My sunshine is here.......

Hi friends, 

As the title, YES....my beautiful sunshine has made it safely into my world on 27 Dec 2013 which was 1 month earlier than the expected due date. I'm so sorry that I did not update my blog for so long. It was due to all the vomiting and all the hurdles I went through during my pregnancy. Many friends here have e-mailed me regarding how I was doing. I am so happy that I am supported by those who don't even know me personally. I will let you guys know in short what I went through throughout my silence. 

After 18 June 2013 - I had few appointments with Dr Helena before she referred me to Dr Raman from FMGC to get tested for Down syndrome for the baby.

Week 12 - Tested for Down syndrome Test with Dr Raman. He was a friendly Dr with all the positive vibes you will need. I received the results after few days. All were good except I was a bit low on the hemoglobin level. 

Week 13 - We had a test result review with Dr Helena. It was our last appointment in KL Fertility before we see a Gymea of our choice since KL Fertility only concentrates getting the patients through the most crucial time of pregnancy which is the first trimester. Since it was the last appointment, she gave a referral letter to Dr Subra from KPJ Seremban which was our Dr of choice and coincidentally he was a friend of Dr Helena. That made it much easier. It was a bit sad to leave the hospital but we knew we will be back here when the baby arrives. 

Week 13 - I decided to get registered for the pink book from the government clinic. Based on all their tests, I have low HB as I knew earlier. They prescribed me with the medicine to help my HB. I went for all their appointments and towards the end Dr said I might need to be admitted to the hosp to take care of my HB. Luckily my baby arrived before the appt. I do not want to go in detail with the government appointments. 

Week 14 - We met Dr Subra in KPJ Seremban. The Dr was friendly and warm towards us. We had a connection going on even the first appointment. We gave the referral letter from Dr Helena. He was happy to hear Dr Helena's name. We discussed my health condition with Dr. He was not really concerned with the infection as it was quite normal during pregnancy and he will give me antibiotics 2 weeks before delivery. For the HB, he said just to continue the medication given by Dr Helena. We had a scan and baby was doing fine

Week 16, 18, 20 - Scans were done. Baby was in great shape and was growing at a normal phase.

Week 22 - We had a detailed scan with Dr Subra. All the required criteria were good. The baby was a girl as per the scan. I was happy, even though gender did not matter at all for a couple who was trying so hard to get a baby. Dr did not allow me to go back to Raub as my placenta was on the low side and there are chances to miscarry my baby as I have 2 miscarriages before this. I was imagining myself going back to Raub with my husband and can play with my puppy earlier as I wanted to go back after the detailed scan. But my imagination was cut short. It was OK as long my baby was in good health. I wouldn’t do anything that might hurt my baby. I was given an appointment after 1 month.

Week 25- My vomiting stopped. I had it only once in a while.

Week 26 - We had an appointment with Dr Subra. I was shocked to hear that my baby was underweight and was categorized as an Intrauterine Growth Restriction (IUGR) baby. Dr mentioned that if the baby's weight was less than 1.8 kg during delivery, she might have complication after birth. She might need to be in NICU which will be very heavy on the cost if it was in KPJ. I might need to consider government hospital for accommodating my baby. I held it together in the Dr's office. But when I came out from the clinic tears started to peak and drop on my cheeks. Dr asked me to get Im Dexa 12mg shot to help baby's lung to mature. My baby's condition really worried me. I had many sleepless nights thinking of it. I updated Dr Helena on my situation. She called me once she read my email. She advised me to drop by at Dr Raman's (FMGC) clinic to get his opinion as well.

Week 26 - We dropped by Dr Raman's clinic. He confirmed baby was on the borderline IUGR and my water level was less. My heart shattered. I then started to read a lot on IUGR babies.

Week 27 - According to Dr Subra's scan, baby was still underweight and my water level was low. He also stressed that my placenta was on the low side. He expected an early delivery. He said he will be happy if I can hold my baby till week 34.

Week 28 - Baby's weight increased but still underweight range. Appointment was every 5 days.

Week 32 - Baby was still underweight and my water level was 8 cm. Dr mentioned that if my water level gets lesser than 6 cm, I will go into an early delivery.

