Monday, December 29, 2008

My Little (Big) Monkey Boy!!

So Mike and I had a brief visit to the hospital last night. I was having contractions every 8 mins or so for about 2 hours, so we decided to go get checked out. THANKFULLY they sent me home and did not keep me. I was told to drink LOTS of water, lay on my side, and they upped my meds. Well I had to go in the the Dr today for a follow up appt and I got an ultrasound to check his fluid and my cervical length. Well my cervix is short 2cm when it should be 4, but his fluid is GREAT so he has plenty of room to swim haha. So again my Dr told us that it looks like London really will be making his appearance early (as if we had any doubt). At the ultrasound he looked great! He weighs 3.5 lbs now, which is in the 94th percentile of weight for his age. So he is a BIG boy!! With my luck, he will come at 35 weeks and STILL weigh 9lbs HAHAHA. As usual during the ultrasound he refused to give us a decent profile picture. He was very quick to whip out the weenie though. I might just be giving birth to a future streaker or "naked man" for all you WPer's. He likes to show off the goods, but not so much his face. We got one pic of his profile but it's blurry because he was moving, so not all the lines on his face are defined. When you look at it, you can't see the indention between his nose and top lip. It almost looks like he has a muzzle, so Mike became very concerned that he looks like a monkey. He was quite relieved when I pointed out that his nose and lips WERE INDEED separate.

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Let The Dilating Begin!!

So I went to the Dr yesterday for my weekly appt and it seems that I am now dilated to 1 cm. While I know that 1 cm is not a HUGE amount, the dr still seemed very concerned. He said it is NOT a good sign that I'm only 28w4d and already starting to dilate. He kept me on my meds told me to increase my water intake (from 10 cups to 12 cups a day) and STAY ON BED REST!!! I have to admit with the holidays, I have not been taking things as easily as I should have been. However now I have been sent back to sitting on my butt all day every, every day again. My new personal goal is to keep London cooking until Feb 9th which will have me at 35 weeks. However, anything after 34 weeks (Feb 1st) is a VICTORY in my eyes.

Monday, December 22, 2008

London's Room

So Mike really got crack-a-lacking on London's room recently. It is finally all cleaned out and painted. It looks GREAT!! I love the blue color we picked out. It's a light blue but not a normal baby blue. It has more grey in it than a baby blue does. Almost like a muted Carolina Blue. OK, enough rambling about the color. We also bought a dresser for him at Rooms-to-Go. It was normally $600 but we got it for only $90 since it is missing a drawer. Well, I am going to convert that missing drawer into a shelf and store his blankets and other baby "stuff" in it that will need to find a home in his room. The color of the wood doesn't really match his crib, but I was planning on painting it white and stenciling little sail boats on it anyway so it really worked out well. I also bought a really cute boat steering wheel similar to this one (I only paid $5 for it at Michael's though) steering wheel I painted it white and it looks pretty darn cute against the blue walls in his room!!

I'll put up some pictures as soon as we get the stuff into his nursery. Right now it's just a big blue room, but hopefully by New Years we will have the majority of his stuff moved into his room and hung up on the walls.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

My Husbands Hot!

So today I am just sitting at home, being bored on bed rest AS USUAL. When I opened my phone and noticed that the calendar icon was on the front. The icon only shows up when you have a reminder set for that day. So I go to my calendar, open up todays date and find a reminder that reads "My husbands hot". I'll give you ONE guess as to who added that to my calendar. I love my husband, he cracks me up even when he is away at work!

Friday, December 12, 2008

Let the bed rest continue...

So I went to the Dr today and he decided to run a fFN test on me. Here is a little definition of what fFN is according to the March or Dimes:

Fetal fibronectin (fFN) is a protein produced during pregnancy and functions as a biological glue, attaching the fetal sac to the uterine lining. During the first trimester and for about half of the second trimester (up to 22 weeks of gestation), fFN is normally present in the cervico-vaginal secretions of pregnant women. In most pregnancies, after 22 weeks, this protein is no longer detected until the end of the last trimester (one to three weeks before labor).

The presence of fFN during weeks 24-34 of a high-risk pregnancy, along with symptoms of labor, suggests that the "glue" may be disintegrating ahead of schedule and alerts doctors to a possibility of preterm delivery.


Or the way the way Dr E described it to me is: They test to see if your body is starting to prepare for labor. If the test comes back negative, there is less than a 1% chance that you will go into labor in the next 2 weeks. However, if the test comes back positive it does mean that you are at an increased risk of going into labor in the next 2 weeks, but it's NOT a guarantee. Basically a negative result is a really good thing (especially since he was going to take me off my meds and bed rest if it was negative) but a positive result does not mean you are DOOMED to have your baby in the next 14 days.

Well you may have already guessed based on the title of this entry, my test came back positive. So now I am at an increased risk of going into labor over the next two weeks, so I have to stay on my meds AND bed rest for a while longer. I have to reiterate, this test does NOT mean that I WILL go into labor, but just that I am at an increased risk. The goal is to stay on the meds and bedrest and to try to put off labor for AS LONG AS POSSIBLE, whether that be 2 weeks or 12 weeks from now.

I honestly thought my test would come back negative. I thought that all this preterm labor stuff was just one big misunderstanding. Like maybe my uterus some how made up this big lie just to get some extra attention from the Dr while I was in the hospital for my "kidney infection". I guess not!

I guess this really is REAL!!!

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

A few fun photos!!!


Me at 26 weeks :)


Trying to get the whole family together for a Christmas picture. As you can see, it didn't work out so well.


Testing out the new sling!!

Sunday, December 7, 2008

99 DAYS TO GO!!!

WOOHOOO!! It's official as of today the countdown is in the double digits. Only 99 days left until London is due!!!!

Things left to do:

1) Empty his room and paint. Mike has yet to move everything out of his room (currently the guest room). We still need to paint too. We have bought the paint and all the supplies but for now it's just sitting in the garage.

2) Get his crib. I'm not all that worried about this step since even if we had the crib right now we would have no where to set it up. Thankfully Mike's parents are buying it for us, so that is one less thing we have to worry about.

3) Buy stuff. As of right now we have almost NOTHING for him. Let's see as of right now we have the following for him:

A sling
6 or 7 outfits
A floor activity mat
5 or 6 bibs
A few cute stuffed animals
A Bumbo chair
A few books
A 3 pack of receiving blankets
A little pair of froggy shoes
Yep...that's it!! Actually looking back over it, it's more than I thought we had.

Of course we are waiting to buy almost everything until after my baby showers. I will be having one down in Savannah on Jan 24 and then one here in Columbus probably the following weekend. I must admit it makes me just a little nervous to have NOTHING ready for him after our little pre-term labor scare. Although, even if we did have him right now, he would have to stay in the NICU for quite a while so we would still have plenty of time to get ready for his homecoming.

I'm sure there is more stuff that needs to get done that I am forgetting about, but for now these are the things that are on the top of our to-do list.

Thursday, December 4, 2008

I bought a sling!!

So after much debate on what type/style sling I wanted to buy for Mr. London. I finally decided to buy a Hotsling. I originally started to research this sling at the recommendation of my good friend Lora, and I must say she is right, it ROCKS!! Hotslings usually run about $60 each, but thanks to bed rest and a TON of free time to shop online, I found one on sale for only $24.99. EEEEKKKK!!! I really like the pattern too (it wasn't my favorite but for 60% off I am not going to complain) Here is a picture of it (baby not included HAHAHA).

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Home from the hospital and Happy Thanksgiving!!

Well I was finally released from the hospital on Wednesday (5 nights after I originally checked in). I'm doing really well. My contractions have stopped and London seems to be content with staying put for at least a little while longer. From here on out, I am on modified bedrest. So basically I am supposed to lounge around all day for the next 3 months. No cooking, cleaning, or shopping. Nothing that would cause me to be on my feet for more than just a few mins. However, the Dr said if I wanted to run to Publix to grab a gallon of milk or something just to get out of the house, that it would be OK. So I'm trying to take it as easy as possible. I am on a medicine (procardia) that I have to take every 6 hours, that really helps keep the contractions away. I also have a standing once a week appt with my Dr for the rest of the pregnancy.

