Answered Prayers

WARNING: This is a long post and contains a lot of information. Probably more than you will ever want to know about me. Feel free to stop reading now, I promise it wont hurt my feelings :).

Most of you know that I have a bit of a "difficult" time getting pregnant and have yet to carry a baby to term. I've had two miscarriages, early in the first trimester of both pregnancies. A lot of doctors won't suggest testing until you have had 3, or more, consecutive miscarriages. While I do not always *like* my doctor, I pretty much always appreciate him. He agreed that 2 miscarriages was two too many and sent me to a  clinical pathologist who specializes in complications of pregnancy. Every since April ( ok really since October 2008, when we got married, but I've had insurance since April hehe)I have wanted to have test ran, get results, and get pregnant as soon as possible! So, when I called the specialist to set up an appointment my heart sunk, and I immediately wanted to cry, when they told me they schedule 9 weeks out. NINE weeks folks.. That's a long time. It didn't help any that she said "well there is an appointment today but it's to late for you to get here in time" Oh really.. You just had to tell me that if I had left the doctor 5 minutes sooner the day before I could have called during office hours and seen the specialist today. Thank you so much for adding to my depression! I'm pretty certain that God is trying to teach me patience and trust in his perfect timing. I generally consider myself to be a pretty patient person. But God says to me "Nakitta, I need you to have patience in MY timing. Trust that MY timing is perfect, worth the weight and MY plan is best." Okay, Lord. I will wait. So I called once or twice a week the first two weeks to check for cancellations  calmly waited the 9 weeks. I awoke the day of my appointment, June 19th, with much excitement! I made it! Today, I am one step closer to answers! I met with the doctor, he ordered tons of blood test and he told me my test would be back in three weeks. What?! ANOTHER three weeks. Are you kidding me? Nope. I get to the checkout desk and there I find out that the good doc is out of town on the third week. Okay, so next.. Oh wait, I'm out of town on the fourth week (he only does the RE clinic on Tuesdays), so I have to wait 5 weeks (July 24th) to get my results. Oh brother. I'm  never going to make it! The world is surely going to end before July 24th arrives! Ahhhh! This is getting a bit lengthy, but I think you must know that after I got my results I called my OBGYN for a follow up appointment I have to wait yet another 4 weeks (August 22nd). Apparently I am super hard headed. Please pray for my stubbornness! lol but seriously.

Leading up to the 24th Jon and I prayed fervently that if the Lord desired to give us some answers then we would praise Him. If everything came back normal, then we would praise Him. If we got devastating news we would thank God and still praise Him! After all, we are told to give thanks in everything and we trust what Romans 8 says that God works all things together for our good. I prayed that I would have peace with what ever the results were! And I do, I have peace! This week I found out three new things about my body. I knew going into all of this that I am quite the challenging patient and my doctors both agree and have verbally said so themselves :). 

I have two blood clotting (thrombophilia) disorders. What is this? The thrombophilias are a group of disorders that promote blood clotting. Individuals with a thrombophilia tend to form blood clots to easily because their bodies make too much of a certain protein, called blood clotting factors, or too little of anti-clotting proteins that limit clot formation. Thrombophilas can pose special risks in pregnancy. They can be inherited or acquired later in life. About 15% of people in the US have an inherited thrombophilia. I am of the 15% of the US folks. I have Factor V Leiden (pronounced factor 5 ly-den) and Prothromin Gene Mutation. Both of those are thrombophilic disorders. The third thing I was diagnosed with is Poly-cystic ovary syndrome. PCOS is a condition in which a woman has an imbalance of female sex hormones. This may lead to menstrual cycle changes, cyst in the ovaries, trouble getting pregnant, and other health changes.

All of these things are manageable with medications. For the clotting disorders I will take blood thinners, via injection, during pregnancy and 6-8 weeks post postpartum. For the PCOS I will begin taking metformin, this regulates some women with the PCOS and makes the symptoms much less noticeable (only sometimes though, mostly this is better handled with diet alterations). To get pregnant, I still use Clomid for ovulation. Once I go to the doctor in August we can work on getting pregnant. YAY.

We are still not sure our miscarriages were caused by the disorders or just a regular miscarriage. Miscarriages are the most common complication in early pregnancy and happen in about 1 out of every 5 pregnancies. While I was diagnosed with these clotting disorders it is controversial rather or not they cause early miscarriages. They are more known for causing complications and pregnancy loss later in pregnancy in the second and third trimesters. I don't believe that I will ever know, this side of Heaven, why I lost two precious children but I do trust that it is in my best interest and God meant it for good. I can't help but be thankful that I have not lost a baby 20+ weeks along. Maybe the early miscarriages were so that we could find out about the clotting disorders and not have to risk losing a baby that far along. I can only imagine that the further along in pregnancy you get, the harder it is to lose your precious blessing. Maybe they were so that I can help other ladies in my position, dealing with infertility and pregnancy loss. Maybe it was just so that I could realize and know that in everything -- to God be the glory!

I'll never know but I will continue trusting God and his will for my life. It isn't easy and there are days that I struggle. Some days I think I can take control and do it my way on my time. Each time I think that I am gently reminded to wait and trust. So if you're looking for me.. I'm over here, waiting, and trusting in my precious Saviors perfect plan and perfect timing.

If there is anyone still reading, and you have any questions about my miscarriages, infertility, or diagnosis, please feel free to ask. I'm an open book and feel like these things are not openly discussed enough. If you don't have any questions, then I/we would greatly appreciate you prayers when Jon and I come to mind.

Loves ya!
~Nakitta~