Week 19

Week 18: Large tomato
Your baby's sensory development is exploding! Her brain is designating specialized areas for smell, taste, hearing, vision, and touch. Some research suggests that she may be able to hear your voice now, so don't be shy about reading aloud, talking to her, or singing a happy tune if the mood strikes you.

Your baby weighs about 8 1/2 ounces and measures 6 inches, head to bottom — Her arms and legs are in the right proportions to each other and the rest of her body now. Her kidneys continue to make urine and the hair on her scalp is sprouting. A waxy protective coating called the vernix caseosa is forming on her skin to prevent it from pickling in the amniotic fluid.(babycenter.com)

Total weight gain/loss: At the fitness center I was still at 10lbs, so we are hoping Christmas didn't cause too much damage.

Maternity clothes? Yep...this week I am enjoying sweats as I am on break...and I found a pair of maternity pants I thought I had lost so it's been a good week!

Stretch Marks? We're going to go with no....

Sleep: Being on break I am staying up later, but also sleeping in later, so I think I'm still at about 10 hours of sleep each night. Definitely dreading back to work next week if for no other reason than I have to get up so stinkin early again.

Best moment this week: Definitely getting some movement now...and loving it! I'm really hoping this baby is a mover and shaker unlike Em was.

Movement: See above

Food Cravings/Aversions: Pretty much anything...I feel like since I'm home I'm eating all the time!

Gender: Lots of people are saying boy--we'll know more next month. Jan. 13th is the big day!

Belly Button in or out? In.

What I miss: being able to pick up Em without it hurting

What I'm looking forward to:more movement and the u/s in 2 short weeks!

Weekly Wisdom: A clean house is a fabulous house....

Milestones:Definite movements!

Week 18

Week 18: Bell Pepper

Head to rump, your baby is about 5 1/2 inches long and he weighs almost 7 ounces. He's busy flexing his arms and legs — movements that you'll start noticing more and more in the weeks ahead. His blood vessels are visible through his thin skin, and his ears are now in their final position, although they're still standing out from his head a bit. A protective covering of myelin is beginning to form around his nerves, a process that will continue for a year after he's born. If you're having a girl, her uterus and fallopian tubes are formed and in place. If you're having a boy, his genitals are noticeable now, but he may hide them from you during an ultrasound. (babycenter.com)

Total weight gain/loss: Up 10lbs from pre-pregnancy which seems like a lot to me but dr. was ok with it. We'll see what it is after Christmas..yikes!!

Maternity clothes? Yep...this week I am enjoying sweats as I am on break :)

Stretch Marks? We're going to go with no....

Sleep: Being on break I am staying up later, but also sleeping in later, so I think I'm still at about 10 hours of sleep each night.

Best moment this week: I'm 99% positive I felt kicks/hits from baby on Sunday...of course haven't felt them that strongly since to confirm it.

Movement: See above

Food Cravings/Aversions: Nothing in particular...I have cooked twice this week which is an improvement from when I was working.

Gender: Lots of people are saying boy--we'll know more next month. Jan. 13th is the big day!

Belly Button in or out? In.

What I miss: Nothing really this week.

What I'm looking forward to: Seeing family for Christmas

Weekly Wisdom: Rest is still a good thing, even when on break I seem to want to push too hard.

Milestones: Maybe baby's first movements??

Baby Belly pics

Here are my 1st baby belly pics of this pregnancy....hopefully look somewhat like baby belly and not ate too much chocolate belly. A huge shout out to our good friends Rob and Michelle for finding and sending us the t-shirt. As you should know (if not go back and read several posts back about our transfer) Baby Hilman was nicknamed Ninja very early on, and it has become pretty much standard that when referring to the baby we call him/her ninja. In fact on my gma's cross stitched ornament she sent for baby she even stitched Ninja on the back :) So when Michelle saw this shirt she immediately thought of us and had to get it! And we think it is perfect. Hopefully Chuck will indeed get the Ninja he has been hoping for!

Week 17

Week 17: Onion or Turnip (depending on the website)

Your baby's skeleton is changing from soft cartilage to bone, and the umbilical cord — her lifeline to the placenta — is growing stronger and thicker. Your baby weighs 5 ounces now (about as much as a turnip), and she's around 5 inches long from head to bottom. She can move her joints, and her sweat glands are starting to develop.

Total weight gain/loss: I have a dr appt Monday so I'll have an exact number then.

Maternity clothes? Yep...will be parting with some of my nonmaternity clothes next week when Mar is here--she loves my pregnancies cause she inherits a lot of clothes!

Stretch Marks? We're going to go with no....

Sleep: I made it to 9 o'clock 3 times this week and 10 o'clock once! So hopefully getting better :)

Best moment this week: I had a dumb moment today. We had our school Christmas party and a parent came in and we were chatting and out of the blue she says "how far are you"? And I looked at her very perplexed and she said "You are pregnant aren't you?" to which it clicked what she was asking and made total sense. But for a short moment I really was clueless! I blame it on the late nights I've had all week!

Movement: I'm going with a slightly more definite maybe than last week. I've had some moments that I haven't had to poke and prod that I am pretty sure are baby, but not quite ready to say definitely yes eyt.

Food Cravings/Aversions: I seem to be enjoying food in general lately. Fruits and veggies are most appealing.

Gender: Lots of people are saying boy--we'll know more next month. Hopefully I will have a date after Monday's appt.

Belly Button in or out? In.

What I miss: Oddly..being able to shovel the driveway. I know it's weird but this is a chore I normally enjoy, but am avoiding due to growing baby.

What I'm looking forward to: Christmas break!!!

Weekly Wisdom: Hmm......not sure on this one this week.

