I have the best husband in the world!

I am SO EXHAUSTED!  My amazing husband made supper tonight.  He went up to Camden and got us taco salads from Pizza King.  He is also changing the oil in my Durango tomorrow.  Isn't he the greatest???

My dear wonderful husband made fun of me this morning.   I gagged more than once while brushing my teeth.  Apparently he finds it humorous.  Men....

Sara and I did drag him to see the latest Twilight movie over the weekend.  I guess he deserves to get back at me.  Haha!  Sara and I liked it.

The morning sickness is starting.  I've noticed I get nauseous when I'm hungry.  I've been snacking on wheat thins to help that.

I also keep freezing!  I sleep with an extra blanket now.  I didn't know early pregnancy could make you feel cold.

I bought some Christmas presents tonight after work!!!  I like them!  I hope their recipients do as well!!!

I have tutoring after school again tomorrow.  I have a good group of students.  I'm thankful for that!

Right now we are watching Ghost Hunters.  It is 8:58 and I plan on getting a big glass of water and heading to bed.  Goodnight Everyone!   Take Care!

~Sam

More Awesome News Today!!!

I am 4 weeks 4 days pregnant today!

I had my 2nd beta (HCG) this morning.  It was 206!!!  It was 50 on Wednesday.  The RE (reproductive endocrinologist) is happy to see my numbers rising as they should!  He wants to see the number double every 36hrs-72hrs.  Mine are doubling around every 58 hrs!!!!!!

I have an ultrasound scheduled for December 7th!  We will find out how many babies there are at that time.  I will be around 6 weeks, so our baby will have a heartbeat, but we might not be able to see it at that time.  It might be too early.

If everything looks good, my RE will release me to my OBGYN!

Shawn and I are both so THANKFUL for the BLESSINGS we have received this year!

Have a wonderful week everyone!!!

~Sam

Shawn went for blood today!

He's so mean!  Okay, not really.  When Shawn gives me my progesterone in oil shots, he has to pull back on the syringe each time to make sure he's in the muscle.  If he gets blood, he has to re-stick me in another location with another needle.  For the first time, he got blood.  I had to get stuck twice tonight. :-(  Oh well!  It's more than worth it.  I go in for another beta (hcg) level check and progesterone check first thing in the morning.  We're praying for nice and high numbers!!!  I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  Take Care!
      ~Sam

Happy Thanksgiving!

Shawn had to work Thanksgiving, again....  The kids and I went to my grandparents and had a good time.  I really missed Shawn even more this year now that we are expecting.  I am making a big meal for Shawn, the kids, and I tomorrow.  I went ahead and made my deviled eggs and pumpkin pie this evening.  I can't wait!  About it here.  Just watching the Harbaugh bowl now.  Have a great night everyone!

        ~Sam

And the verdict is....

 After trying 5 years, 8 months, and 12 days, I'M PREGNANT!!!!  We're going to have a baby (or 2)!!!!  At 8dp5dt, my beta (HCG) level is 50.  I go in again Monday for more bloodwork to make sure my numbers are increasing as they should.  My beta should be above 200 by then.  Please continue to pray for a happy and healthy 9 months!!!  I should be due around August 2nd.

My progesterone level was 20, which is normal, but they want me to continue my nightly 1cc of progesterone in oil.  They just want to play it safe just in case my progesterone were to drop.

I confess, we knew I was pregnant Monday!  Here is my test from Monday evening!  Can you see that faint line?

Tuesday morning's test.  (11 hours after the last one)

And this morning's test!   A little darker each day!

I bought a digital test that I plan on taking in the morning.  I just want to see the word PREGNANT!

EDIT:  I took one anyway!

I wonder if one or both embryos took....  I can't wait for the ultrasound to find out.  They wait until you're 6 weeks along so they can see the heartbeat.  I can't wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I feel so fortunate to get pregnant our first time doing IVF!!!

We're having chicken taco salads for supper tonight.  Yum!  I can't wait to eat!

About it here!  Have a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving everyone!!!!

~Sam

Almost there!

15 1/2 hours until my blood pregnancy test!!!!!!!!!

.....

Is it Wednesday yet?????

Yawn!

I have been in bed by 9:30 every night this week.  I have been so TIRED!  On Wednesday, I was in bed by 8:57.

Right now we are watching last night's new episode of The Big Bang Theory.  Yes, we DVR that show...  I love Blossom on the show.  Okay, her name isn't Blossom on this show, but that's what I remember her best as.  It's Amy on this show.

I am 3dp5dt today!  Okay, I'll elaborate.  I am 3 days past my 5 day transfer!  5 more days until my beta (blood pregnancy test)!

I am tired of the progesterone in oil shots!  The sides of my backside are sore and I have some bruises.  intramuscular injections are no fun!  Especially when they are nightly!

