Taking a stab at optimism

I have to say, it's become a pet peeve of mine when someone who should know better, i.e. a medical professional, looks at me and tells me, "This time it's going to work. I just know it will." I want to yell at them that they don't know that it will. There's no reason for them to give me false hope, especially when they haven't listened to the details of my losses.

On the other hand, I don't want to give up hope on this pregnancy. There is a chance that it will work out. Mr. Rhody are doing everything we can to make this work. Below is my optimistic list. On days when I feel like maybe this time might actually work, these are the reasons:

1. The prothrombin mutation has been around for many generations. Lovenox has not. Somehow, other women have lived with this mutation, and I can learn to live with it as well.
2. Similar to above, studies show that somewhere between 70-80% of women with the prothrombin mutation don't have any problems with recurrent pregnancy loss. It's not known why this is, but that should be reassuring to me that just having this mutation doesn't mean the worst.
3. At the worst, the most dire study that I found said that treatment with aspirin only gives a 33% chance of a healthy baby. While that might be lower than I'd like, that's still a non-zero chance. One in three.
4. Also, I am trying the baby aspirin this time. I didn't try that last time. Maybe I'm lucky and that's all I need. I shouldn't give up on this possibility until I've given it a try.
5. Speaking of new things I'm trying this time around, we are trying the progesterone suppositories. Now, my progesterone levels have never been tested, but since both of my losses were before 10 weeks, there is some chance this could help.
6. One thing that helps is now that I know I have the prothromin mutation, I can actually effect some change to increase my chances. One of the things I'm trying is to reduce my consumption of vitamin K this time around, since vitamin K encouraged blood clotting. Now instead of having just broccoli for dinner, I'll make sure to have more protein. As a side effect, the increased consumption of protein seems to be making my morning sickness less severe.
7. Also in response to the blood clotting, I have been making sure to continue working out this pregnancy. With my first 2 pregnancies, I gave in to the exhaustion early, but I've been fighting it, swimming 1-2x/week, yoga 2x/week, and dancing 1x/week, plus, staying active around the house. At the worst, this should help me not to gain as much weight this time around.
8. Along with exercising 4-5x/week, I have been very careful about not sitting for too long. The biggest thing with this is that I'm going to limit long car rides, which might include a few trips to see the parents. Oh, well, I guess they are just going to have to come and visit us!
9. On the less tangible side, Mr. Rhody and I have stepped up the prayer this time around. As I'd writted about before, we did a novena to St. Gerard this pregancy, and I have the medal that I'd bought and carry around most days.
10. And, finally, It has to work! I won't accept that it won't!