They're here and things are crazy!

I promise to post more later, but I wanted to get it out there that my babies are here! They've actually been here for a few weeks now (7 on Thursday). It's been nuts since they arrived, and I've been awful about updating. So, I'm going to make an effort to be better about that. I'll start posting the back story little by little, but I'll give a rough summary now.

Our two girls arrived 10/29/09 at just over 36 weeks (pretty darn good for twins!), and they weighed 5lb 4oz and 5lb 13oz. Our little one is a fighter with bright red hair who gained her weight back at exactly 2 weeks. She has reflux (like her sisters), but she tends to aspirate it and scare the heck out of Mommy and Daddy! She sleeps well at night, considering her age, but she's quite feisty if she is hungry or mad. We're still looking for a nickname for her on here. Right now, I'm thinking that she'll be our baby bird, but I'm not sure

Our bigger girl has beautiful blue eyes and blonde hair. She's much calmer than her sister and more easygoing, but she doesn't sleep as well. She too has reflux, so we didn't get off easy with anyone! She took a little longer to get back to her birth weight because she had a stay in the NICU where she lost almost a pound, but she got back before 3 weeks. We thought we were in the clear when both babies were cleared right after birth, but we learned about 36 hours later that she had a pnuemothorax (small hole that developed in her lungs allowing air out and the pressure to be out of balance in her lungs). It's actually less scary than it sounds, but it was serious enough to warrant a 4 day stay in the NICU. I'll write more info later on how it all went, but I'll just say for now that it sucked! We're going to call her Bear for her nickname.

Bad week

I am posting all of this to explain where I've been for the past week and to get it all out. I apologize in advance for the fact that it'll proabably be REALLY long...

Monday - It was Labor Day, and we had been joking for a while that the minis better not get any ideas. Well, apparently they thought it would be really funny to start scaring Mommy that day. Things were going really well right up to naptime for Beanie. I was tired too, so I decided to lay down on the couch and catch some z's while she was out. DH decided it would be a good time to run some errands and take some time washing his car (which he enjoys immensely for some reason). Fast forward 2 hours; Beanie wakes up. I roll over to get up, and I am immediately met with a sharp pain at the bottom of by belly. I freak out, and call DH (who was thankfully in the garage) to ask him to go get her, and I promptly try everything I can think of to make it better - laying on my left side, water, breathing deeply, streching, etc. Eventually, it stops and I figure everything is ok now. Nope! I start feeling crampy on and off, and the lower backaches start. I'm able to keep that to a dull pain for the rest of the day by taking it easy, but I make a note to talk to my dr first thing in the morning. They had warned me that carrying twins meant I'd have contractions early, so I was pretty much writing it off to that.

Tuesday - I got up and took Beanie to school. I was still pretty crampy, but it wasn't keeping me from functioning, so I just kinda sucked it up. My OB's office opened at 9, just after I dropped off Beanie, so I called them from the school parking lot to ask if I should come in or just wait until my scheduled appt/bio-physical profile/non-stress test the next day. After talking to the dr, they told me to come in immediately just to be safe. I got there around 9:30, and they took me back at 10:15ish. They check the heartrates for both girls, and things look really good. Then the doctor comes in to talk about my symptoms. He decided to do an internal exam (fun) to see how my cervix is doing. He said it was closed, but it was also very soft. Based on this, he decided to put me on the monitor to see how my contractions looked and to have the sonographer check the actual length of my cervix. It was at 3.6 cm, which is much longer than the average twin mom, so he was quite happy with that measurement. The contraction monitor was not quite so encouraging. I had 4 contractions in the 45 minutes I was monitored. Apparently, I was one away from being hospitalized for 24 hours! So, he gave me a prescription for some iron (I'm very slightly anemic) and another for Procardia (to stop the contractions). He warned me that the side effects of the Procardia were pretty yucky for the first 24-48 hours (headaches, dizziness, nausea) because it dramatically lowers your blood pressure, but told me it was my only choice other than heading to the hospital and taking a mag sulfate shot that would make me feel even worse, so I decided to comply :-) He also told me I was on strict bedrest for the rest of the day so that we could try to stop the contractions from chaning my cervix even further, and I was still expected to come back for my long appt on Wed.

