A Little Bit of History

I met my husband (Shane) when I was 16 years old. We started dating later that year and we just celebrated our 10 year anniversary together in December. We were married on February 5, 2006.

Shane and I decided to start trying to have a baby in late 2007. I was actually able to get pregnant right away but ended up having a miscarriage shortly after finding out I was pregnant. It was pretty upsetting for both of us but we "got right back up on the horse" and tried again. I got pregnant again a few months later, only to have another miscarriage. I will tell you, it is not an easy thing to go through, even being only 7 weeks pregnant. It was discouraging and disheartening.

My OB decided to run some testing on me to see if he could figure out why this was happening. After 13 viles of blood, there was some light shed on our situation! As it turns out, I have a gene mutation (sounds gross I know) that causes blood clots called MTHFR, or as I like to call it, the m*th*rf*ck*r disease! Apparently, many people have this gene mutation but my case is special. Usually, the people who have it get one copy of it, either from their mother or their father and it causes no issues. I was lucky enough to get a copy from BOTH my mother and my father which is where the problem lies. Having a double copy of this gene mutation is dangerous for fetuses. In early stages of pregnancy, a blood clot can form and stop oxygen and blood to the unborn baby.

To my surprise, I was relieved to find there was actually something wrong with me! And guess what?!?! There is a cure, sort of! I will have this gene mutation for the rest of my life, but during prengnacy, there are things that can be done to help this problem!

There was no proof that a blood clot caused my miscarriages but because I have this gene mutation and I have had miscarriages, they are "guessing" that is what was causing them.

After that, Shane and I decided to take some time off of trying. I was in the middle of getting my Bachelor's degree and my body had been through a lot recently. We decided to wait until I had graduated college and was beginning my career as a teacher. That time happened to be 16 months and it seemed like an eternity! But we got through it, as I knew we would!

Fast forward 16 months to August 2009, off my birth control and READY to have a baby! Of course, now off birth control, I thought we would get pregnant the very first month as we had no problems GETTING pregnant before.. August came and went, as did September. In October, I began charting my ovulation and taking ovulation tests to determine the best time to conceive....Nothing! How frustrating! In November, we decided to take it easy and not chart or anything and just relax about it.

I hadn't even thought about being pregnant that month. We were barely "together" so I wasn't even planning on taking a pregnancy test. It was a few days before Christmas and I was scheduled to start my period that day. It was a Sunday and I woke up feeling a little different. I had no signs of "Aunt Flow" so I thought, "what the heck!" and took a test. It was a digital test that reads "Pregant" or "Not Pregnant". And what do you know? It said "PREGNANT"! I couldn't beleive what I saw and unfortunately, it was the only test I had in the house so I ran downstairs with the test in my hand and a BIG smile. Shane looked at me and said, "Pregnant?!?!?!" I said, "I think so!!! But I need another test to confirm!!!" So we ran to the store to buy more. I took 3 more tests, all showing POSITIVE!

And so begins our wonderfully fantastic journey to parenthood...

Welcome to The Koehler Blog

I'm doing this blog for a few reasons:

1. to replace traditional "journaling" for myself
2. to keep my family and friends updated on everything Koehler
3. to keep those on my Facebook who AREN'T that interested in everything Koehler happy by not posting my updates every day

I hope you enjoy my sometimes rambling, sometimes annoying, sometimes entertaining words (sometimes).