It is official!!

Not only am I pregnant, I am addicted to peeing on things!!! Here is the evidence:

 Some pretty pictures there, aren't they!?
I had blood work done today too where they measure my hcp levels which indicates pregnancy. They like to see anything over 40 at this point and I was at 63!! So happy! I will go back on Monday for more, but for now, I'm going to be patient and try not to pee on anything ;)

Shhhh!!!!

If you see this then don't tell!!!! But, looks like IVF#2 worked!!!!!!

Is that you, nausea?

Or am I just going crazy with the waiting? I just made probably the healthiest meal I've eaten in 4 days. Egg whites and wheat toast. Then had some nausea. It was there and gone so fast, I may have imagined it. Just like my crazy fatigue. Could be a symptom, could be the time of year with the crazy holiday celebrations. See how much fun this is?

Bringing back the timeline...

1dpt ..embryo is growing and developing
2dpt... Embryo is now a blastocyst
3dpt....Blastocyst hatches out of shell on this day
4dpt.. Blastocyst attaches to a site on the uterine lining
5dpt.. Implantation begins,as the blastocyst begins to bury in the lining <----- THIS WILL BE ME ON CHRISTMAS DAY!!!!
6dpt.. Implantation process continues and morula buries deeper in the lining
7dpt.. Morula is completely inmplanted in the lining and has placenta cells & fetal cells
8dpt...Placenta cells begin to secret HCG in the blood
9dpt...More HCG is produced as fetus develops
10dpt...More HCG is produced as fetus develops
11dpt...HCG levels are now high enough to be immediately detected on
HPT

I am only 2dp3dt today, so my embryos are hopefully turning into awesome blastocysts at this point. Friday, when it is implantation is about to begin, I have an acupuncture appointment that will help with my embies implanting and snuggling in for the long haul. I can't wait!!

Here they are!!!

 

Our sweet little embies!!!!

We had 3 beautiful embies to transfer yesterday and none that they thought would make it to freeze so we went all in. I know it was a risk, but a risk we were comfortable taking. I had acupuncture before and after and it went amazing!! I fell asleep both times! 

So now its the waiting game. I have my blood test to find out Thursday, 12/30. We are very excited!!

In the mean time I've spent all my time home in bed, except for getting a drink, snack or going to the bathroom. Today we have a family holiday party but I can stay pretty mellow. Gotta let my embies snuggle in and get comfortable!!!

ER update, fert report, and more...

Well, sorry for the lack of updates. I have been exhausted and just taking it easy. Also full of mixed feelings but above all else, I need to stay positive. So, beginning with the ER. First, I had an acupuncture appointment bright and early before and it was awesome. Relaxing and almost put me to sleep. Then we went for the ER and all was good until they told me that I had to do more injections. The other ones, which were really no big deal this cycle, had to be given subcutaneous, or just below the skin. These shots, are the horror shots so I have heard. These had to be intramuscular, in my ass, and they cause wonderful bruising and soreness. Awesome.

I can handle anything thrown at me, that I am sure of. However, I was annoyed because they stated it was their protocol after a failed cycle, yet this was the first we had heard of it. My poor husband had to run all over trying to find it since our local pharmacy didn't have it. Had we known about this, we could have ordered it and had it here prior to the ER. Oh well.

So they retrieved 7. Not sure why the number was the same, but they showed some of them to Mr. W and stated how big and beautiful they are. We got the fert report yesterday and all 7 were mature, but only 3 fertilized. They are watching a 4th, however we won't know if it did fertilize and the quality until tomorrow when I go for the transfer. So, another 3dt, with some acupuncture before and after. Another early day, but its a good day as any to be reunited with our babies. 

::Struts around::

You know what someone told me today? I have beautiful follices! That's right! 14 of them going strong. ER is scheduled for Friday!! WOOHOO!!! This is awesome. I am so excited, I just feel like this is it. I have responded much better than last cycle, and the acupuncture has been a great addition to this protocol. I just finished my trigger shot. 9pm sharp!

Wish me luck on Friday!!