Wednesday - He wasn't kidding about the side effects! I was feeling like total butt, and I wasn't able to sleep very well that night. Dropped Beanie off again, and headed to the OB. They took me back around 10:20 for my BPP/NST. Things looked really good on the u/s as far as the minis' movements. Both of them were really active. They were practice breathing :-) and had even turned head down! My cervix had shortened from all the contractions, however. At this point, it was down to 2.6cm under pressure. While that is still above average for a twin mommy at 29 weeks (average is 2.5), it is much shorter than it had been, so they were still concerned. She also noticed that she was having trouble picking up the diastolic flow from the babies' cords. They told me it was probably just a technical problem as their machine is not really good for taking cord pulse measurements, but they wanted to have it checked out by the specialist to be sure. The NST followed, and everything was great there. The girls heartrates were fluxuating appropriately, and the medicine had knocked out the contractions :-) The doctor told me that he wanted me on modified bedrest for the rest of the pregnancy (no more work, and no running around other than taking Beanie to and from school) just to be safe. However, he felt that the contractions stopping would me my cervix would be fine.

So, off I headed to the perinatologist to have the cord dopplers evaluated. The receptionist there was snotty about me being added on to an already full schedule, but she realized there wasn't much we could do about it. They managed to take me back around 1:45. The sonographer and the doctor were wonderful about explaining everything they saw. The girls looked really good and were still really active. They got pretty much the same cervix measurements as the OB, and they were able to get several measurements of the diastolic flow in the cords. Apparently, it wasn't a problem with the machine at my OB's office. While it wasn't non-existant as the OB sonographer feared, it was lower than it should be. Apparently, there's a lot of resistance in both babies' cords now. According to my peri, this is the reason I had the bad bloodwork months ago (low PAPP-A). Apparently, I am now on my way to placental failure. He got my OB on the phone, and they worked out a plan. I would be seen by the OB every Monday and by the Perinatologist every Thursday. As soon as things get worse, I'll be hospitalized, and the babies will be delivered between 32 and 34 weeks as this is probably the longest my placentas can last. He also wrote a prescription for me to pick up a multidose vial of the steroid injection to hasten maturity of the minis' lungs. He stressed that I had to get both shots (24 hours apart) by Friday. So, I started calling around and the only place that had it in stock was the hospital pharmacy (who wouldn't dispense it to me without talking to my OB's office directly first - and the OB was closed for the day). So, I left a message and prayed. I really sucked at bedrest, modified or not, today!

Thursday - I got a call from my OB right as I was dropping Beanie off at school. They had talked to the hospital pharmacy, and I needed to head over there immediately to pick up the meds and bring them back to the office. I did just that, and got back to the OB around 10:30. They injected me (and it stung a ton), and I talked briefly to the doctor. They are really afraid I'll be hospitalized next week, that's why I had to take the shots so quickly. I'm really scared now. I'm going back tomorrow morning for my second steroid shot, and then I'm headed to LabCorp for my 3hr glucose test (as if I needed one more baby issue on my plate!) Honestly, if I fail I think I'm just going to ask to be hospitalized early. They are saying that they aren't going to give me a chance to control it with diet first b/c of all the other issues, so I'll be going straight to diet/insulin, and I don't think I can juggle one more thing on my list of daily worries.

I really don't know what to make of this anymore (which probably explains why I'm up writing at 1:30 am rather than sleeping). Until now, all of the doctors have been amazed at how well I was doing. The girls were growing amazingly well (51% for one and 58% for the other at my 28 week growth check!), I had a long cervix (4+ cm) that was showing no signs of changing, and everything looked perfect. We were talking about delivering at 38 weeks, maybe even giving me a couple more days to "do it on my own" just one week ago! Now, things have totally flipped, twice. We were worried about contractions on Tuesday, now everyone is saying it's not even an issue. They are confident that, now that they have the contractions chilling, my cervix will outlast the placentas by multiple weeks. This placenta thing is huge. I know it's not my fault. Both the OB and Peri told me that there was nothing I could have done to prevent the placental failure, and there's nothing I can do now to make it better or worse. Yet, I still feel guilty, like I'm letting them down. I feel like I'm letting Beanie and DH down too. They need me, and I'm about to check out in favor of a hospital bed. This is really hard :(

Our 3d U/S today

The little ones weren't very cooperative, but we were able to get a few good ones.

Here are my girls:

Baby A

Baby B

It's a happy event! Why is that hard to understand?