Week 33 - Baby did not gain any weight which definitely had my heart shattered. My water level remained at 8cm. Dr asked me to come in every 3 days. There were many travelling for me and my baby.

Week 34, 3 days (Mon) - Baby's weight was 1.9 kg. My water level was 8 cm.

Week 34 (Mon - Thurs) - Had a lot of pain in my tummy. I was so uncomfortable throughout the week. I had already gained 13 kg so far. Thus, I blamed on the weight for my uncomfortable situation. I did not go to hospital to get checked as I will be going in for my regular checkup on Fri, which will be the starting of my week 35.

Week 35 (Fri) - Baby's weight was 1.9 kg but my water level was only 2cm. I was shocked. Dr scheduled for an emergency Caesar. My sunshine came to my beautiful world at 4.18pm. There were no words that can describe how I felt when I heard her first cry when she was pulled out from my stomach.

The above was a summary what I went through during my pregnancy. I will explain in detail what happened that Friday, 27 Dec 2013 in my next blog entry.

Another unexpected mishap along the way.....

Hi friends,

I am so sorry friends. I have been missing for some time. It was solely due to all the vomiting and nausea. I am feeling very tired and sickly every day. That was the reason for my long silence. Before I get to my story, I would like to apologize as I realize some of your comments have been deleted. I am not so sure why it was removed. I was having this spam comments from some individual and I am not sure if that was the reason. 

My story. Initially, I was supposed to go in for a checkup on Friday. But instead of Friday, I went in Wednesday as my Utrogestan supply was finishing. The nurse said I can't skip it even for a day and I will not be able to get it at pharmacies. Since it was a sudden change, my husband could not join me. The first appointment he missed. My parents brought me to the clinic. My travelling time was 1 and half hour. I was so nauseated along the way. We reached there 1 hour earlier. I thought we could see the doctor earlier and leave. I was wrong. Dr was not in. We waited more than 1 hour. Then Dr came in. I was called. Dr invited my mother to come in as well. We had a small chat and went for the scan. I knew I needed to do the vaginal test again, so I removed my pants. Dr scanned my tummy. She still could not see the heart beat. So she did a vaginal scan. I saw the heart beat. I was so nervous of the count. I did not concentrate on the beat this time. I was just waiting for the count. Dr seemed happier than the previous scan. She said listening to the heart beat, it looks good. She then measured the heart beat. It was 133 bpm. The baby measured 0.83cm. She was happy and so was I. Dr congratulated me. She did a vaginal test again. When she removed the speculum, I saw a tinge of blood on the end of the speculum. I was not worried about that since Dr did not say anything. I thought it was normal. She was excited with the baby's heart beat.

She gave me a prescription to get from the pharmacy downstairs. It was Veloxin to reduce my vomiting. I was not charged for consultation nor scan this time. I was charged only on the test and medicines. We paid and got the Veloxin from the pharmacy as well. We then had chicken rice and left. I was so surprised as I had no nausea after eating rice. Usually I will vomit else nausea full time. I felt perfectly fine only the back pain due to the travel. We reached home at 4pm. I felt something wet down there. I quickly went to the washroom. I was so shocked, stunned and blur. I saw my liner was full of dark brown discharge. I stared at it for some time. I was thinking why my happiness does not prolong as long as I want it to be. I then came back to reality. Quickly grabbed my hp and called the clinic. The nurse advised me to go to the big hospital nearby to get a Proluton jap. I asked her why am I getting this out of nowhere. She said it was due to the vaginal test that was done earlier. I felt so bad as my parents just changed and sat down to have tea. I slowly hesitated and told them. My mother panicked. They quickly changed again and we had to travel another 40 minutes. We went to Columbia Asia Seremban. There was one gynae available. I went and saw him. He checked the baby and she was fine. I was relieved. I was given the jap and we left. I reached home and then only I informed my husband. 

I had the discharge for a few days and it was gone. I received few calls from the clinic if I was ok. Yesterday they called me to get the Zinnat antibiotic for my infection. Looks like I am still having the infection. Although I am feeling very tired and down due to the vomiting, I really do not mind it as long my baby is fine. My next appointment is this Friday. I hope my baby is fine and can give me a more prolonged happiness. 

