Almost Week 24 - Christmas Pictures

We celebrated Christmas a few day late this year because my mom had to work a the hospital on both the 24th and 25th. Here is our week 24 belly shot and a picture of my husband and myself over joyed with the season - especially because of the special presents that will be arriving in a few short months.

Week 22 - Belly Pic

We went to the doctor today and they said everything looks good. Not much else to report. Looking forward to our two week break from school starting next Wednesday.

21 Weeks

I have become a terrible blogger. I really enjoy keeping up with those blogs that I follow, but lately I have struggled to get my own posting done. No pictures to post, maybe in the next week or two. I am now on my third set of maternity clothes - buy your pre-pregnancy size my butt! I have clothes in mediums, larges and now extra larges. I am worried about the months to come and having clothes to wear to school. At this point I have a few "professional" outfits and will have to start wearing jeans a couple days a week because that is all I have that fit:)

Our house is looking more and more like we will be bringing two babies home in the next few months. The nursery is almost done thanks the my parents and husband, and the baby stuff has spilled over into the living room where we set our new pack-and-play up.

We had a doctors appointment last week where they spent about an hour looking at our babies through the ultra sound machine. The doctor said that everything looks great! He once again reminded us that if I ever have anything thing that could be a contraction I need to let his office know right away. His biggest concern is that I will go into labor and not come to the birthing center in time for them to stop it. We start out two week appointments this week. Here is the best picture that we got at our last appointment -


I am feeling great, although sleeping is beginning to become more difficult. I am defiantly moving slower and have a few aches and pains, from gaining 20 lbs I am guessing!

Week 18 Picture, Strangers and a Melt-Down at the Walmart

18 Weeks down - 18 or more to go.



18 Weeks down - 18 or more to go.

Here is a picture from 18 and a half weeks. I am shocked at how large I look in it! Grow babies grow!

I had my very first stranger ask me when the baby is due - not until April 21st :) Apparently to some people I look like I could go into labor anytime now. Nope, only half way done. We are looking forward to seeing the doctor next week for our 20 week sonogram. I have almost gained 20 lbs, but the information that the doctor gave me said that by 20 weeks I should gain 20 lbs so I seem to be right on track.

I had my first, and hopefully only, pregnancy melt down last week. I happened to be at my local Walmart filling a prescription after a long day at work. I had called the prescription in about a week earlier and thought I would run in and run out to pick it up. When I got there they thought that they were out, then found some, then struggled with submitting it to my insurance, a process that took almost an hour. I was hungry, tired, hormonal and needed to pee. The tears started flowing about 15 minutes into the process and I couldn't get myself under control. I am sure that everyone in the pharmacy thought that I was nuts! Not nuts - just pregnant! Anyways, after I finally got my prescription, I made it home where I continued to cry from embarrassment, but now it is a funny story to tell people :)

I am looking forward to the next 5 days away from school. My aunt is throwing me and another cousin of mine a baby shower this weekend and that should be fun. I thought it might be a little early for a shower, but my cousin is from FL and is in town for the holidays so we will celebrate together.

Week 16

This week has been a great pregnancy week for Wayne and I. On Tuesday we went to the doctor and the ultra sound technician told us with quite a bit of certainty that we will be delivering two baby girls in the spring. I have thought that they were girls from the beginning, but now we can be pretty confident that we are preparing for lots of pink and giggling in our future.

I continue to gain inches around my waist and can no longer wear any of my pre-pregnancy clothes. I am still looking forward to being able to feel the girls moving around in my belly, hopefully in the next week or so.

We have started gathering things for our nursery. Yesterday I bought the bedding that we had picked out and today I purchased 3 gallons of paint to paint the nursery. I am hoping to paint in the next week or two so we can make sure that all of our furniture is going to fit in the little bedroom across the hall from ours. I would also really like to buy a glide rocker, but need to make sure that there will be room first!

