Bloodwork and LH Tests Timeline

Below is a basic outline of the medical side of things since our previous conception:

April 6, 2010 - Faintly Positive Home Pregnancy Test (and DH's birthday)

April 7, 2010 - Second Faintly Positive Home Pregnancy Test

April 8, 2010 - Positive Blood Test! Hcg (pregnancy hormone) Level is "104". I am considered "4 weeks" pregnant (gestationally)...that is how the medical community does it...it's dated from the LMP (last menstrual period), NOT from the date of conception.

April 28, 2010 - First ultrasound. Embryo is 6 weeks, 6 days old, but measures at 6 weeks 3 days, presumably from late implantation. Heartbeat was seen and heard at 109 beats per minute.

May 11, 2010 - Two months pregnant.

May 12, 2010 - Second ultrasound. Baby is 8 weeks, 6 days old, but measures 8 weeks, 4 days. Again, late implantation is assumed. Heartbeat was seen and heard at 169 beats per minute.

May 17, 2010 - 10:30 pm bleeding begins without warning. A friend drives me to the hospital. An on-call gynecologist performs an ultrasound. Heartbeat is seen, but not measured. I am sent home and told to be on bedrest for at least one full week. Baby is 9 weeks, 4 days old.

May 18, 2010 - Go into the city for preparatory blood work for Win-Rho needle.

There is a known blood-incompatibility issue, so the Win-Rho prevents complications. Win-Rho is considered a blood product. It prevents my body from creating anti-bodies to the unborn baby's blood-type. If the anti-bodies are made, my body would try to destroy the "foreign" blood proteins, leading to anemia or other complications in the baby, and possibly death. Also, once my blood has the antibodies, they are permanently there, and would put future pregnancies at risk.

There are three pregnancy-related situations that warrent the use of win-rho, for me: Any time there is bleeding in one of my pregnancies; at 20 weeks gestation (even without bleeding); and after giving birth. I believe I was told that Win-Rho must be given within 72 hours of any of these events, in order to be effective.

May 19, 2010 - Go back into the city for the actual Win-Rho needle. It took time to process yesterday's blood test (to see if my body has already made anti-bodies, which would have been a bad thing). Thankfully, my body had not produced the anti-bodies, so the Win-Rho is injected.

The fertility clinic also took time to fit me in for an ultrasound, as I was spotting, but not bleeding as badly as on May 17th.

The ultrasound showed that Baby no longer had a heartbeat. Baby was 9 weeks, 6 days.

I was given three options:

1. Let things happen naturally, on their own. This could potentially take several days...or more. There is a small risk that D&C will eventually be required.

2. Take a medication to "speed things along"...I would then likely miscarry within 3-6 hours of taking it. There is a small risk that D&C will eventually be required.

3. Have a D&C (they dilate the cervix and scrape everything out), this is done under general anesthesia. There is a very small risk that eventually a second D&C would be required.

I chose option #2.

That night, at around 6:30pm, I took the medication, even though I was already beginning to cramp...indicating that my body would possibly have miscarried soon and naturally on it's own.

At around 10:30pm, I miscarried...you can read more about that in an earlier post. I ended up bleeding for about 10 days afterwards...although it was greatly tapered for the last couple.

May 20, 2010 - Buried Baby "Hope".

May 23, 2010 - My 12th wedding anniversary.

May 25, 2010 - Blood test, to check hcg (pregnancy hormone); my hcg level is "199"...although it hadn't been measured recently, prior to this, the level would have been in the thousands about a week earlier.

May 28, 2010 - An ultrasound was performed to see if all the "pregnancy tissues have passed"...basically checking to see if I need a D&C. All was clear and looked "good"...medically speaking.

May 29, 2010 - Bleeding discontinued.

May 30, 2010 - My 37th birthday.

June 1, 2010 - Blood test to check hcg; my hcg level is "17".
A test result of 0-5 is considered "not pregnant".