Pregnancy #2 and PCOS

Hurray! As I am writing this post, I'm in the home stretch - my third and final trimester officially starts this week!

Babycenter says: "If you're like most women, you'll gain about 11 pounds (5kg) this trimester." Ehem, sorry I am not like most women. So far, I have gained a total of 12kg, and do you really think I am going to gain just 5kg in the coming 3 months? For the record, I gained 25kg in total carrying Aiden, and my only goal for this pregnancy is not to top that!

Okay fine, I should also mention that my doctor has told me to cut down on my carbs unless I want to pop another 4kg baby *grin*

Anyway, my weight is not the intention of this post.

And so... I have PCOS. PCOS is Polycystic Ovary Syndrome and according to Wikipedia, it is "thought to be one of the leading causes of female subfertility and the most frequent endocrine problem in women of reproductive age".

In short, it is the cause of my irregular periods. And when I have irregular periods, I can never know when I am ovulating. Therefore, if I do not know when I am ovulating, I would not know when I would be fertile to conceive! It was actually quite a miracle that I managed to conceive Aiden. I know, because that was what the doctor at the KL Fertility Clinic told me during my first visit.

Some of the symptoms of PCOS are:

• Infrequent periods. Obviously! Really, I don't spend tons of money on menstrual pads yearly. I think I even went without a single cycle when I was in boarding school. And when I was taking care of my Mum in hospital, the stress got to me and disrupted my cycle to the point where I was walking with great difficulty and pain.
• Tendency to store fat in the truncal areas. Now this explains why I have a pear shape. I find that whenever I lose weight, people notice my face shrinks first, and my butt last.
• Obesity, weight gain and difficulty to lose weight. All those running aren't going to win in the battle against PCOS. *sigh*
• Excess hair growth.
• Oily skin and acne.

I think both Hubby and I decided to try for #2 just before Aiden turned 3. We thought a 3 year gap would be just nice. After a full year of trying, I was getting quite frustrated. It came to a point where I would think I was pregnant, imagining the feeling of being hungry or nauseous, and then I would secretly do pregnancy tests and get all worked up over the negative result. Secretly, I was in denial about needing fertility treatments, especially since Aiden was conceived naturally. I was a walking ticking time bomb and in December 2012, the bomb finally exploded and I found myself emotionally distressed, googling for fertility clinics.

The earliest appointment I could get was with KL Fertility Centre (which is literally within walking distance from my office) and they did a great job in my first check up. I suspected I had PCOS based on some reading I had done earlier, but it was quite an experience to have a doctor confirm the diagnosis. Hubby also went through some tests with them, and his results were encouraging. So really, the problem is with me and not him!

Armed with all the results from the fertility centre, we went for our first appointment with Tropicana Medical Centre, Fertility Centre in Januay. Most of my friends had their IUI done there and a colleague of mine also had a successful IVF with them, so naturally I felt that TMCFC would be my best bet. I was so right! The doctor was soooo encouraging and I felt like he really took the time to explain my condition and the various treatments available. In the end, we made up our minds to try to conceive naturally before opting for IUI. So, I was given medication to stimulate my menstrual cycle and test kits to check for ovulation.

The decision we made to go natural instead of IUI, was quite a gamble because it was actually our last chance to conceive and deliver a 2013 baby. In the event that the trial failed, we would have to try again and it would be a 2014 baby, resulting in a 5 year gap between Aiden and BabyA instead of 4 years. (Imagine Aiden in Standard 6 while Baby A would just be enrolling intp Standard 1! *gasp*) Therefore, not only was I under pressure to conceive, I was also under pressure to conceive on the first try! Stress!