Milestones: Still a boring one more week closer to baby.

Stay tuned, there will be a belly pic coming later......in a special t-shirt bought just for Chuck!

Week 16

Week 16: Avacado

Get ready for a growth spurt. In the next few weeks, your baby will double his weight and add inches to his length. Right now, he's about the size of an avocado: 4 1/2 inches long (head to rump) and 3 1/2 ounces. His legs are much more developed, his head is more erect than it has been, and his eyes have moved closer to the front of his head. His ears are close to their final position, too. The patterning of his scalp has begun, though his locks aren't recognizable yet. He's even started growing toenails. And there's a lot happening inside as well. For example, his heart is now pumping about 25 quarts of blood each day, and this amount will continue to increase as your baby continues to develop.


Total weight gain/loss: At the dr. last Friday I was up 1lb from my previous appt. so 8lbs total.

Maternity clothes? Still struggling with shirts, I've started wearing some maternity shirts because they are nice and long, some of my regular shirts (especially sweaters) are getting too short.

Stretch Marks? I'm just not even going to look....

Sleep: Well--we are at 16 weeks as of Thursday, and I slept 10 hours last night...so I'm not sure this is getting better yet, but I will continue to be hopeful.

Best moment this week: I came out the my grad class girls..who had actually figured it out--it was a very entertaining moment for sure.

Movement: Maybe--I've been "encouraging" it when I am laying down in bed..and I've felt something, but I'm not convinced enough yet to call it baby movement.

Food Cravings/Aversions: I've had a couple of nights this week where dinner wasn't exciting for me...but nothing major.

Gender: Lots of people are saying boy--we'll know more next month.

Belly Button in or out? In.

What I miss: Time with Chuck at night when we hang out and I'm not sleeping

What I'm looking forward to: movement!

Weekly Wisdom: Enjoy every minute!

Milestones: 1 more week down.

Anticipation and Hope

This past Sunday was the 1st Sunday of Advent and our preacher preached about hope and the hope that comes with looking forward to Christmas. It brought back memories of 3 years ago (wow! Has it really been 3 years!?) when I was 36 weeks pregnant with Emily at Christmas time and the anticipation and hope Chuck and I were feeling. And now, 15 weeks pregnant, feeling that same anticipation and hope for Ninja. I wanted to repost this Advent devotional that Chuck wrote in 2007, because once again, it sums up our feelings so wonderfully!

I Think I Get It Now Chuck Hilman
�You will be with child and give birth to a
son, and you are to give him the name Jesus.
He will be great and will be called the Son of
the Most High. The Lord God will give him
the throne of his father David, and he will
reign over the house of Jacob forever; his
kingdom will never end.�
I think I finally get it now.
For hundreds of years the Jews looked
forward to the day their messiah would come
and restore their kingdom. They wrote about
their desire for him to come. They prayed
for his coming deliverance. The eagerly
expected him. I think I finally understand
their sense of anticipation.
As Sarah and I wait for our first child to
be born I am beginning to understand the
anticipation felt by the entire Jewish nation
(on a much smaller scale, of course). We
have spent the last six months preparing ourselves,
and our home, for our child�s arrival.
We have prayed for our child every day. We
have put together baby things, cleaned, and
prayed some more. Sarah has eaten and I
have taken that as a challenge to eat more
than her. I think I�m winning.
The level of excitement about Christmas
is a little higher this year because I know
what it�s like to anticipate the birth of a child.
I would like to remind everyone about
how exciting this Advent season really is.
There is a reason the whole world is not excited
about the birth of our child. He (or she)
is not the savior of the world! We are anticipating
the one who has saved us from our
sins and redeemed us from the curse of the
fall!
I pray that you would enter this Advent season
with a sense of excitement and eager anticipation.

Week 15

Week 15: Naval Orange

Continuing the march towards normal proportions, baby's legs now out measure the arms. And, finally, all four limbs have functional joints. Your fetus is squirming and wiggling like crazy down in the womb, though you probably still can't feel the movements.


Total weight gain/loss: According to the fitness center scale today I am actually down 3lbs from my appt. last Monday. I suppose that could be attributed to different scales??

Maternity clothes? Getting to the point where some of my shirts don't fit very well, but maternity shirts also don't fit well..very awkward, yucky in between stage.

Stretch Marks? None new that I have noticed.

Sleep: Definitely not getting enough! Pretty much tired all the time and going to bed earlier and earlier each night. Same...the dr. said it should get better by 16 weeks, so here's hoping!

Best moment this week: I've been really good and walked 4 miles at the fitness center so far...making me feel really good about myself :)

Movement: Still waiting...maybe this week??

Food Cravings/Aversions: None really

Gender: I don't have a clue.

Belly Button in or out? In.

What I miss: Clothes that fit nicely

What I'm looking forward to: movement!

Weekly Wisdom: Nothing deep and profound is coming to me right now....

Milestones: Another week closer to meeting ninja!

Week 14

Week 14: Lemon

Baby is the size of a lemon! Your adorable little fetus is busy with thumb sucking, toe wiggling, and (not so cute but equally amazing) making urine and breathing amniotic fluid as the liver, kidneys and spleen continue to develop. Lanugo (thin, downy hair) is growing all over the body for warmth.


Total weight gain/loss: Monday's appt was +7lbs from the start, so 1lb from last appt, I suppose I can handle that, as long as it doesn't go crazy with Thanksgiving and Christmas

Maternity clothes? Still loving the maternity pants, but definitely need to go shopping for mre!

Stretch Marks? None new that I have noticed.

Sleep: Definitely not getting enough! Pretty much tired all the time and going to bed earlier and earlier each night. Same...the dr. said it should get better by 16 weeks, so here's hoping!