My mom and sister came in for Thanksgiving, which was great. My mom cooked a TON of food and it was sooo good, I have not eaten anything but thanksgiving left overs since the dinner on Thursday. Oh and I still have about another 2-3 days worth in the fridge, MMMmmMMMMmmMMM!!.

Don't worry, Mike is taking good care of me. However, he is not 100% right now either. He ran a marathon on Thanksgiving day (yep, all 26.2 miles) so he has been a little sore from that. You should see us right now. I feel GREAT but can't get up to do anything and he is super sore and HAS to get up to do everything. Oh well, he will be back to 100% in the next day or so, and that should be about the time when our Thanksgiving leftovers run out. HAHAHAHA.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Still in the hospital!!

Well as you can tell from the title....I'm still in the hospital. I was supposed to go home this morning but, unfortunately London did not cooperate. Last night when the nurse hooked me up to the monitors to check on the baby, I had quite a few contractions. I was still hopeful that they would let me go home, but after talking to the Dr this morning he made it QUITE clear I was not going home with contractions. He told me he was going to keep me for at least another 24 hours. So here is to hoping that I actually get to go home TOMORROW, just in time for Thanksgiving!!

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Well I'm in the hospital :(

*BOTH LONDON AND I ARE OK* (Warning Label added due to popular demand)

So... Friday night I went to the ER because I was getting what seemed to be some sort of bladder/kidney infection and was in horrible pain. Well when I got to the ER, they thought the same thing, so they ran my urine and when that came back showing some bacteria, they decided to keep me over night to give me IV antibiotics and fluids (bc I was also some what dehydrated). Well Sat morning, MY Dr came in to exam me and to sign my walking papers, the moment he touched my stomach, I had some "kidney pain", he said..."ummmmm, is that the pain your experiencing?" I said yes, he said, "Ok well that was a big contraction, and I'm gonna need to move you over to labor and deliver NOW, because it looks like you are in preterm labor" He did a vaginal exam and said my cervix was thin but not yet dilated to 1cm. So after an hour of being monitored, and seeing my contractions become more and more regular he started me on magnesium (sp), put in another catheter, put me on a clear liquids only diet, gave me 2 shots of steroids, and put me on a bunch of other meds that I would need a medical dictionary to spell. They kept me on the mag. drip for 24 hours, then weaned me off for another 10 hours and my contractions are now under control. However, they have not disappeared. They removed the mag drip at around 2pm today (along with the catheter too) Thankfully they have also moved me back into a regular room (in the post-partum section so yay for comfy beds, no catheters, and a regular diet again :) )They want to keep me and monitor me until Tuesday to make sure this new oral medication is going to keep my contractions under control and that my cervix doesn't dialate anymore. Just as a safety precaution the hospital has had us meet up with a neonatologist and lactation specialist already. Which was GREAT!! Now I feel like we really have a plan set into motion already in case London does make a early appearance (but not too early, maybe 39w6d HAHAHA)

London has been doing great and has shown almost zero signs of distress. If anything, he has kept the nurses on their toes. Every time they put the monitor on me, he starts kicking to where you almost can't hear his heartbeat (keep in mind he also does this when I wear full panel maternity pants, LOL, he HATES any kind of pressure on Mommy's tummy).
I am doing MUCH better today, I had a slight melt down/panic attack this morning while I was still in Labor and Delivery, to which my Dr quickly gave me something to help me sleep (which really worked, by the way). Shortly after my nap (5 hours long), I got the word that things were totally under control and they were moving me out of Labor and Delivery, removing the catheter, and my personal favorite part, LETTING ME EAT AGAIN!! So of course all of that helped boost my emotional state.

So there you are, a little update on us! All 3 of us are doing well, but like I said before we will still be here until at least Tuesday. Mike has been here with me the whole time (except of course, when he is taking care of the pups) so that has been amazing. Our Thanksgiving plans have also changed a little bit, but now it envolves MY family and HIS family coming into town, so that will make it more fun for everyone. Plus, I get to have my mom's thanksgiving food, MMMmmmMMMmm!! All and all, this is NOT how I expected or wanted to spend my weekend but if it keeps little Mr. London in there cooking even a little longer, then it is time VERY well spent.

Monday, November 17, 2008

UGH! Boooo Target!!

So after buying my carseat last night on sale at Target.com, I got an email tonight saying that the price I paid was an error not a sale and they CANCELED MY ORDER!!! Apparently a TON of other women bought it at the same discounted price and Target is not honoring ANY of the purchases. Booooooo Target!!! You would think that a store as large as Target would honor those sales and then fix the pricing error, just to keep customers happy.

To them I say this: Shame on you Target! You would be better off losing the money than pissing off a bunch hormonal pregnant women!! Get ready, your about to feel the wrath!!

Oh well I guess that deal was too good to be true! So the carseat hunt must continue, but the good news is I have at least another few months to find one.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Holy Cheap Carseat, Batman!!

WOW, I am so freaking excited right now!! Tonight I was just messing around on the Internet, when a friend from one of my baby websites posted about a HELLA SALE Target was having on ONE of its car seats. I clicked on the link and found that the car seat is a Britax Marathon (a really nice and good name brand for car seats, not to mention one of the top rated as far as safety according to consumer reports) Now keep in mind this car seat usually sells for $279 and I got it for only $42.99 (oh and FREE SHIPPING!!) That is 85% off the normal price!! The color that was on sale was Granite, so its just a plain grey, which is PERFECT for a dirty little boy HAHAHA!!! It was crazy the same exact car seat in tan is still $279. I'm honestly kinda wondering if it wasn't some sort of mistake because I have found that car seats, because of the demand on them, NEVER go on a big sale. Here is the car seat in case anyone cares... To all of you non-pregnant ladies: Thank you for reading, I know ya'll could care less about this crap!!

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE CAR SEAT

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Check out that BELLY!!!

So yep! Here are the newest belly pictures. They were taken tonight at 21weeks2days. I'm getting quite the belly!!!! Excuse my face, it hasn't see make-up in quite a few weeks. EEEEKKKK...Let's just pretend that I am wearing a very scary Halloween mask HAHAHA.


Monday, November 3, 2008

Our first big baby purchase!!

Well today I bought London's bedding!! I got such a great deal on it too, which ALWAYS makes shopping more fun. I got it for 60% off. I was online and shopping and I was about to pay full price when I decided to just glance around and see if any other stores carry it. Low and Behold I found a store (on ebay of all places) that had a brand new set of the same bedding marked down almost 60%. I almost DIED, I was so excited!!! Oh and if your wondering what it looks like here is a picture...


We got the entire set except the lamp and wall hangings. I could go back and buy those pieces but since I already made the nautical flags to hang up, I figured it was pointless to get those too.

Now I am more excited than ever to get his crib and start setting things up!! Our next step though will be moving everything out of the room and starting to PAINT!!!

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

20 weeks!!!

