If I could for a change just cross some terrain to bring you all up to speed on where I am now and speak just a tad on how I got here. As I mentioned in the last post I am now pregnant! 38 weeks pregnant and one day to be exact. As many of you know I started this blog as an Ovarian Cancer survivor as a means to bring awareness to women's health issues and to tell my story. My story has certainly been interesting and much like a roller coaster. At the time of my original post I did not know whether I would ever conceive, it was only a dream.
Last September when the doctors confirmed I was pregnant it was so surreal. They scheduled me for an ultrasound when I was just 5 weeks pregnant. I was able to see my little nugget at that time. That was officially my last appointment meeting with my fertility specialist. They sent me with tons of sendoff gifts and paperwork to prepare for the life I was carrying. They recommended I follow up with my OBGYN to schedule an appointment. Since this was all new to me I really didn't know what to expect. I had read other blogs where the fertility specialist continued seeing you but mine explained that she did not as if anything happened to the fetus they wouldn't be able to do anything and it was really left up to your OB.
The following Monday I called my OB to let her office know I was pregnant and to find out what my next steps were. That same day I received a call back from my OB herself who was so happy for me. She stated she had been praying and was so glad to get the news. She scheduled me for an 8 week appointment and that began the beginning on my monthly appointments.
Things seemed to be going really good. I was having a very good pregnancy; no morning sickness, minimal heartburn the only real changes were that I was sleepy ALL of the time and seemingly gaining alot of weight. When I reached my mid-pregnancy appointment I was due for another ultrasound which looked closely at the baby's heart, brain and other vital organs/limbs.
The tech mentioned she couldn't get very good pictures of the heart and that something was causing a glare on the screen. After speaking with my doctor about it they recommended I see a heart specialist at the hospital who would be able to get better images.
My appointment for the hospital was scheduled for the following week and ofcourse I received results back the same day stating that my baby's heart was enlarged. Could you imagine getting results like that after all of the health issues I've been through?! I felt I had overcome some major ordeals myself and here it was the devil was trying to attack my baby's health. I remember telling the devil that he was a liar, manipulator and simply afraid of my future and the future of this unborn child I was carrying. I then began to pray this long prayer to God asking for a healthy baby and that this news simply wasn't true. after about a 10 minute prayer the Lord responded with two words, "Have Faith." I had mixed emotions with this answer. Here I was praying this long prayer and that was the only response I got?! We all know having faith is much easier said than done.
Each time the devil tried to remind me of the news I kept telling myself to have faith. When I was diagnosed I had faith, when it came to conceiving this miracle baby I had faith so what was different about this time. I simply needed to rely on faith and that's what I did.
My OB encouraged me to make a follow-up appointment and also scheduled me an appointment with the local Children's Hospital fetal imaging for an EKG. When I went to the follow-up appointment I was met with a medical team of 4 in a small room to look at additional images of my baby's heart. The initial tech said the heart looked fine in her opinion, the head doctor chimed in and said the same. They went on to say they were sorry they had caused all of the confusion but simply wanted to take all precautions. They even stated there was no need to have an EKG and suggested I cancelled that appointment. His heart was normal and it was apparent that the scarring I had from both surgeries resulting from Ovarian Cancer was causing a glare on the screen giving the illusion that the heart was larger. Meanwhile, God's two chosen word to me remained in my mind. He said it was all simple: "Have Faith." Anything you stand in need of my friends, "Have Faith!"