Best moment this week: We went public on facebook this week, so the world now knows!

Movement: Still waiting

Food Cravings/Aversions: This seems to be getting better, which will not help in the weight gain department.

Gender: I don't have a clue.

Belly Button in or out? In.

What I miss: Nothing really has hit me this week that I want that I can't have

What I'm looking forward to: The pumpkin pie that is cooking in my oven

Weekly Wisdom: It will not be the end of the world if my house isn't clean.

Milestones: Another drs. appt down

dr. appt update

I had a drs. appt today. Overall it was pretty boring, which is a good thing at this point. Baby's h/b was in the 160s, my b/p looked good, weight gain was so-so, dr. was ok with it, but I wasn't. We go back in 4 weeks for our next check. Quick and boring!

13 weeks..

At the urging of a good friend...who says I'm slacking in my blogging, but offered a great solution to the problem....I have a new goal! I am going to blog weekly...and she shared a blog that used this to help me along. So hopefully there will be more action in the coming weeks! Thursday is actually the start of my new week..so look for the updates Weds. night (cause I have class Thursday and am usually exhausted when I get home!)

Week 13: Peach

Baby is now the size of a peach! Your fetus is forming teeth and vocal cords... savor this, their non-functional phase. Baby is approaching normal proportions, with a head now only one third the size of the body. Intestines are in the process of moving from the umbilical cord to baby's tummy. (Much more convenient.)

How far along? 13 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: at my last appt I was up 6 lbs. hopefully it is not more than that, we will find out Monday at my next appt.

Maternity clothes? Maternity pants pretty much all the time (other than sweats). I have yet to enjoy a day in the bellaband so I figured I might as well just go all out and pull out the maternity pants.Tops are still good and should be for a while.

Stretch Marks? None new that I have noticed.

Sleep: Definitely not getting enough! Pretty much tired all the time and going to bed earlier and earlier each night.

Best moment this week: I went public at work last Weds. Several people had been wondering so I suppose it was good to get it out there. Definitely enjoying not having to hide it anymore. I also had one of my students say today...Mrs. Hilman, I think you are looking a little pregnant. This is the same student that accused me of being pregnant like a month ago. Clearly he is too observant!

Movement: Waiting very impatiently.

Food Cravings/Aversions: Dinner....from about 3 o'clock till bedtime, food doesn't sound exciting at all and I have to force myself to eat something or else I wake up in the middle of the night feeling very ooky.

Gender: I don't have a clue.

Belly Button in or out? In.

What I miss: Subway has sounded amazing lately, but I'm avoiding lunch meat to avoid lysteria.

What I'm looking forward to: Thanksgiving :)

Weekly Wisdom: Going to bed at 8 o'clock is not a bad thing.

Milestones: 2nd trimester!

9w appt.

We had our 9w appt with the midwife yesterday, it was our 1st appt with her, so Chuck came with to meet her. It really was a simple, quick appt. Saw the nurse first, did the customary pee in a cup, blood pressure and weight check. The midwife J came in. She is wonderful! I think we are really going to enjoy working with her! She has a daughter just a few weeks older than Em, so we shared some 2 year old stories while getting acquainted. She then went through our medical history, said everything sounded great and then my favorite part.....checking for the heartbeat :) I was worried they wouldn't attempt, since before 10w it can be hit or miss, but she said she always makes the attempt. Lucky for us, we found it very quickly...170s. It sounded great and I'm pretty sure I could have listened to it all day long! Next appt in 4 weeks (Nov. 22nd). Hopefully nothing exciting between now and then!

Grow baby grow!

To start--a picture....this is Ninja Blasty at 7w1d old.




Ninja is the little gray blob in the right hand corner of the big black circle (my uterus). Dana my most fav. u/s tech did our u/s for us and everything looked absolutely perfect. We saw Ninja's heart beat...146bpm....something I could have stared at forever and ever. Ninja measured exactly 7w1d so right on track. After the u/s we met briefly with Nurse Wendy, who said we were good to go, she would send our records on to the ob's office. We were to continue PIO until 8w, but at that point there is no need to check levels or anything, so we were to just stop. This was a little nerve wracking to me, being the control freak that I am, but I did as was told, and so far everything seems fine.
We are now 9w2d and see the midwife on Monday. I am hopeful to hear the h/b or better yet, get an u/s to check on ninja, but being a new office, I'm not sure what to expect. I've been feeling good for the most part. The worst so far is the extreme exhaustion, I am in bed most nights by 9...which is making it difficult to keep up with housework and such, but it is what it is. I also have had lovely "morning" sickness, except in my case it seems to be afternoon-evening sickness. It usually sets in at about 2-3p.m and lasts until I go to bed. So far just feeling icky, which I can deal with. Suppers have kind of been pathetic because of it, but such is life. So that is where we are at...hopefully I can be a better blogger, but I'm kind of thinking lack of blogs, means boring pregnancy, which is a good thing!

Best laid plans....

This week is the week of appts. and I thought I had it all figured out. Boy was I wrong!

I had my family dr. yearly appt yesterday--where I was planning on getting a pap and not a flu shot. I ended up with no pap and a flu shot!
She said she wanted to leave the pap for the ob because she wasn't sure what all they cultured for now, and didn't want me to have to have 2, which I much appreciated! I told her I was leaning towards waiting till 2nd tri for the flu shot, and she said it was perfectly safe to get it now, and that the protection in this flu shot is supposed to last a full year and not just 6 months, so the sooner I got it the better. When it came down to it, she said if it were her she would get it now, which convinced me to go ahead with it.

