Second beta

My second beta was 1688, so things are definitely looking good, and there is still a possibility of twins.

My progesterone levels looked good too so I am able to get off the injections. In a way, I am relieved, but in another, I am not looking forward to the suppositories. Still, I will be happy to no longer look like a victim of domestic abuse from all of the bruises on my butt.

My first ultrasound is on August 7th. Can't wait!

Confirmed!

I went today for my beta and my hCG levels came back positive! While I wasn't too surprised by that, it was still a huge relief to hear. There is also a possibility that there may be two babies in there because my hCG level was 630 (higher than average for a singleton). I go back on Wednesday morning for a second beta and if that looks good, I will be thrilled!

It will also be a good thing, considering that my mom has already blabbed to half of my extended family that I am with child.

Well, I'm off to break out my fat clothes!

Beach Vacay, Last Day

Today was another typical day. Spent the morning on the beach and then napped all afternoon. When I woke up, I had terrible pains in my right side - so bad that I couldn't move. I am pretty sure that my ovaries are still enlarged from all of the fertility meds, but it had me scared nevertheless. All I could think was "ectopic" pregancy, but the pain wasn't long lived, so I think my first theory is correct. I'll find out for sure next week at the doctor's.

For dinner, we ended up going to some local BBQ place with a buffet full of fried food. On this vacation, I certainly hit my annual quota on fried crap. Anyhow, the waitress was all about J and asked if she could come back home and nanny for us. Maybe we looked like we could afford a nanny...but we certainly can't. Besides, she was way too cute to nanny in my house!

I took a pregnancy test this evening and again it was positive and dark, which is a good thing. As I said, I like peeing on sticks.

Now, we're just packing and getting ready for bed. It will be a long drive tomorrow, which I am not looking forward to. That said, I am looking forward to lunch in Charleston - I am craving real shrimp and grits!

The line...

is MUCH darker today! Woo hoo!!!

Drumroll, please!

There is definitely a second line on the HPT! Faint, but there, just like when I was pregnant with J!

I am officially unofficially pregnant! Let's hope that baby stays in there for the next 9'ish months!

Beach Vacay, Day 2

Today was a good day. Subdued, but good. I woke up at around 6:30, which is definitely not characteristic, but it gave me some solitude so that I could enjoy breakfast on the deck peacefully.

In the late morning, we all headed down to the beach. I stayed under the canopy the entire time,1qwa but still ended up getting sun somehow. J was being a terror for part of the morning, but behaved better once Zach joined him for play. My husband dug out what equated to a fox hole and the kids had a blast playing in it.

Later, we hung out by the pool for a bit and then took a nap. This is the life! Then, off to the store for groceries and back to enjoy taco night.

Now, to try and calm J down enough to get him ready for bed. He goes to bed late as it is, but he is all keyed up from playing with Zach and is jumping around like a monkey.

In other news, if I am not pregnant, I will be shocked. Current daily occurrences include nausea and fatigue, and today began the frequent urination. Also, I am craving cheese and almonds like it's nobody's business and am repulsed by sweets. Me, repulsed by sweets?!? WTF?!? I ate a Good N' Fruity today because I LOVE them, and it tasted like wax to me.

I think I am going to test tomorrow. But, don't worry - if it comes up negative, I will not assume I am not pregnant (nor will I assume I am). I know it is early. Last time I was pregnant though, the HPTs I used (I buy the cheap ones from eBay - 50 for $15) showed a very faint line several days before I was supposed to test, which got progressively darker each day. I was checking out some other charts on Fertility Friend and those who tested on CD28 and were pregnant got a positive result. Tomorrow is CD28 for me, so I am going to go for it. I just can't stand it!

Blonde no more

I have done this several times over the years, and it is always an adjustment. I went in today and had my hair done to more closely match my natural hair color. Now mind you, my natural hair color is atrocious - it's a flat, mousey dishwater brown...so this doesn't really look like my natural hair color, though it will help me to go longer without touch-ups since you aren't supposed to get your hair colored until after 4 months into your pregnancy.

Of course, that will be important if I am pregnant.

On that front, of course I don't know anything yet, but a few things have changed in the last 48 hours. I have no interest in eating sweets, only salty stuff (especially cheese). Anyone who knows me knows that this is insane, as I am a sweet freak! I woke up this morning feeling nauseous, and I was just repulsed by the smell of gum...smelled like cat pee to me.

A good sign, maybe?

And so, we wait

Well now, there isn't much else left to do but wait. I went to the acupuncturist today, and won't go back to see her until the 20th, which is the day of my beta.

In the meantime, I get to wait, and relax. The good thing is that we leave in a few days for a week-long vacay. We rented a house on the beach in North Carolina with my husband's family. I am looking forward to doing nothing but relaxing!

Overall, I feel pretty good. I have more energy today than I did yesterday, but that's probably because I am allowed to remain in an upright, seated position vs. on my back. I've had some cramping, but they say that is normal. After the acupuncture, the cramping stopped because she did some points in my ears that are supposed to calm things down (and that, by the way, is what I was doing at exactly 12:34:56 on 7/8/09). ;)

Transfer accomplished!

The transfer went off today without a hitch. The RE tried to talk me into only transferring one vs. two blastocysts, but there is no way I would have agreed to that. I have to say though, I am very happy that he has that much confidence in my ability to get pregnant.

I was a little disappointed that they didn't have a screen available for me to watch the transfer, and that they didn't give me pics of my embryos, but I will get over it.

When we got home, I got into bed and have been vegging out all day watching television. I'm supposed to remain on my back until tomorrow, when I can resume moderate activity. This is much harder than I thought, I have to admit, but it is most certainly for a good cause.

Say a prayer that all goes well. I go back on the 20th for my beta.