Well we had our 20 week ultrasound/check-up and everything looked GREAT!!! The good news is he is still a boy (phew!)! The bad news is...he is stubborn like me. He was acting crazy during the ultrasound. He wouldn't sit still for measurements and regardless how many time she shook him to try to move him he always flipped the opposite way. HAHAHA. We didn't get any cute pictures really, he just wouldn't cooperate for that. Thankfully they did do a DVD for us, and he was doing some pretty funny stuff on there. At one point he was trying to flip over but couldn't quite make it. So he got stuck in the "A" position (picture your hands over your head on the floor and feet also on the floor with your butt in the air, like your trying to do a handstand but can't quite kick your legs up over your head) It was so funny, he actually picked one leg up like he was trying to kick it over to do the rest of the flip. It was tooooo cute. Oh and we also caught him playing with his penis. So I guess he really is Mike's child. It was so funny! It's crazy how much I already love that little man. The first thing I did when I got home was immediately put on the DVD and watch it over and over again. I'm going to have to be careful not to wear that thing out over the next few months. I mean I need to keep it in good shape to show his first girlfriend when the time comes. "Look,*enter his girlfriends name here* there London is playing with his penis, isn't it cute" HAHAHAHAHA

Everything looked really good. They checked his heart, kidneys, bladder, hands, feet, arms, legs, head, brain, umbilical cord, and upper lip (to make sure he didn't have a cleft lip). Everything check out PERFECTLY!!!! He weights 14 oz so he is only 2 oz away from a pound now. He is still measuring big by over a week. The Dr told us today, that even though I haven't gained much weight yet (only 3 lbs), that I needed to be careful not to gain too much since I was so HUGE as a baby. He said the more weight you gain the more weight the baby gains and since I am genetically more likely to have a LARGE baby, I really need to keep an eye on it and only gain about 35 lbs. Hopefully I can do that. However with the holidays coming up, it's gonna be tough! I'm sure I'll manage though.

Well I am off to go shopping and buy London a baby book!! I need to start organizing all of these ultrasound pictures.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

London's first kicks!

So London has really started moving recently. Over the last two weeks I have started feeling him more and more. At first it was just flutters, but now it is way more than that. I can feel him pretty much DAILY now. Usually 2-3 times a day actually. He kicks and punches ALOT, I can also feel him turning and flipping over. I'm sure I am going to have my hands full with this little energetic booger!!

This past Saturday, Mike and I were laying in bed. I had my hand on my stomach as I always do, when I felt a HUGE kick. This time was different though, I felt it with my hand as well as from the inside. So I QUICKLY grabbed Mikes hand and put it on my belly. Well, with in 2 seconds, London gave daddy 3 big kicks, as if to say "WELCOME HOME, Dad" It was too cute. I have not felt him again on the outside since then, but I'm sure it's only a matter of time before I can feel all of his kicks on the outside too. I'm starting to really enjoy this pregnancy thing. It's great because I am such a nervous nelly after losing baby B, that the movements are so reassuring.

Is it March yet???

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

A busy couple of days!

Soooo Mike got home on Sunday night!! WOOHOOO, it was a short deployment, but I am definitely glad to have him back. Oh so, as I think I mentioned in one of my earlier posts while I was home in Savannah, I made Mike a little surprise for London's room. So here is what I did. Ever since we got married Mike has always wanted to frame and hang the "Jedi Code" (from Star Wars) up in our house somewhere. Well, because I am not a TOTAL LOSER, I would never let him do it. HAHAHA. Well since we are having a boy I decided to make him a Jedi Code to hang in London's Room. I really didn't want it to scream "STAR WARS" so I gave it a nautical theme to match the baby's room. Just to give you an idea of the size, the frame is a 11x14. Here it is (sorry there is a little glare off the glass)...



Oh and another thing. Since I finally have Mike home, we decided to go register at Babies-R-US so here is the link to that registry. It is a BIG work in progress. I'm also going to register at Target so alot of the little things we will need like burp clothes, blankets, and onesies are not on there. But hey, if any of you mom's or mom's-to-be have suggestions on things I did not include PLEASE leave me a comment about it. I'm getting my diaper bag and sling from somewhere else, so I know they are not on there.
CLICK HERE FOR OUR BABIES-R-US REGISTRY

Thursday, October 9, 2008

My First Baby Art Project!

So as most of you know I am going to be doing a Nautical Themed nursery (think sail boats and light houses). So instead of putting London's name on the wall in block letters, I decided to do it in Nautical flags. FYI.. There is an nautical alphabet that uses flags to represent letters. So each flags represents a specific letter. So I went out and got the paint and wooden blocks and two days later here they are. They read from left to right L-O-N-D-O-N

All together....


Close up of L-O-N


Close up of D-O-N


We are going to hang them on the wall using boat rope and cute little knots. EEEEKKKK, I'm so excited!

Monday, October 6, 2008

17 weeks!

Wow, its been a LONG time since I updated on here last. So let me do a quick review of the last 3 weeks. I'll try to keep this short :)

Mike left for his deployment a while back. I know its only for a short time but I just HATE not being able to talk to him everyday. There is so much going on here that I feel like he is missing out on. I have so much more respect for these wives who do 15 month deployments now. I just can not imagine it.

I went on a trip down to Savannah. I had a BLAST, however I was very ready to come home. When I am there, I am on the move ALL DAY. I still need daily naps or I am a CRANKY CRANKY gal :) But it was really nice to be able to stay for as long as I did.

Baby London has started moving in there. It's nothing substantial yet, no obvious kicks or punches but I can definitely feel it when he changes positions. It feels like little flutters. Every time he moves, it surprises me. It's a very weird feeling. I can't wait for him to get stronger, so that we can feel his movements on the outside of my stomach. However, I know I still have a few more weeks before that will happen. I'm just so excited and hope that Mike can feel him when he gets home.

My dog Leia learned how to jump our 6ft privacy fence. She is not that big, she only comes up to my knee and weighs about 45 lbs. I just don't understand how the heck that dog does it So I had a handy man come out and put a electric fence up and that seems to have stopped her (FOR NOW!). Picture of her just for fun.....Oh and yes, she is sitting on top of our other dog Daisy. That is her favorite way to ride when she is in the car HAHAHA!


Hummmm....what else. Oh I went to the Dr last week and London is measuring a full week ahead. Normally they would change your due date and all that jazz, but since we did IVF and KNOW the exact moment of conception, they are leaving it alone. I have this total fear that he is going to be as big as I was at birth. 10 lbs 9oz. EEEEKKK!! My mother is a saint because there is NO WAY, I'm pushing a baby that big out. (And I wasn't even her biggest, my brothers weighed 11 and 12 lbs). From what his mom says, Mike only weighed about 5 lbs. She is a tiny woman though, so I figured he wasn't very big. Maybe London will average between mine and Mike's birth weights and come out a nice 8 lbs-er. HAHAHA. I still have plenty of time to worry about birth weight over the next few months.

Random fact: I am ALMOST half way done with this pregnancy. PHEW!!!!!!!!!

Lastly, for those of you who care, here is a belly pic of me at 17 weeks.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

MUST.STOP.SHOPPING.

So yeah, today I went out and bought my first set of BOY clothes. So gosh darn cute. My sister in law gave me a coupon for Carters (spent $25 and get $10 off) so when I got there I was just expecting to buy one outfit, usually at Carters that is all you can get for $25. Well, I was shocked when I got there and they had ALL of the baby clothes marked down to 50-70% off. Even the new stuff that they just got in stock was marked down. It was great I got some really cute stuff all for only $30, here is some of it...


Monday, September 15, 2008

IT'S A BOY!!!!!!!!!


So yep, its a boy! I was SHOCKED!!!!!!!! In case you couldn't figure it out, what your looking at is the baby's butt (like he is sitting on a toilet seat) the long thing to the left and right are his legs and the little thing in the middle is his penis. He was all about showing it off this morning. The tech said "wow he's got a big penis" HAHAHA. I knew Mike would be happy about that. She then started trying to measure other stuff on his body and he kept moving his leg to show off his new penis some more. She started laughing and said "wow, he is proud of that thing" I personally think he was just sick of me calling him Greysen and wanted us to KNOW he was a London.



The next picture is just another head shot. That picture that I took of it is not very good, on the real one you can see the nose and little lips. The dots above its face are him holding his hands in the air, probably throwing Mike some more gang signs HAHAHA!. It's crazy how much HE has grown in the last 3 weeks. Before it looked like he had plenty of room in there but today he looked cramped. He was measuring big for his age and everything, so maybe he is going to be a tall little boy after all!