Ok, pardon my vent. I just need to get this out. Why on EARTH does everyone act like it's some combination of hilarious and tragic when I tell them we're having two more girls? I am THRILLED to be having our minis. I could truly care less if I'm having 2 girls, 2 boys, or 1 of each. They are healthy and they are wanted. Every.freaking.person has said something unsupportive. They have to comment about the fact that I'm having twins. "Wow! You're really going to have your hands full. No more life for you" or "I don't know how you'll possibly do it." or "Better you than me!" If it's not that, they look all sympathetic and say "Oh, 2 more girls. Too bad you didn't get a boy this time." or "Wow! A houseful of girls. I'm so sorry." Then, they look like they think they're the funniest and most witty person every. No, idiot, you're just mean! My personal favorite came today. I had someone say "Your daughter is going to be so sad. It will be so hard for her because no one will care about her anymore."

Waste of time

I came to the conclusion today that "regular OB appointments" are a total waste of time. I spend 2 hours at the OB today just so he could do the following.

- Measure the heartbeats of both babies (estimated the actual rate b/c the doppler didn't have a digital readout

- Measure my stomach (it measures 20-21 weeks) and tell me that it doesn't really say anything b/c I have twins

- Tell me I've gained 4lbs so far and then say that there's no need to worry b/c I'll gain a lot in the second half

- Suggest I come back in 4 weeks for more of the same

Please tell me again why I needed to spend my afternoon there.

WOOHOOO!!!!

We have genetically normal twin girls!!!!!! Now I can enjoy my pregnancy (well, as much as one can normally do that)

I have no patience

Really, that is all. Tomorrow morning can't come fast enough. Let's just hope the news is good

Amnio update

We got there at 10:15 (about 15 minutes late as a result of the yucky rain and fog) The counselor saw us really quickly after I filled out a looooong questionnaire about my family history and DH's. She was really sweet to us, and just went over the actual results. She focused on the numbers, which I really appreciated. Our u/s measurements have all been perfect, however our blood work has never been quite right. On the 1st trimester screen, the PAPP-A was quite low and the HCG was a small amount high (JUUUUUST above the cutoff). On the second test (the quad screen), everything was normal except Inhibin, which was about double what they expected. She also told us that, with twins, it's impossible to attribute the levels correctly to each baby. All they know is total numbers, which they just divide evenly between the two. Since I have fraternal twins (or so we assume b/c we did IVF and put back 2 embies), she said (and the peri later confirmed) that it's more likely that one baby has a risk closer to 1:1000 and the other is the one causing the levels to be "off." That baby likely has a risk higher than 1:10! Based on this data, we decided to have the amnio. I really didn't sleep much last night, and we decided that we really needed to know what we are dealing with so that we don't worry ourselves sick over the next 5 months. That would be JUST as bad for the babies. Plus, we were looking at a risk of m/c from the procedure around 1:750 (clinic stats) and a likely DS risk around 1:10 for at least one of the babies (with no real way to know which one).

The procedure went really well. They didn't use a local for the sticks, which surprised me. When they did Baby B (the first one), it was just like you all described - a tiny prick and then a small crampy feeling that passed quickly. After they took the fluid, they then injected a blue non-toxic dye so that they would be certain that they didn't draw from the same baby twice. When they did Baby A (the second one) it was MUUUCH harder. He/she was really wiggling around and spreading out in the amniotic sac, so they had to go in slowly and go through the placenta. That one HURT, and I'm actually still sore. On a positive note, we didn't have blue fluid when they drew it, so it was only one stick. I'm not sure I would've allowed them to do another! I'm a little sore now and a tad crampy. I'm trying to take it easy to decrease the chances of a complication. We should have early results on Monday, so I'll let you know when I know.

Oh, on a side note, I had a silly scare after we got home. When I went to the bathroom, my pee was blue! I was terrified that meant my water was breaking with Baby B (the one who has blue dye in the fluid right now). Apparently, it just means that I am starting to "process" some of the dye that Baby B passed out to me through the placenta

Another appointment, more info

We saw the peri again today.  It was quite an interesting experience b/c we had to bring Beanie along with us.  She's on the mend from coxsackie disease (hand, foot, and mouth), so she just doesn't have the energy to make it through a whole morning without a nap yet.  That means no daycare b/c they put them down between 12 and 12:30.  In case you are wondering, an almost 2 year old doesn't have the attention span to handle an 45 minute ultrasound!  DH was a superhero though.  He took care of/entertained Beanie and still managed to catch all the important info from the appointment.

