After my baby turned two years old I decided it was time to get very serious about taking back my health and losing the weight I gained from his pregnancy. After all my Plantar Fasciitis seemed to be better & I had been regularly exercising for 30 minutes about 3 times a week or more. I wrote up a schedule for my eating and my exercise & diligently followed it. Because I know changes like this can take a toll on my menstrual cycles and also because I had an IUD in I wasn't too worried when my period was late a few weeks ago. It's not the first time this has happened to me.
I was starting to get a little curious about what was going on but then sure enough I started spotting. Hooray everything was fine... Or so I thought. My spotting turned into more bleeding which lasted over a week. Not to mention the fact that I was now starting to feel dizzy & lightheaded on a regular basis.
I called the midwife (my only medical provider for the last decade or so) and asked to have my IUD checked & labs drawn for my thyroid as dizziness is one of my symptoms of being low.
I went in on Wednesday & everything looked good with the IUD. Labs would be back in a week so I would sit and wait in hopes to hear that my thyroid meds needed to be bumped up. As an extra precaution that Sunday was fast Sunday so I fasted with the purpose of learning what was wrong and knowing how to help myself get back to full health. Little did I know this was the first time that I would be spirit led in this process.
As I prayed the answer that kept coming to me was to take out the perfectly fine IUD that I had just had checked. I didn't like that answer. I couldn't see why taking out my perfectly good birth control was the answer. When I told Kent and he quickly said'ok get it out' I knew I needed to follow that directive.
Monday as I was talking to my sister she suggested I have them also check my iron. Something none of us seemed to think of. After nearly two weeks of bleeding I thought that sounded like a possible reason for the dizziness. I called and scheduled another lab and the removal of my IUD.
Wednesday I went in and asked about my labs for my thyroid and when they came back normal I thought 'ah ha! That's it! It's that my iron is low. We'll know that on Friday.' So again I went home & sat and waited.
Every time I went in to the midwife I thought it was odd that they never suggested a routine pregnancy test. On Thursday night as I went to bed I saw an old pregnancy test under my sink & as the thought came to take it I nearly pushed the thought away. But it was there and it's not like it would hurt anything.
So I took it.
Sure enough that test gave me good reason to believe that I may need to take another test even if Kent didn't believe it was true.
First thing Friday morning away I went to get another test and this one made no mistake that it was positive.
I told Kent and he just laughed. I was a wide mix of emotions. When they called to tell me my iron was in fact fine I let them know my new findings and they suggested I come in to do another blood test so they could determine if I was in fact pregnant and how far along. Those results would be back on Monday.
It was a LONG wait over the weekend.
What if I really was pregnant? Why was I bleeding? Why was I dizzy? Why didn't I know? How can my body recover from whatever was going on & carry another life?
My overwhelming thoughts were that we would not carry this baby full term. As sad as that thought was it gave me comfort knowing that my body would have the chance to recover from whatever it was going through.
Monday morning finally arrived and I called to see if my results were in. The nurse told me congratulations! I was indeed 3-5 weeks pregnant. When I told her I was concerned about bleeding and dizziness she suggested we have an ultra sound done. They scheduled the ultra sound for that night.
I told the midwife when she called that afternoon that I was feeling I would not keep this baby. She told me she'd seen it all so she wasn't so sure. She told me she would let me know what they found as soon as the results from the ultra sound came back.
Kent & I had a good time getting to know the ultra sound technician. Half way through the vaginal ultra sound with Kent asking questions the tech got quiet and Kent knew she'd seen something that scared her. He pointed it out & she said she didn't read the ultra sound so she's not supposed to say anything. When she told me she would get Julie on the phone for me before we left I knew there was either something wrong with the baby or me or both.
When Julie told me it was an ectopic pregnancy I wasn't surprised. I had known something would keep this baby from making it. Our options were either a medicine to terminate the pregnancy or surgery at this point. After reviewing the ultra sound Dr. Twelves, the doctor on call, told me it would have to be surgery. Medicine could not be used once a heartbeat was detected.
Everything went well during the surgery. The doctor even told Kent that there had been very little bleeding. We went home that afternoon.
I'm now home healing. Trying to make sense of it all and hoping to get back to full health quickly but I'm allowing myself to take things easy. I know it will take time. I know the Lord has been watching over me. I know there is still work for me to do here because without the guidance of the spirit this could easily have been a very different experience.
I have been blessed with help & prayer from my family & good friends & neighbors. I appreciate your continued prayers as I recover. I have no doubt this baby was sent for a reason just as the other child I lost nearly eight years ago was. I'll be ok. I know that. Again thank you all for your love and support and for those of you who have followed the spirit to be here for me. My testimony of the spirit has increased. I know he leads and guides if we will listen. I know God loves us and I am thankful for His love for me and my family!