Today was my nurse visit at my ob--and I am super duper excited about how that worked out! I decided to switch ob's because I didn't love the majority of the nursing staff there. There was 1 nurse I loved (we actually went to h.s together) but she had gone on maternity leave a few months before Em was born and I didn't think she had come back. So I switched to a very highly recommended ob elsewhere. While he is very highly recommended I was still nervous that he wouldn't "work" for me, or that the nurses would be worse than office 1. Imagine my surprise when I walk in and the nurse I loved from my last practice is there!! We had a nice chat about why I switched ob's and why she left the other office...it sounded like it was very similar reasons, which made me feel really good about my decision! There is both an ob and a midwife there--we will see the midwife for the majority of our 1st and 2nd tri visits and then will alternate between the 2 so we are comfortable with both for delivery. Oh and she said I don't even have to get a pap because I have had more than 3 without any problems, so I can wait 2 more years before getting one! Glad I waited on that one!

Now we just have to get through the u/s at the RE on Friday and officially graduate!

Update..

Apparently I've turned into a bad blogger (even worse than I used to be!). Here's a quick update on Ninja...our 2nd beta was drawn Monday the 20th and came back 976, which is more than doubled so we were done with blood draws :) Our next date to look forward to is Oct. 8th, which still seems like forever away, for our ultrasound! At that point we should see little Ninja's heartbeat and most likely be released from the RE.

As far as being released from the RE, that means I need an ob to go to. I think I have decided to switch ob's. I really liked the ob that I went to with Emily, but her nurses kind of rubbed me the wrong way sometimes, and since that is who mainly is taking care of you, that is an important relationship. I called my primary dr. to see who they would recommend and the girl that answered the phone very whole-heartedly recommended another ob who practices in the same building as my previous ob. She said many of the girls there have gone with him, and I know several other people who have used him and really like him. So I went ahead and put a call into his office. Of course they don't really know what to do with me, since I am under the care of an RE currently, I'm not a "normal" patient yet. We finally decided to go ahead and schedule my nurse intake visit for next week (the 5th) and from there we will schedule my next appt. probably a couple weeks after I am released from the RE. Hopefully I will enjoy this dr. and staff as much as others have!

In Ninja news--he/she is the size of an apple seed this week, which is ironic because we are studying apples at school :) So far I'm vacillating between symptoms and no symptoms depending on the moment. It's hard because a lot of the symptoms can also be blamed on the pio, so I don't know what to blame them on. My symptoms seem to be worse later in the day and before bed. I usually feel pretty good in the mornings. They are definitely much more intense at this point than I remember them being with Emily...hopefully that's not a sign of things to come!

What a rollercoaster!

The past week has been a roller coaster like no other. Last Sat. I took my 1st home test, to confirm that the trigger shot was out, it came back negative as expected for that point. I tested again Monday, which I believe would have been about the time I got a positive with Emily, it was negative. I was bummed, but knew it could be too early. I tested again Wednesday, still negative. At this point it should have been positive, so I all but declared the cycle done and was really bummed. Chuck started telling people it was negative and that night we spent hours discussing our next steps.

I knew I still had to go in for a beta on Friday, but was not excited about it. I didn't do any more home tests because I couldn't bring myself to see the negative and by not testing I could hold out some small amount of hope that it would be positive. I had made the decision that I would not call in for the results until after school, because I remembered all too clearly how upset I was after the FET. I noticed about mid-morning that the nurse had called and left a voicemail, but didn't plan on checking it until after school. I knew it wouldn't say anything more than call back we have your results, since they have never actually left results on voicemail.

After lunch I had about 10 min before my kids came in from recess and something convinced me to go ahead and check the voicemail to see if I could tell by the nurse's tone what the news was. Imagine my shock when I hear nurse Wendy say "call us back, we have your numbers and you will be very happy with them". Immediately I thought "Happy?? How could I be happy about a negative?? She must be mistaken!" Of course, I had to immediately call her back. I'm now down to about 3 min. before kids come in. I call her and before she can even tell me my results I tell her "I wasn't going to call until after school because we've been testing at home, and it's been negative". To which she responds with "Your beta was 326, you are very much pregnant" To which I repsond with "but it was negative, we tested and it was negative!" She continues to reassure me that it was very much positive and then gives me the breakdown of numbers and dates.

Beta-326
Progesterone 47.7 (they want this over 50, so we will continue with nightly shots for 4 more weeks)
Repeat beta-Sept. 20th
Due date-May 26th
1st Ultrasound-Oct 8th
Last PIO injection-Oct 14th

I immediately text Chuck and send out an e-mail to our "cheerleaders"
Chuck's immediate response-Ninjas are really hard to find so it just took extra equipment to find him.

We are beyond the moon thrilled and now more than ever giving all the glory and praise to God! Weds. when Chuck and I were talking, I asked, "how can prayer make a difference at this point, the baby needs to have already implanted, we should be getting positives, how can God change biology?" He responded that "God can do whatever he wants!" And boy did He!! Biological in order to have a beta on Friday of 326, my level on Wednesday should have been around 150, a home pregnancy tests picks up at levels of about 25. Clearly God was looking out for us....He is awesome and amazing!!

Transfer :)

Our transfer was yesterday and we couldn't have asked for a better day. We dropped Em off at school and headed to Iowa City for our 10:45 appt. We actually ended up in Iowa City really early (not sure how that happened...we are never early!) so we stopped and got gas and then ran to Walgreens because I forgot socks and I needed them to wear into the procedure room. We got to the clinic at about 10:30 and waited a few minutes in the waiting room before being called back. We had the same nurse as on Thursday--she was wonderful. We go back, she gives Chuck her scrubs and gives me my gown and glass of water to make sure my bladder is good and full. We are then off to the procedure room. First order of business is to meet with the embryologist, for me this is the most nerve-wracking part--we hadn't heard anything since Friday about how our 6 embies were doing, and I don't deal well with the unknown!

