7/10/09 - 4dp6dt - Cramps and Sore Boobs...WOOT!

From September 25, 2008:

SUPER crampy and sore boobs. Could be the prometrium. Could be pregnancy. We'll see. I'm praying that the third time was a charm!

From June 8, 2009:

This was from the day before my positive in September. I specifically wanted to look back to check for the cramps, because I'm WAY crampy today. Kinda makes me excited! I never get cramps prior to AF so maybe my luck may turn itself around!

Today: Ditto again with the cramps and sore boobs. Each time I've posted this, I've been pregnant. Will probably test tonight but won't be shocked by a negative. It's early still, and frozen embryos start off a bit slower than fresh embryos. But by Sunday we should have something brewing!

7/8/09 - Loss Testing Back

My recurrent loss and chromosome testing all came back normal. Which is fabulous, but it means the fault really does lie with these dusty, old eggs of mine.

But I figure, hey...the two on board have lived through being sucked out of my tubes, inserted with sperm via a needle, living in a dish for 6 days, being frozen, and then being thawed. They've surely got stamina!

7/6/09 - FET #1 - Pregnant Until Proven Otherwise

These little cuties are snug in my uterus!



Stick babies, stick!

7/4/09 - Lovenox added to the mix

Transfer is on Monday at noon. My loss testing still isn't back, so Dr. H is going to have me take daily injections of Lovenox - which is a blood thinner and weakens the immune system just in case I've got some blood clotting and/or immune stuff happening. Apparently the shots sting and bruise badly. SO not excited about that, but if it works, who cares! She said I'll need to be careful not to hurt myself or get in a car accident while taking the shots because you can bleed out or bleed internally very easily. Ack!

6/26/09 - FET Schedule

6/26/09 - Lining 10mm, E2 269, Progesterone -2

6/27/09 - Increase Estrace to 4x a day

7/1/09 - Start Endometrin suppositories 3x a day

7/3/09 - Start Doxycycline & Medrol

7/6/09 - Snowbabies on board!

7/14/09 - Beta

Singleton Due Date: March 24, 2010 (my mom's b-day is 3/26)
Twins By Ave Gestation: March 01, 2010
Triplets By Ave Gestation: February 02, 2010

PLEASE GOD!

6/15/09 - Okay, so on we go. FET #1

Tentatively, pending tomorrow's beta being below 5:

6/16/09: Start estrogen pills 3x a day
6/28/08: Start progesterone suppositories 3x a day, Doxycycline 2x a day, Medrol
7/3/09: Transfer two frozen embryos
710/09: Beta

Wow! Bring me a little Aries baby! EDD would be around March 21, 2010. My mom is an Aries, so this will thrill her to no end. In fact, many of Scott's immediate family are Aries - 2 brothers, 1 nephew, 2 nieces...and our daughter/son hopefully!

Here we go again...are y'all ready?

6/13/09 - Recurrent Loss Testing

I gave 10 vials of blood this morning. The tests will come in at different times over the weeks to come.

6/13/09 - 4w2d - early miscarriage

Beta: 11

I think I've about hit "numb". The skin under my eyes is red and raw and my eyelids look like someone punched me in the face. And my heart hurts.

Miscarried 6/13/09 in the evening. Rest in peace, my little angel baby.

"A Mother’s Love cannot be measured
by increments of time. An entire lifetime
of love can be squeezed into a few brief
miraculous moments when necessary."

6/11/09 - 9dp5dt

6/11/09 (9dp5dt) - Beta 13

It's not looking good for us. :(

6/8/09 thru 6/10 - BFP!!!! And my angel's due date - RIP Junebug.

Thinking of my angel baby that was due today. So unfair that s/he is not here with us.

But this made it a little more bearable of a day! BFP!!!

6dp5dt - 5:00 PM (urine held about 3-4 hours)


7dp5dt - 4:30 PM (urine held about 2.5 hours)


8dp5dt - 5:15 PM (urine held about 2-2.5 hours)


I just don't get why they aren't getting darker. But this was nice to get!