Friday, September 5, 2008

Prenatal Test Results!

So we got the first set of prenatal screening results back a few days ago. Everything looks great and the good news is our baby doesn't have a fat neck HAHAHA!! Wait, let me explain. Here is a brief explanation of the test they did...
What is the nuchal translucency screening test?

This prenatal test (also called the NT or nuchal fold scan) can help your healthcare practitioner assess your baby's risk of having Down syndrome (DS) and some other chromosomal abnormalities as well as major congenital heart problems.
The NT test uses ultrasound to measure the clear (translucent) space in the tissue at the back of your developing baby's neck. Babies with abnormalities tend to accumulate more fluid at the back of their neck during the first trimester, causing this clear space to be larger than average.
The NT scan must be done when you're between 11 and 14 weeks pregnant. It's usually offered along with a blood test in what's known as first-trimester combined screening.

So we got the results and everything looked great. Our risk of Downs Syndrome actually went down to a 1 in 10,000 chance. I can definitely live with those odds!

So for those of you sitting on the edge of your seat waiting to find out the baby's sex (Ehhhemmm, WILMA!! HAHAHA) I will be having an ultrasound on Sept 15th, HOPEFULLY they will be able to tell me then. If they can't tell then, I will have a 4-d ultrasound on Sept 26th to tell us EXACTLY whether this little one is a Greysen Elizabeth or a London Michael!

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

12 weeks

Hummmm, Things are pretty boring around here right now. Soooooooo, I got a little crazy the other day and bought a Fetal Doppler (so I can hear the baby's heart beat any time I want)!! It wasn't very expensive, just $100. I'm just such a nervous nelly these days. I am now 12 weeks but really don't think I will be able to relax until closer to 20 weeks. So I figured the doppler would help me relax a little, you know until that one random night where the baby is hiding and I can't find the heartbeat. Then all of you will have to talk me off the ledge. HAHAHA. Don't say I didn't warn you ladies! Anyway, I got the doppler in the mail yesterday and IMMEDIATELY tried using it. It took about 5 mins but I eventually found the baby's heart beat. It was so nice to hear it again. It really just helped me relax. After all these miscarriages, a little reassurance goes a LONG WAY.

Mike leaves soon for a short 6 week deployment, don't ask why they need him overseas for 6 weeks, but I guess they do!!! Hey, at least it's a SHORT trip, I can't complain!

Oh and here is the ultrasound picture from our last visit at 11 weeks and 1 day.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

The Pity Party Is Over!

Ok, I'm done! I gave myself a good 12 hours to bathe in self pity, but now I have to move on. I still have a baby counting on me. I can't let stress or emotions endanger this babies life as well. Of course, Mike and I are still sad about the loss of "Baby B" but at least we had him for a little while. While I was waiting to find out if IVF had worked for us, I never once cared if it was twins or not. Honestly, a few of you might remember that I was CONVINCED that it was only one baby and I told everyone I thought it was a girl. It wasn't until I had that ultrasound that showed twins that I even cared how many were in there. The fact of the matter is, the only thing I cared about when that second pink line showed up was that it meant I was pregnant. That fact still remains. I AM STILL PREGNANT. Sure, I will always miss Baby B and always think about the "what-if's" but I can't go through the rest of this pregnancy like that. I owe it to "Baby A" to remember every second of this pregnancy as the exhilarating miracle that it is. I owe it to Greysen, so that one day when I'm sitting on the side of her bed, I can tell her what a amazing blessing that she truly is. I don't want to look back at the time when I was carrying her and have any feelings of sadness. I want to look back and remember that I was pregnant with twins but GAVE BIRTH to a single baby, not that I was pregnant with twins and miscarried one.

I AM STILL PREGNANT!

We lost one of the twins :(

Well Mike and I went in for my 11w1d u/s today and got the bad news that Baby B died about a week ago. Its crazy to me because we had an ultrasound only a few days before it happened and he or she had a strong heartbeat and looked great. I know this sometimes happens with Twins but after 10 weeks, I just wasn't expecting it. I guess no one ever does though. Baby A (Who will from now on just be "THE BABY" ) Looked great, very healthy, and measuring right on track. It was so cool, we could see it kicking and wiggling its arms and moving all around. It's a fully formed baby now. They also told us that they think The Baby is a girl!!! She warned us that it's still early and plenty of room for error, but by the way the baby looked today from a couple of different angles, she definitely thought it was a GIRL!

I'm doing OK, I really don't think the news about baby B has sunk in yet. It's almost like I'm numb. I'm sure things will start to sink in over the next few days, however for now I'm just trying to focus on the amazing pictures of our one surviving baby!

Friday, August 22, 2008

My First Belly Pics!!








Seriously, If I keep growing at this rate, I'm going to be the size of a HOUSE in a few months. I guess having 2 in there really does make a big difference. I was told that you usually measure about 6-8 weeks larger when you have Twins. That MUST be the case here. I look HUGE and I've only gained 2 lbs. It's Crazy!

Monday, August 18, 2008

Double Digits!!

Well this week marks my 10th week of pregnancy! We are officially in double digits now. I feel like things are really starting to look up. The sickness is starting to fade away. Food is a little bit repulsive still, but it's not nearly as hard to find stuff that doesn't make me puke. I am still starving and feel sick if I don't eat RIGHT AWAY but at least now it's easier to find things to eat. I really hope that the sickness is going away for good and doesn't come back over the next few weeks. I was reading one of my Twin pregnancy books and it says to try to eat 170g of protein a day. WHAT!?!? How the heck am I going to do that. I guess I need to start getting creative with my diet.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Back from the Dr...

And the appt went great today, both the little ones measured right on track of 9w1d with Heartbeats of 170 and 179. I was so excited because the Dr told me that since we have made it this far and the babies have such strong growth and heartrates, he said my m/c rate has dropped to about 2-3%, that was music to my ears!! Today was also the first time they did an abdominal u/s instead of a transvaginal, which was great. I actually felt like a pregnant woman pulling up my shirt and getting the gel squeezed on my belly. It's crazy how you can love something so much even when they are just the size of a paper clip HAHAHA!!

Saturday, August 9, 2008

Long time...

Well I just realized that it has been a long time since I updated here. Not much has been going on over the last week or so. Mike is finally home now. YAY!! He got home yesterday and its really nice to have some company again. On a pregnancy note, my stomach as started to pooch out. Its crazy how much things change over night. I'm at that stage where I just look fat. You can't really tell that I'm pregnant yet, but its obvious that SOMETHING is going on with my body though. I'm still having a hard time eating too. I get hungry every two hours and if I don't eat RIGHT AWAY, I start feeling sick! I can't wait for this part of pregnancy to pass.

Friday, August 1, 2008

What a relief!!

Well today, I had quite a scare. Let me start this out by saying EVERYTHING IS FINE!!!

Today started out just as normal as can be. However at around 2pm as I went to the bathroom for the MILLIONTH time, I noticed I was bleeding. I immediately FREAKED OUT! I quickly called my Dr who told me to come in right away. 15 min later I was laying half-naked on the ultrasound table. I was terrified, I was beyond positive that I was having another miscarriage. On the way to the Dr., I called Mike, who really didn't know what to say to calm me down, and honestly, there was nothing he could say. Anyway, to make this long story short, the babies are FINE! The ultrasound showed a small bleed in my uterus, probably that started out as an implantation "bruise" that ruptured. The Dr said not to worry about it, and it should stop bleeding in the next few hours (which it did).
The babies both had GREAT heartbeats, and wow, they had grown SOOOOOOO much over the past week. Baby B is no longer measuring behind, both are now measuring right on track at 7w4d. Their heart rates were Baby A: 167 and Baby B: 150. It was such a huge relief to see them again. This time they even looked like babies, Ok, well actually more like gummy bears, but at least they are no longer BLOBS :) I will scan the pictures and post them tomorrow, I must warn you though, they are pretty darn cute!!! I mean look at the pics in yesterdays post if you need conformation HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Thursday, July 31, 2008

Our Kids!!

