Ringing in the New Year...

So I was having a mini-break down since today would of been my 2nd beta...instead the office is closed...I caved and bought more tests just to make sure I was still prego...LOL!!

So Cheers to 2012 being our year!!

The eagle has landed

We are very much prego as my ivf nurse informed me!!! Lol!! She said of course I already new from the positive tests...I'm still in shock!!!

Beta 210 (they wanted it between 80-100)

Estrogen: 353

Progesterone: 34.3

Next beta tuesday...so far away!

Super anxious

I cannot believe tomorrow we will FINALLY find out if we are pregnant!!! It's seems like I have waited for this day for a lifetime.

I just have to say how lucky I am to have such love and support from family & friends!!!

I had a sweet friend monogram a onesie for me to give to my hubby once we got the call...since he's a pilot I thought it was only appropriate for the baby(ies) to be "daddy's little co-pilot"!!! Of course the pack of onesies came in 3...her girlfriend is the most witty shirt thinker-upper EVER...so she came up with 2 more ideas for the others in the pack!! They are so stinking cute :-) I'm sooo excited!

Of course I continued to pee on sticks all week and the result has been mind-blowing and numbing at the same time...I just cannot wait until the BETA results to really get excited!!!!

Anywho...I will report back tomorrow with stats!!

Getting caught up

As I sit here today reflecting back to our consultation on November 15, I would of never guessed we would of gotten this far this fast!  Within one month we went from no hope of getting pregnant in 2011 to transferring 2 embabies!  This has been by far the neatest, most surreal thing I have experienced thus far.

Our day 5 transfer went beautifully...although my husband wasn't in the room hold my hand...he didn't think he could make it through without passing out...it all worked out because he was able to record the transfer of the Twin Bens, which he wouldn't of been able to do in the room! 

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE my Doctor...he was complimenting how awesome my lining looked and didn't see why this wouldn't work he also made the comment that he wouldn't just say this and not mean it!  This really made me feel great and hopeful that we would finally get pregnant!  It's a tremendous feeling when you know that your doctor genuinely cares about you.

I had taken off of work and actually stayed in bed for 3 days as they suggested after the transfer, which is probably a little dramatic, but sleeping all day was a nice change of pace!  It was nice to get back to work which has helped pass the 11 day wait until BETA a little easier.

We decided that on Christmas Day I was going to take a pregnancy test, which my pregnant BFF had left over and of course didn't need...must be the lucky box of pregnancy tests!  Of course I had to go purchase more because I couldn't only test 1 day...LOL! 

OMG!!!!

  I feel the fortune cookie I opened describes our situation PERFECTLY!!

I am soooo excited for our BETA on Thursday...although I am cautiously optimistic!

Merry Christmas to us!!!

Omg...We are soooo excited :-) There are no words to describe my feelings right now...but thought I'd stop by and wish everyone a Merry Christmas!!!

Twin Bens

Here is the video of the 2 embryo transfer done...still working on cutting down the retrieval video...it's too long to upload!

Fly by

Just wanted to fly by and post a quick update/pics on today's transfer!

 Our 2 babies!

Grade 3BB

 Proud Parents after the transfer!

Big brother Coop checking out his future brother & sister ;-)

Nicole & Ian got us a "implantation" plant...so cute!

I will post more tomorrow once I have slept a little!!

Calling all eggs

What a whirlwind of emotions this week has been since my egg retrieval!  I wish I had a light duty job to keep my mind busy this week...but unfortunately that's not the case, so I have taken the week off until the 22nd!

On the day of the retrieval some friends and I had a bet of the final # to fertilize...whelp guess Mama knows best is suitable in this case...

My husband: 12
Me: 8
My BFF: 6
My hubby's BFF: 4 (didnt appreciate that too much...lol!!)

Day 2 Stats:
All 8 still fertilized
5-6 grade 1-2
4 cells
Tentative transfer day 3 :-( boo! I was really hoping for a Day 5 transfer to give our little embies a fighting chance.

We showed up @ 6:45 am today for my appt with yummy sweet treats from a friends bakery for the staff...which they loved!!! Figured I'd sweeten them up!!

Guess my sweetening up worked, because my Dr. went back to check on my "standby" transfer status...whelp...they were dividing properly!!! 5 of them were 8 cells and the others were 5 cells. 

Talk about a huge sigh of relief...I think this was the first time all week I smiled. I have been such a grump (blaming it on the hormones) hehe!! My poor husband probably wished that he had to work this week!!! Owell...he signed up for a hormonal wife by signing the IVF paperwork ;-)

Fortunately the butt crack of dawn appointment wasn't a total waste since I had to have bloodwork done today too!

 

Everything looks great:
Progesterone - 132.4
Estrogen- 2699

Our official transfer will be Sunday @ 12:30...sooooo excited :-) 

Day 1 Stats

Of the 17 eggs retrieved, 8 matured, 8 fertilized with ICSI.

I honestly have to say I was a little bummed when i got this call half asleep this am.  I am saying a little prayer to those eggs to continue to grow and divide properly!!!

I know it only takes 1 great egg to create a baby, but I was hoping for plenty of snowbabies for later!!

How many eggs are in my basket?