15 Weeks

I seem to be sailing through a normal pregnancy at this point… Which does make me anxious at times as I wonder what road block Wayne and I might encounter. We have our next doctor’s appointment next Tuesday and will hopefully receive some more much needed encouragement from our ultra sound. We are really looking forward to this appointment, seeing our babies move around never gets old, and my mom is going to come with us so she too can share in this awesome experience.

As far as being pregnant goes, my stomach is feeling 100% better than it was 4 weeks ago! My new symptoms include slight aches and pains in my belly (I believe that they are growing pains) and a terrible pain in my upper back. I have read that for my back pains all you can do is maintain good posture, use a heating pad and get a good massage – the option that I am most optimistic and excited about!

We did start putting together our baby registry. I know it seems early, but I am a product researcher and this way I have lots of time to research products and then put them on our list. My parents ordered our cribs two weeks ago and they came this week. My dad is so excited I think that he plans on coming over today to put at least one of them together – to make sure all of the pieces are there not from his excitement of course. We have started looking at paint samples; we are going to paint the nursery in pretty neutral colors regardless of the babies’ sexes. All of this is happening pretty early, 15 weeks, but I have been worried all along that the doctor is going to put me on bed rest and everything won’t be ready!

14 Weeks 2 Day Picture

This isn't the greatest belly pic, but I thought that I better make a posting before I started receiving hate mail again.

Week 12

Yesterday we went to the doctor to hear lots of wonderful news. Both of our babies are looking great with nice strong heart beats, 161 beats per minute and 165 beats per minute. They measured right where they should for their age and we got to see them wiggling around and kicking each other. I will try to post the ultra sound pictures in the near future.

With our twelve week appointment behind us, I finally feel like this pregnancy is real and that everything might actually work out. We have ultrasound/doctor’s appointments scheduled for the first week of November and the first week in December.

This weekend we will be going out to buy some more maternity wear to cover my growing belly. I think we will check out a few second hand stores and will hopefully find some deals. I hate to spend money on a new set of clothes that will only fit for the next six months, but I also cannot go without clothes. That would not be pretty!

My pregnancy symptoms have defiantly settled. My upset stomach seems to be gone for the most part and I am feeling much less fatigued. I have even been able to skip my afternoon nap the last few days, although I am still headed to bed no later than 8:00.

Week 11

11 weeks, that is apparently how long you can keep a twin pregnancy secrete from a group of observant 8th grade students. Today during my 3rd period the cat came out of the bag when one of my students raised his hand in the middle of my lesson on multiplying integers to ask if the rumors are true… That I am pregnant with twins. So the pregnancy thing I understand, but for my students to come up with twins too ! Anyways, it was the talk of the day as I shared my news with all of my afternoon classes. I really wanted to wait until after our doctor’s appointment next week, but what is done is done.

I have to apologize that I didn’t get a posting created last week, I have received calls and emails from concerned readers wondering if something was wrong because I didn’t write. Everything is fine; I just had a really rough week. For the last two weeks I have been so tried. Last Thursday I became REALLY stuffed up and had trouble sleeping. I called the doctor on Friday and was told that I could take Suda.fed for my stuffy nose so that I could get some sleep. I am still struggling with my stuffy nose, but I am avoiding taking anything because even though the doctor said it was a safe, I still worry. I have officially gained 6 lbs, all in my belly. My all day sickness seems to have gone away, which is exciting, but also makes me nervous… At least when I felt sick, I was confident that things were still going well in my belly !

I am excited to go and see the doctor next week and passing the 12 week mark. I will probably wait and create a posting next Thursday, after our doctor’s appointment.

9 Weeks Pregnant

At 9 weeks pregnant I have very few new things to blog about. I am still exhausted all of the time. No matter how much sleep I get, I could take a nap at any, time any place. I am also still a little sick to my stomach most of the time, but I think that it might be getting better. In the mornings I am so thirsty and the thought of water makes my stomach turn, but I have found that eating popsicles seem to help. My clothes all seem to be getting tighter around my middle, this weekend Wayne and I might need to go out and buy some new clothes.