So tonight, I was pretty bored. Mike is still gone so I have ALOT of time on my hands. I found this website on one of my pregnancy boards www.makemebabies.com
Its a funny little site where you put a picture of yourself and a picture of your spouse and it combines them and creates what your kids will look like. Of course, I know this really isn't scientific but hey, I was bored and it was fun. So here they are London Michael and Greysen Elizabeth

Sunday, July 27, 2008

I dare not say it aloud...

...but I have had two good (non-sick) days in a row. The only thing I have done differently is that the night before I took the anti-nausea meds that Dr. E gave me. So, I'm not sure if that is just a coincidence or if maybe that is holding off the nausea during the night and allowing my body to recover, thus not being sick the next day. Who knows? Maybe I'm just a really lucky lady and will only have 5 days of sickness during my entire pregnancy. *FINGERS CROSSED*

Friday, July 25, 2008

Eating...*puke*

How is it possible to eat every 1.5 hours? Seriously, someone PLEASE answer that for me.
I have a very weird version of morning sickness these days. Here is how it works, I wake up at 9 am and either have to eat IMMEDIATELY or I puke. So I eat a big bowl of cereal. Then at 10:30 I am starving and again either have to eat QUICKLY or I puke, so I eat a big bowl of fresh fruit. 11:30: You guessed it, eat or puke time again, I make a mad dash for the kitchen, and manage to get my hands on a container of yogurt. That holds me over long enough to get to Chick-fil-a (the only thing that sounded good) where I got some chicken nuggets and more fruit. 2:00: MUST.EAT.SOMETHING so I find a bag of pretzels. Those hold me over for oh, about an hour. Then at 3pm, I had to eat again, this time I found graham crackers with peanut butter and glass of milk. I can't keep doing this. I just don't know what to do. Its like food is the only thing that keeps the morning sickness away. I know its for a good cause (ahem, the babies) but wow, its just so hard. Its especially hard since none of the food tastes good to me right now. *gag* ugh, I have go, I need to plan my NEXT meal!

Thursday, July 24, 2008

IT'S TWINS!!!

Yep you read that right!!

T W I N S !!!

I got to see both babies heartbeats. Baby A measured right on track with a heartbeat of 122, and Baby B measured 3 days behind with a heartbeat of 110. The Dr was NOT concerned with Baby B being smaller because he/she still fell with in the healthy size/heartbeat range.

It was so amazing to see their little hearts beating, I was a sobbing mess laying on that ultra sound table.
They gave me two REALLY cute u/s pictures. HERE THEY ARE!!!


Oh on a side note: I puked this morning, let the morning sickness begin!!!

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Tomorrow is the BIG DAY!!

Well I have my ultrasound tomorrow. I'm a little bit nervous and ALOT excited! I just want it to be OVER with already in some ways!! Its sad, that I am dreading such a special day, but the worrier in me is just nervous about what the Dr is going to say. I'm also sad because Mike isn't going to be able to be there with me. He is still up in New Jersey with the rest of his unit doing some training. My friend Leslie is going with me though, so at least I will not be alone.
I'm excited about it also!! It will be our first peek at the baby and who knows we might get a shock when they tell us how many babies are in there. I keep practicing my SHOCKED face in case they show me two heartbeats, and my fainting in case they show me three HAHAHA!

Its going to be REALLY good day, I just know it! It's still just so hard to believe that we are actually pregnant again, after trying for so long. I'll need all the prayers I can get tonight!

Friday, July 18, 2008

A Lazy Friday Night.

Well being lazy has become all too familiar over the last few days. However I have to say, today, I was productive. I actually cleaned my house! Well, part of it, I cleaned the kitchen which DESPERATELY needed it. Over the course of weekend I am planning on cleaning the rest of the house. Don't worry about it though, I'm NOT over doing it.

I went out and rented a couple of movies to give me something to do tonight. I rented "Definitely, Maybe" and "We are Marshall". I'm pretty sure I'm going to cry all the way through both of them though. My hormones seem to have caught up to me today. If you were a fly on the wall, you would have seen my crying while watching Last Comic Standing today. I was just so sad for the people who got kicked off the show, HAHAHAHA! Oh, pregnancy! I LOVE IT!!!

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Mommy's Little Grain of Rice :)

Today while reading one of my pregnancy books, I found out that right now the baby is the size of a grain of rice. So, of course, I then had to run to the kitchen and break out a bag of Uncle Ben's to see how big (or small) that really is. Oh and just so you all don't have to do the same....ITS TINY! HAHA.

Things are going well here at home. I'm still really bored most of the time, but I'm trying to take it easy. I need to be cleaning my house but I'm still not allowed to be pushing the vacuum yet. My Dr doesn't want me doing anything until my ultrasound on the 24th (T-minus 8 days). Once we hear a heartbeat, I will be released from 'special care' and will finally be just like any old pregnant women.

My pants are starting to get snug. Trust me its not because of the baby, I mean after all its only the size of a grain of rice. Its because I'm bloated! Seriously, I have lost 2 lbs (no clue how that happened) yet my pants are even tighter. Tight pants wouldn't normally bother me all that much, but when you sit down and they cut into your stomach, its hard not to worry now that you know something is growing in there. I think I am going to start using Sierra's rubber band trick. You know where you loop the rubber band around your button then through slit and back around the button. It just gives you a extra inch or so of wiggle room. Can't beat that!

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Sesame seeds anyone??!!

As of today, I am 4w6d pregnant, and my symptoms have finally started. My boobs are getting bigger and started to hurt yesterday. It's so weird what a difference a day can make. I have also gone from STARVING all the time to hungry but nothing sounds or tastes good. It's so hard to force food down right now. Some of my favorite foods taste HORRIBLE to me all the sudden. If my stomach didn't start painfully growling, I don't think I would eat at all. I'm still pretty tired all the time, recently I have had insomnia so I don't go to bed until 2am. However, I still wake up super early at like 7 am. So I'm not getting much sleep which I am SURE doesn't help with the exhaustion during the day. I'm not nauseated....YET! Everyone keeps telling me it will happen about 6 weeks, I've got my fingers crossed it doesn't ever hit me. Neither my Mom nor my sister ever got morning sickness so I'm hoping that is skips me as well. According to a book my friend Leslie gave me, our baby is the size of a sesame seed today, maybe that explains why I'm starting to feel like this :)

Ohhhh! I need to go, I just thought of something that sounds good...Zaxby's!!! I have to get there quickly before my body decided it's nasty!

Friday, July 11, 2008

Home Alone!!

Well, Mike has been gone for 5 days now, Life is soooo boring!! When he did this little training thing last year, I was HELLA busy! I was working M-f 7-4 and also on a few weekends and nights because July was our inventory month. This year, I have no job and I'm pregnant (NOT THAT I AM COMPLAINING). It's just weird, I'm supposed to take it easy and not do too much until my ultrasound on July 24 but wow, that gets boring. There is only so much you can watch on TV or look up on google. I broke out my old pregnancy books and have started reading them, so that kills a little time. I never knew I would MISS working until now!

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Beta #2

Well, I just got the call from the Dr and the number was............ 260!!!!!!!!!!

My beta on Monday was 84 and they want to see it double every 48 hours to show a healthy pregnancy...Well, mine TRIPLED! I am so excited, as you can tell from my thread last night, I was really worried about this number. I scheduled my ultrasound for July 24th which will be 6w3d. I really hope we will see a heart beat(s). It could DEFINITELY still be twins!

This is a picture I took last night. The word BFP means BIG FAT POSITIVE! It's is the Internets way of saying you got a positive pregnancy test.
In case you were wondering that is all of the pregnancy tests I have taken over the last 18 months. In case your counting....its 191! The BFP arrow is pointing at the 4 positives I got last week :)
I'm so excited, I don't even know what to do with myself. Oh wait, yes I do, EAT!!!!