Our IVF egg retrieval was this morning...we had to show up @ 6:45 am and my retrieval began promptly at 7:15 am.  My doctor was in great spirits, which is always uplifting!  He is quite the character! 

Of course I had to have it documented by pics!!  And my awesome hubby even took a video of the actual retrieval while he was in the waiting area (I will work on posting that up later)!! 

Guess how many eggs they retrieved?

We are super excited and so grateful to be at this place in our lives!!

We will get our report tomorrow on how well our eggs are doing...crossing our fingers and toes for a great outcome!

Side note on my baby dad:  Poor guy had to do his deed in a room where you could hear the door slam constantly, people talking and a 1980 video to perform too...of course the wifi didn't work in there...owell...that's the easy part ;0)

Moving right along

Todays Stats:

E2: 1132
Lining: 11.63 (fantastic as per my Doc)!!
Lots of great follies growing right along....Range of 13-17mm

HCG Shot: Sunday @ 7:45 pm
ER (egg retrieval): Tuesday, Dec 13th @ 7:15 am
Transfer: 2-5 days (TBD)

This morning I was a ball of nerves before my appointment.  We are super excited that we are getting closer to our egg retrieval!!

Our BETA bloodwork will be on December 29...squeal!!!!

Thank you to everyone who has been supportive, super positive and sending good vibes my way...it means a lot :-)

Knock Knock

Here a joke for you:

*Knock Knock

-Who is there?

*Ting ting & ping ping

-Ting ting & ping ping who?

*Ting ting & ping ping YOUR KICKING MY ASS today!!

LOL!!  I even had to humor my Nurse by emailing her and asking her if this could be ovulation...because I felt crampy like I would with ovulation.  Instead of her emailing back she called...chuckling of course :-) She informed me that around day 7 is when things start really growing and what I was feeling was my follicles getting larger and that I would feel crampy and bloated...whew!!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ultrasound & bloodwork #'s from this morning. 

Lining: 9.96

E2: 420ish

Lots of follicles growing on each ovary...most +10mm (approx 12-14 on each ovary).

My Dr. told me that more than likely my retrieval would be Monday or Tuesday.
Another ultrasound and bloodwork on Saturday!

Not such a great start...

Yesterday's bloodwork for my E2 came in at 113, which is "lower" than they like to see.  My IVF nurse said that the 5 units of Lupron were suppressing my ovaries too much, so they lowered my dose to 2 1/2 units.  Last night she had me increase my Follstim to 225.  And this am she had me increase my Menopur to 150 and my Follistim will drop back down to 150.  Fingers crossed that tomorrows #'s come in better and the ultrasound looks promising!

It's weird how in tune you become with your body going through IVF.  I'm not trying to read into everything...but I can genuinely say that I didn't "feel" a whole lot going on down there over the past few days :( ting-ting and ping-ping were not in full effect!

They want to see the E2 level at 1,000-4,000 before retrival.   

Make a wish

As we progress in our journey through IVF I cannot help but make a wish that this will be our last photo session as a family of 3!!!

Here's some photos that we had taken for our Christmas Card this year!

 Cute idea I saw on Pinterest!

 My future baby-daddy ;) lol

 Happy Holidays from us!

My 1st born!

Currently I am on Stim Day 3...things are going well so far!  No complaints...I have named my ovaries "ting-ting and ping-ping" because when I inject the meds they start jumping around!  Tomorrow I will head in for bloodwork to see if I need to increase or decrease the Follistim!

Ovaries reporting to duty

This morning was the aspiration of my cysts on both ovaries.  First he wanted to do another ultrasound to check the measurements and see if they changed from yesterday.  The left side had shrunk a little bit, but the right ovary didn't budge at all.  From there I had trucked across the hall in a sheet to another room where the surgery would be performed.  That was a hilariously bizarre experience...let me just say orange vagina (from the betadine) LMAO!  I guess in those awkward situations I always have to be a little comical and my doctor was feeling quite humorous too, so it made the procedure feel like a breeze!  The procedure itself was a little uncomfortable "crampy like", but not painful by any stretch!

My lining looked great, cysts taken care of and 10+ follicles on each ovary that he could see are ready to rock and roll.  Now my ovaries are ready for some drugs!!!  Menopur & follistim begin tomorrow!

*Bloodwork on Tuesday and Ultrasound/Bloodwork on Thursday.

Another hurdle

The one thing I have learned through infertility is to never be TOO confident in what your body (in my case my ovaries) has in store!  Today was my 1st IVF ultrasound and bloodwork for my estrogen & progesterone levels.  The ultrasound showed that the cysts are still on both ovaries...of course they are...why wouldn't they be gone! AHHHH!!!!  The IVF nurse informed me that in order to begin the stim meds my bloodwork be based on my estrogen levels.

I of course knew that the phone call wasn't going to include exciting news to start shooting myself up tomorrow am with stim meds; instead she told me that the Dr. wanted to aspirate the little bastards TOMORROW!!!  OMG!  I guess it is better than "waiting" it out and remaining on Lupron to see if they shrink.  Remember we are on a time crunch: T-minus 30 days until the hubby leaves for 5 straight weeks, so let's aspirate some cysts! LOL

So here we are jumping over one more hurdle to our baby!  Positive thoughts ONLY....wooo-sa!