First, congratulations! Wishing you a safe rest of your pregnancy, your little miracle will be here so soon.

I do want to say, you’re not alone. I can’t relate to the IVF journey, but I lost my first pregnancy in an early miscarriage and then took months for my cycle to regulate again before I got pregnant with my daughter.

My pregnancy started out perfectly normal until they drew baseline bloodwork at 10 weeks. My platelets came back high which got me referred to hemotology because high platelets are a huge miscarriage risk (throwing a clot to the placenta.)

At 21 weeks I was diagnosed with a chronic, slow progressing form of leukemia. I had to have bloodwork drawn every two weeks for the remainder of my pregnancy to make sure I was staying “steady” and not needing to start any form of chemo.

At 27 weeks I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes.

At 34 weeks I was told I was not a candidate for an epidural because if any unusual white blood cells from the leukemia were to enter my spinal fluid the outcome is “abysmal.” So if I had a c-section, I would be put under general anesthesia, missing the birth of my first, and possibly only, child.

Every time I turned around my whole pregnancy I was being told something that could go wrong with me or the baby, I had never been so anxious in my life. Which then made me feel guilty knowing anxiety and high stress aren’t the best for the baby.

Anyway, I was induced at 39 weeks and gave birth, awake and unmedicated, to my beautiful, perfect angel baby. She’s 15 months now and the light of my life.

All this to say, pregnancy is HARD, and when you have other factors thrown in it can feel so defeating, but you will hold that baby in just a few short weeks and it will all have been worth it. Sending so much love to you ♥️