July 13, 2013

Today I made the trip to RCC for the blood work to tell me if I am pregnant or not. I was SO nervous that I made Travis drive me.  We got there, and I went back and had the blood drawn. Since it was a Saturday, I asked what time I could expect to hear from them. The phlebotomist told me that there was only one nurse working and that she would be closing the phones at noon and then be making calls. She told me to expect a call by 3 pm.  SO LONG!

So, I went home and hung out with Travis, and then went to Zupas to meet my friends Jodi and Rani for lunch. After lunch I got a message from RCC and ran outside to grab it. The nurse asked me to call her back so I was immediately nervous – why wouldn’t they just tell me on the voicemail!

I called her back and she said they were looking for an HCG level of 100, and my level was 174.5 which means I am definitely pregnant!  WHAT?!  I was so excited I started to cry a little and she had me make an early OB appointment with my doctor, told me congratulations, and to keep taking my meds.  I hung up the phone and REALLY wanted to call Travis and tell him, but instead, I decided to surprise him.  I headed to Target to see if I could find something to give Travis to show him we were pregnant. I was hoping for a gender neutral onesie, or bib or something that said “daddy loves me” or something.  I spent 25 minutes in the infant section before I finally found a little gray and white striped newborn jammie set. I figured it would work!

I went home and needed to go to the bathroom as soon as I pulled in, so as I walked into the house, I knew Travis would come upstairs and I wanted to see his reaction, so I took the outfit to the bathroom with me.  When I opened the bathroom door, Travis looked at me and said “Well, have they called you yet?” I pulled out the outfit and said, “We are 4 weeks pregnant!”   The look on his face is one I will always remember. He was SO excited and came right over to me and kissed and hugged me probably 50 times. Unfortunately, we didn’t have much time to bask in our pregnant glory since we were heading over to the movies to watch Despicable Me 2 with his sister and her family. 

As we drove we decided we wouldn’t tell anyone until September just to make sure it sticks, and so that we could tell everyone around the same time and since Travis’ parents will be out of town for all of August and September, we figured the end of September was a good idea.  We sat in the theater holding hands and knowing that we had finally done it – we had finally gotten pregnant. It’s an amazing thing to know!

I am so excited for this new adventure, and am especially excited to have Travis by my side during the entire process! I am one lucky gal!

July 9, 2013

I had a bit of a surprise last night when Travis and I were talking about scheduling my pregnancy test.  You see, when I read the paper I read 17 days and assumed it was 17 days after the implant.  However, Travis was positive it was 17 days after the retrieval. So, I looked at the paper last night… it’s 17 days after the retrieval, which is THIS SATURDAY!  Yikes!  I don’t know why but that loss of 3 days to prepare kind of threw me for a bit of a loop!

So, how have I been feeling?  Pretty good I guess.  I’m not in pain anymore, which is always nice. I’m still taking my progesterone gel in the morning, and my blood thinner at night.  But there are no other big shots to take and no more blood draws and ultra sounds.  

Since I don’t know what it feels like to be pregnant, I don’t know if that’s how I feel.  I have been experiencing symptoms that are common of pregnancy, but they can all be explained away by other things…  For example:  The fish section in the grocery store is usually a little smelly – but on Sunday Travis and I went in and the smell was overwhelming!  Sensitivity to smell is a sign of pregnancy – however, it could very well be that the fish wasn’t fresh anymore – it was Sunday after all.  Another example: my boobs hurt, I’m HOT all the time, I’m super emotional… all signs of pregnancy.  But also signs of the fact that around the time I get my pregnancy test results, would be the time I would be starting my period anyway. So whether I’m pregnant or not – I’m hormonal!  Finally, I’ve gotten nauseated a couple of times the past few days – just some small waves but nausea none the less.   However, I’ve just started playing video games with Travis again, and I’m not used to the quick movements in the games. Granted I got nauseated in the car – but maybe I read too many billboards.  

I’m trying not to psych myself out!  Really, I’m trying… especially after the last results.  But this time seems different, and maybe it’s just me again. But this is something I want more than anything!  I’m keeping my fingers crossed!

July 2, 2013

My implant was on Saturday.  Out of our five embryos, three were rated as fair, and the other two were excellent!  Yep, you heard me right, excellent quality! They are apparently 8 clusters (that’s good I guess), and the embryologist said they were the most beautiful embryos he had seen in a really long time! Dr. Hatasaka talked with me about them and said that we probably had a 50 – 60% chance of them working, and then told us about a new procedure they are doing which includes giving an infusion of HCG to hopefully help the embryos take.  He said it improved pregnancy chances by 10%.  Crazy right?!  So, we signed more paperwork and they gave me Valium and off we went.

During this part, Travis gets to come into the OR with me. I wore a hospital gown (so glamorous), booties, and a hair cap – and Travis wore a surgical gown, booties, hair cap, and a face mask.  He sat next to me and held my hand the whole time. Parts were really uncomfortable, but the doctor was SO nice and so willing to tell me EVERYTHING that was going on as it happened.

The embryologist came in and talked about my embryos, gave us a picture of them, and said he would watch the other 3 embryos to see how they do, and to determine if we can freeze them, and then the procedure started.  It was really a quick procedure once everything got set up and prepped.

Then the waiting game started… 17 days to be exact, after the implant before we find out if we are pregnant or not… It’s such a long time to wait!

The embryologist called me again this morning about the other 3, and they stopped growing so we won’t freeze them either.  I really hope we are pregnant! I don’t know if I can do this again.

Here is a little pic of the 2 we implanted... Obviously I can't figure out how to rotate it...

June 27, 2013

Yesterday was my retrieval (or extraction as Travis calls it).  Before my appointment my doctor said he expected they would retrieve about 10 eggs and that probably 5-7 of them would be mature. I was a little deflated because last time I had 10 that actually had fertilized.  But, I thought maybe he was wrong. When they woke me up from the anesthesia, they told me that they had retrieved 22 eggs!  Holy cow!  That’s WAY more than the 14 they retrieved last time.  

I just got off the phone with Cheryl a nurse from the office.  Out of the 22 eggs they retrieved, only 8 of them were mature.  They performed ICSI on all 8 of them, but only 5 of them actually fertilized.  Bleh.  We then scheduled a transfer for Saturday morning. I have to be there at 9:30 am and the transfer will be at 10 am.  They’ll give me a Valium to keep me calm and the procedure usually only takes about 3 minutes.  Then I’ll keep my fingers (and legs) crossed and hope it sticks this time.

I have felt so good about this cycle, that it's really frustrating to hear the numbers. I'm feeling really deflated right now.

June 24, 2013

Today is Monday, and according to the tentative calendar I received at RCC, the target date for my egg retrieval. Since I’m typing right now and not lying in bed with a heating pad on my sore lady parts – it’s safe to assume that did not happen today. 

However, tonight is the big night – the Trigger night!  That means, on Wednesday (only 2 days behind schedule) I will go in to the office for my egg retrieval! I am SO excited! This morning during my ultra sound the doctor said that my ovaries had gotten huge and there were TONS of follicles with 5 that were over the 18 mark. In addition to that, I have a double four leaf clover on my left ovary. The doctor I saw said he is convinced it means double good luck! I told him I would go with that as well!

It’s amazing how good I am at looking at the ultra sound picture, and picking out my uterus and ovaries. Man, those follicles sure got huge really quickly! There were bunches of them too – I’m hoping for a dozen again, but we will see! 

Until then, I’m trying to relax and stay positive!