Total cost at KLFGC  - RM 325

Duphaston 10mg - Tablet      - RM   60

Utrogestan Box                     - RM 210

High Vaginal Swab                - RM   55

Total cost at Kuala Lumpur Sports Medicine Centre - RM 8

Veloxin Tab 25/50mg       - RM 8

Total cost at Columbia Asia Seremban - RM 124

Consultation                      - RM 60

Medicines/ Service Fee     - RM 64

Total cost at Rantau Pharmacy – RM 55

Zinnat antibiotic 250 mg – RM55

The most beautiful voice ever...

Hi friends,

How are all of you guys? I'm so sorry I kept u guys waiting. Thanks for your concern and emails. I really appreciate it. Although I do not know you guys personally, thanks a lot for keeping me in your prayers. My husband and I are really touched. Thanks a lot.

How I felt for the 2ww before the heart beat checkup? I was perfectly fine. No pregnancy symptoms what so ever. I was having more pimples. I was gaining weight since my mother was feeding me nonstop. I felt a bit gaggy for certain smell. Last week, I had bad backache which really concerned me. I read that it could be due to the uterus expansion, ectopic pregnancy or cyst. I really had nightmare thinking of ectopic since I wake up in the middle of the night with so much of pain. It was only on my left side. That really freaked me out. I did not miss all my tablets. I meditate that my baby or babies would be fine every day.

My husband came on Thursday. I really appreciate him for all the days he had to miss work because of the travelling we had to do. Our appointment was at 10.15 am on Friday. We left at 7.45 am. We reached the clinic around 9.20 am. It was such a bad decision to reach early. I was so nervous waiting. Dr came in around 9.50 am. We went in around 10am. I was nervous going in. Dr asked how was my condition and if I had nausea and all. I told her just gaggy a bit and back pain. She looked concerned. That was not what I was looking for. She immediately wanted to scan me. That concerned me. I lay on the bed. I had drank sufficient water hoping that Dr could see from my tummy scan.

She scanned and I could see a sac. I was thinking why she was so silent. Is it that she could not see the heart beat? Whenever Dr Helena is quiet, that would be a bad news at the end. After a while, she said let's do a vaginal scan. My heart would have skipped a beat. All my previous nightmare started crawling back. She then scanned vaginally. I could see the same sac. I started to feel very nervous since she was quiet for some time. After a while, she said there is only one sac. I could see it much earlier already. I knew it was not twins from the beginning of the scan. Again the silent moment continued for some time. She zoomed and looked at it so long. My hubby and I were more nervous. At last she said can you see? I was so nervous. I could not see anything. Hubby was quiet. He also could not see anything. I tilt my head and stared at the monitor. I could see something flickering. I asked her if that was the heart beat. And yes it was. I was excited. She then increased the speaker volume and I could hear my baby. The most amazing and beautiful voice ever heard inside of me. I could hear the baby's heart beat at last. It was very cute. As I was floating away, Dr Helena measured the baby's heart beat. She said it was 94 bpm and she would be happier it was higher. I immediately came back to reality. No more floating. Half of the excitement flew away.

She then requested us to come back next Friday to recheck our baby's heart beat again. She then asked me what medication I was in. She asked me to stop Progynova and Centrum Multivitamin. She introduced additional 3 more medications. It was Calcium tablets, Pharmaton and Duphaston. Besides that, I had to continue my infection medication and my baby aspirin as well.  She asked us not to worry as usually the heart beat will increase by next week. I was 6 weeks 2 days on Friday. We were given the baby's ultrasound photo. The baby is just 0.47 cm. So tiny eh?

We waited our turn to make the payment. The finance officer also asked us not to worry as usually the baby will pick up very fast. I hope so too. We made the payment and left. I felt hungry the whole day. From Saturday onwards, I started vomiting. That was the reason for my delayed blog update. I have an appointment on Friday, 14/7/2013. I hope my baby is more active by Friday.