The embrylogist comes in and gives us the best news we could have asked for! Of our 6 embies, 1 of them was an excellent grade expanded blast (right where they want it to be)-which was the one we would transfer, 1 was an excellent grade blast, which they froze, 2 were a the morula stage and 2 were at the cleavage stage. Those 4 they will watch and decide to freeze if they make it to excellent or good blast.

Once we got the news I became giddy with excitement. I think the relief of good news, and the anticipation of what was happening put me over the edge. We ended up having to wait about 30 minutes for the dr. to come in and do the transfer, during which time we had some of the strangest conversations. I think we decided that the reason we had to wait so long was because they were listening to our conversations :)

Some examples of what we talked about--
Chuck as a song on his phone called "Everybody needs a ninja". It is annoyingly catchy and silly. He happened to play it while flipping through his play list, and I commented that if he played it while they did the transfer we might end up with a ninja blasty. He of course loved that idea, and is now calling our lil blasty ninja blasty with the hope that he/she comes out already ninja trained :)

While discussing what happens next with blasty I said that it would hatch out of it's shell and then attach to the uterus to begin the growing process. He then began imagining what tools it might have inside the shell to hatch out, beak, hammer, etc (I don't remember them all, but I'm sure Chuck could add them!) Creating the mental image of little blasty using this arsenal of tools to hatch out was really just too much for me in my already giddy and excited state!

I'm sure there were more strange and goofy conversations but those are the 2 I remember most distinctly.
After our random conversations, 2 drs. and the nurse come back in to do the transfer. This part really is pretty much a piece of cake, legs in stirrups, ultrasound on abdomen to watch the catheter to go in the uterus, practice catheter in, no problem, actual catheter in, blasty is "blasted" in and we are done. We lay for another 30 minutes and then are sent to get dressed and home. Blasty's 1st request in mommy's belly was chick-fil-a for lunch so we stopped at the mall, Chuck got lunch and then home for 2 days of couch time.

I am now 24 hours in to couch time with about 8 to go and bored out of my mind, but enjoying the relaxing, quiet time, hoping that blasty is doing the same.
Next step is to test--in a couple of weeks I will head to the lab for an early morning blood draw to find out if blasty stuck or not. Obviously our prayer is for a sticky blasty and a beautiful baby 9 1/2 months from now!

Huge thanks to everyone who has been praying for us and helping us get through these days. My school staff and the church staff has been wonderfully supportive of the time we need at home and helping us keep things organized and running smoothly.

Without further ado---meet Ninja blasty-

Fert Report and Transfer day!

Sorry I haven't posted sooner, as soon as school was out on Friday we loaded up and headed to Ohio for a weekend of fun with Jennifer, Mike, Martha and Nick. I called for the fert report shortly before leaving--we had 6 eggs successful fertilize with ICSI. I was somewhat dissapointed that it wasn't a higher number, but am confident those 6 eggs will have our rock star baby in there so it will all be good!
After a wonderfully relaxing weekend of wedding dress shopping and Renaissance Festival we made the long drive home yesterday. One of my favorite moments of the weekend....we made banana cake for several reasons, I had some bananas that needed something done with them, Chuck wanted cake, so we decided to make banana cake in honor of embies miracle day. Jennifer's comment after trying the cake...."if those embies are anything like that cake we are going to have one amazing little kiddo in 9 months!" So here is to hoping the cake is a sign of things to come :)
We are now getting ready to head back to Iowa City for our transfer at 10:45 this morning. Please be in prayer for safe travels, wonderfully growing blasts when we get there, and a safe and successful transfer!

Retrieval Complete!

We reported bright and early to the hospital, so early in fact that the receptionist wasn't there yet. They have a phone in the lobby that tells you what to dial if no one is there yet, I tried 4 times and it was busy! Fortunately the nurse came out and found us pretty quickly. We had another fabulous nurse today, she even remembered us from when we were there for Emily, which I was very impressed with! She took us back, did vitals, changed clothes and got forms signed. Then anesthesia came in and did her spiel and put in an iv. It didn't hurt going in, but she said she had to go through the vein and back again (??) not sure what that means, but she said it would leave an ugly bruise, and it definitely is! Then Dr. Ryan came in (also the dr. who did Emily's retrieval) went over our consents again, and we were off. I love how quickly they get things done there, we were there at 7 and I'm pretty sure I was in the OR by 7:30. Once in the OR they got me situated, injected the wonderful drug into my IV, the room started spinning and I was out. Next thing I remember was waking up in my room again 45 min. later.
I don't think I was too goofy this time, I do remember asking Chuck the same questions many times, even though I knew I had already asked them, but I couldn't remember the answer he had given. The nurse got me some sprite and crackers and took vitals every 15 minutes. An hour later they had me get up and go to the bathroom, and then we were on our way.
We stopped at IHOP on the way out of town because I was starving and then back home. I took a quick nap and am now resting on the couch for the rest of the day :)
Now for the numbers.....
1st Emily's cycle-19 retrieved, 15 mature, 13 fertilized with ICSI
This cycle-15 retrieved, 12 mature, still hoping and praying for a good fert report :)
We will call tomorrow to find out how many fertilized and if it will be a 3 or 5 day transfer. Please pray for our lil embies that are hanging out in petri dishes in the lab tonight that they can grow and multiple!

Retrieval Eve....