Today was our monthly birthday celebration at work.  The 2nd grade teacher's made soups and we brought the sides.  I have lunch after recess, so it was perfect!  Recess was freezing and soup was the perfect way to heat back up!

I am so proud of my son!  He is taking the 3rd grade fact tests and is on test G.  He is in 2nd grade!  Test A, B, and C are addition.  D, E, and F, are subtraction.  G and H are mixed.  After that, they start on multiplication.  I taught him his x0, x1, x2, x5, and x10 last night.  We are going to work on multiplication as repeated addition this weekend.  Oh, Abby learned as well by just listening!  She also is the top in Math in her 1st grade class.  They are so smart!  I am so proud of my kids!!!  To think, Zac was behind in Math when he first came to live with us.  It pays to have a mom that's a licensed elementary teacher and Math interventionist.  They might not think so sometimes!  ;-)  Now we're focusing more and more on reading....

About it here...  Have a great weekend!!!!

~Sam

Embryo Transfer

Today was the big embryo transfer!  Only 2 of the blastocysts made it to day 5.  According to Dr. H, one was average and one was really good.  Unfortunately, we didn't have any to freeze...  Stick babies stick!

Some Dr.'s do embryo transfers on day 3 because so many don't make it to day 5.  Some theorize that the longer they are out of the womb, the harder it is on them.  Other Dr.'s theorize that those that die before day 5 won't survive anyway, so waiting ensures transferring the strongest and healthiest ones.

I'm not sure if there is a right or wrong answer.

Other than some mild cramping, I feel great!  Its easiest to do an embryo transfer with a full bladder.  Oh my that was fun!  I was so afraid I wouldn't be able to hold it and would go during the procedure.  I had a nightmare about it last night.  I wonder if anyone has ever had an accident.  After the transfer, I had to lay flat for an hour.   WITH A FULL BLADDER!  My options were have the Dr. put in a catheter, go in a bed pan, or hold it.  I chose to hold it.  When my hour was up, I had Shawn push the little red call button to get a nurse and make sure it was okay to get up.  I made it, but I wasn't sure I was going to.  While laying there watching TV, Shawn kept talking about a kinked water hose.  All I could think about was un-kinking that water hose.  I kept telling him he wasn't helping me at all.  He thought it was funny.  Men....

Again, there were several people in the room for this procedure.  Dr., nurses, embryologist, ultrasound tech, ultrasound tech in training, Shawn, etc.  There must have been 6 or 7 people involved.  Some Dr.'s do not do embryo transfers with an ultrasound.  How in the world could they be sure they got the embryo's where they needed to go?  In my opinion, Dr. H is a good Dr. and knows what he's doing.  The lab told me he has a great record going.  4 out of 4 IVF's resulted in pregnancy in September and 5 out of 6 did in October.  I like those odds.

It was fascinating to watch the whole thing on the ultrasound screen.  They even printed a picture off for us.  If you look at the pic below, you can see an arrow on top of an oval.  The oval is my uterus.  At the top of my uterus, you can see 2 little white dots close together.  That's our blastocysts.  Scanning the picture isn't as clear, but its the best I could do.

When the kids got off the bus, Zac asked me if they put my eggs back in my belly today.  He wanted to know how many and if it hurt.  LOL!  He's been obsessed with "do things hurt" this whole process.  I don't think he's going to handle pain well...

Have a great night!  Think sticky thoughts!

~Sam

Day 3

Dr. H told us to expect half of the eggs retrieved to fertilize and half of those to make it to day 3.  Apparently Shawn and I are by the book people.  14 eggs were collected, 8 fertilized, and 4 look awesome and are dividing  right on schedule.  Yes, I do know that 8 is not half of 14, I do teach Math every day after all.  Its pretty darn close though.  The other 4 are progressing, but at a slower rate.  Imagine that from Shawn's slow swimmers and my slow to mature follicles...  What can I say, we like to take our time.  8-)

2 more days!!!

This is going to sound strange, but I sort of miss my eggs.  Its because I took all those shots and worked hard to grow them and now they're sitting in Indy.  It's like I know they are okay when they are in my care.  Haha!  Yes, I've gone crazy!  I blame all crazy meds I injected.  Maybe I'm going though withdrawals.  LOL!

Well, time for Shawn to shoot me in the behind with a big needle.  He has to give me my nightly injection of progesterone.  If you hear crying, that's me!  ;-)

EDIT:  I put ice over the location first and I hardly felt it.  Why didn't we try that sooner?  Sheesh!

Take Care!

~Sam

Saturday!

Don't miss the pics below...