Progester-groan

I started taking progesterone shots yesterday and was like, "this isn't so bad!" Certainly not as bad as I had been dreading for the past 2 months!

The key is to warm it up under your arm for a few minutes before administering. It also helps to ice the area both before and after.

The thing though, is that you have to take it at the exact same time every day.

This became a problem this morning, when I woke up at 9:03 and was supposed to take the shot at 9:00. I couldn't give it much time to warm, or to ice the area. It also didn't help that my hubby stuck me in a blood vessel.

That's going to leave a mark!

The sucky thing is that I have to do this every day for at least 6 weeks, if I am pregnant or until my body begins producing progesterone on its own.

My mantra: It's a small price to pay, it's worth it. It's a small price to pay, it's worth it. It's a small price to pay, it's worth it.

Conceived on the 4th of July

The RE just called - we have 17 embryos!!!

They are going to freeze half and let the other ones go to blastocyst stage. We will have a Day 5 transfer of 2 embryos on Tuesday.

Words cannot even begin to express how excited and happy I am!!!

Waiting...

And now, we wait. Until tomorrow, when the RE calls to let us know how our embryos are developing.

I'm happy to report that I have been resting. So much so, that it's almost not legal. Yesterday, I watched The Changeling on DVD (made me cry, and even made me like Angelina just a little) and then passed out at around 6. Woke back up briefly at 10 and then again at 5. Slept in until 11. Today, I've been on the computer a bit and watched Seven Pounds, but think I am heading back to bed because, believe it or not, I am still tired.

God bless my husband for letting me get all of this sleep in. And bless the RE for telling him to do it. ;)

22 eggs!!!! That's like, almost 2 dozen!!!!

When I went in the other day and my RE said I had about 7 mature follicles, I was glad, but also a little bummed because it didn't seem like a whole lot. I'm very happy to report that they retrieved 22 eggs!!!

This means there is a really good chance of a day 5 transfer, which is ideal.

I am feeling so much better about things!!!

This is it! (okay, now that Kenny Loggins song is stuck in my head)

I'll be leaving in a bit to take J to the babysitter's and then have to pick up hubby because he is working a case today and won't have time to meet me at home. Then it's off to retrieve some eggs!

I keep going back and forth between being calm and being anxious. This has been a very stressful week, which is certainly not ideal. I made the mistake of looking at some IVF blogs last night and couldn't seem to find any with happy endings, which is not a good thing right before bed. Realistically, I know my chances are good. But some doubt is to be expected, right?

It was so much easier trying to conceive when we didn't have J. I love him more than my own life and am so very grateful for him, so let me explain. I mean, there is not much opportunity to truly relax. I love my husband dearly, but instead of taking J. in the other room when I am trying to rest because I don't feel well, he will continually say, "J., stop that!," which just adds to my stress levels.

He was in the room when the IVF nurse explained that this afternoon I am to rest and cannot operate machinery, yet last night, he felt it was perfectly reasonable to assume that I could drive my car back after he picked up his car this afternoon. Um, no. No, I cannot drive. I need to sleep, or at the very least, vegetate. Everything I am doing right now will be in vain if I cannot relax at least a little bit. And I swear, he was A LOT more sensitive to these things when we were trying the first time.

But I digress...

Anyhow, I feel better now that I have vented. Off to get the little one ready so we can start our exciting day!

Unauthorized stress

So, I'm supposed to be relaxing. No stress, and all of that. Today, that was not happening. My sister called me late last night to let me know that my dad was taking my mom to the ER. He finally called me at 2 in the morning to let me know that she had been admitted.

They initially thought she may be having a heart attack because she had numbness on one side and chest pain. We now know that isn't the case, thankfully. Her blood pressure though was around 213/111, which is crazy high. Scary.

They ran a ton of tests on her today and finally released her after her stress test came back normal. It turns out that she has a leaky heart valve, and that may have been what caused her blood pressure to spike.

I am grateful that she is home, and seems to be okay. The thought of anything happening to her, I just don't know what I would do.

Now, to focus on the task at hand...making a baby!

hCG time!

Went in for my final monitoring appointment today. I have about 7 mature follicles and a good number more that are close. I will be taking the hCG shot at midnight tonight and then go in on Thursday at 10am for my retrieval.

Please, dear God, let this work!!!

Home stretch (I hope)

I went for my appointment today and everything is looking good, though to me it seems like it is slow going. Some follicles have grown to 15 mm and some new ones have popped up. I have another appointment tomorrow and then hopefully we will be at the point where I can take the hCG shot.

Almost there!

I went in for monitoring today and everything is looking good - MUCH better than last time, that's for sure! My follicles are growing, but the RE said that he doesn't anticipate that all of them will mature. There are about 5 standouts and those are the ones he is concentrating on.

I'll go back Monday and we'll see where we are then. Hopefully by the end of this coming week, they will do the retrieval.

On knees, saying prayers.

So far, so good

I went today for monitoring and after 3 days on the stims, I have 8 follicles in one ovary and at least 5 in the other. Not bad for being on such a low dose. Nurse Susan called this afternoon to let me know that I should remain on the 1 Bravelle and 1 Menopur through Wednesday and come back in for monitoring on Thursday.

I am feeling better about things this time around. I am happy that I am responding well without being on such a high dose of the stims - hopefully this time things will go off without a hitch.

The only major problem this time around: headaches. Awful headaches. I feel like I am existing on Tylenol.

Day 1 of IVF Cycle #1.5

I started my IVF stimulation drugs this evening. Just one Bravelle and one Menopur, so my theory is that maybe the side effects (e.g. weight gain, etc.) won't be as severe. Of course, part of me is worried that I won't produce enough eggs this time because the dose is so much lower.

I do hope I am wrong. Positive thinking and all that.