It's a GIRL!

I can't believe it's been nearly two weeks since I found out that we are having a girl.  Say hello to Sadie Elizabeth!!!

I must say that this was the best birthday present ever!!!  She is perfectly healthy and growing right on track.  I took the day off on my birthday and Brian and I spent some time out and about.  We even picked out the baby's first outfit!

Later that evening, we all went out to eat at Outback with my parents, Brian's mom and stepdad, and my younger brother Stephen, who was getting ready to leave on a trip to Brazil!

I am so thankful that God has answered my prayers and that this baby continues to grow and progress along!

My next ob-gyn appointment is February 28, 2013.  I will get to see her again because apparently I don't drink enough water and they want to be able to get a better view at her heart since Brad was born with a heart defect.  But before that, I have jury duty :-(

19 Weeks Today!

I'm 19 weeks pregnant today.  Next week I will be halfway there!!!!  I find out on February 7th (one week from this Thursday) what I am having.  It also happens to be my birthday :-)  Things have been going well.  I have been able to feel the baby move since about 14 weeks and the movements are getting stronger!

My long absence

Where has the time gone?  I have so much updating to do, but I guess the biggest one is that this cycle of IVF worked!!!  I am currently eight weeks pregnant with one healthy baby!

The egg retrieval was really rough, but the transfer was piece of cake.  After that we had the agonizing two-week wait and then I guess I got so caught up in everything that I neglected to update here.  I'll get back to it but for tonight I will leave you with my first ultrasound picture.  The baby's heart rate was 122 and he/she was measuring 6 weeks three days at the time.

 

The screen saver on my phone currently says "Keep calm and trust Him" and that is something I need reminding of every day!  I am praising God for this pregnancy, but I am still fervently praying that everything will go according to His will, which I am hoping is a healthy baby!  My estimated due date is June 25, 2013, which just happens to be my daddy's birthday!

Final ultrasound on stims

So this morning I had to get up at 5:15 in order to get ready to be at Dr. Nichols' office at 7:15. The sun wasn't even up when I left.

Today's appointment went well. They could actually see my uterus contracting because all of these hormones cause extra mucus, gross.

It looks like we will have around 20 follicles to retrieve. I do my trigger shot tonight at 11:00 and then I will have my retrieval on Tuesday.

After I left Dr. Nichols' office I ran through the drive-thru at Starbucks because I really needed a caffeine pick-me-up today. Then I had to pull over and do my Lupron shot in a parking lot.  Hey, there's a first time for everything :-)

Then I stopped at Food Lion before heading to church because I had to go to the bathroom. I also bought a protein drink since I only ate a banana for breakfast this morning. I picked up some lemon pound cake for the ladies I volunteer with as well.

It was a busy morning in the nursery today with lots of babies who were all tired and fighting sleep, which equals cranky babies :-(  I was able to talk to the ladies in my room some more about what is going on with my IVF cycle. Everyone wad very encouraging and supportive.

I've been feeling nauseous lately and having hot flashes; then I found out today that my estrogen level is over 2,000 because of the drugs!!! I'm looking forward to feeling normal again, well actually not "normal" but pregnant :-)

Lazy Saturday

September 29, 2012:  Cycle Day 29:  So the kids went to Brian's mom's house last night.  Brian had to work some this morning.  I took today to just relax and chill out.  Other than unloading the dishwasher, loading it back, and washing a few dishes, I really didn't do too much today.  Brian and I went to the store this evening, and then I cooked supper.  He had tacos and I had black eyed peas and cornbread.  I am still pretty much sticking to the no sugar thing.  For breakfast this morning I had a ham and cheese omelet with a piece of gluten-free toast.  I did have a small glass of chocolate milk made with Hershey's 50% less sugar chocolate syrup.  I did allow myself to get some kettle corn at the store last night, as well, but it is not overly sweet and only has 2 g of sugar per serving.

I did not have a headache today at all, but I was running a fever this afternoon and feel like I may be running one now.  I'm not sure what's up with that.

After supper Brian and I put the cover on the pool.

Mostly it's just been a lazy and relaxing day, which is something that I felt like I really needed.  I'm planning to go to bed early tonight since I have to be at Dr. Nichols' office tomorrow morning at 7:15 a.m. and then head to church to volunteer and attend service.  I am going to be exhausted when I get back home, that's for sure.

I'm hoping and praying that everything goes well with the ultrasound and blood work tomorrow and that things are still on schedule for the retrieval.

Second ultrasound on stims

September 28, 2012:  Cycle Day 28.  So my husband and I headed off to Dr. Nichols' office this morning for my second ultrasound on stims.  My uterine lining again looked good.  There were around 10 or so follicles on each side this time ranging from 17 mm to 22 mm, so they still have a little growing to do.