Total cost at KLFGC   - RM 355

Pharmaton Matruelle 30's - RM 56

Caltrate - Bottle               - RM 34

Canestan - Pessary          - RM 25

Duphaston 10mg - Tablet - RM 60

Consultation                     - RM 80

Scanning/Ultrasound         - RM 100

Total cost at Kuala Lumpur Sports Medicine Centre - RM 8.40

Cardiprin Tab 100mg  - RM 8.40

Another call from the clinic

Hi friends,

I received another call from the clinic today. Nurse B told me that Dr advised me to take another antibiotic for the infection. Oh my. Another addition. It was Zinnat 250mg tablet 2 times a day. I got so worried. I asked her if it was bad. She told me the antibiotics were to prevent infection. Pity my husband. He just got the Canestan Pessary and now he has to go search for another one. He will come over tomorrow. So I will start the medication from tomorrow onwards. I have massive pimples attack since my Ovidrel shot. Now I have so many pimple marks on my face. There are always a few new pimples daily. I hope it will stop soon.

Currently I am taking all the below. I hope my babies will be healthy with all of the below.

Morning

Fish Oil         -1 tablet
Folic Acid    - 1 tablet
Multivitamin - 1 tablet
Vitamin D     - 4 tablets

Utrogestan (Vaginal ) - 2 tablets

Afternoon

Cardiprin - 1 tablet

Utrogestan (Vaginal ) - 2 tablets

Night

Progynova

Utrogestan (Vaginal ) - 2 tablets
Candocort (Vaginal)


** Upcoming addition

Zinnat - 2 tablets (morning and evening)

Canestan Pessary (Vaginal once a week)

Another bump along the journey

Hi friends,
I received an unexpected call from the clinic just now. I was shocked since I did not expect any calls from the clinic. It was regarding my vaginal test last week. I did not know that the sample was send to the lab to be tested. The other day, Dr said no fungal infection. I thought my test was over and I was done. Looks like it was not over. Based on the result, I had some infection. Oh my. I was so shocked as I did not expect it at all. She told some scientific infection name which I did not write down. I will collect the result next week. The nurse asked me to get a medicine called Canesten Pessary 500mg. It is another medicine that should be inserted to the vagina once a week. I will try to find the medicine asap.


Dear babies,

Please hang in there. I know that you are going through a lot like me. I have no intention to make you sick at all. I know you have to take in a lot of medication because of me. I hope that all this medication will make you a healthy baby and not harm you. I really hope to hear your strong heart beat next week. I hope to hear from you soon. I love you my sunshines...

2ww and Beta done...

Hi friends,

How are you guys? After my embryo transfer the other day, my husband sent me to my parent’s house. He wanted me to rest completely. For my previous 3 failed IUIs, I was resting in my parent's house also. When my period came, I packed my bag and return to Raub. I hoped that this time I will not have to pack my bags as early as that. It takes around 1 and half hour to my parent’s house. I have to go through a lot of travelling for this IVF treatment. 

I am really like a princess here. My parents do not allow me to do any work at all. It kind of made me really guilty. I ate Brazil nuts, sunflower seeds, drank full cream milk daily and cow’s milk occasionally during my 2WW, which I read helps with embryo implantation. It was quite difficult to find Brazil nuts. After surveying a few places, my husband and I managed to find it in 1 Utama Cold Storage. It was just a 150g box which cost approximately a bit more than RM11. I had to gulp in milk as fast as I could. I hate to drink milk but I will do whatever to get that sunshine in my belly soon. I had no problem with the sunflower seed. I had a handful of it every day. 

I had no pregnancy symptoms which really worried me. My previous 2 pregnancies, I had sore breast. I used to have it as my indicator every month. Whenever I do not have pain, I kind of know that my period will be coming soon. Besides that, I had vaginal itchiness from 20/5/2013 which was so uncommon for me. That worried me. I did wake up in the middle of night because of the itchiness. It was worrying me a lot. I drank a lot of water but the itchiness did not stop.