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

How will I ever sleep?

So tomorrow is my second Beta. I would be LYING is I said I wasn't nervous about it. I wasn't really nervous for the last beta because I knew I was pregnant, I had a MILLION positive pregnancy test to prove it (and help me prepare for it). Well for this beta there are no tests I can take, I just have to show up at 9 am tomorrow morning and then spend the rest of the day hoping and PRAYING for a number over 160! If the number doubles it shows that thus far the baby is healthy. If the number doesn't double it usually (NOT ALWAYS THOUGH) means a miscarriage will follow. I, honestly, don't think I can take hearing those kind of results again.

I feel really good about this pregnancy, I feel like it WILL make it to term, and I WILL carry home a baby in March. Its just all of those, not so tiny, WHAT-IF's in the back of my head.

Everyone say a little pray for us tonight. Tomorrow, will hopefully be an AMAZING day :)

Monday, July 7, 2008

Beta #1

Well all of the HPT's I took were correct, I am indeed pregnant. I went in this morning for my beta (blood pregnancy test) and the number came back at 84!! Both my Dr's were really happy with that number. I personally think that its only one baby in there, but my nurse told be it could definitely still be 2, but more than likely not 3. Either way, Mike and I are THRILLED!!! :) I will go back to the Dr on Wed morning for another beta. On this test they want to see the number double. So we are looking for something in the 160's or higher.

I'm starting to feel a little pregnant. I'm ALWAYS tired but usually can't sleep, and my stomach appears to be bottomless these days!

Mike left today for a MONTH :( He wont be back until Aug 8 th . I'm really hoping I don't get sick with this pregnancy. It would SUCK to be here all by myself and be sick the whole time!

So I spruced up the blog a little, I added a poll to see how many babies you guys think I am pregnant with, as well as a little pregnancy count down thing. Its kind of scary though, doesn't our baby look like a sea horse right now? CRAZY!!!

Friday, July 4, 2008

4dp, 5dp, 6dp, 7dp, AND 8dp3dt!

OK so I do realize I have not updated in a few days and here is why

4dp3dt (Jamie and Ashley), this means "4 days past my 3 day transfer" (they put 3day old embies back inside me so I am 4 days past the 3 day transfer) So this morning I woke up and got what I THOUGHT to be a positive pregnancy test, I took another kind though, and that one was negative. I got a little excited but counted it as a negative.

5dp3dt: One test again had a super super super faint line on it, but again the other test had a negative.

6dp3dt: All tests were negative, I started to get REALLY discouraged. I just didn't feel pregnant. Mike and I had started to move money around in our bank account to cover the $7,000 we spent on IVF, and I started to have buyers remorse because I'm just NOT pregnant!

7dp3dt: Two more test had faint faint lines on them, I QUIT!!!!!!! I can not sit here and stare at two F-ing tests for another day. I was pissed why can't pregnancy test either have one line or two, why do they make them to show FAINT barely visible lines. A few cuss words later, I tried to relax. I mean I went back to look at the tests and maybe they are not so faint, wait, WHAT? Why don't I have to squint to look at that pregnancy test? Wait, there are really TWO PINK lines on that test? Ugh, I guess I will have to wait until tomorrow to take another test to know for sure.



8dp3dt (TODAY): If a picture is worth a THOUSAND words this one should be worth 7,000 ($)



Yep, that's right ladies, I AM PREGNANT!!!!!! I will still have my beta on Monday which will give us a exact NUMBER of how pregnant I am, it also might give us an idea of how many babies we have growing in there. Everyone please keep praying that this baby sticks. The first hurdle is down but I still have about 9 months worth to go. Mike and I are ECSTATIC!! There is really something so magical about a digital pregnancy test, something about the word PREGNANT popping up, just gives me chills.



Ok, I'm off to make Chicken Salad, Mike and I and his entire family are going to Callaway Gardens for the 4th of July activities. We have decided to go ahead and tell his family today (They ALL know we did IVF, I mean I actually stayed with my MIL, so they are kind of chomping at the bit) Here is how we are telling them. We bought this t-shirt a few months ago to give as a present to Mikes 18 month old niece, Lily. We are going to give her the present today and see how long it takes the whole family to figure it out. EEEKKK!!!, I'm so excited!

Sunday, June 29, 2008

3dp3dt

Yet another lazy day. It feels good to just lay around and take it easy, I mean I do have a good reason, so I don't feel guilty about wasting the day. Testing mania begins tomorrow. Its way to soon to get a BFP (Big Fat Positive) but testing will at least give me something to do every morning. Mike goes back to work tomorrow, BOOO HISS!!! So I'll be pretty bored over the next few days. Ok I'm off to bed!

Saturday, June 28, 2008

2dp3dt

Wait, did today actually happen? Here is how it went down.

7am: Wake up and take my progesterone and QUICKLY go back to sleep.
9am: Wake up for the day (well, kinda)
9am-3pm: Lay around in bed and watch TV (GOD BLESS TIVO!!!)
3pm-7pm: SLEEP!!
7pm: Wake up long enough to eat the Chinese food Mike cooked (when I say cooked, I actually mean he went out and got take outs.)
8PM-10PM: Watched "Good Luck Chuck" with my amazing hubby. (cute movie, I love Dane Cook)
10:30pm: Update Blog
11pm: GO BACK TO BED!

So as you can tell I am DEFINITELY taking it easy. I keep rubbing my stomach and BEGGING the embies to implant. I mean, I am pretty persuasive. After all I am their Mother, they better start listening. :) Ok I'm headed back to bed, its been a GOOD 3 hours since I had any sleep, my body is craving it HAHA!

Friday, June 27, 2008

1dp3dt

Yep, I am officially ONE DAY past my 3 day transfer, and pregnant until proven otherwise. After 3 weeks away, I finally drove home today. WOOO HOOO, sleeping in my own bed WITH my husband will be NICE for a change. The 7 hour trek home was rather uneventful. I am happy to say, it is 9pm on a FRIDAY night and I (and the triplets) am off to cuddle in bed with my amazing husband. Life really is good!!!

Thursday, June 26, 2008

ET UPDATE!!

I some how managed to talk Dr P into transfering 3 embies this morning. We transfered 3 8 cell grade 1A little ones. I thought for sure he was going to do 2 good ones and a slacker 4 cell, but nope he decided to do the 3 perfect 8 cells. I am sooooooooo excited. The embryologist helped me talk him into it, I'm tall (5'10") so they decided together that I could handle 3 even if all of them took. I also mentioned that we were OK with reduction if any of them split and we ended up with more then 3 (which I have to say, I'm not sure we are ok with it, but it really helped my argument.) The only thing that sucked is that when we got there, they told us that we needed assisted hatching. The "shell" (I cant remember the proper name for it) was really thick on our embies so they needed a little help breaking out. That cost an extra $750 but in the scheme of things thats not really all that much. Dr P gave us a 25% chance of trips, 50% of twins, and 75-80% of a singleton. UGH, Let the TWW begin!!
Everything went well, Dr P is AWESOME and so is everyone at his office and Carolina IVF. This has been a totally positive experience for us.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

TRANSFER TOMORROW!

Well its official, as of tomorrow, I MIGHT be pregnant.

I just got the word, I still have 9 good embies left, and Dr. P wants to go ahead and do a 3 day transfer tomorrow. I'm trying to talk him into 3 but he really only wants to put 2 back in. I'm only 27 and healthy, so he really thinks 3 is too many. I'm going to ask him to put 2 of the best embies back in, and then one of the lower grades that probably wont make it to freeze anyway, hopefully that argument will work. I don't know, I'll be happy with 2 or 3 honestly!

If all goes well tomorrow, I will be heading home on Friday. WOOO HOOO!! It will be so nice to just lay in my OWN bed for a change. Oh and it doesn't hurt that Mike will be there with me too :)

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Fertilization Update!

