| Caleb's conception was easy - there is no story here: At age 21 I had intercourse with his father and we got pregnant. There was no trying involved. At the time of conception I was on Serevent and Albuterol and Creon (3 per meal). I immediately stopped taking the inhalers. I stopped caffeine also. I weighed 104 lbs. at that time.
My pregnancy was uneventful. At 4 months I volunteered for a study on gestation diabetes for women with CF and flew to Houston for testing. I have never been hospitalized, and that experience showed me I am NOT a good patient! I showed to be a little bit insulin resistant and was told to monitor my diet and sugars. I did monitor my sugars, but I ate whatever I wanted and my sugars never went high, so I don't think that diagnosis was completely correct. I did not continue with that study however. The doctor who did the study did say that most CF women she knew had an early labor. True to her word, my son came 5 weeks early, but even at that Caleb Sage was a strapping 5lbs 7 oz and 18.5 inches. His apgar was 9 and 10 and so we went right home after (well, 2 days later). I weighed 129 lbs at the time of his birth. Unfortunately, Caleb got sick with meningitis at 10 days old and this hindered me from actually being able to feed him from my breast, but I dutifully pumped for 8 weeks. Finally he was eating more than I could pump and for the sake of exhaustion at 8 weeks I switched him to soy formula. Thankfully we've seen no effects from his meningitis and he is a healthy 6 year old kindergartner. At age 27 I married my husband and we immediately started trying to have a baby. I imagined that it would happen as easily as it did the first time. Month after month went by, and still no baby. After a year I contacted my doctor and we started the usual testing: He had a semen analysis and I had a hysterosalpingogram (HSG). Both were normal. I started taking clomid 50 mg. That did not work, so the next month I increased to 100mg clomid and an HCG trigger shot. Still nothing. The assumption was that over the 7 years since my last pregnancy it was possible that my cervical mucus had thickened enough to possibly block the sperm. The next month we increased to 150 mg of clomid, metroformin and an HCG trigger. We also did an intrauterine insemination. I had 4 nice sized follicles. I am happy to say, it WORKED! Bypassing the cervix seemed to do the trick and we were due in August. I prayed for a healthy baby and pregnancy, but I miscarried at 5.5 weeks due to a blighted ovum. We waited one cycle and then did a clomid, HCG trigger and IUI again on Feb. 10, and I got pregnant again, which is where I am now. I am now 11 weeks, I have seen and heard a heartbeat and I have also seen the baby moving around. I am praying all is well, but feel much better! I am starting this pregnancy on Advair, Albuterol, and Hypertonic Saline, and I think I will continue on them, as I feel more of a need for them than I did with my first child. I am weighing in this time at 128 ibs, so I am hoping I don't weight 160 lbs at the time of birth!! I have every intention of breastfeeding this baby for at least a year. By Shannon. I am 28 years old with CF, a bilingual education teacher and I am pursuing my master's degree (while pregnant!) in English Literature and I have been happily married for the last 2 years. In addition to 6-year-old Caleb and the baby on the way I also have a 10 year old stepson. |
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