I told another person today

This whole process has been hard for both Mr. W and I. Physically it is very manageable and I can truly say it could be a lot worse. Emotionally is another story. It is hard to wonder who we should tell, who we don't want to know, etc. In a perfect world, we would tell all the people we love and embrace the support. However, this is not a perfect world. Some people can't keep comments to themselves, some people are ignorant to some things in this world, I'm sure that is no revelation. See the youtube video below if you're truly confused as to why I would say that. The first time through this cycle, we kept to ourselves, told very few people, we just wanted to deal with this in our own way. This time through, we have told more people. There will be some people we will never tell, but that is the way it is sometimes. We have found it is a comfort level and we go along as we feel comfortable. There is less stress and anxiety that way.

I told one of my best friends today and damn it feels good to finally be able to talk to her about it. She has never been through anything IF related, however, she's an awesome friend and supports me no matter what. I just had kept to myself  for these past few months, not wanting to lie, not wanting to be awkward, and I feel awful about that. I know she understands though. I am not only lucky to have such great e-friends, I'm truly blessed to have friends right here, that I can drive less than 2 minutes to go have coffee in my pajamas with, that are supportive and trustworthy and awesome. I love you N.

To quote a good friend, my ovaries LOVE acupuncture.

Maybe not, but that's what I'm choosing to believe. I had a monitoring appointment today, and the u/s tech stayed pretty quiet. At the end, she looked at me with a huge grin and said to me "Well, I'm not sure if it was the acupuncture or what but you had AMAZING growth over the weekend." On Friday, my largest follicles were 11mm, one almost 12mm, with several smaller. She told me before we started that we should expect to see them about 15mm today. Well, I had quite a few in the 18mm range, and smaller. Probably about 10-12 that should be looking to be mature at this point. She also said that my cysts have shrunk. WOOHOO!!!!

I spoke to the fertility clinic today and they said that we'll know for sure on Wednesday after another monitoring appointment, however plan on an ER for Friday. OMG!!! This could mean one hell of a NYE for us!

Tomorrow I have another acupuncture appointment but its supposed to storm. As I may have said before, there is about an hour and 15 minute drive each way, and coupled with snow, that could not be so much fun. I just think it is very necessary to go up there though. My mind needs it, and clearly my ovaries love it!

I conquered a fear today.

Well, I not a real legitimate fear, but a thing that has always intimidated the hell out of me. Acupuncture. Boy did I rock that. So much so, I'll be back on Tuesday for another session.

So, I promised you a recap and you shall have it. All in all it was great, and I'm glad I'm doing it. Honestly I feel as though it is one more step towards starting our family. The more I can do to work towards that, the better I feel. So after a peaceful drive up, about an hour and 15 minutes, I was guided to a room.  I talked to the lady for quite a bit before we started. She explained things very thoroughly and very clearly. She then put in the needles which are so thin they would sway in the wind, and they only enter them to a certain point, so they stay very superficial. I had them in my ankle, lower leg, hand, forearm, stomach, shoulder where it meets my neck, and head. I only felt a couple of them go in. And anything I felt, lasted for a second.

So after that part which really was less than 5 minutes, I laid there, listening to the music, sending positive energy and thoughts to my uterus and ovaries, and relaxed for about 30 minutes. I definitely felt relaxed and as though my legs were made of lead. I didn't want to move, and certainly didn't feel like I could even if I wanted to. I will say I felt as relaxed as I do when I left, as I do after a massage.

Then the tears flowed. Why do you ask? Well, I went to pay, and I was told I had 6 sessions taken care of on behalf of "[A wonderful lady whose name will be anonymous] from Ohio." The lady at the desk told me that there was an email accompanying it and I almost fell on the ground in shock. There were 2 other ladies there that looked at me in shock as well when they heard what the lady had told me. They told me I must have some people that really love me and are behind me. Well, I certainly do. 

Let me explain. Once upon a time, I ventured onto a public message board. I had baby fever like you would not believe but we were not trying yet at this point. I posted to learn about my body and everything they never taught you in health class, and I posted to speak to ladies that seemed pretty farking cool. We shared jokes and laughed, shared stories and listened, shared heartache and cried together. Ladies who I have never met, but I just developed an e-friendship with them that is hard to describe and explain if you have never  been in my shoes. We took it off of the public site and kept developing our friendships, shared addresses and personal info that is a no no on the interwebz, and grew closer and closer. Some of these ladies I consider to be best friends. Some of these best friends, I have never met in person, although some of them I have been incredibly luck and fortunate to have met in person. And, let me tell you when I do meet these ladies in person, its like we've been friends forever and there is not even a hint of awkwardness, or lull in conversation, or fumbling for things to talk about. We talk pretty much daily, but there is always something. 