8 Weeks Pregnant

Today marks 8 weeks pregnant and we had our first official OB appointment with the MFM department at our local hospital. I was surprised that I wasn't even asked to get undressed.... We just went through a lot of previous medical information with a nurse and then with one of the doctors that we will be seeing throughout the next 7 months. I was a little disappointed that we didn't get to see the babies or even hear their heartbeats today, even though I know we just did that last week.

I am EXHAUSTED! I know that the first weeks of school are always tiring, but this last week has been killer. I usually spend so much time at school, from 7:00 till 4:30 every day, but this year I am lucky if I make it from 7:20 till 3:45. I have to leave at that point because driving home any later would be a hazard to everyone on the road!

I am still a little sick to my stomach all the time, but still haven't actually gotten sick. I am looking forward to feeling more like myself during the second trimester.

7 Weeks Pregnant and 1st Ultra Sound

Tomorrow we will be 7 weeks pregnant. I am feeling o.k. overall, still a little bloated, nauseous and really tired, but overall I think that I have been lucky so far. My newest symptoms include waking up in the middle of the night STARVING. and being breathless even when I am not doing any sort a physical activity.

Today we went to the MFM specialist in Billings and had our first ultra sound. We saw two beautiful little babies, o.k. really they looked like space creatures, but to Wayne and I they were the most beautiful sight in the world. We got to hear their heart beats, both 130 beats per minute, and visit with the doctor who said everything looks fine for right now.

We are so thrilled, words cannot explain it.

6 Weeks Pregnant

Today marks six weeks pregnant for the DH and I. I am defiantly feeling nauseous, but have been lucky so far that I haven't actually puked. I have been having trouble finding foods that sound good to eat. Lots of things make my gag reflex happen, both smells and suggestions of different foods - even ice cream doesn't sound good at all!

My doctor is weening me off of my medications right now and all seems to be going well. I have quite taking my estrogen patches completely and are down to only one progesterone each day. I still haven't had any bleeding or other concerning symptoms so far so I am very optimistic things are going well.

I have to have blood drawn again on Friday to make sure that my hormones still look good. We get to go in for our first ultra sound next Tuesday afternoon. We are so excited.

We took our first belly photo yesterday to create a progression photo as the weeks go by, but right now I just look increasingly bloated!

This week is the first week of school. This week is always exhausting, but right now I am completely drained.

5 Weeks Pregnant

This last Wednesday marked 5 weeks pregnant.

I am still continually worried about what is going on in my belly, or more importantly that SOMETHING might not be going on in my belly. All of the bad things that could happen cloud my dreams each night. I am hoping that our ultra sound next week Monday will help to easy some of my fears.

Currently I am not experiencing many pregnancy symptoms. I do have what I am calling "nervous stomach". I don't feel really sick to my stomach, but I do feel like I am constantly nervous. I defiantly wouldn't call it "morning sickness" because it is there all day, everyday :) I guess if this is as bad as it gets I should be thrilled :) I have also found that I am light headed a lot and have experienced a few head aches in the last week

Beta #2

Well it looks like we are not going to this this half way....

Beta #2 - OVER 1100!

We are thrilled, even though the nurse said that she thinks we have "at least" two babies in there. I just started wrapping my head around having 2 babies at once, three or more is too overwhelming right now :) You might be asking how there could be more than two babies since we only put two embryos in, well, if one or both of the embryos split causing us to have one or even two sets of identical twins.

We are remembering that no matter how many blessings we have, that is what they are, blessings. For so long we thought that we wouldn't be able to have any of our own babies, so if God blesses us with four we will be pleased (after we get over the shock).

We now have another long two week wait until we go in for an ultra sound to see what's growing in my belly. We are continuing to pray that no matter whats going on inside of me that we will have one or more healthy babies in nine short months!

Beta #1

Our first beta numbers are in.....

For those of you who have not been navigating the world of infertility, for the first beta (blood test hormone)level they want you to have a number between 100 and 200. Today my hormone level was over 400......