6/8/09 - 6dp5dt - Afternoon

From September 25, 3008:

SUPER crampy and sore boobs. Could be the prometrium. Could be pregnancy. We'll see. I'm praying that the third time was a charm!

This was from the day before my positive in September. I specifically wanted to look back to check for the cramps, because I'm WAY crampy today. Kinda makes me excited! I never get cramps prior to TOM so maybe my luck may turn itself around! I keep running to the potty expecting to see TOM but so far, so good! Woohoo!

Needs LOTS of prayers and baby vibes. God please let me test positive by the end of tomorrow, but preferably today!

7/8/09 - 6dp5dt - BFN Still

Still negative this morning...not looking good for us. I cried myself all the way to work. It's just unreal to me that this is happening...or isn't happening as the case may be. I've pretty much reached distraught as of this morning.

When I was pregnant in September, I got my positive at 10dpo...which was equivalent to yesterday. And my due date for that baby is tomorrow.

6/7/09 - 5dp5dt

Still negative this morning, BUT, at 10dpo, this is the day I got my positive in September and I didn't get it until the evening soooooo....

Positive HPT prayers!!!

UPDATE: Couldn't get more negative again tonight. :(

6/6/09 - 4dp5dt

Negative again today. Still early, but ughhhhh!

6/5/09 - 3dp5dt - The horrible 2WW

I'm not feeling it anymore. I was SO positive up until yesterday. I've lost my ooomph. I think seeing friends around me having failed IVFs is bringing me back to the reality that this is NOT a sure thing - far from it, in fact. It seems impossible to me that this wouldn't work - even Dr H thinks we're pregnant based on the quality of my embies on board and my frozen embies, but I'm absolutely terrified of a BFN in the next week. God give me strength and help me find that positive outlook again.

Headache, sadness, crampy...not a good sign.

I will say this, one of my crazy symptoms from September was my sense of smell, and I kid you not, I can smell the ink from my ball point pen like it's a Sharpie, so I'm feeling a little bit better. I couldn't smell the ink yesterday. LOL!

I'm sure it will be fine, and if it's not, I have 6 little back up plans on ice.

My acupuncturist said tonight that she would be shocked if I wasn't pregnant. She said she was going to come over Sunday and check my pulse again if I didn't have a positive by then.

I tested tonight...negative, of course, because it's too early. I just couldn't help myself!

6/3/09 - Six Snowbabies!

OMG...we have SIX frozen blasts! Found out my blastocyst quality for all of my babies.

5AA is the best.

My fresh IVF blasts were:

2AB and 3AB

My frozen blasts are:

5BB, 4AB, 4BB, 4BB, 4BB- and 3BB-

The number grades how expanded the blast is, meaning how close to hatching is it. 5 means that it's started to hatch out of the shell already and will implant pretty immediately after transfer.

The first letter is the quality of the cells that will become the fetus. The second letter is the quality of the cells that will become the placenta.

A = Excellent
B = Good
C = Poor

I hoped for more "A" grades, but I'm happy I don't have any "C" grades. And I'm happy to have mostly 4 and 5s!

I started BAWLING when my RE called. She said she felt VERY confident that at least two of the eight fabulous blasts would become babies in my arms! She feels REALLY good about this cycle working though, and we have had a good feeling from day one, too. I just really feel like this is going to be it and maybe it's stupid to be this excited and hopeful and optimistic, but darn it, it's just how I feel...I'M SO EXCITED!!!!!

6/2/09 - 5 Day Transfer today!!!

I'm gettin' pregnant today, uh-huh, uh-huh!

Dr Hinckley just called with an update. She said I had two perfect blastocysts, and that it was easy for them to know that these were the two they were going to transfer today. I have 5 more blastocysts that they want to watch for one more day to see if they make it to freeze - they needed a bit more growth. Then I have 3 morulas that they will watch to see if they can freeze them as well, but I'm guessing it's unlikely. So it looks like I'm transferring two and freezing up to five!

I have acupuncture at 10:30. Prep at 11:15. Transfer at 11:30. Acupuncture at 12:15. Then home for bed rest while the lil' ones snuggle in!

Here are our babies! They were graded 2AB and 3AB.