I was talking with Shawn earlier and said, "I wonder how our babies are doing."  Ha ha!  He informed me that they are not really babies yet. I told him we need to have fun with this instead of being so serious about it.  I asked him, "What kind of parents are we leaving our babies in Indy all alone?"  I told Shawn we have 11 kids at the moment.  We have Zac, Abby, Lucy, and 8 fertilized zygotes.  Shawn just shook his head and told me not to get attached, we are not going to have "20 Kids and Counting".  Haha!  Since eight of the eggs fertilized, several people have teased us that we are going to be the next octomom.  Um, no!  LOL!  We're not crazy!  We just want 1.

We've been asked questions, so I am going to answer them below.

1.)  How long before they put them back in me?
    Our Dr. does a 5 day transfer, making it Tuesday.  Some Reproductive Endocrinologists (RE) do 3 day transfers.


2.)  How many are we going to put back in?
     That all depends upon how viable they are.  The morning of day 5, they grade the blastocysts.  We will probably pick the 2 most viable ones, but we'll see when the time comes.  Here is more information on grading embryos: http://www.fertilityproregistry.com/content/embryo-grading.asp

3.)  What are we doing with the extra embryos?
     If we're lucky and there are some other "healthy" ones, we will have them frozen.

That's all I can think of for now, but if you have any questions, let me know!

Have a great weekend!

~Sam

Pics From Friday 11-4-11

The kids took most of the pictures.  Shawn let them drive again and they had a blast!

Fertilization Report

Day 1 - Eight have fertilized!  I guess they are zygotes right now.  Dr. H will call me Sunday and let me know how they are on day 3.  Is it day 5 yet?  I can't wait for the transfer!

I am sore still, but better than this morning.  I felt awful at 6am.

Have a great weekend!

~Sam

Egg Retrieval!

Everything went well!  The Dr. retrieved 14 eggs!  ICSI should be done by now, so they should be fertilized!  We will get a call tomorrow giving us the details!  I will let you know!  I'm sore, but nothing too bad,  I can't lay flat for 24 hours....

Thank goodness for the IV meds!  The procedure was not fun!  It wasn't that bad either!  It will be worth it!!!

Shawn just left to get Monical's pizza.  I convinced him that I need pizza to make me feel better!  LOL!

Take Care!

~Sam

Great News!

I had an ultrasound and bloodwork this morning.  My follicles range from 14mm-19mm.  Meaning...  I will get to have my egg retrieval soon!  I take 1 more dose of Menopur and Lupron tonight and 1 more dose of Follistim in the morning!  Unfortunately, I was out of Menopur and had to make a run to the only pharmacy around that has fertility meds on hand.  That cost another arm and leg for 2 vials.

Tomorrow night at 11pm Shawn has to give me my trigger (HCG) shot.  Its an intramuscular injection.  36 hours later, Thursday at 11am, is my Egg Retrieval!  Woohoo!  Thursday night Shawn will give me a progesterone shot (intramuscular again).  He will give me those shots every night for a few weeks.

Next Tuesday at 9:15am is our embryo transfer!  Yeah!!!  We're excited!!!!!!!!

9 Days after the transfer, I go in for a blood pregnancy test!!!!!

~Sam

Still waiting....

Guess what?  My follicles are still taking their sweet time.  The dr. said I'm so close, but not there yet.  I have them ranging from 17mm to 12mm.  I'm upping my dose of both Menopur and Follistim.  I go back to Lafayatte Monday for another ultrasound and HOPEFULLY the darn follicles will be mature.  I told Shawn its no wonder we haven't gotten pregnant.  My follicles are slow to mature and he has slow swimmers.  We'll get there though!  I'm hoping that they tell me my follicles are mature on Monday and I can take my HCG (trigger) shot that night.  36 hours later (8am Wednesday) would be the egg retrieval.  Keep your fingers crossed!!!

~Sam

Follicles

I had one follicle that was 14mm, around 8 follicles that were 13mm, and several more that are 12mm.  I take 2 vials/150 units of menopur and 10 units of lupron tonight.  I will take 100 units of follistim in the morning before I head down to Indy for my next ulltrasound and blood work.  My estrodiol was 251 on Wednesday and was 614 today.  She said that was good because they like to see it at least double at this stage.  When I started, my estrodiol was around 37.  Crazy, huh?

That's about it here!

~Sam

IVF Update!

I had another ultrasound and bloodwork today.  The u/s tech said that on Monday my follicles were 8mm and 9mm.  Today they were 10mm and 11mm.  They are growing around 1mm a day.  My dr. wants them to grow a little faster, so he's upping my Follistim from 75 units to 125 units.  I keep the Menopur at 2 vials/150 units and the Lupron at 10 units.  Grow follies grow!

~Sam

BREAKING NEWS!!!

I found out why Kim Kardashian amd Kris Humphries are divorcing!

Shawn told me Kim sent him a text wanting to hook up.  Shawn told her he couldn't because she was married.   So... She filed for divorce so her and Shawn could hook up.  Now you know the real story!

Hahahaha!

~Sam