The nurse said that we were VERY pregnant.

Are there two of them in there? We will find out at our first ultra sound sometime shortly after the 29th of August.

We will go in for a second beta on Friday, by that point they want your number to double or at least grow by 60%.

Thanks again for your continued support. I will update agian on Friday with beta #2.

Chicken

Too chicken to take a home pregnancy test......

Denver Day 12

After two, very long, days with my feet up on bed rest we will be heading home tomorrow. I look forward to getting back home. As far as our IVF cycle goes, we now wait for to weeks until we can take a pregnancy test on the 12th of August. I am suppose to continue taking it slow, i.e. no lifting over 10 lbs, stairs only when necessary, lots of rest and water, until we know whether our little guys have decided to stick around. I know that it is early, but I really don't feel any different.... Just annoyed that I have had to sit around and do nothing for the last two days :) We will continue to pray and talk to my belly and see what happens.

Post Embryo Transfer

We just arrived home from embryo transfer and all went well. We transferred one 8 cell embryo that looked great and then another 8 cell embryo that looked good. I am now back to our hotel room with my feet elevated and on bed rest for the next two days and then we will head home on Monday.

So as of right now we are officially pregnant. Please keep us in your thoughts for the next two weeks until we can take a blood test to see if our little guys have decided to hang around.

Denver Day 9 - Embryo Transfer

We just got a call and are headed to the clinic for a 3-Day transfer. Of our 6 embryos, only 3 of them are developing normally as of today and the doctor said that he can already pick the best two, so he will implant them today. Now we really start praying.

Denver Day 7 - Day 1 Fertilization Report

The embryologist called this morning with our fertilization report:

Yesterday they retrieved 12 eggs, 10 were mature. They fertilized all 10 eggs using MICSI, of those 6 fertilized normally. So currently we have 6 little embryos growing in the lab awaiting a Saturday check. On Saturday morning the doctor will decide if we will transfer them then or wait until Monday. We are still hoping to be able to transfer two and then have a few to freeze for in a year or two when we are ready for more little ones.

To occupy our time, we spent the day at the Castle Rock Outlet Mall. We were going to go to the zoo, but because of the weather decided to wait until tomorrow.

I will let you all know when I know more.

Denver Day 6 - Egg Retrieval

Today went perfectly! We were to the clinic at 6:10 am for Wayne’s sample, and although we still had a low sperm count, the lab said that it was much better than last week and that Wayne would not need surgery to retrieve a sample. This meant that we could go home and take a nap before egg retrieval.

Back to the clinic at 11:00 and into the OR at noon, the doctor did a great job. We ended up with one dozen beautiful eggs. After an hour in the recovery room, we were back out the door and off to the Chick-Fil-A, my favorite, for a late lunch. This afternoon the lab will do their magic, using a special microscope that magnifies sperm 400 times; they will pick the very best looking little guys and carefully inject them into our eggs. Tomorrow we will receive a report from the lab letting us know how many of the eggs fertilize, then we once again play the waiting game as our little embryos will spend the next three to five days growing in an incubator waiting to be placed back into their awaiting home.
We look forward to going to the zoo tomorrow and to the botanical gardens on Friday as we try to quickly pass the time. Thank you for your on-going thoughts, comments and calls. We really appreciate it!

Denver Day 5 - Egg Retrieval Eve

Here is the plan for tomorrow:

6:15 - "Sample" collection from Wayne, if we do not have enough little swimmers the urologist will be at the clinic to retrieve some "manually" (we are really hoping that it doesn't come to this!)

11:00 - Arrive for egg retrieval

Noon - Egg retrieval

Early Afternoon - Home with our feet up

Keep us in your thoughts and prayers tomorrow.

Oh yeah, I also wanted to let everyone know that the "trigger shot" last night really wasn't as bad as I had worked it up to be.... We did have to wake my dad up to hold my hand, but in the end I decided that it really wasn't so bad :)

Off to bed, big day tomorrow!