Right now, both babies are measuring right on target.  They are actually even ahead slightly in heart and brain development, which is really cool and encouraging.  Everything looks great with them, and both of my bleeds have resolved (yay!).  So, that was also encouraging.  They drew blood to re-evaluate my risk for Down's and several Trisomies as well as to look at the risk for neural tube defects.  I'll get those results back at my next appt (almost 3 weeks away).  He did say that he gets the results back to him in about a week, so I may call for the info next week.  Maybe they'll share!

The tech doing the u/s also tried really hard to find out the genders for us.  We were all about 95% sure with Baby A and around 85% sure for Baby B.  (B is almost up in my ribcage, so it was harder to get a clear picture.)  For now, it looks like we're having two more girls!  :)

Feeling Guilty

So, have you ever done something, thinking it was the right thing?  Then, you start to wonder.  You know all the reasons you made the decision, and they all seemed so good at the time, but now doubt and worry start to creep in.  Now it doesn't seem like such a clear-cut good decision.

Yeah, I'm there right now.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my twins already, and I DO want them.  I'm just wondering if we really did the right thing going through IVF again while Beanie is so young.  She's going to barely be 2 when they are born.  Plus, should we have really risked mulitples when we put our embies back?  I know they didn't even expect one to stick, but still...  Now we're going to be outnumbered.  There will be no more "breaks" for anyone, and I know I get short tempered with Beanie if I don't get breaks every once in a while.  What do we do now?  Plus, I'm now having Braxton Hicks already (at least that's what we think they are), and we have the scary bleeds.  It's all seeming so overwhelming right now, and I'm wondering if we can do it.  Heck, let's be honest.  I'm wondering if I can do it.  Maybe it's hormones, but I'm scared.

worrying

We had our NT scan today and the u/s was great. Both babies are measuring right on target (to the day actually). They cooperated to have their measurements taken immediately, and then they promptly began bouncing around, kicking, and waving their arms at us. It was SOOO cute!!! DH even had his first "Daddy moment" when he told Baby A "Hey - Stop kicking your brother or sister!!!"  The actual nuchal fold measurement was perfect (1.5), and there were no soft markers for any genetic issues.

The bloodwork, on the other hand, was a different issue. I had VERY low PAPP-A levels. According to the peri, this is an indicator of either increased risk of Downs or a placental issue (or both I suppose). So, he did an additional u/s himself. He looked at the babies, and his exact words were "Everything here is perfect. Neither one looks even remotely like there's a Downs concern." Then he found "a bleed" with each baby. Baby A has one opposite the placenta that measures 10cm x 1cm, and Baby B has one on the side of the sac that measures 2.5cm x 1.5cm. Based on his advice, we're going back in three weeks for additional bloodwork and another u/s. He thinks that my blood results are completely caused by the bleeds, but "he can't prove it yet." 

Now, I'm a little concerned about the potential of DS (1:35 for Baby A and 1:43 for Baby B if you don't take the bleeds into account), and I'm a LOT concerned about the bleeds. At this point, I am trusting the experience of my peri who says that he really thinks the bleeds will clear up and we'll be fine, and the research I've done does say that the bleeds could explain the blood results as well. So, I guess I just wait now. Any prayers or positive thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

I'm still here

I just thought I should drop a note to let you all know that I haven't disappeared or anything. I just kinda suck at updating my blog.

Beanie is doing well. She's talking up a storm, and she's even starting to make jokes. This morning, she walked up to a pair of my shoes and said "These are mommy's shoes." Then, she walked over to another pair (in the kitchen), and said "MORE mommy's shoes??? CLEAN IT UP!" That's exactly what I need, another person telling me to clean :)

The minis are also doing well. We saw them again last week (on Thursday) when we saw the high risk OB, and they are doing great. Both had heartrates in the 170 range, and we saw some little legs kicking! They are di/di twins, which means that they are completely separate from eachother; they don't share an amniotic sac or placenta. This is, apparently, a VERY good thing as it puts us in the lowest risk category for twins. For now, I'll continue seeing both the OB and the Peri (high-risk OB) every 4 weeks, staggered so that I'm seen every 2 weeks. I have no restrictions for now, but he said that will change when I get further along. I'm feeling pretty sick lately (nausea without any vomiting and sore), but I'm almost to 12 weeks. So, I'm hoping that will end soon!

