...and this is officially my first post! I started this blog to be able to document my experiences as an American living abroad, my journey through medical school, and my quest to start a family.
I guess I should start by telling you a little bit about myself. I'm 28, from the US, and currently living in Sweden with my Swedish husband, E. We met in high school, when E was an exchange student. We stayed together long-distance for several years, while I finished high school and college, and then I moved here. Life here is very different. I like it, but I definitely miss home.
Right now I'm about to start my final year of medical school, and I will hopefully graduate in January 2014. Well, actually, I hope I won't be able to graduate then because I hope I'll have to take time off for maternity leave, but we'll get to that. Medical school in Sweden is, in fact, in Swedish, which has obviously been a huge challenge for me. It also makes it more difficult to practice in the US later, but I'm doing everything I can to make that possible. Right now I'm in the last few weeks of this semester, but after that I'll start OB/GYN, and then pediatrics.
In September 2011, E and I started trying to conceive (TTC). I went off birth control, and had one 30-ish day cycles, followed by one super-long 60-something day cycle, during which I started temping. After that cycle, I got hard-core about charting and started using OPKs in addition to temping. I got pregnant, and everything was great, until I had a tiny bit of spotting at 8w5d. I found out the next day that the baby had never really developed, and I basically had a blighted ovum that my body never realized wasn't developing, so it was holding onto nothing. On top of that, the pregnancy was in my uterine horn, which meant that my only option was Methotrexate. I was treated with MTX, it took several months for my HCG to go back down to 0, and we had to TTA for a while, but we were able to start TTC again in July. We're now on Cycle 7 of full-on charting and well-timed intercourse, but no pregnancy.
Finally, I want to mention that as a Christmas present, E signed me up for a half marathon in September! I've been running for a little while but was always hesitant to sign up for races. So he did it for me. I'm looking forward to being able to track my training progress here, too.
I guess I should start by telling you a little bit about myself. I'm 28, from the US, and currently living in Sweden with my Swedish husband, E. We met in high school, when E was an exchange student. We stayed together long-distance for several years, while I finished high school and college, and then I moved here. Life here is very different. I like it, but I definitely miss home.
Right now I'm about to start my final year of medical school, and I will hopefully graduate in January 2014. Well, actually, I hope I won't be able to graduate then because I hope I'll have to take time off for maternity leave, but we'll get to that. Medical school in Sweden is, in fact, in Swedish, which has obviously been a huge challenge for me. It also makes it more difficult to practice in the US later, but I'm doing everything I can to make that possible. Right now I'm in the last few weeks of this semester, but after that I'll start OB/GYN, and then pediatrics.
In September 2011, E and I started trying to conceive (TTC). I went off birth control, and had one 30-ish day cycles, followed by one super-long 60-something day cycle, during which I started temping. After that cycle, I got hard-core about charting and started using OPKs in addition to temping. I got pregnant, and everything was great, until I had a tiny bit of spotting at 8w5d. I found out the next day that the baby had never really developed, and I basically had a blighted ovum that my body never realized wasn't developing, so it was holding onto nothing. On top of that, the pregnancy was in my uterine horn, which meant that my only option was Methotrexate. I was treated with MTX, it took several months for my HCG to go back down to 0, and we had to TTA for a while, but we were able to start TTC again in July. We're now on Cycle 7 of full-on charting and well-timed intercourse, but no pregnancy.
Finally, I want to mention that as a Christmas present, E signed me up for a half marathon in September! I've been running for a little while but was always hesitant to sign up for races. So he did it for me. I'm looking forward to being able to track my training progress here, too.
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