5/31/09 - Embie update

Eleven perfectly beautiful little embryos are growing in the lab. I'm so beyond grateful for this blessing! We will transfer the two best looking embryos on Tuesday morning at 11:30 AM. My blood test to check my HCG level is 9 days later. SO excited!

5/29/09 - Fertilization Report

The most fabulous update! Out of the 21 eggs retrieved, 17 were mature, 4 were borderline. 15 of the mature eggs fertilized, all of the borderline eggs fertilized, so I have 19 little babies in the lab! She's expecting about 40% to make it for a 5 day transfer. She'll call on Sunday to give us a "babysitting" update. I'm freaking bawling with joy right now, and SO thankful to God for this blessing!

5/28/09 - EGG RETRIEVAL!!!

We had 21 eggs retrieved this morning!!! Some of them won't be mature enough to be viable, but either way, we are THRILLED. Can't wait to find out tomorrow how many fertilized.

IV and anesthesia were nothing, but I did have some bleeding issues. When I was in the recovery room, I felt like I had to pee really bad. So they sat me up to get up and I felt a gush. Then when I stood up, I felt again again. LOTS of blood. They thought it was a one time thing of blood that had pooled. So I went to the restroom, and then they had me get back in bed. About 20 minutes later she checked and I seemed to be okay, so she said I could get up and get dressed. As soon as I stood up, gushed again. So I had to go into the exam room and have it looked at...speculum and all. Turns out I had a clot that they removed and then the bleeding completely stopped. Hopefully no more of that...it was a miscarriage flashback big time!

I was a bit crampy right afterwards, but feeling okay now. SO excited for tomorrow's phone call! Off to rest.

Evening update: Holy bloat, batman! You should see my belly. Pretty crampy still, but I'm dealing. I don't get bad AF cramps, so I guess this is my payback.

About to take my slew of meds...Medrol, Doxycycline, Baby Aspirin, Flaxseed Oil, Omega 3, PreNatal and an Endometrin suppository...joy of joys!

I'm not going to be able to sleep tonight. Can't wait to hear about my babies!!!!!

5/26/09 - ER is scheduled!

We're scheduled for egg retrieval at 7:00 on Thursday morning! My estrogen is THROUGH the roof - I have to stop drinking water and drink gatorade only so I don't get ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome. Here we go!

5/25/09 - Diminished reserve? I don't know about that!

For someone with high FSH, things are going SO well for me for a change. I'm so not used to my body responding this well! I have 21 follicles over 11. My estrogen (E2) made a rebound, and we are set for egg retrieval on Thursday. I'm heading back for one last check tomorrow morning before I trigger. I'm SO excited!!!

Left ovary: 11, 12, 13, 13, 13, 14, 14, 16, 16, 17, 18, 18
Right ovary: 14, 14, 14, 15, 15, 16, 16, 16, 20
E2: 3352
Lining: 10-11

I had a little chat with the OR and they have agreed to let me keep my St. Gerard medallion on. Whew! I was panicking about taking it off. They normally make you take off all jewelry, but they are making an exception for this one piece.

5/25/09 - Canonballs!

I started getting nauseated last night and it hasn't gone away. I guess that is normal - I'll ask them this morning. My ovaries feel like canonballs and my boobs are swollen and KILLING me.

So excited for my appointment and my pre-op! I know things are moving along nicely! But I have to say, my anxiety was THROUGH the roof last night. It's been so good the last few weeks. I really need to find a way to keep it completely at bay.

Have I mentioned how excited I am?

5/24/09 - Bloated...you think?

So my acupuncturist came over at 5pm. I layed down and lifted my shirt up and she said "Wow, you're really bloated". Ya think? She was thrilled with how I'm doing. She said she's certain I'll end up with embies to freeze after our transfer. That would be AWESOME!

5/23/09 - My aching ovaries

OMG...my ovaries are so swollen. I swear you can feel them through my skin. I'm SO bloated - this is just insane! My acu says my ovaries will be the size of grapefruits by the time ER comes around. Goodness! Scott is calling them his "babies". I have to say, it's precious. We're both SO freaking excited!!!