DH is working too much, but I suppose that's becoming the norm. I love that he's trying so hard to provide for us and allow me to be home when the minis come, but he needs some rest. I'm actually starting to worry about him. We've taken on a new client lately, and they are REALLY high maintenance. So, he's been at their office for hours after we put Beanie to bed at least 4 days a week. It sucks. However, I think it'll get better.

Weekly u/s update :)

We went for our final u/s with the RE today. (I start with a regular ob and high risk ob next week. Don't even get me started on how silly it is that I need to see them both.) Our minis are doing well. They are both measuring between 8 weeks and 8 1/2 weeks, which is right on, and their heartrates are up to 153 and 158

Still beating...

I had my second u/s today, and everything looks good! At 7w 2d my minis are measuring right at 7w and still have strong heartbeats (134bpm and 136bpm).

My first regular OB appt is Monday
I get dismissed from the RE next Tuesday
and my 1st High-Risk OB appt is 4/23

Oh, and on a side note, does anyone know why I have to see both a regular OB and a high risk OB? Isn't it redundant?

We're back!

My ultrasound was this morning at 8:15. We got there at 8:30 b/c Beanie threw up twice on the way there :( (Btw, does anyone have advice on now to clean up her carseat? I know I can wash the cover, but what do I do about the straps?)

Luckily, they were amazing about it. They let us take over their bathroom to clean her up, and they gave us a couple hospital style gowns to wrap her in (she destroyed her clothes). They even taught her to say "toga" (lol)

After all the drama, we finally got back there. And............

















It's twins! We saw two perfect little tiny embies with two perfect little heartbeats! I'm nervous, excited, happy, etc.

Paranoia

I know it's silly, but I need Tuesday to hurry up and get here. I have my u/s on Tuesday morning at 8:15, and I'm really nervous. I've been having nightmares about losing my baby for 2 days now I'm over-analyzing every crampy feeling and fearing the worst every time.

I just need to see my baby...

(Thank you to anyone who read this. I guess I just needed to get it out. DH thinks I'm nuts)

Ok, I'm feeling a bit better

My third beta is in. It's 6552 this time, with a doubling time of 49 hours. That's SOOOO much better than the 57 hours I got last time! I'm still very high for a single baby and a bit low for twins, so we'll see what happens. I have my u/s on Tuesday!

Beta 2

I got my second beta back yesterday, and I'm actually a bit worried. It was 3336, which gave me a doubling time around 57 hours. They like to see it closer to 48 hours, so that's a bit stressful. I have another beta tomorrow, so I'm really hoping for a better number!

Woohooo!!!!

I got my first beta back, and it was really good! (1042)

I go back for my repeat on Monday so that they can look at the doubling time, but so far so good :)

Tomorrow is my beta

ahhhhhhhh

It's early, but...

Going, Going, Gone!

I just tested, and my trigger is gone! Woohoo!!!

I'm such a loser though, and the BFN still made me a little sad

Bedrest sucks!

I guess the title kinda says it all :-) I hate being up here in bed. I just want to be downstairs with the rest of my family!

They transferred 2 "compacting embryos" (not quite blasts) along with our frozen blast from last cycle. I'm really hoping one of them will be sticky!

Beanie is doing pretty well with my bedrest. She has Daddy and Nonna (my mom) to play with, so she's pretty happy. She seems a bit confused when they bring her up to visit me. She tells me to "get up" a lot! She was really cute before bedtime though. DH brought her to me, and she just curled up in my arms. She wouldn't go to him or my mother. She actually made little whimpering noises every time they called her to them. After a little bit (like 3 minutes), I asked if she was Mommy's baby now. She said "YEP!" Wow, I love that kid!

We have 6 now

My nurse called with the first update. I guess I'm a little more hopeful than I was yesterday, so that's a good thing. I'm still crampy, but I'll live. It really is amazing to have my mom here helping. I can hold Beanie a little, but after about 5 or 10 minutes, I start to hurt again.

Without further delay, here are the stats (the #'s in parentheses are the stats from my last cycle)

9 retrieved (21 before)
7 mature (18 before)
6 fertilized (15 before)
6 still growing (12 before)

It seems like we're not having the attrition we did last time, so that gives me reason for hope. The true test will be overnight today. We dropped to 3 last time!