Denver Day 4

We went into the clinic early this morning for yet another ultra sound and blood draw. Everything looks great. We got a call this evening and we will be doing the trigger shot at 1:00 AM tonight, and then will have egg retrieval on Wednesday at Noon.

Because our sperm count is still really low, we will go in to see a urologist tomorrow to make sure that we have back up sperm in case we need them on Wednesday.

Keep all of those positive thoughts coming our way.

Denver Day 3 - Sunday Evening

When I talked to my nurse this afternoon the doctor has decided that he would like to continue to keep me on low doses of medication and wait to trigger and then egg retrieve for another couple of days. We are now looking at retrieval on Wednesday, maybe, we will wait to see how everything looks tomorrow. He did take me off of Lupron completely, this is one of the medications that I have taken twice a day for my entire cycle. Instead I took a newer drug called Cetrotide this afternoon and hopefully it will help to stabilize my hormone levels and give my little follicles a little bit longer to grow.

Denver Day 3 - Sunday Morning

As of right now we still do not know when we will be doing egg retrieval. My doctor has slowed my medication intake down a bunch in hopes of slowing my follicles from maturing so quickly. We went in for a blood test and ultra sound this morning and should hear from the nurse in the next few hours for further instructions. We were told that if my estrogen levels off today we should be able to take the “trigger” shot today and then do egg retrieval on Tuesday. The trigger shot is the big shot that will tell my body to go an ahead and finish maturing my eggs so that they are ready when the doctor goes into get them. I am a little nervous about this injection because this one will need to be given intramuscular rather than in my belly and the needle is about three times as big as the ones I have been taking. I have a feeling that my dad will need to hold me down while Wayne gives me this shot :)

Day 1 in Denver - Friday

We began the day at the clinic at 9:00 this morning where we had appointments for an ultra sound, blood work and a physical to make sure I we ready for surgery. After looking at my follicles they have decided that we will probably do egg retrieval on Monday. When they counted follicles they found 12 good sized ones, and some smaller ones. Typically they only count the good sized ones, because they usually don’t get mature eggs out of the smaller follicles. Because everything seems to be progressing so quickly the doctor told me to ease off of some of the medications that I am on in an effort to slow my progression down a little. We have another ultra sound appointment and blood work tomorrow and should know more after those appointments.

The Best Laid Plans

In the world of infertility I should have learned one thing by now, no matter how great your plans are, at any moment those plans could completely change.

Yesterday morning I went in for an ultra sound and blood work appointment in Billings. At my appointment the nurse told me that she could see 16 follicles (eggs) maturing nicely. Around 4:00 in the afternoon the Colorado clinic called and said that because my follicles have gotten so big and because my hormone levels in my blood are so high they wanted me at their clinic by 9:00 in the morning if at all possible….. So here is where all of our plans went out the window. In the car Wayne, Tony and I climbed, after packing like busy beavers, to head to Denver at 7:30 last night. We arrived in Denver around 4:30 and checked into the hotel that we planned on staying at early and got 2 hours of sleep. We are now up, if that’s what you can call our present state and are getting ready to go and see what the doctor has to say.

Shots Shots Shots

I have officially started all of the hormone medications for my IVF cycle (this is the third day that I have been taking all three medications). I am receiving two shots in the morning and two shots at night. I have yet to give myself any of the shots, I tried for about 30 minutes the very first time I needed one, and sense then have just had my family give them to me. I decided that I am doing my part in this process by holding still and my husband, dad or mom can each give me the shots as their part of the process :) It just made me so stressed out to even think about giving myself a shot, that this setup seems to be working out well. Really, the shots are not that bad, yet… I have read others experiences and although I had not seen many of the side effects, I do realize that could change quickly. I do feel a little bloated and my ovaries seem a little “achey”.

I have switched to a new acupuncturist. When talking to the acupuncturist who works with my doctor in Colorado I realized that the gal that I was going to in Billings was not following the procedure that I had asked her to. I have sense found a new guy in Billings who, even though he has never done this procedure before, is willing to follow the protocol that my doctor sent with me as to what treatment that he wanted me to receive. It seems to be going well, and he believes that my pulses are getting strong.

