Our biggest concern was that with our next pregnancy, paranoia would rule our lives until we saw our baby’s heart flickering on the screen-really until the second trimester to be honest! We were worried that our anxieties would be so significant that they could hurt our babe. Because of these fears we had already decided that if when we were pregnant again we would share our news with our families right away so we could have their prayers. Their prayers to give us strength and peace each and every day.

With all three of our other babies my breasts were tender right away so I knew days before any test would show. I had nothing with this cycle. Nada. Still, I started the progesterone three times daily as the specialist instructed (and let me tell you, it feels like you have wet yourself all 24 hours of the day….every. day.-YUCK!). But, I did it. We truly felt we were not pregnant-so much so that we didn’t even do a pregnancy test 14 days after the IUI as they recommended. Day 15 was a Monday morning and while at the office I thought, “heck, my period is late after all”.

Holy crap. I was so shocked that I almost ran up and down the clinic halls screaming with a pee stick in my hand for all to see….almost. Instead, I showed it to three of our nurses and all agreed, we were pregnant! I took a picture and sent it to Adam and he didn’t believe me! He was working an hour away that day and his disbelief was so great that he drove home right then to see the test himself. He came into my office, I showed him, we shut my office door and hugged one another while crying. We were absolutely amazed. Adam was still so baffled that he made me do another test that simply said yes/no instead of the old fashioned line tests. FINALLY, he really believed.

Incidentally, I happened to open these two cans the week prior at work!

James 1:17 says “Every good and perfect gift comes from above”. We sent this text to several family members announcing our news! We were elated. We asked for them to begin praying for us, praying for the peace that we so desperately needed. And, I know that they did because we felt it. I know that I at least, was more at ease with this pregnancy than any of the others. I felt that from the get-go it was different. We were actually surprised (well, as much as you can be surprised after an IUI!!!!) so I just knew that everything else would also be different. I felt great-no symptoms at all other than some slight breast tenderness that did eventually develop.

Per the Tempfer protocol, I started the prednisone twice per day as soon as we found out and did fine with it to start with it. If you aren’t aware, some people do just fine on prednisone while others can have a myriad of side effects. It was tough having to take it twice daily as one of the biggest side effects is insomnia. I, personally, always try to prescribe it in the mornings for my patients to try to help avoid this but in my case that second dose separated from the morning dose was what had been researched and felt to be best for our situation.

I’ve had insomnia since my first year of nursing school (FOR.EVER.AGO!) so I am accustomed to having troubles anyway, but things did worsen. Anxiety, depression, confusion and even psychosis can also happen with prednisone. It is a necessary medication but can be an awful medication. We weren’t scheduled to be seen until we were about 7 weeks along-you know, to check for “viability” (there is that silly word again-GAH, I hate how it sounds!!!).

For eight days prior to that appointment things were definitely not good on the sleep front!

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