Eggs are out!

I got to the clinic at 9:45 this morning for our 11:15 appointment. It all went pretty well I guess. They did take DH away to do his part earlier than I wanted. He was gone while they put my IV in, which really sucked. For some silly reason, I freak out when I get IVs, so I really wanted him there with me. :( Oh well, I survived. It was actually not that awful. The anesthesiologist used a small amount of numbing meds first, so I didn't feel the IV going in.

They were able to get 9 eggs this time. I'm not exactly thrilled about that. DH seems to think it's ok, but I'm freaking out. There were 21 last time. This is SO much less! Plus, we had massive attrition with our 21 (there were only 3 left on day 3). We can't afford that kind of attrition with only 9. I know it's out of my hands, but I'm worried. I get an update tomorrow, so I'll share info as I get it.

As for me, I'm pretty crampy. It pretty much feels like bad gas, so it's not unbearable or anything, just uncomfortable. My mother is being awesome with Beanie. I am not really feeling up to taking care of her right now, so I am so thankful for that help!

Triggered and Sick Baby

They finally let me trigger last night! Woohoo!!! My largest follicle was 21mm, so they decided it was time :-) I took the shot at 11:15am, so I'll be having my retrieval at 11:15 tomorrow morning. Hopefully we'll get lots of high quality eggies!!!!

On a sad note, little Beanie is sick :( Actually, we've both been fighting a cold for weeks (stuffy nose, cough), but it seems to be more today. DH said her temp was just over 101 when she got up this morning. So, he gave her some Motrin. That seemed to help for a little bit, but she was feeling REALLY warm when I was getting her ready for her nap (4 hours post Motrin). When I took her temp, it was 104.5!!! I immediately added some Tylenol to the mix, and she seems better now. She's been sleeping for 2 hours and we haven't heard a peep!

One more appointment...

Ok, so I can't find my little results slip from yesterday. Sorry! You'll have to trust my memory :-)

I still had 12 on the right and 10 on the left. They ranged in size from 8 to 17mm, but most were around 11 or 12. My estrogen was 968. So, I had to go back again today. I figured I'd get the info in here before I lose that slip too ;)

We still have 22 follies, but they only measure the biggest ones. So, here's that info

Right: 18, 18, 17, 15, 13, 12, 12
Left: 19, 16, 13, 13, 12, 12
Lining : 11-12

I'll update you on my estrogen level when the nurse calls. They can trigger as early as tonight, but they won't do that. She told me before I left that she's thinking tomorrow.

On a side note, I'm still sick with this stupid cough that Beanie got at school. I NEED to feel better, but that's not looking like it's going to happen. Oh well, at least I'm about to get some bedrest to let me heal :-)

We're getting there (I think)

Apparently the ultrasound tech measured wrong over the weekend :(

Here are my stats for today

Right - 14, 11,11,11,11, 9 (12 total)
Left - 13, 12, 10, 9 (10 total)
Lining - 11mm
Estrogen 568

I'm actually a little annoyed right now. I have to coordinate the schedule with my mom so that she can be here to watch Beanie, but they have not been willing to give me any guidance on what to expect until today. So, I just based it on last cycle. That put it at a Wed trigger and Friday retrieval. Now, all the sudden, they are telling me it's going to be Thursday, maybe even Friday for the trigger. Well, my mother already has her ticket, and she can't take more than a week off of work. If it goes to Friday (or even worse Saturday), she won't be here for the transfer, and I need her then too! I HATE going with the flow!

Monitoring

Well, I've had two monitoring appointments now. The first one was on Thursday.

Right (13 total, 4 measurable) - 8, 8, 7, 7 mm
Left (11 total, 2 measurable) - 7, 6 mm
Lining 5mm
Estrogen 101

They kept my meds the same after that appt since things were progressing the way they wanted. I'm pretty much doing the same meds as last IVF, except they are keeping me on 20 units of Lupron (the suppression dose) to keep me from stimming too quickly.

My second monitoring appt was today
Right (12 measurable) - all between 10.5 and 11.5 mm
Left (10 measurable) - all between 10.5 and 11.5 mm
Lining 8.5
Estrogen 261

We're keeping the meds the same again, and I'm scheduled to go back on Monday.

I'm stimming!!!

