week 8 update

I haven't posted in quite a while. Everything is progressing really well with the pregnancy. The little nugget is growing at 1mm per day :) No wonder I'm so tired! I still haven't had terrible "morning sickness". I usually feel my worst at the end of the day. I guess just being so tired and the eating a big dinner just tips me over the edge some nights. I am feeling better already though, just some days are more tiring than others, pretty typical. I STILL have this HUGE cyst on my right ovary. It is over 6cm now and looks like a large apple on the ultrasound monitor. Not much discomfort from it though, other than lots of bloating. Dr. Honea anticipates that it will start to shrink in 2-4 weeks.
I am no longer taking injections....this call for a celebration! I received the projesterone, IM shots for 8 weeks! Thankfully the little nugget has taken over on producing the progesterone so I am free at last...well, almost. I do still have to take the gel suppository daily until I am 12 weeks, so just 2.5 wks left :) I have only gained 2 pounds so far...YAY, but you can't tell from the looks of me. My stomach is so bloated from this cyst, that only 2 pairs of jeans are comfortable to wear : I feel like a huge fatty! No food aversions or cravings.

We're pretty great right now! I go for my first visit with my regular OB on Wednesday, hopefully I will get one more cute li'l progress picture and then I'll post all that I have.

Oh, one side note, I just visited a friend in the hospital that gave birthon Friday to an adorable baby boy! I saw the little cutie and teared up a bit. I have always been very emotional about special events, babies, birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, you name it I will choke up even if I don't know the person, pathetic, I know. But seeing how precious this baby is and thinking I might be holding my own sweet baby in the Fall, words can't express how exciting this is for us! I'm sure most of you know exactly what I'm talking about ;)

A lot of rambling and blah, blah, blah!

Went to the doctor Tuesday and all of my bloodwork was normal, YAY! The 11th is my ultrasound, so hopefully we will get to see a heartbeat...they said it might be the following Tuesday before we actually hear it, but they will try for this coming up Tuesday. I am pretty excited, but still kinda nervous. I am still cramping quite a bit and having weird pains in my groin and lower abdomen area. Supposedly this is normal, "everyone is different". I think I will feel better about all of this weird stuff going on with my body after I see that there is something in my uterus and it is not the worst, ectopic. I am just so terrified of that. But all bloodwork indicates normal, so that is what I need to focus on and stop being such a Negative Nelly!

So, Lisa got me this super cool pregnancy journal. Rather than most week-by-week journals, this one is a day-by-day, starting with the day of conception. Robert and I love it because it tells us everything that is developing with the embryo/fetus as well as mom. It provides so much interesting information. It also has me measure my waist and weigh myself periodically to monitor my physical changes, as well as keeping up with mood swings, cravings (all of which is blank thus far...thank goodness) and whatever else is suppose to go along with pregnancy. I think I update like weekly or bi-weekly, something like that and then at the end of each month it has a journal page for whatever your heart desires.
LOVE IT!

Robert is doing EVERYTHING possible to take care of this little nugget and the momma to-be. He went out and bought a HUGE bag of fresh boccoli from Sam's to help with "brain development" this month and is making sure that I am eating enough and drinking plenty of water. Last night he went through all of my face wash getting rid of anything with sacylic acid in it...haha. Yup, he is ONE OF THOSE! He is sooo cute, annoying, but cute. I might have to make sure he keeps himself preoccupied with other things if he keeps this up ;). Seriously though, he has been so supportive and sweet. I love seeing him so excited :D

Luckily, no "morning sickness...yet...I'm keeping my fingers crossed since I am still so early. I do have pretty bad indigestion, but it is tolerable during the day and as long as I don't eat after 7pm-ish I am fine. Cheese totally turns me off though. The smell makes my stomach crawl! Cold cheese will not happen, but if it is melted over something, it is doable, but not something I desire or really care to have. Yeah, cheese is pretty much the only "don't" right now. I am not wanting sweets at all really. They don't make me sick, I just don't care to have it.

I STILL have not asked what my due date is (estimated Sept. 6th according to egg retrival date) so I don't know excatly how far along I am, none of that mumbo-jumbo really makes any sense to me, but I think I am 5 1/2 weeks??? I am confused because in my little book/journal thingy it says that this is the beginning of my 6th week, but online it says that I am 5 weeks and like 4 days? I seriously need to remember to ask the nurse Tuesday...for now I'm sticking to 5 1/2 :D

The results are in....

So Roberto and I ventured out to San Marcos for dinner last night. This is our favorite Mexican Restaurant :) I ate entirely too much, but enjoyed every bite! By the time I got home I was miserable. I had heart burn all night and finally began throwing up at 4am, not fun. Not fun, but better than lying in bed for hours with horrible heart burn. Anyways, this morning I was still pretty nauseated and called in to work and even considered changing my appointment. I thought for sure that the stomach bug going around the fam had finally reached me :(

So I had my test this morning and Robert and I waited all day for the results, and finally at 3:30 we got the news. POSITIVE!!! I still can't believe it. I was beyond positive that it would be negative b/c my cramps have been all too familiar for this time of the month. I was so sure that over the past couple of days I would start crying when I was by myself driving, not hysterical but upset for sure just thinking about the effect it would have on my Robby. But there we were at 3:30 looking at each other crying as we listened to the nurse tell us all the hormone levels (which I was too much in shock to even write down) and details, etc. We are just elated at this wonderful news. All of our dreams of being parents might actually come true.

