Tag: pregnancy

“P” is for pregnancy… and pandemic

Two days after my last post I traveled back to the US, wearing a face mask and a little afraid of exposure the whole time. The airport in Colombia had a lot of safety measures and everyone was wearing a mask, however, when arriving to the US, that was not the case. Unfortunately, three months later, it continues to be the same. The pandemic in the US has been politicized and there are lots of people completely ignoring scientists and refusing to take any measures to protect everyone’s health. That means we have been pretty much locked at home for 3 months to avoid the risk of contagion during pregnancy.

Other than the pandemic, things have been going well. I had terrible nausea until week 17. I was beginning to think it was going to last for the whole pregnancy, but it finally subsided. It was immediately replaced with awful heartburn which is expected to only get worse as time goes by.

I’m now 24 weeks pregnant and have had two ultrasounds since I returned. Both showed a healthy baby, now confirmed to be a boy. It’s still hard to believe that this is actually happening… except for the strong kicks inside me that remind me he’s there all the time.

Being locked at home has brought us even closer (if that was possible) and I can’t wait to see my amazing husband as a father. We don’t know if my family will be able to come for the birth due to the situation, but as long as he’s with me, I feel like everything will be OK.

Ready to go home

We had the second blood test and it confirmed that the hormonal levels were rising rapidly. My nausea was starting to reach very uncomfortable levels, which in a way gave me more hope of a successful pregnancy. I started being sick all day, with a strong urge to vomit but never actually throwing up. I was miserable. I finally told my doctor about it and he told me to get Pleniv caps which are safe during pregnancy and take 2 every night. I started feeling better in the morning (better although not entirely without nausea) but as the day progressed I got more and more sick to my stomach. The doctor told me I could take one more pill at noon.

A few days after the blood test, I woke up at 3am for a flight to visit my mother in law who was having eye surgery. I was bleeding, bright red, and with clots. At this time of day I couldn’t call my doctor and I didn’t know what to do. I showered and decided to go to the airport and then decide if I should fly or not. A couple of hours later I hadn’t bled anymore so I decided to fly. When I told my doctor about it later that morning he said that was perfectly normal, probably implantation bleeding, but I wasn’t totally reassured after reading so many times about how to recognize implantation bleeding, which didn’t look like this at all. As I didn’t bleed anymore in the following days, I started thinking that I might have lost one of the two possible embryos and the anxiety for the ultrasound increased.

Last week I finally had the anxiously awaited ultrasound. I held my breath as the doctor quietly poked inside me trying to get a good look. He pointed at the sac and the embryo, still too tiny to tell much. He took measurements and said all was going perfectly. Finally he was able to measure the still inaudible heartbeat… and there it was. At 126 bpm, the little heart was beating and very much alive. I released my breath. There was clearly just one sac and embryo. I asked the doctor if there could have been another that I lost during that bleeding and he said emphatically no. He pointed to a bruise in the sac that was nothing to worry about but was probably what caused the bleeding.

At this point, even though I’m staying at my parents house, I haven’t talked to them about my positive pregnancy. My husband and I still want to enjoy this news on our own a little longer. I recently found out my sister in law and my brother are expecting their second so their news will likely come first. They’re are about 1.5 months ahead of us.

So, with the final confirmation that we were waiting for, it was finally time to decide when to go back home to my husband. It’s been almost 2 months for us being apart and it’s getting really hard. There is also this Coronavirus outbreak in the world and borders are closing everyday. So, I’m afraid I might get stuck here for a few more months if I don’t leave now. I’m nervous about the trip, and being exposed to people in airplanes and airports, but I have to do this. I need to be with him now.

I’m 7 weeks pregnant and so far it looks like the 6-year wait is over.