So I got a call from the dr today and of the 19 eggs they retrieved, 17 of them were mature, and 11 of them fertilized correctly. The Dr seemed VERY pleased with that, and told us we should be happy as well. So I guess we are. Tomorrow the Dr will decide if we will do a 3 or 5 day transfer. Right now he is leaning towards a 3 day but it all depends on how the embies are doing tomorrow.

I'm feeling ALOT better today. I'm still REALLY sore, but I can sit and stand on my own now. Mike left this morning. I was a little worried about that initially because as of last night I couldn't even get off the couch with out him pulling me to my feet. They gave me a bunch of pain meds but I have not had to use them since yesterday. They told us to drink a bunch of Gatorade and V-8 to help prevent against OHSS. The Gatorade is not a problem, and I have been drinking about 60-80 oz a day. V-8 on the other hand is NASTY!!!!!! I took 3 sips of it today and almost puked. I think I'll stick to the Gatorade :)

Monday, June 23, 2008

ER Update!

I'm really pretty out of it ladies, but I just wanted to update that they got 19 eggs out this morning. Now I'm just waiting for the fertilization report tomorrow. Thanks for all your well wishes. I'm heading back to bed now for the rest of the day.

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Long Story Short

Sorry I have not updated, I have been in lots of pain recently. I went to the Dr on Friday and I had 29 eggs. The ER will be on Monday at 8am. Mike got here LATE last night, and will be giving me my HCG trigger tonight at 8pm tonight. I'll try to update more tomorrow, but its hard for me to be in the upright sitting position (I'm standing to type this).

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

LIFE IS GOOD!

So after a week of eating Rice and Beans (I'm not complaining, they are good) I went out and got Chick-fil-A tonight. It was soooooo yummy!

I got a phone call from Mike today and yep, he got hired for his dream job. I've heard him talk about this since he graduated from West Point, and now finally its become a reality for him. He worked really hard to get this job, so I'm super proud of him. His new job does have perks for me too.
1) We won't have to move anytime soon. Well at least for another 2 years. Which means if we do get pregnant, I can justify spending the time and money on decorating a nursery.
2) Shorter deployments, I mean seriously, show me an Army wife that WANTS to do 15 months away from her husband. Shorter is ALWAYS better.
3) If we get pregnant from this IVF cycle, he will actually be here for most of the pregnancy and the birth. For all of you non-military wives reading, that is a HUGE concern for army wives these days. You would be surprised how many husbands don't ever lay eyes on there child until they are 3-6 months old, or leave a 3 month old and come back when they are 1.5 YEARS OLD.

On a different note, I got a call from my Dr's office today and I am responding so well to the meds they are again cutting the dose in half. I'm down to 75iu Gonal-F and 75iu Repronex (and of course my Lupron). I'm really hoping for a Sunday ER now, but it might not be until Monday though. Oh and my e2 was 1526 today for those of you who know how to read those numbers.

In short: THINGS ARE GOOD!

Almost 2 dozen!

I had another Dr appt today. I had 20 eggs this time, WOOOHOOO!!. They measured in size from 12-14mm. I'm guessing that is right on track because the u/s tech said they looked "REALLY JUICY!" I'm going to lay down for a little while. I got up at 5:45 this morning so a nap is well deserved. I'll update again this afternoon when I hear the results of my blood test.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

We have lemons!

I guess things are still growing well in there. I can definitely tell a difference since even yesterday. Nothing much happened today. It was ALOT of laying around and watching TV.

I have yet to mention my new hobby. I have started crocheting (its like knitting). It keeps me preoccupied so I don't go insane from bed rest boredom. Since I am making a little baby blanket it also keeps my thoughts positive. I had a picture that I took the other night but it appears the computer ate it. As soon as I can get my sister-in-law to email it back to me, I'll post it.

Have I mentioned that I miss my husband? Ugh, its really hard to go through all of this without him. I would give anything to be able to go lay in bed and cuddle up with him. I knows its only a few more days and he should be here but, wow, I never dreamed I would miss him so much. I'm sure part of that is TOTALLY hormones but we figured out the other day its been over a year since I was really way from him for this long. The last time was June '07 when he was away doing some training in NJ for 3 weeks. Its only been 10 days since I saw him last but it feels like its been FOREVER. I'm expecting him (if all goes the way its planned) to be here LATE Friday night.

I'm going to lay down because I can not longer sit upright with out it hurting! Ugh, only a few more days of this!

Monday, June 16, 2008

I was right!

Yep, the Dr called earlier and they are lowering the dose on my meds (cutting it in half actually). It's a good thing, it means that my body is doing a good job at growing little eggies. My next Dr appt is Wed (6/18) at 7am. I'm now thinking that my ER will be moved up a day to the 22nd. I'm really excited about that. The earlier it happens, the earlier I will know if it worked or not :)
The massage today was AMAZING, however I must say, the lady who did it was a Chatty Cathy so I didn't really get to fully enjoy it. It was still super relaxing though.

Well I'm off to watch a little TV then I'm hitting the hay early tonight!

WOOHOO!!!

Well I just got back from this mornings ultrasound and it looks like I have AT LEAST 18 eggs. Hopefully over the next few days more and more will be popping up. I'm so excited! This is REALLY good news! The Dr will call me later and let me know how my blood work looks and give me my new dosages of meds. I think they will be lowering it a little. I'll post again as soon as I hear from them. I'm off to lay down then at 1:30 I have a MASSAGE!! I'm sooooo excited!

Sunday, June 15, 2008

OUCH OUCH OUCH!

So not much is new today except the grapes in my ovaries have now been upgraded to cherry tomatoes. I'm expecting them to be grapefruits by the end of the week, I can't wait!! :-/

I've been doing alot of laying around watching movies with my mother-in-law over the past few days. So here is my IVF movie reviews. (This is to help you make your list Sierra :-) )

Derailed: GREAT!!
Reign Over Me: GREAT, sad, but great!
No Country For Old Men: GREAT, crazy and a little sick, but great!
Fracture: Eh, not so great, but at least Ryan Gosling is fun to look at ;)

Movies to follow later in the week:

Next
Kite Runner
Devil Wears Prada
Michael Clayton
Music and Lyrics
We Own The Night

Laying around all day watching movies actually does have its downsides, believe it or not!
On a positive note, new episode of Army Wives comes on tonight so at least I have that to look foward to.

Saturday, June 14, 2008

I can officially feel my ovaries!

Since this isn't my first ride on the infertility train, I kind of know what to expect. However after waking up from a nap today, I felt like I was smuggling grapes across the boarder in my ovaries. Today is only day 4 of my stims so I can only imagine how much worse it's going to get over the next week or so. Right now I'm wearing work out shorts with an elastic band, and I have to keep pulling them up over my belly button so nothing touches my painful midsection. On top of feeling like an overstuffed fruit basket, I'm SUPER bloated. So these shorts that I keep tugging on are on the verge of no longer fitting. I'm drinking a TON of water and Gatorade to trying to keep from getting OHSS (over hyper stimulation syndrome). It usually doesn't happen until after the ER (egg retrieval) and there is no real way of preventing it, but the Dr's told us that TONS of fluid helps.
Besides feeling new parts of my body today, it has been relatively uneventful. I talked to Mike this morning and assuming he is still able to get a 4-day pass has decided to drive up here (rather than fly) for my ER. This will work out ALOT better because now we don't have to deal with the time constraints of a flight. Also he will be able to drive down to Savannah when he leaves here to pick up "The Girls" (Leia, Maddy, and Abby). They are still at my sisters in bad doggy quarantine.
Well I better be off, its movie night with the mother-in-law again. Tonight we are watching, "Reign Over Me" with Adam Sandler. Hopefully its good.

Friday, June 13, 2008

A MUCH better day!