Today I am week 4 and next Tuesday I will have more blood work, just to monitor the little gremlin and his/her feeding grounds. Oh, so I do remember the nurse said they like for my estrogen to be above 100 and mine is like 750-ish. Whoa!...I think :) Anyways, I can't remember the numbers, but she said all hormone levels are "fantastic". We like "fantastic"! Oh, so for the bad news, I have to continue the booty shots (progesterone oil) for the first 12 weeks! OUCH!!!! So I have 8 weeks left. My tush is gonna be like steel after all of this mess. It's times like these when I wish I could trade butts with Kim Kardashian, ya know, just for the pin pricking options :) In all seriousness...I think, this has all been so worth it. Just to get this wonderful news today has made all the stress and needles and hormones well worth it :) We're thrilled!

My goal now is to figure out what in the world to do about this indigestion...obviously my diet has to change or at least be fine tuned :) It is just going to take me a while to figure out what causes the indigestion...as of now Chili and Fajitas. I know this is probably a no-brainer for most of you out there, but I have always been able to pretty much eat whatever, whenever without a problem. I have never been able to eat red meat late at night or lots of sugar without having an upset stomach. Hmmm, any tips for preventing heartburn?

Transfer

So, Transfer is complete. When we went in the procedure room for the transfer, we were informed that the late bloomer split to a 2-cell embryo and then discontinued development and began to fragment. So we ended up with one "perfect" 5-day blast. Dr. Long did my transfer and he is pretty awesome. He said that they don't get any more perfect than this...I like "perfect".

He also said that my endometrium is beautiful, thanks to Miriam for pumping my butt full of progesterone at 5:30 sharp (interesting choice of words) everyday :)

They gave my a "snuggle bear because we care", that was just weird to me but I think Roxy will enjoy eating it.

We also received a list of symptoms that women often mistaken for pregnancy because of the other hormone injections. This made me laugh, because I could so hear people claiming to have pregnancy symptoms immediately after transfer, knowing that is sooooo unlikely.

The list of things that I CAN still do included normal household chores. I thought this to be a bit inappropriate, at least let me milk the "I need my rest" card for the next two weeks, but noooo! Just sayin, I think they should reconsider their list.

Overall it was such a cool experience. Seeing the picture of the embryo, having the doc tell us exactly what he was doing and why. He answered all of our questions and made us feel so comfortable and confident. Robert was in there with me the whole time, with his gown, mask and little shoe covers...I wish I would have thought to take a camera : /

So yeah, we are waiting, but will know by New Years! :D

Can I get an Upgrade???

Guess who just got upgraded to (2) embryos?!?!?!
Everything is still on for a Sunday morning transfer :)

Retrieval

So, only (4) eggs were retrieved. I am pretty disappointed with that number...but "it only takes one".


I received an update today from Janet and it looks like all four were mature, (1) has fertilized and is progressing so far and none fertilized abnormally, meaning there is still a chance for more of them to progress.

I will receive another update Friday and then "Transfer" is scheduled for 9:45 Sunday morning, if all continues to progress. We are very hopeful ;)

Retrieval Scheduled

Our plans changed a bit, We had an appointment Saturday in B'ham as scheduled, but then they wanted me back again on Sunday. not what I anticipated, which anyone that knows me, knows that when I have unexpected changes in my schedule I automatically go into a slight panic mode. Dramatic? YES!, but it is what is is. So Saturday I tried to relax by doing lots of therapeutic Christmas shopping :) This was good and bad, good because I was able to finally start knocking out my list of goodies to buy and bad because when it was time to go to a 4-hour church activity, I was already exhausted. Oh well, I managed and I'm glad I sucked it up and went to the party because it was great! Saturday night I FINALLY crawled into bed at 11:00 and while trying to review in my head what I needed to do the next day realized that HELLO! I forgot to pick up my perscription for antibiotics that Robert & I both were scheduled to start the next morning. I wasn't too worried because I knew that Walgreens was open 24-hours :) Too bad when I got to the drive-thru I was informed that the prescription had not been called in...RRRGGGHH!!! So I drove home, in the rain, 1/2 asleep, 1/2 stressed and 100% pissed at myself for forgetting something so important until the last minute. Luckily at my appointment the next morning they called it in and we started as soon as we got home...

...Am I rambling??? Oh well...

...Anyways, bright and early at my Sunday appointment we were informed that lefty was more productive than earlier thought, with two immature follis and one that was hiding out, but measuring mature! This increased our numbers to six measuring mature and 3 that might mature before retrieval :) Let me just say that size is important, but estrogen levels are another HUGE part of it. For each mature follicle your estrogen should be between 150 and 200-ish. The minimum measurements for retrieval are (2) 1.8cm and (2) 1.4cm. I had (2) over 2cm, (2) 1.8 +/- and (2) slightly over 1.4cm. We are thrilled at the results. I was pretty pesimistic going into this and after reading others posts online and comparing my results to theirs, became convinced that I would not even retrieve... I soon learned that I cannot compare my results to others. Each individual truly is different and responds differently to meds, etc. I am soooo glad that this cyst did not cause problems as far as pain or cancellation of my cycle. Did I mention that this doesn't seem real. I am going in tomorrow for my retrieval, at which point they will also drain my buddy, the persistant cyst.

I will update after we get some news on Tuesday.

Thanks for for all the prayers and support, we are very appreciative of our family and friends that have been so encouraging and helpful. We love you!...This doesn't mean you stop praying though ;)

(12/11)Saturday's appointment summary:

E2: 695

Follicles: 5

Prolactin: .5





(12/12)Sunday's appointment summary:

E2: 1042

Follicles: 6 :)

Prolactin: .5