Dr. Nichols' office called me back later on and said that my blood work looked good, as well.  I go back tomorrow morning at 7:15, yes on a Sunday, for another ultrasound and blood work to see what size the follicles are now.  It's potentially looking like the retrieval will be on Tuesday October 2 with the transfer being 3 to 5 days later, so potentially Friday or Sunday.

Just for fun I counted up how many injections I have had to give myself thus far.  The total count?  38 ouch!  I'll have to pack my Lupron dosage in a cooler tomorrow and take it with me to Dr. Nichols' office because I'm not sure whether they will want me to take it or not and I'm planning on heading straight to church afterwards so it will have to be given before then.

Here's a shot of this morning's Lupron injection:

After my ultrasound and blood work Brian and I headed over to the acupuncturist's office for my second treatment.  I managed to snap this picture when I was in the treatment room alone :-) You can kind of sort of see the acupuncture needles in my ear.  Please ignore my skin discoloration and fat rolls :-)

After the acupuncture treatment Brian wanted to stop by Steak Out and get some lunch.  We had to wait for about 15 minutes, so I snapped a picture of him just because I know it makes him mad :-)

After we got lunch we had to make one more stop by my parents' house.  As we were getting ready to leave there, we stood outside by the car talking to my parents.  The sun was pretty bright and I started getting the aura associated with my migraine headaches.  By the time we got home though, the aura had gone away so I set about working.  Not too long after that I started getting a throbbing headache. I went to use the bathroom and felt like I was going to throw up.  I tried to work some more after taking some Tylenol, but the headache just would not go away.  I ended up laying down for a bit and finally giving in and taking one of my migraine pills.

Shortly after this I threw up everything that was in my stomach forcefully and then went to sleep for about 30 minutes.  When I woke up the headache was down to a dull ache and other than my throat hurting from the forceful vomiting, I didn't feel too bad.  Unfortunately, throwing up like that broke some blood vessels in my face and I didn't realize until later how horrible I looked.

I'm seriously hoping that tomorrow is a better day.  I'm now worried that the acupuncture may have had something to do with the headache and vomiting, so now I am unsure if it will be a good idea to have her come to Dr. Nichols' office and do a treatment before and after the embryo transfer.

No more sugar :-(

September 27, 2012:  Cycle Day 27:  So I decided today, actually since I left the acupuncturist's office, that I was going to give cutting out sugar a try again.  After I took Brad to school today I decided to go by the store and get some healthy food to eat.

Here's a sneak peek at my buggy:

In the cart there is Tortilla chips and Wholly Guacamole, baby spinach, a low-calorie ranch salad dressing with omega-3 in it, bananas, oranges, a small container of Simply Orange orange juice, baby carrots, a shrimp fried rice kit, organic brown eggs, salted butter, Swiss cheese, plain Greek yogurt with hone, and preservative free honey ham and chicken, buried under the cheese.  I also got a gluten-free frozen pizza and a couple of bags of steam fresh vegetables after I snapped this picture.

I ran into two people that I know at the store from church and ended up telling them about Brian and I doing fertility treatments.  I don't know why I have shared with so many people this time, but most people are really supportive and say that they will pray for me, so that can't hurt right?

After the store I came home and made myself some scrambled eggs with ham and cheese along with a slice of gluten-free toast with butter.  This was really good and had over 35 grams of protein, which is what the acupuncturist said that I need to be eating a lot of.  It kept me full from 8:00 a.m. until about 2:00 p.m. so that's a good thing.

I split the frozen gluten-free pizza with Brian for lunch and snacked on some tortilla chips and salsa while I was waiting for it to be done.  I had some grapes before supper since we ate so late tonight, again, but this time for a different reason.  For supper I made a recipe I found on Pinterest for Alice Springs Chicken like Outback.  It was really good.  We had that and baked potatoes.  I ate half a potato, but all of my chicken.  In the future, should I choose to eat they way the acupuncturist says, I will be buying organic meat as well as eggs.

I have had no sugar today so far.  I did have a really bad headache earlier and had to take a nap for 30 minutes to feel better.  I have been drinking lots of water today.  I'm a little worried because I know that I should have done all of these things, i.e. getting off sugar, eating more protein as well as a healthier diet, and findings more ways to relax such as acupuncture and meditation before I got this far along in my IVF process, but as Betty and the acupuncturist have told me, you can't go around focusing on what you did wrong in the past, you can only change it from this point forward and do better, so I am trying not to beat myself up too much about it.

Well, I'm off to watch a little TV and relax before taking my meds and calling it a night.  Tomorrow we will see how the follicles are doing.