The Lupron Eval went very well yesterday :-) The office was really crowded, but they got me in and out pretty quickly, all things considered. I don't know my exact Estrogen level, but I know it was under the cutoff of 50. I had 30 antral follies, which is a bit scary, but they are pretty sure they can keep it under control.

Here's my current shot regiment:
20 units Lupron every morning (it was lowered to 5 when I started stims last time)
112 units Gonal-F every night (same as last time)
37.5 units Menopur every night (same as last time)

I go back on Thursday for an eval. So, I'll let you know if anything changes and how my little follies are doing. On a side note, the stupid Menopur STINGS! I don't remember it being this bad last time.

AF has arrived (kinda)

It looks like AF is going to be here very shortly (probably later tonight). Great Valentine's Day present, huh? :-)

So, I go in Monday at 8:15 for my Lupron evaluation to make sure I'm totally suppressed. Then, we start stims! :-) I think it will be fine though b/c I'm having HORRIBLE Lupron headaches today. Hopefully, those will pass before I start stims. If not, they'll stop then. So, the worst case scenario has them gone in 2 days. Sucky, but not unbearable.

Thankful

She's still nursing at night before she goes to bed. All the experts (including my doctor) said she'd stop within a day or two of my starting Lupron injections, and that nearly broke my heart. I REALLY don't want to take that comfort away from her for something that's not even a guarantee. She's proving them wrong so far b/c I took my 4th day of Lupron injections today, and she nursed happily tonight before bed :-)

I can't begin to tell you how happy that makes me. I want her to wean in the next few months, but I want her to do it on HER terms!

It's not as bad as I thought

I talked to my nurse, and it's still a bad result, but there's reason to believe it will be a bit better on the transfer day. The sample they tested was produced at home and delivered to the clinic. It was analyzed about an hour later. The sample on the day of the transfer will be used almost immediately, so the stats should improve some. Some is all we need, so I have hope again.

On another note, I took my first Lupron shot today. It wasn't as bad as the first shot last time, but it still sucked :-)

Last time, it was 17 days from the first shot to the day of transfer. If that pattern continues, my transfer will be 2/27. That's scary!!

Eight

That's the count from our SA. My nurse told me like she was telling me that it was a bit cloudy outside. It's supposed to be millions. I need it to be at least in the low 20's (to match the number of eggs).

Nope, it's eight. Maybe nine. I'm crying.

Mock Transfer and Dropoff is done

Ok, I survived the next step in the IVF journey. I went for my mock transfer yesterday. It wasn't too bad. They did a trial run through of transferring an embryo (just with saline and no embie) to make sure there wouldn't be any hiccups when we do it for real. Apparently, I have a "perfect uterus" :-) I'm a little crampy today, and I was definitely crampy yesterday, but at least it's one step closer!

I also dropped off DH's sample for analysis. He's being a bit of a baby about the whole thing and kept procrastinating. So, I offered to deliver it when I went in for my mock. MEN!!! Actually, I should've called them today to get the results! Oops, I guess I'll try to remember to do that on Monday! They probably would've called if there was anything wrong, right?

The drugs are here

I still have to go to CVS to pick up the Estrogen and Zithromax, but everything else is here. It's pretty much the same stuff as last time except I have Gonal-F instead of Follistim. I'll take a pic later today and put it up here so that you can see it all.

I'm officially starting the second week of my birth control pills today too; seven days down, fourteen to go. I start shots (Lupron) on the last three days of the pills, so we're really getting close now. I have my first acupuncture appointment on Wednesday, and there are only two more things that need to get done before we start shots. I need to do my mock transfer, and DH needs to give his sample. He's putting that off so badly! I get that it's not the most comfortable thing to just drop it off, but he needs to get over it. When you compare what I have to do for this cycle to what he needs to do, he gets NO sympathy!!! Oh yeah, we need to drop of our consents too. I guess I'll do that when I do my mock.

First bill (meds)

I got my first bill of this IVF session today. We paid for all of our meds, and the grand total was $213.09! While that is a lot of money, it's SOOOO much less than last time (about $3k). Insurance is already making a difference! We also got our bill in the mail for another year of storage for our frozen embie, but we don't have to pay it. Since we are in the middle of a cycle that will use that embie, we don't have to pay. I just realized that the money we save by not paying that ($360) more than covers the cost of the meds. Yay!! :-)

I wrapped her!

My new obsession is baby wearing. Thanks to my friends, I am now spending my time drooling over wraps. Well, it's now actually proving useful as I was able to put Beanie on my back today.

