The end of December rolled around and we started noticing our Doberman, Pixie, acting very strange. She would always want to sit on my lap and had to be near me at all times. When our Dachshund, Hershey, went to jump on my lap while Pixie was sitting next to me - she snapped at him and growled really aggressively. I've never seen this side of Pixie. Usually she's a big baby and wouldn't hurt a fly. It really scared me when I had to break up the fight that she started - well to her, he started it. Her behavior was very strange after this one incident and we started to wonder what triggered it. She had been very protective of me - for instance, if the doorbell rang she didn't bark and run to see who it was...she stayed near my side as if she was protecting me from anyone who might be at the door who could potentially hurt me. After a few days of this behavior we decided we'd better take her to the vet. She is usually very hyper in public, especially at the vet. When she was acting like a complete angel and sitting on my lap in the waiting room, that's when I knew something wasn't right. This was not the Pixie that we all knew, and even the receptionist at the vet commented on her behavior.
Once we were in to see the doctor, they asked if there were any traumatic events that might have triggered her strange behavior lately. The only thing that Mark and I could think of was that we caught her drinking toilet water one night when we had the blue tablet in there. The vet explained that if she was affected by drinking the chemicals in the toilet, she would have an upset stomach (vomiting/diarrhea) but she didn't. They told me she's just "an anxious dog" and it might have something to do with her aging past her "teenage years". Since there were no traumatic events (that I knew of) the vet couldn't pin point exactly why Pixie hadn't been acting herself. She sent me home with a prescription for anxiety medicine along with a bunch of handouts for dogs with anxiety.
The Googler that he is, Mark decided to research it on his own since we knew it was something other than "doggy anxiety". We have known our dog for almost 3 years now and knew there was a reason she wasn't acting herself lately. So, he Googled her behavioral symptoms and ended up discovering that some dogs act this way when their owner is pregnant. The dominant dog of the house is usually the one who acts this way. We read just about every message board (babycenter.com was my favorite source) and related to all of the other expecting parents who were experiencing this craziness. If I just conceived a week ago, how can Pixie sense it already? So, since Mark was convinced that Pixie sensed the baby I took a HPT. The result came back negative. I was disappointed but knew that it was so early on that it probably didn't detect the HCG levels in my urine just yet. We took another a few days later just to see if it had gotten strong enough to detect the levels. Sure enough, another negative. At this point we were bummed and confused because we knew (well, we thought we knew) Pixie was right but why isn't it showing up on the HPT?
Frustrated and disappointed, we went about our lives as if the HPT was correct and Pixie was just crazy. We had a great time celebrating New Year's Eve at the same place we said our vows just a few months earlier. I didn't think I was pregnant, so I drank wine - they had one of my favorite brands of Moscato. I felt fine and nothing lead me to believe that HPT was wrong. Although, Pixie was still acting weird.
On January 5th the Packers played the Vikings in a playoff game. While I was getting dressed I started to feel crampy, so I assumed my period was coming. We convinced our friends (Renee, Laura, and PJ) to wear Packers gear and root for our (well, Mark's) team. I stocked my purse with tampons and we went to Buffalo Wild Wings to have dinner and watch the game. Throughout our time there, Laura and I went to the bathroom together because that's what girls do (and she was on her period too). Each time, I had to take my purse just in case I started my period. I was confused because I hadn't started but my cramps kept getting worse throughout the night. I don't think Laura knew I hadn't started yet so I had to pretend like I was bleeding when I really wasn't. Why else would I have such bad cramps that I was complaining about? Besides, that was my excuse for not drinking alcohol when everyone asked why I was just drinking water.
We ended up leaving there around 11:30 and when we got home, Mark and Steve were downstairs eating wings that they got to go. Why they didn't eat them when we were there, who knows?! I went straight up to get changed into sweats and laid down not knowing that Mark was going to stay downstairs and eat with Steve. I sent Mark a text wondering where he was and he told me he was eating with Steve and would be up soon. I told him that the "cramps" were getting worse and there's something wrong because I've never felt like this before. Plus, how could I have cramps all evening long if I hadn't even started my period. He said he'd be up soon and I told him to hurry because I needed him. I was hoping Steve would hurry up and eat and then go to bed. I didn't want him knowing what was wrong or anything. I knew it was bad enough to where we had to go to the hospital. So, once Steve went to bed we snuck out and went to Stafford Hospital. We got there at 12:15.
When we arrived I gave a urine sample since I had to go anyway. Hours passed and I used the bathroom 7 times while we were waiting to be called back. When I heard my name I got excited but the nurse said "we're only going to get your vitals and then you'll have to come back out". While I was having my temperature and blood pressure taken, the triage nurse asked why I was here and I said that my stomach was having severe pains and I was late starting my period but the HPTs were coming back negative. She said "ok so are you here because your stomach hurts or are you just trying to find out if you're pregnant?" I was so angry when she asked me that with an attitude. I said "umm both!" Why would I come to the ER at midnight if I didn't think it was something serious? Plus, nothing is more frustrating than when someone doubts you when you KNOW you're right. If I only wanted to find out I was pregnant, I would wait until normal hours and go to my normal OBGYN!
