Trying to conceive our third child

Our son was born in December 1997 and in November 1998 I went off my birth control in anticipation of conceiving another child. We didn't think anything of the fact it took us a little over a year to get pregnant the time before we just thought it was a fluke. Well, after a few months of no success we just thought it was timing and stress. I used all the ovulation calculators to try and determine my fertile time. There were charts taped to the inside of our bathroom medicine cabinet as a reminder when we should be really sexually active. Have you ever tried to tell your husband, okay we need to have sex every other day starting "x" and then every day from "x-y", over and over for months. The whole planning when to have sex was taking the fun out of trying to conceive and the intimacy out of making love. After nine months of trying to conceive, we were finally pregnant.

Well, eight weeks into the pregnancy, I started spotting and then bleeding. I made a trip to the doctor and he did a pelvic examine and a vaginal ultrasound. I'll never forget that day lying on the doctor's table. The pelvic exam was confirming what was seen on the ultrasound screen. The doctor gave me information on early miscarriages and explained I was having one.

The image on the ultrasound screen showed an empty gestational sac. The pelvic exam showed my cervix was low and opened allowing for the passage of the materials. According to the doctor, at 8 weeks we should definitely be able to see an image and possibly the heartbeat on the ultrasound, but there was nothing there. We talked about nature taking its course and other options because the bleeding was not heavy. Luckily, our doctor was not one to jump, he wanted to take some time and see what was to come.

I went in every other day to have blood drawn for two weeks. The bleeding turned to spotting and then stopped. The HCG kept going up, which didn't make any sense at all. Well, at 10 weeks 2 days, I went back in for another ultrasound and there she was a healthy little fetus with all the appendages and according to the measurements a 10 wk 2 day baby. This did not make sense to any of us because two weeks early there was nothing there, not even a hint of a flutter!! He did a pelvic exam, which showed the cervix was high and closed - a lot different than two weeks earlier.

As the pregnancy progressed, the doctor's only explanation was more than likely I miscarried a twin and when he did the ultrasound and found the empty gestational sac he didn't think to look for another sac. After that, the pregnancy was too pretty uneventful. Matter of fact, Mackenzie was only two days early. But when she entered this place, the doctor said she was a "true miracle baby" having found her place early in the pregnancy and then upon her delivery it was observed that she had a knot in her cord and it didn't hinder her growth.