It's kind of like Christmas Eve only more interesting :) We are set for our egg retrieval tomorrow morning at 8 a.m. Which means we need to be in Iowa City by 7 a.m. Which means we need to leave our house by 5:30 a.m. I am convinced that this cycle and all of it's ridiculously early mornings is simply preparing me for many, many more months of little sleep...right??
Our final u/s and b/w was Monday morning. We were up to 13 follies over 10 with several of those over 15. Monday was the worst as far as feeling icky, I felt like my insides were going to explode. Yesterday and today were much better, hopefully that isn't a bad sign, but simply a sign of my body adjusting. My estrogen on Monday was 2282, which is good, the nurse said it was approaching "high" so they would be watching me for hyper stimulation, which I have heard is not a pleasant experience.
Tonight is an easy night, no meds, no shots, nothing, just attempting to sleep. My emotions vary between worried and anxious to relaxed and calm. We'll see how much sleep I get. Please pray for safe travels, easy medical procedures and lots and lots of mature eggs tomorrow! Friday will be a long day as we wait for our fertilization report, so please pray for patience and nice high numbers with that phone call! It is hard to believe another leg of this journey is almost over!

Saturday u/s

So my dreams of sleeping in today were dashed, instead I was off for b/w and u/s at 6:45 this morning. First stop, the lab for another arm poke. Fortunately they weren't busy and I was in and out in no time.
Then on to the drs. office for u/s and pre-op appt. Dana (the u/s tech) pulled in the parking lot right behind me so we got started a little early. She said my lining looked beautiful and my ovaries were full of follicles! Hence the uncomfortableness I've had the last few days! I think at final count there were 18 that she measured, 10 of them were over 10mm and 7 were between 13-16. We want them to be 18-20ish for retrieval so we are right on track for a great retrieval I think!
Did a quick pre-op with Nurse Wendy (blood pressure, weight, temp) and then was on my way.
A few hours later Wendy called with my estrogen, now up to 1521 (increasingly nicely, I think). I don't have anything to compare it to because for whatever reason I quit recording my levels with Em at this point. We are upping the follistim to 250 again tonight and tomorrow, staying with 2 vials of repronex, and back into the office early Monday morning for another check. At that point we will determine whether I will trigger Mon. or Tues. night, for retrieval Weds. or Thurs.
So--things still looking good-we hope next week continues to bring us good news :)

Hohum..

I'm running out of ideas for blog titles--we are simply moving along just as expected, which is great for us, boring for a blog title!
I had another blood draw this morning, estrogen came back at 671. I don't have last cycle's number because I am still at work, but I believe it was in the 500s so fairly close. We are to up the dosage of repronex to work on maturing these growing follicles tonight and tomorrow, then another round of bloodwork and an ultrasound on Sat. The only downer is that I have to be at the drs. office by 8, with b/w done before that, which means no sleeping in for me on Sat :( Otherwise things are looking great!
I am noticing some slight discomfort today, hopefully it's just because all these follicles are running out of room in there because they are growing :) Watch for another update on Sat. At that point I should get my trigger date which will tell us our retrival date!

Right on track....

I had a blood draw this morning and things are right on track. My estrogen came back at 271. As a point of reference it was 190 with our Em cycle at this point..so very close. Our goal is to get up towards 2000-3000 before triggering, but not too quickly so we are in a good place. They made the same changes in meds that we did in the 1st cycle. We will continue with the lupron 5 units to suppress my hormones, decrease the follistim from 225 to 150 and add in 1 ml of repronex. So far no side effects to report, one of my co-workers was asking me today about side effects with Em's cycle, and I said either I didn't have any, or I have blocked them all out because of the wonderful outcome. Either way we hope to continue with things going so smoothly! I go in again Thurs. for more blood work, then we are expecting blood work and an ultrasound Sat. We continue to appreciate prayers for this cycle and the timing of everything. So far things seem to be falling into place perfectly...we pray that it continues that way!

Moving along...

Things are moving along just as they should be! I had my u/s check a couple of weeks ago and everything looked great. We started Lupron injections on Weds. the 14th, and took my last birth control pill on Sat. My period arrived just as expected and I had the 1st of many blood draws this morning. I don't so much mind the blood draw--it's the being at the lab by 7:45 that I don't find enjoyable! Next week will be even worse, I will need to be there by 7 in order to make it to school on time :( No fun, but worth it in the end.

Nurse Wendy called this afternoon and said everything looked perfect, continue Lupron until Sat. then add in the Follistim. I will do both Lupron and Follistim until further notice. On Tuesday I go in for the 2nd blood draw to see what my body is doing and to adjust meds accordingly. As of now everything is calm and quiet and on schedule just the way we like it!

Same start.....same outcome??

I've been doing some cleaning and organizing before school starts and came across my calendar for the IVF cycle that produced Emily and made an interesting discovery. Emily's cycle started on April 11th, last bcp on April 14th, stims start on April 21st and ER on May 2nd.
This cycle starts on August 11th, last bcp August 14th, stims start on Aug. 21st and estimated ER on Sept. 2nd.

The plan is in action...

I had a drs. appt. on Tuesday (our 8th wedding anniversary!). First off was an u/s to make sure everything was doing what it is supposed to on the birth control pills, and it is. Next was to meet with Nurse Wendy to go over the calendar and meds for this cycle. I have been worried and praying about the timing of this cycle and the start of the school year.