We finally got called back to go into a room around 3:00. The doctor came in and told me that my urine test came back negative and I'm not pregnant. I was wondering what else could be causing these severe abdominal pains if I wasn't pregnant. My cycle is always normal and I never have cramps this bad. They told me that they needed to hook me up to an IV so that I didn't get dehydrated and that they could give me something for the pain since I was complaining about how bad it was. I asked them what the chances were that I could be pregnant even though the urine test was negative. They told me the chances were very slim. I refused pain medicine and demanded for them to take my blood and test it that way just in case. They couldn't find a vein where they needed to put the IV and it was so painful that I was crying. I think they need to retrain their phlebotomists because it was a bit ridiculous.
When the bloodwork results came back they told me that I was indeed pregnant but that my HCG level was only 18 and it should be much higher. I reminded them of the first day of my last period (December 7th) and asked if that could be why it was so low, I wasn't far along at all. The doctor explained that he thought this might be an ectopic pregnancy and asked if I knew what that was. I remember one of my best friends telling me she had one not too long ago but I never really knew what it actually was. He explained that it was where the egg implants outside of the uterus (and probably implanted in the fallopian tubes). He told me, "unfortunately, ectopic pregnancies do not develop into live births."
They decided to take me to the ultrasound room and have their nurse perform an ultrasound to see if she could find something. After laying there with the cold gel on my stomach for what felt like forever, she didn't see anything. So, we went back to my room and waited even longer. By this time it was almost 5:00. Mark and I were discussing how we had mixed emotions. We were told we were pregnant but we couldn't even be excited because of the complications that were going on.
They came into the room to refill my IV and gave me pain medicine which they assured was safe for pregnant people. Mark and I tried to sleep but I was freezing. They gave me at least 8 blankets but the IV was making my whole body cold. I felt bad for Mark because he was so uncomfortable in that hard chair and he couldn't sit still. They finally discharged me at 6:15 and told me to make an appointment with my OBGYN as soon as possible to follow up. Yes, we were in the ER for 6 freaking hours!
I got an appointment at my OBGYN for Tuesday morning. Dr. Kil informed me that he didn't believe it was an ectopic pregnancy. He looked at the ultrasound and saw a small cyst in my ovaries. He thinks this is what caused the severe pain. He said it could still continue on to be a normal pregnancy though. My levels were only 18 because I was only about 4 weeks pregnant. He sent me to the lab to do bloodwork and said he would call me with the results. When he called me the next day, he told me that the levels went up to 34 so that was good news. I informed him that I had started to experience implantation bleeding and he said that was normal.
For months, I had been planning to have a vendor open house party at my house on January 13. I would set up and sell my Thirty-One items and I had 5 other friends planning to bring their direct sales items to my house to set up for this huge event. That morning, I started bleeding more than just spotting. I knew something was wrong. I couldn’t go to the doctor or hospital because I knew it would take hours. Plus, I knew that once you were miscarrying there was nothing that could be done to prevent it from happening. So, I asked Laura to bring me some pads and I went on about the party. I had the worst cramps ever (not really, because they weren’t as bad as when I went to the ER the week before). I had a horrible headache that went along with everything else. I ended up playing it off and telling everyone that the headache was the reason I wasn’t myself is that I woke up with a headache and it hadn’t gone away yet. I put on a pretty good act because I was hurting so badly. All I could think about was that my stomach and head were killing me. When the party was over I was so relieved that I could put on my sweats and relax.
I ended up getting bloodwork done the next day and the results came back as 5. As Dr. Kil predicted, the levels went down and I was miscarrying. So, for the next few days I just bled and knew there was nothing that could be done about it. It didn’t make sense to me why Pixie continued to act strange though. As the days passed we were upset about it but there was nothing we could do. There was a reason this happened.
A few weeks went by and I found out that one of my good friends is expecting her third child. She must have conceived the same time we did because her due date is the same as ours was (September 13). It really upset me when I heard her tell me they were pregnant again but I had just lost mine. But I am happy for them. I think once I see the pregnancy updates and photos of her belly and then eventually the baby, it’ll really make me sad because I’ll be thinking “that could have been me”. The good thing about all of this is that we found out my little sister is expecting (due in August) so having a new baby in the family will be nice. The Savages hope to start trying again soon and know that it’ll happen when the time is right.
IMPORTANT DATES:
December 7 - First day of last period.
December 16, 17, 19, or 20 - Conceived.
December 29 - Negative HPT.
December 31 - Pixie started acting weird (very overprotective and possessive of me).
January 6 - Went to the hospital for very severe abdomen pains. Urine test was negative. Found out through blood test that I was pregnant and my HCG level was 18. Doctor said he thinks it might be an eptopic pregnancy, which is why the level was so low.
January 8 - OBGYN said it isn't eptopic and could end up being normal. Based off of the time of my last period, the levels should be that low this early on. He suspects the pain was caused by a small cyst that ruptured in my ovaries. Bloodwork was done.
January 8 - Implantation bleeding started.
January 8 - Positive HPT. Levels must be high enough to detect on the HPT.
January 9 - Bloodwork results HCG level was 34.
January 13 - Bleeding and heavy cramping.
January 14-17 - Still bleeding and cramping.
January 16 - Bloodwork results HCG level was 5.
January 16 - Pixie still acted weird.
January 18- Still got heartburn after eating.
January 19 - Everything was back to normal.
January 21 - Signs of ovulation.
February 12 - Period started.
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