And so the stimulated menstrual cycle worked (FDOP 28th Feb), but unfortunately I ran out of ovulation kits and I still wasn't ovulating! A friend suggested that I just keep buying ovulation kits available at the pharmacy, but I didn't want to take the risk so I went back to the hospital (13th Mar). Apparently my temperature was slightly elevated, but I still wasn't ovulating - so in the end I opted for a stimulated ovulation! (Dah la stimulated menstrual period, ovulation pun stimulated jugak!) It was a slightly painful jab on the tummy area - I could literally feel the fluid travelling and spreading all over the uterus area (layman's description - sorry I'm not a doctor!) and the uterus discomfort stayed until the day ended.

Kept myself very very busy for the next few weeks, which was easier said than done. I remember a close friend reminding me that I can try taking a pregnancy test about two weeks after conception, but I wanted to prolong it as much as possible. I was scared of taking the test too early and getting a negative result, and of course, just scared of getting a negative result, period!

First week of April came and I started to develop a fever. I had the fever on alternate days, i.e. Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. A neighbour suspected that it was "demam orang mengandung" but I brushed her suspicions off as I did not have any other symptoms. Furthermore, my symptoms when I found out I was pregnant with Aiden was headaches and cramps, not a fever. I was actually very worried that I was sick with something, as my body was aching and I was constantly depending on Panadol to reduce my temperature.

Come Monday, I went to the office clinic and told the doctor about my frequent fevers and my recent fertility treatment. She immediately scheduled an appointment for a thorough blood test and a pregnancy test for later that afternoon at their main clinic in KL. If I wasn't pregnant, than she would have to refer me to the hospital due to the frequency of the fever. So off I went to the main clinic, and since it was close to lunch, I had an early lunch with my stepsister first before going for my check up. All throughout lunch, I was feeling so weak I couldn't even finish my favourite Chicken Parmigiana. Walked up to the clinic and gave them my urine. Then sat on a stool for them to take my blood. While the nurse was taking my blood, another nurse was testing my urine, and she said nonchalantly "Hmm, positive...". It took me a good 5 seconds for me to digest what she said and I asked "Positive - meaning pregnant or not pregnant?" and she answered, nonchalantly (again!), "Pregnant".

As soon as they got all the blood they wanted, I skipped (!) out of the door and called Hubby. Hubby was as equally shocked as I was... I mean, we never expected it to lekat just after the first try. Texted my stepsister and the neighbour who suspected I had "demam orang mengandung", waited to see the doctor - who congratulated me as well, then went to meet Hubby for lunch at Full House, Jalan Yap Kwan Seng. All throughout lunch, we just couldn't stop holding hands and saying "Macam tak percaya!"... yes until today it still feels surreal on how our prayers were answered on our very first try.

The afternoon after the pregnancy test at the clinic, I went home and told Aiden the good news. His first reaction? "How is it coming out of you? From your mouth?? Get it out of you!!!" and he started making digging gestures to my tummy. I thought that was really hilarious. Hubby on the other hand, came home with two pregnancy tests. Since he didn't get to see the test at the clinic, I had to pee on two sticks just for his benefit. *grin*

We found out on the 8th of April, exactly a week before Aiden's birthday. I was still getting elevated temperatures throughout the whole week but I pulled through for Aiden's birthday BBQ celebration. Finally after Aiden's birthday party at his kindy, off we went for our very first check up. Alhamdulillah, there was a heart beat, baby size looked normal but only my placenta was a bit low - but not too low to be too worried about. Also got my blood test results, and it categorized me as a high risk pregnancy, so I was given medication for that as well.

I was quite amused when Hubby told the doctor "If only we had known it was going to be this easy, we would have made an appointment to see you last year!" So really, fertility is not the issue for us. It's all about knowing when exactly I am ovulating. After that, it isn't really rocket science!

First baby picture!

 

Straight from school, Abang Aiden playing at the Tropicana Medical Centre play area.

How's Abang Aiden taking it? So far so good. He's very excited that his new playmate is coming out of Mummy's tummy soon. Sweetly insists on carrying every single baby he can get his hands on, and everytime we visit my neighbour's new baby, he will softly touch her cheeks and kiss her. Awww...