Originally Wendy had thought we would be able to do it before school started, my biggest fear was that I would have to miss days at the very beginning of the year. While we won't get the cycle in before school, I also won't have to miss any days the 1st week of school so I am happy. We are to start Lupron on the 11th, and stop birth control on the 14th. The Lupron will start the process of suppressing my body's natural hormones. After a period starts I will start stims, tentatively scheduled for the 21st. I will stim for 8-12 days and have various blood draws and ultrasounds during that time. These should for the most part be able to be done before school starts, so as not to interfere. Our tentative retrieval date is the 1st-2nd with transfer 3-5 days after that. We will follow the same protocol I was on last time, and the same guidelines for transfer. If we have more than 7 embies then the transfer will automatically be a day 5, if it is less than 7 it will be a day 3. We will know that information the day after the retrieval.

We are praying that this cycle will go as smoothly as the cycle that brought us Emily and with the same success. The only snafu we are hoping to avoid is a trip to Ohio Labor Day weekend. I'm hoping the drs. will want to avoid working that weekend as much as we want to avoid having to come in! If my retrieval is the 2nd and we go 5 days we will be fine....so that is the prayer! In Bible Study we have been talking about how God wants us to go to Him with all of our request and be specific...so I am doing my best this cycle to trust in Him and His timing! We continue to appreciate all your prayers and support!

P.S. I believe we have fixed the commenting glitch that some were having...so you should be free to comment now!

We have a plan!

Nurse Wendy and I chatted several times today--and we have the start of a plan :)
AF started today--I called the nurse and she said go ahead and start b/c, she wasn't sure yet if I could cycle or if I'd have to wait, but she said either way they would want me on b/c. She called back a couple of hours later and said Iowa City had ok'd it on Tues. at their team meeting for me to cycle now, but it had never made it back into my chart for them to call me. So I am good to go. She is calling in the meds this afternoon for delivery next week. I will have a baseline u/s and go over meds on the 3rd of August and we will go from there. She said it will be pretty much the same protocol I had before since it worked of us. So it will be leurpolide, follistim, and repronex. Hopefully it will work as well as it did last time. My only concern is the timing and the start of school. She thinks we should be done before I have to start, but couldn't guarantee it until she sees my calendar from Iowa City. I'll do what I have to do, but it would be so much more convenient if I don't have to take off work the 1st week back! Excited to be back on again, really hoping and praying this is it for us!

Test results...

Yesterday at about 11:30 I got the call from nurse Mara. Her message simply said call back--they had my results in. During our lunch break (I was in class from 9-5) I called her back and got the most dreaded yet expected words "unfortunately you are not pregnant". I was able to hold it together on the phone to get a few questions answered. I was to stop meds immediately and wait for a period. I am then to call the office as soon as I get a period. Chuck and I are ready to start a fresh cycle immediately--we have to wait to hear from Iowa City if they will let us start a cycle with this period or if we have to wait one cycle out to let my body get back to "normal". Their team meeting is today, so I am hoping to hear something from them today. Obviously we want to go-ahead to start again asap but also want to do what will provide us the most chance for success.
I'm not going to lie, yesterday hurt a lot more than I thought it would. I thought I had mentally prepared for it, and was ready for it, but there was still that tiny bit of hope that it might be positive. Chuck and I spent the night at home (except for a side trip to Culver's for ice cream) cuddling and just enjoying each other and Emily. It was good, and now we are ready for the future.

Calling to God

While doing my Bible study today I read the beginning of Psalm 20, this is my prayer tonight-

May the Lord answer you when you are in distress; may the name of the God of Jacob protect you. May he send you help from the sanctuary and grant you support from Zion. May he remember all your sacrifices and accept your burnt offerings. May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed. We will shout for joy when you are victorious and will lift up our banners in the name of our God. May the Lord grant all your requests. Now I know that the Lord saves his anointed; he answers him from his holy heaven with the saving power of His right hand. Some trust in chariots and horses but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. They are brought to their knees and fall, but we rise up and stand firm. O Lord, save the king! Answer us when we call!

I pray for God to be with Chuck and I tomorrow when the call comes from the dr. with the results of the blood test. I pray that we are pleasantly surprised with a positive test. I pray that God's will be done and that we are able to bring glory to Him with whatever the results may be. I pray thanksgiving for all of the friends who have supported us through this journey and checked in on us to let us know they care! It would be so much more difficult to walk this road without them. I know that God will bring good from this!

New hope!

Every morning I am bummed by the lack of positive tests, but by afternoon I am excited again for what the new day will hold tomorrow. I know that I am not completely out of this cycle until I get the call from the dr. on Monday, so every day I will continue to hold onto hope. I know that our embies are in God's hands and His plan will reign supreme. Tomorrow will be a long day of class, but then I am very excited to go on a date with my Chuck....it will be a nice end to a long week :)

Update...

New day, new test, same result......

Feeling hopeful

After this morning's negative test I was feeling pretty down, and then I did some internet research and my hope is back :) So I went out and bought more tests.....hopefully tomorrow morning is it for us...keep praying!

Testing....

negative :(
Will keep testing as the week goes on, but hope is starting to dwindle. I keep reminding myself that they were in the early blast/ day before blast stage, so they may very well have had to do some more growing before implanting. I am starting to get why people don't like early testing! Oh well..too late now, I'm on the bandwagon so I'll keep going! I know that God's hand is in this, and if these babies are meant for us, He will take care of them, but I also know His plan is bigger than us.

symptoms or side effects??

Since I am on multiple meds it is very hard to know if the weirdness going on is from the meds or symptoms of early pregnancy, obviously hoping for symptoms, only time will tell.
Here's what I am feeling so far--
Extreme exhaustion--tired all the time!
Random queasiness but nothing major
Weird twinges and cramps in the uterus area
Peeing all the time, but that might be because I am thirsty all the time.

