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Seventeen days after my D&C, the pathology report is still not back. That's the bad news.
Fortunately, though, that's the only bad news. Based on the way my HCG (human chorionic gonadotropin, a.k.a. "pregnancy hormone") levels have been dropping like a stone, taken in context with the immediate experience of the D&C, my midwife is certain that what I had was a "blighted ovum" - a fertilized egg so messed-up that it made a placenta but wasn't able to grow or sustain an embryo.
My HCG level as of Friday was a stunning 33, down from 190 the Friday before. (I don't know what it was the night of the D&C.) We have high hopes that it will hit zero sometime this week. Then my body can go about the business of returning to its normal rhythms.
An exam showed that everything is getting back to normal: uterus and ovaries feel normal, cervix is closed, and there's physical evidence that the hormones are normalizing.
We can start trying to conceive again as soon as I've had a couple of normal cycles. If I get pregnant again, we'll monitor the pregnancy more intensely: HCG levels beginning at the positive test, progesterone levels, an ultrasound at 7 or 8 weeks. But there's no reason to believe that this would happen again. It was one of those random chances.
Needless to say, I'm still very very sad. (Wow was it hard to be back in my midwives' office.) But it's a big relief to know that there isn't anything horrible hanging over my head. There's no physical aftermath to a blighted ovum pregnancy. No long and frightening period of monitoring. We can just focus on the long, long job of picking up the pieces, emotionally.
So: sad, but thankful.
Fortunately, though, that's the only bad news. Based on the way my HCG (human chorionic gonadotropin, a.k.a. "pregnancy hormone") levels have been dropping like a stone, taken in context with the immediate experience of the D&C, my midwife is certain that what I had was a "blighted ovum" - a fertilized egg so messed-up that it made a placenta but wasn't able to grow or sustain an embryo.
My HCG level as of Friday was a stunning 33, down from 190 the Friday before. (I don't know what it was the night of the D&C.) We have high hopes that it will hit zero sometime this week. Then my body can go about the business of returning to its normal rhythms.
An exam showed that everything is getting back to normal: uterus and ovaries feel normal, cervix is closed, and there's physical evidence that the hormones are normalizing.
We can start trying to conceive again as soon as I've had a couple of normal cycles. If I get pregnant again, we'll monitor the pregnancy more intensely: HCG levels beginning at the positive test, progesterone levels, an ultrasound at 7 or 8 weeks. But there's no reason to believe that this would happen again. It was one of those random chances.
Needless to say, I'm still very very sad. (Wow was it hard to be back in my midwives' office.) But it's a big relief to know that there isn't anything horrible hanging over my head. There's no physical aftermath to a blighted ovum pregnancy. No long and frightening period of monitoring. We can just focus on the long, long job of picking up the pieces, emotionally.
So: sad, but thankful.