I get to go to the clinic on Thursday to find out how many follicles we have maturing. I am very excited for that appointment to find out what is going on inside my belly. My dad and I will then leave for Colorado on Friday.

Off and Running

We are off and running with our first (and hopefully only) IVF cycle. I started taking b.c. today, which I think is hilarious. I spent all of those years on it trying to not get pregnant, then quit taking it to get pregnant and now I am taking it again to get pregnant :) ! I have my first u/s on the 15th and will begin the injections on the 17th.

I feel like I am at a really good place right now - physically and mentally. The acupuncture sessions seem to be going well and the acupuncturist thinks that the blood flow to my uterus is improving. The plan is now rolling, with travel plans, medications and visions toward the future everything seems to be coming together.

My dad will be traveling to Denver with me on July 24th. Wayne and my mom will be following us down a few days later. We are lucky that we have family to stay with while in Denver and are very optimistic as we look forward to the procedures, egg retrieval on the 30th and then embryo transfer on the 4th of August.

Now We Have A Plan

The week after our one day work up with CCRM we are hopeful and optimistic as we look to the next few months.

Our appointments went well. We met with the doctor and asked any lingering questions that we had and then endured a whirl wind of other appointments as we learned everything that we could ever want to know about making babies and the IVF process.

The sonographer established that have have irregular blood flow to my uterus, but assured us that 8 appointments with a acupuncturist will fix it. I am very curious about this process, but after asking around I couldn't find anyone who had seen an acupuncturist for any reason let alone infertility. She also only counted 10 follicles which I thought seemed like a really small number, although she did have a really hard time seeing my left side to get a good count.

Now we once again wait......

One Day Work-Up CCRM

We have our first official infertility appointment with CCRM next Friday. Although we will not be able to see Dr. S, who will be our doctor, we will see one of his colleagues and get all set up to go through with our first round of IVF/ICSI this summer. I think that I have all of our arrangements, planes, hotel and rental car, all together. Now we continue to wait....

The Waiting Game

Throughout this infertility journey it seems like it has been one waiting game after another.

Start trying, wait two years before a doctor will see you to see if there is something wrong. Waiting from month to month as I dread the start of my period as another marked failure month. Surgery for my husbands problems, wait 72 days to see if the surgery did any good. Make an appointment to get on a waiting list to see a specialist.

Now we are waiting for the start of my cycle to make an appointment to fly to Colorado to make another waiting plan......

Inital Posting

As my husband and I begin the IVF journey I am frantically seeking a place to vent and get my thoughts and feelings out of my internal dialog.

Our story is not nearly as long and painful as many of those who have traveled down the infertility highway. We were married in June of 2006 and thought that we would wait before beginning our family. In the fall of 2006, after a trip to visit some friends in the hospital who had just had their first baby, we changed our plans and began trying to conceive.

My general practitioner told me that she didn't think that we would have any trouble getting pregnant and not to worry for a year or more of trying. After a year and a half we made an appointment with a OBGYN who couldn't find anything initially wrong and set us up with appointments to do some more invasive diagnostic procedures until she got our semen sample back and decided that the problem is probably not on my end, but rather with my husband. She sent us to see an urologist.

After many appointments and an unsuccessful surgery to fix a varicocele vain in my husband, the urologist told us that if we wanted to have children of our own we would need to take our 1 million slow moving sperm to see a specialist in Colorado or Seattle.

Earlier this month we had a phone consultation with Dr. S at CCRM and he seemed optimistic that he might be able to help us. Therefore we are headed to Colorado next month for a one day work up and then hopefully will experience our first IVF in July.

Although many of my friends and family keep telling me that I need to focus on other aspects of my life, our goal of becoming parents has completely consumed me and every part of my life. Hopefully by blogging about my experience, maybe I can begin to collect my thoughts and feelings and find a balance between this obsession and a healthy life.