Here is what the internet says is happening right now-

Right now, your baby is an embryo consisting of a ball of cells that is rapidly multiplying and expanding. If you were to look at your baby through a magnifying glass you would see a group of cells that does not resemble a human form (at least not yet!). By this week, your baby is about the size of the head of a sewing pin, or about .006 inches long.

So hopefully our baby is growing bigger and bigger every day!
And we wait......

Pictures...

They aren't the greatest because I don't have a scanner--but here are pictures of our lil babes...

Transfer complete...

It was a great day today for a transfer :) Chuck and I headed out at about 8:50 (only 20 min after we planned on), got Em dropped off at the sitter's and headed to Iowa City. We got there right at 10:30 and quickly found the "new" Center for Advanced Fertility. It's really probably not that new, but it's new to us. It is quite a nice facility.
We waited just a few minutes before being called back by our nurse. She was fabulous and great fun to spend a couple of hours with this morning. She got us checked in and changed into our scrubs and hospital gown and handed me 2 cups of water to get drank to have a partially full bladder. Shortly thereafter we were moved to the procedure room.
The embryologist came in to go over our embie pictures. All 6 were still fighting, 4 of them were at the cleavage stage (day3--so 2 days behind where they should be), 1 was a morulas (day 4) and 1 fair grade early blastocyst. We decided to transfer 2, the early blast and the morula since neither were of the greatest of quality. Then the dr and u/s tech came in, got everything set up and away we went. Several times during the transfer the dr. and u/s tech commented on how beautiful my uterus was--honestly not something I've been told often, but I'll take it if it gets us our baby. The transfer took about 15 min. and then 30 min of bedrest afterwards.
Then we were sent on our way. I am now enjoying my time on the couch for the night, hoping to get caught up on my reading for school since I'm not allowed to do much of anything else. Our next big step will be testing...which should start sometime next week, even though the official test isn't until the 12th.

God's plan....

1st a technical note--I've been informed that some people are having issues commenting on here, I'm not sure why and am going to see if Chuck can fix it for me. If you could please try to comment, so I can figure out if it's not working at all or just a problem for one person...

2nd-God's plan....
We are in the midst of VBS this week and have been singing every day with the kids. One of the songs hit me like a ton of bricks today though, it is a song similar to one I've sung hundreds of time, but today it clicked, particularly these words-
"Today is the day, God has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.I won't worry about tomorrow, I'm trusting in what you say."
As we were signing them for the 1st time I immediately got choked up and had to stop because I realized how important those words were for me right now!
I suppose knowing that tomorrow is the day we find out how our embies are doing and have at least 1 put in makes it that much more applicable, but I thought how true this is all the time and how much energy and time I spend worrying about tomorrow, when I know that God has it all under control. Definitely what I needed to hear today!

Thaw report

The thaw report and transfer time are in. Of the 6 frozen embies, all 6 survived the thaw!! This is awesome news....unfortunately that is all we know. We get an automated message, so we don't get to ask questions, just what they record for us. I am assuming that the 6 are still growing at this point or they would have said otherwise in the message, but don't know that for sure. Our transfer is scheduled for 11 a.m. Thursday, we are to report at 10:30. We will get our final fert report at that point, so until then we just pray that our 6 lil embies are growing and multiplying into nice "big" blastys!
As always prayers are appreciated!

Appt. update and the beginning of shots!

I had my pre-op u/s and appt on Friday morning before leaving to help Mar move to St. Louis. The u/s went well, nothing exciting or unusual, which is exactly what we wanted to see. Then I met with Nurse Wendy to go over the pre-op stuff. Again, nothing exciting. On Friday I was to start estrace 3 times a day...every 8 hours so 7, 3, and 11. On Saturday we had the progesterone in oil once a day at 9 p.m. So my day now revolves around which med is coming up and how soon. Since we were in St. Louis Sat. Martha got to be the lucky one to give me my first shot....her comment "wow, that's a big needle!" Yep and you get to stick it in me :) She did a wonderful job though. Sunday Chuck is back on shot duty. Hopefully for the next 12 weeks or so if everything goes as planned.
After the appt. on Friday Iowa City took our 6 embies out of the freezer and began the thaw process. They were frozen at day 0 so they will thaw them and then allow them to grow until day 5 when we will transfer them. I am to call on Tuesday to get a report as to how they are doing and find out what time the transfer will be on Thursday. Right now our prayers are for an uneventful thaw and 6 fabulous embies multiplying in those little petri dishes. This is probably the most nervewracking portion of the process for me so far. I hate not knowing how they are doing....
That is all for now....we wait and see. I will update again Tuesday after I talk to Iowa City!

New Blog

I've started a new blog to chronicle our journey in becoming a family of 4. Chuck and I have decided we are ready to give Emily a sibling, and wanted to keep record of the journey. I decided to keep this in a seperate blog, so that if we are successful it can be the beginning of a blog for the pregnancy and baby to be.

Our journey officially started on Saturday, June 12th, with cycle day 1. I started taking estrace twice a day to get ready for a frozen embryo transfer (FET) this cycle. I quickly discovered that estrace is not my friend, I had horrible headaches for the first 5 days. By Thursday the headaches had subsided making this a much more enjoyable process. After talking to the nurse at Dr. F's office we have a plan. Next Friday (the 25th) I will go in for a pre-op u/s. I will also start progesterone in oil injections that day and increase the estrace to 3 times/day. If everything looks good they will start the thawing process of our 6 frozen embies. They will monitor them and if everything goes as planned we will transfer 1 beautiful embie on July 1st. In theory this cycle should be much easier than our fresh cycle, and hopefully with the same wonderful outcome. I am super excited to be cycling with our dear friends, praying for positive results for both of us! I will update this blog with news and thoughts as we proceed.....