Based on the below website, I decided I would do a pregnancy test at home first, 1 day before my beta.

http://www.nyufertilitycenter.org/ivf/embryo_transfer

I got so worried on Tuesday since I was supposed to do a test on Wednesday. I got so nervous that I had diarrhea 3 times. My stomach was trembling the whole day. I worried that might affect the baby as well. I could not sleep well that night. I woke up few times at night. I had diarrhea in the morning as well. My heart was pounding like never before. I grabbed 2 hpt and my hp to the toilet. One hpt was the one where you place several drops of urine in the test device and the other was the test strip (POAS). I used the first type at first. I set the timer to 3 minutes. It was nerve wrecking as I held in and stare at it. Time was passing by and I just saw 1 line. I stressed my eyes so hard to find the second line. 3 minutes was over and only 1 line. I got so disappointed. So many things were running on my mind. I quickly tore the POAS test strip and dip to the urine collection. Cleaned everything and got to my room. As disappointed I was, I on the lights. Slowly looked at the first test but no line still. But when I looked to the POAS test strip, there was a very faint line. Then I look again at the first test, there was also a very faint line. I just was looking for both of the test so long. It was such a faint line that I was thinking if I was imagining the lines. Then I quickly read the instruction of the tests. The first test instruction was to put 4 drops of urine and wait for result. No wonder it took so late for the result. The second test was to read result after 1 minute. Pheww....I was relieved but my diarrhea and vaginal itchiness was disturbing. I drank a lot of water to avoid infection but the itchiness never went away. . I asked my husband to get me a set of hpt for me to test. I retested evening again with the POAS again. Although I know it was a bad idea to test it the evening, I did it anyway. No second line found. I consoled myself that it might be to the diluted hormone. 

Beta day. I woke up so many times. I wanted to retest again before I go for Beta. I tested again and the result was slightly darker than the previous day. I felt more relieved. My husband and I left around 7 am. We reached the clinic around 8.30 am. We just sat at the lobby and went to the clinic just before 9am. I told Nurse B that I came for my blood test. She gave me a form and to get my test done at Level 3a. She told me that the result will be out 2 to 4 hours. If the result was positive, we will need to come back to the clinic else we can go back. I was quite hungry that time. We gave the blood and decided to have a Subway sandwich and decided to go 1 Utama. I wanted to get my Brazil nut stock. I took daily 3 nuts and it just finished a day before Beta. We reached there before 10am. I headed to MPH to take a look at pregnancy books. My husband was at his motor car magazine section with my hp. I was having stomach cramping now and then. I could hardly walk. As I was just about to sit on a stool there, my husband came and told me, "Let's go. The nurse called and the result is in. She asked us to come back to clinic". He was smiling smiling. I was in pain and we walked slowly. I decided to sit on a bench in front of Cold Storage since I was not able to walk so much. My husband got the nuts and we went to the clinic. We had some questions that I wanted to ask Dr Helena. We went in the clinic. Finance Officer and all the nurses congratulated us. We thanked them. They gave us our result. It read 289.3 IU/L. They straight away ask us to collect the medicine. I was so blur. I asked them if we can't see the Dr. They said that they will give an appointment in 2 weeks time to see the Dr. I told the Finance Officer that I am worried since I had 2 miscarriages before. She then said that I should be taking baby aspirin. We told her that we wanted to ask Dr on that because she did ask me to remind her during my previous IUI if pregnancy was positive. She made a call to the Dr and we went in. Dr Helena congratulated us. She told I made it at last with a lot struggle along the way. She said it was best for me to take baby aspirin since I had 2 miscarriages before. I told her about the itchiness. She looked concern. I got a bit worried. She said she wanted to check me. So a speculum was inserted in my vagina. She put in a swab and she mentioned that there was no fungal infection. Pheww. I was relieved. She prescribed me another medicine (cream) to reduce the itchiness. She asked me to stop it when my itchiness stops. We had to get the baby aspirin and the cream in the pharmacy at the lobby.

We paid for 4 boxes of Utrogestan and 1 box of Progynova and the vaginal test. Since the IVF cost was up to Beta blood test only, the medications and test will be charged. I was given an appointment on 7/6/2013 to check the baby's heart beat. I am so nervous as I had failed this stage 2 times already. I hope this time my baby or babies will make it. We got the prescribed medicine and left.

Total cost at KLFGC - RM 510

Utrogestan Box            - RM 420

Progynova 2 mg - Box  - RM  35

High Vaginal Swab        - RM  55

Total cost at Kuala Lumpur Sports Medicine Centre - RM 21.70

Candocort Cream          - RM 14

Cardiprin Tab 100mg     - RM   7.70