In these boards, I've found my own support group. Nothing that you could ever recreate by any means. These incredible ladies are behind me and supporting so much that they wanted to contribute to my journey and have purchased all the acupuncture appointments I need to make this happen. I truly hope that their generous and amazing gift to me helps achieve our miracle of starting our family. I cannot wait to celebrate that day, and cry happy tears with these ladies, who I know will be crying right along with me. 


Thank you again to you ladies who contributed, you know who you are. I am blown away, and can't stop tearing up with happy tears. I am so lucky to call you ladies friends. I love you. xoxo

So far, so good.

Had my first follie check today. I am on day 6 of stims. I have about 5-10 prominent ones. I hope the left ovary picks it up a little bit because the right ovary is kickin butt. I still have the 2 cysts, however they haven't grown at all which is good. I certainly hope things continue to progress!

As far as my sanity, that is another story. I'm doing ok, but this second cycle is a lot harder emotionally. Harder to stay positive, harder to stay hopeful. Harder to see that this cycle CAN turn out differently than the last. I am taking a big step towards changing my attitude and leveling my stress levels. I'm going to start acupuncture! It is highly recommended at different parts of the cycle. It is been noted to help follicle development if administered while stimming, before the ER is recommended to help recovery, before and after the transfer to aid in calming the uterus and making it a more ideal environment for the embryos to keep growing and dividing. The last time they recommend is about 7 days following the ER to help aid in implantation. Now, I know it can't work miracles, and there are no guarantees, but I'm going to go into this with a positive outlook that it certainly can't hurt, and it can only help. If at the very least, it helps my stress level, it will be a HUGE help!

Until Sunday....

'Tis the Season!!

Not only do I have a lot going on with the IVF cycle, however I completely forgot about my holiday cards!! I love, love, LOVE to do a photo card. It is simple, yet personal and a great way to send our holiday wishes along to those we are close with, whether its family or close friends. I know I certainly enjoy getting the variety of cards, pictures or not, in the mail each year!

Normally, I use my old standby, Snapfish. This year, a little birdie told me about Shutterfly! I finally checked it out and they have such wonderful options. It is so easy too. Just pick a layout, put in your pictures, and you have a card that looks professionally made in minutes! Some of my favorites are below:

These are only a few of them. I put in a search with how many pictures I wanted, but you can search for cards with a layout for 1, 2, or 3+ pictures. Some look like a photo montage of sorts! You can search by size, color, paper type, etc. Really, the options are endless. W ith all of these options, how will I choose? Seriously this will be tough, but I can't wait to order them and send them out!

To my fellow bloggers, you need to check out their newest promotion, just click here!! You can use them to make a photo calendar for Christmas gifts or stock up on some personalized thank you cards to use after receiving wonderful gifts this holiday season.  Just another reason why this is the most wonderful time of the year :)

Let the games begin!

Yes I know its been a while, and my lovely bestie Christina totally called me out on my lack of updates. Sorry babe! Anyway, I haven't had much to say, other than we were waiting for the chance to start cycling again. The bcp and lupron phase went ok. No real headaches or nausea from the bcp this time which is great.

I almost hit a road block yesterday. With all of these hormones, there is a risk of cysts forming in my ovaries. This was something I have been aware of, but for some reason it wasn't even a thought in my mind yesterday. Until that is, the u/s tech said that I had two in my left ovary. Both small, but they are there. She didn't want to predict but said if my estrogen levels were low, they would probably let me start this cycle, or wait a week or if not so good test results, go back on bcp for another month. THAT would NOT have made me happy. However, all was well with my b/w and we started stimming last night!

Cue the headaches! Oh my. I am starting at a way higher dosage this time of the Gonal F, adding in another stimulating medication (Meonpur), and have the Lupron I've been taking. Luckily I can mix them together for one shot, instead of 3. That is a bonus! Next appointment is Friday, so you will definitely hear from me by then! Promise!