I have not cried at all today, and I must say it was quite an accomplishment. Today went well, I was able to get out of the house FINALLY. I went out to lunch with a friend of mine, then on the way home I stopped and picked up the new Gavin Degraw Cd (it really sucks by the way). After that I just took it easy for the rest of the afternoon.
My mother-in-law and I rented the movie "Derailed" to watch tonight. I've already seen it but she started watching it on Lifetime today. I QUICKLY made her turn it off because they were cutting out some of the best parts. So we stopped at Blockbuster (and Taco Bell HAHAHA) and rented it.
On the IVF front, I have finally figured out what the heck those red welts are on my stomach. Apparently one of the shots I take is giving me a bad reaction. I put them all in different places on my stomach this morning, so I was able to figure out that it is the Repronex. My only option to make it stop is to give it to myself IM (inter-muscular). Those are the shots you get in the butt when you go to the Dr office and they HURT. The idea of putting a huge needle in my butt twice a day is NOT APPEALING. So, as you can imagine, I have chosen to just stick with the way I am doing it now and just COPE with the welts.
Mike picked up Daisy up from the kennel today, which made me SUPER happy. I'm sad that she will have to go back on Sunday, but TONIGHT she is home and sleeping in her own bed. I told Mike today that I WISH she was better behaved, because honestly I think I would feel MUCH happier if she was able to be here with me. I mean, I love all my dogs, but Daisy, Daisy is my BABY. I mean I got her when she was 6 weeks old and she is almost 7 now. Oh, well, I cant have everything, but it does look like Mike will be able to make it for my ER, although ticket prices went up to over $300 in the last 24 hours :-/

Ok well I'm off to watch Derailed.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Today was ROUGH!!

The title says it all!!! The emotional roller coaster has started. I cried almost all day today FOR NO REASON!! I keep telling myself that its normal and its just my body's way of practicing for pregnancy HAHA.

Besides the tears, today was Ok. I went to the IVF labs orientation. It was pretty boring. However I did pay for my IVF. That was definitely the biggest purchase I have ever made. I guess there is no turning back now, even if I wanted to. :)

Ok I'm off to bed, I'm going to try to sleep away this horrible day.

What the heck is this?

So yesterday, as I mentioned before, I gave myself 3 shots in the morning and 3 at night. The 3 in the morning went just fine, no tenderness afterwards, nothing. Well, the 3 at night didn't go so well. Giving the shots was a breeze, but I think I did SOMETHING wrong, because the area I gave them in is all red and puffy and TENDER today. I have no idea what I did wrong though. I retraced my steps to make sure I mixed everything/cleaned everything properly, and I did. I can't figure our what could have caused this. I did this morning injections and at almost an hour later, they are not swollen, red, or tender. Ugh, since it appears to have been a ONE TIME THING, I'm not going to worry or make a big deal of it. At first I thought it was some sort of allergic reaction to the meds, but I don't think I can be allergic to something 1 out of 3 times. If it had done it again with this mornings shots I was going to call the DR, but I guess somehow it was an operator error.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Just what I needed...

So as most all of you know Mike and I have 4 dogs. Daisy (a bulldog) is the resident bitch in our household, Leia (a hound mix mutt ) is our super sweet, outgoing, good natured dog, Abby (a 15 year old 3.5lbs tea cup poodle) is going deaf and sleeps all day, and Maddy (a Lab mix mutt) is a very nervous, sweet, scaredy cat type dog. Well ever since I left for Ft Bragg, Mike has been in an Army school so I had to do something with the dogs (aka: The Girls). I took Daisy to the vets to be boarded because she fights with all my sisters dogs. Then I drove Leia, Maddy, and Abby down to Savannah to stay with my sister. Well I called my sister this morning and she was sitting at the vets office with her two min-pin's. Come to find out, Leia attacked her dogs and she had to take them to the vet to get their wounds cleaned and stitched. I just don't get it. Leia is SUCH a good dog, she NEVER fights with dogs, we take her to the dog park all the time and she plays with dogs of all sizes. So now I am totally stressed out about this, and I feel guilty that she hurt my sisters dogs. Iwould tell my sis just to take them to the vet and board them, but then again I feel bad boarding Leia because she HATES staying inside. Man, I worry about these dogs SOOOOOOOOO much, I can only imagine if all this IVF stuff works and we end up with a baby. I'm going to be a MESS!!

On an IVF note, I started taking my stims this morning. That means from here on out I'll be taking 6 shots a day, wooohooo!! LET THE EMOTIONAL ROLLER COASTER BEGIN! Stims always make me super emotional. All of that has not started yet though, so right now the only problem I have is with the Loopy Lupron. It has made me a little distant, like I am trapped inside my own head. Its nothing bad, almost like the feeling you get from taking cold medicine. Other then that and a tiny nagging head ache. I'm feeling pretty good. In an attempt to de-stress, I made an appointment to get a massage next Monday. I'm very excited about that. Ok well I better go, I need to look up plane ticket prices for Mike to HOPEFULLY come up for my egg retrieval. My fingers are crossed that all of that works out!

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

This is what trying to have a baby looks like...

These are all my meds for my IVF cycle, keep in mind, that they are covering a love seat!

Ok here we go!!

After months of waiting, IVF time is FINALLY here. However, I have to say that I am WAY more nervous than I expected. Any-who, I'm a little late starting this thing so let me start from the beginning.
Sat. 6/7: I left Columbus with 3 of the 4 pups in tow, and headed down to Savannah. I have to say pulling out of my driveway KNOWING what I was about to embark on was a little scary. It made it worse when I realized that the passenger seat was empty, and Mike was waving goodbye from the wrong side of the window. A few minutes and a short panic attack later, I was ON MY WAY!!!
Sun 6/8: After a brief stay with the family, I again am off to FT BRAGG. This time my panic attack was not over leaving Mike, but over leaving Abby (yes, you heard that right, THE DOG!). I came soooo close to packing her in the car and bringing her with me, but after reflecting on the last time she was here and remembering her little 14 year old 3.5lbs body tumbling down the stairs, I quickly decided to leave her on level ground. Anyway, I arrived here at 10:30pm and immediately checked my meds that had been sent to my in-laws house on Friday. Some of the meds had to be refrigerated, so I quickly checked to make sure everything was where its supposed to be. As I'm checking through everything, I noticed it, well actually, I noticed the LACK of it. I was missing one of the meds. I started to FREAK, here we go with panic attack NUMBER 3!!! My mother-in-law (Wilma) quickly tried to calm me and find the box with the packing slip. Low and behold, she had thrown one of my "REFRIGERATED" meds away in the box. Keep in mind this was the med I was supposed to start taking the very next day. Well to make this long story short...I think the med will be fine, I asked the nurse about it and she said not to worry, so I'm going to try this whole NOT worrying thing for once.
Mon 6/9: Well, I officially STARTED my IVF cycle!! :) I had an orientation class to attend which due to a RETARDED Tomtom (GPS) I got LOST and ended up being 15 mins late. That was ok though. The class went well, I got two more bags of meds and was told that I will be taking 6 shots A DAY, 3 in the morning 3 at night. You're supposed to give them to yourself in the stomach, so when my child is a teenager and complaining about God knows what, I'm going to lift my shirt and show them my PUNCTURE WOUNDS I got while conceiving them, but if they are my child that probably still wont shut them up. So for the next few weeks, I will be going to the Dr every day or every other day for ultra sounds and blood work to monitor my egg growing progress. As it stands right now, I should have my Egg Retrieval (ER is where they pull all my eggs out of me and fertilize them) between June 20-24 and they will do my Embryo Transfer (ET is where they put them back inside me) 3-5 days later.
Tues 6/10: Today I started my Lupron, the first of my meds (you know the one that got thrown away haha) so I'm expecting some side effects, just to give y'all an idea, its nickname is Loopy Lupron. Apparently it makes you a little crazy, GOOD TIMES, GOOD TIMES! Ok that's all from me for now. Don't worry this blog is a work in progress, I'll make it more fun later! :)