Cloee's Story Chapter 1

I'm a planner. I need to know what day, what time, where at, for how long, and what to bring. I typically react with less anxiety if I know all this with a couple days notice. Carlee and Cade were very planned pregnancies. I knew the exact month I wanted to get pregnant and the exact month I wanted to deliver. I wanted all my children around 3 years to 3 years and 3 months apart. When Cade was a little over 2 years old I began praying about the next child. Was he/she waiting up there? Was he/she ready? I very clearly received "Now is not the time". I prayed about this probably a dozen times over the next year to make sure I heard correctly. The answer never changed. I wasn't obsessed but was worried as Cade was now close to 3. So much for the '3 years apart deal'! Finally around August 2006 I received the answer I was waiting for- "Go ahead and give it a try, now could be the time". I didn't feel it was exactly the right time but didn't feel it was wrong either.
I made an appointment with my wonderful OB/Gyn, Dr. Lori McNeal, to have my IUD removed- I couldn't get an appointment until the end of October. Guess we'll just have to practice for the real thing until then! ;) I went to my appointment and Dr. McNeal attempted to remove the IUD. It typically should come out easily- easier than a tampon. She tried and tried but that thing was quite happy in its cozy little home. The attempted removaly was excruciatingly painful for me. The cervix is very fussy and really doesn't appreciate being bothered. I began to shake uncontrollably, my lips chattered so hard that my jaw was sore later that evening. I remember that I became light headed and the room kept turning black. I was sweating so much that the entire underneath of my hair was sopping wet. The tissue paper between me and the exam table had pretty much disintegrated. It was a horrible experience.
Dr. McNeal decided she wasn't gonna torture me anymore. She stood up and explained to me that in order to get the IUD out I would have schedule an outpatient surgery where I could be put to sleep. I quickly volunteered for that option. As it was now the end of October, I decided to wait until after the holidays and our busy dune time to do the little surgery. I actually had it done on Martin Luther King Jr holiday.
We tried to get pregnant in February. We also tried in March. What was going on? Cade is nearing 4 years old~ I don't want them to be so far apart! With the other two I had gotten pregnant literally 14 days after going off the pill. We tried again in April and by this time I was becoming a little obsessed; finally after my period in May (which would later be my BIG day- when they say "date of your last period" I would say "May 24th") I decided to buy an ovulation kit. Will was on a huge project at this time and was coming home at 12 and 1 in the morning and leaving again around 5 or 6am! Needless to say there wasn't a whole lot of time for us to attempt at this whole pregnancy thing. I did the ovulation test- peeing on the stick every morning, and just when I was beginning to think I don't ovulate anymore the little stick showed... I was ovulating- this was June 7th. I called Will immediately and he said he would be home from work early that night. I suggested we 'do it' twice before he went back to work the next morning... just to be sure. ;)
(I remember that day clearly. After calling Will, I cleaned the house really well. I then got ready because I had an appointment with Dr. McNeal for my yearly exam. She actually asked me what was going on, why wasn't I pregnant yet? I told her about the ovulation kit and that I was going to be putting Will to work after my hair appointment. I was getting my hair done after that appointment- cut, 3 different color hi-lights- the whole works. Little did I know that I wouldn't have another professional hair cut for a very long time.
A few days later I bought a pregnancy test, in fact, I think I bought a two pack and got a third one free. It said it could detect the pregnancy hormone up to 3 days before my next period (which would have been June 21st). So guess when I took that first pregnancy test... yep 5 days before (June 16th). If it could detect up to 3 days couldn't it do up to 5 days?
So I took that pregnancy test on Saturday June 16th. It came up negative. I took another one Sunday morning and it was negative and the third one was Sunday night. It came up positive! Halelujah! I was pregnant... possibly. On Monday I went and got 2 more of those 3-pack pregnancy tests. I took a test Monday- positive, Tuesday- positive, Wednesday- positive, Thursday- started my period at 8 am right on schedule. Whhhat? So I took a test that day too- positive. This can't be. What's going on? I ignored it for the next few days and enjoyed (NOT!) a very typical period for me. Monday my period was dying off and so I took another test and it was still positive. OK, I had bled at the beginning with the other two so maybe this is how my body works. I am really thinking I'm pregnant now.
The following week I called Dr. McNeal's office to schedule my first OB appointment. It was set for a few weeks away but in the meantime she sent me for an ultrasound. For some reason everyone close to me happened to be busy the day of my ultrasound. Will, my mom, and both my sisters had to work, and my aunt (Rozanne) was preparing for a Young Women's activity that night. I did not want to go alone. They don't usually show you the screen at this first appointment and just in case the heart wasn't beating I didn't want to be there by myself. My friend Shanna said she would go with me. I called her at noon (my appointment was at 3) and she said she was just getting into the shower and she would be ready when I showed up. I called from outside her house and she sounded groggy and half asleep. Well, that's not because she was half asleep, it was because she was ALL THE WAY ASLEEP! Apparently she had gone back to sleep after we talked at noon but before she had taken a shower. I was upset. She said she would change from her pajamas and go with me but I said she didn't need to worry about it. (I guess she had a bad headache.) I drove off and this was my first emotional breakdown. I called everyone once more to make sure they couldn't make it and my aunt said she'd meet me there but it was already 3 o'clock and I was just walking in to my appointment. She wouldn't make it there quick enough. So I went alone and I survived. Although I couldn't ever see the screen, the ultrasound technician confirmed there was a little peanut in there with a heartbeat. (I made sure that there weren't two peanuts because I had twins with Cade but miscarried one.) Yahoo! It was confirmed that I was pregnant!!!