and helped us. I am thankful for all of the prayers. I know that the Lord is mindful of our family and have felt His presence throughout this whole experience.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Updates, Updates!!!

Lots going on here. We are all moved in to our house. We feel very much at home here and we recognize what a blessing (and really, miracle) it is to have been able to purchase this home. (pictures to come).

Quincey is out of diapers! It's been about a month now.

I've started watching a little girl full time. She is a couple of months older than Maiya. So far it's gone pretty well.

We moved the kids into the same room. It's been a little bit of an adjustment for them, but it seems to be working well.

Okay, that's enough for now!

Spider-boy turned 3

Quincey is now my big 3 year old! We are amazed at the things he says and comes up with. Since our house was filled with boxes on his Birthday, we decided to have his party at the Bouncy place in town. It was a great success. The kids were all red faced from exhaustion while we opened presents and downed transformers cupcakes and juice.

Q decided he wanted the seat closest to the cupcakes.

He loves his spider-man web shooter! He's got masks too, I just haven't gotten pictures of that yet for some reason.... which is surprising, considering that is basically all he wears.