See!!

New features

I have a tag cloud now! I know it's probably not a big deal to most people, but it makes me happy :-)

Here we go again...

As I said earlier, we are about to try the whole IVF thing all over again. We're using a different doctor this time. She's so much nicer and more open to telling us what's going on, so that's really cool. It's definitely a change over our experience last time! Actually, we saw her at a restaurant today, and she even recognized me :-)

As always, I had to take Prometrium to get AF to show up. Luckily, it came quickly, so that was as painless as it could be. On this past Thursday, I went for my CD3 blood testing. Everything was great, so I started birth control pills yesterday (Saturday). I'll start my first injections (Lupron) on day 18 of pills. So, we're about 2 or 3 weeks away from the start of shots. It's starting to get real for me now. On a cool/scary note, I had 40 antral follies!!!! That's a TON of little eggs just chillin' there!!!!

I'm still nursing Beanie 1-2 times a day, so that's another concern for us. My prolactin levels were fine when they did the bloodwork, so it should be ok. However, they do STRONGLY discourage nursing during an IVF cycle, so I'm a bit stressed. I'm trying to wean her gently, but I don't want to force it. I won't let her nurse for at least 24 hours after the actual transfer, but other than that, I guess I'm kinda playing it by ear.

I also got my tentative schedule on Thursday, which was pretty exciting. It's super preliminary, but it gives us a good idea of what to expect. According to the schedule, I should be going for my retrieval on 3/3 and my transfer on 3/8. Things will probably change somewhat, but I think it'll be within a week of that.

Someone has Chicken Pox

If I told you that someone in my house had chicken pox, and you had to guess who it was, what would you say?

If you know us, I'm sure your first guess would be Beanie. She's young, and she's never had them, so that would be a good guess. It would, however, be wrong. She's vaccinated, and so far, uninfected.

The next logical guess would be me. I somehow manage to get every random illness and injury known to man, so that would also be a good guess. It would also be wrong.

Well, that only leaves DH! Yep, he has chicken pox! How does that happen? He's a 34 year-old man!!! Plus, he says he had them when he was six. Anyway, he has them AGAIN, and he can't hold Beanie for fear of infecting her, so I'm pretty much a single parent for the week. Oh well, we'll survive. (And, I'm having a blast making fun of him!!! hehe)

Gigantic update post

Ok, so I kinda suck at updating! I will now squish the last 2 years into one post and promise to be better from this point forward :-)

I did get pregnant from our IVF in November/December 2006. My pregnancy was pretty uneventful and textbook (shocking, I know!!!), and on August 16, 2007 I gave birth to a beautiful little girl. She was 7lbs 5oz and 19.5 inches. She was the most amazing addition to our life, and we are still in complete and total awe that God blessed us with such a gorgeous and sweet little person. We were, however, shocked that He trusted us not to break her!!


The next 6 months were interesting to say the least. She was a slow grower, and the pediatricians were constantly worried that she wasn't gaining enough weight. When you add that to bilateral hip displaysia, and some serious acid reflux problems, we spent A LOT of time with doctors. Thanks to Previcid (for the reflux) and a Pavlik harness (for the displaysia) things turned out ok. We also learned that she's just little. Totally healthy, a great eater, blowing away the developmental milestones, and very little :-)

Things continued to progress with our little superbaby, and we learned how amazing she really is. She was done with her harness by 4.5 months, and off her Prevacid by 9 months. She loves to eat, started sleeping through the night at about 6 months, and started walking around 10 months. By the time her first birthday rolled around, she was all over the place and starting to talk! She definitely knew what she wanted, and loved Daddy, Nonna, and Papa! We have been so blessed that my parents have not allowed more than 6 weeks to go by without seeing us since the day she was born! Also, Beanie is starting to look more and more like my little sister. It's actually quite scary!!!!

Now, she's almost 18 months old, and she talks up a storm. She says about 100 words spontaneously, and will try to repeat anything she hears us say. It's quite cute to hear her trying to say big words like "beautiful" and "watermelon" :-) She goes to daycare a couple days a week now, and she's flourishing there. It was really hard to send her, but it's been good for me to get to work a bit. Plus, she loves seeing the babies and playing with the water table, "duckies", and her little friends!

We're about to starting trying to have a little brother or sister for her, but I'll write a separate post about that!