Chugging right along baby!

Today I am 17 weeks and 1 day today! The baby is the size of a sweet potato! Our official countdown is 22 weeks and 6 days until we see our little baby girl. Which makes it even more real that we are rolling on this train faster than I expected! When we first got pregnant it seemed like time was super slow and I counted for the weeks to change. I couldn't wait to be 10 weeks and now I sit here typing and were just 3 weeks away from being at the halfway mark! For me this is a HUGE milestone and my next milestone is to complete 24 weeks once vitality is here! Which means we only have 7 weeks to go! Come on baby girl you got this!

This past week we went to a 4D place because once you are discharged from your RE your OBGYN doc doesn't really give you as many ultrasounds as one would like. Luckily my OB is awesome and will give me ultrasounds when I request but she told me the next one wont be for awhile so we decided to see her early! It was the most amazing experience ever! Seeing her move and her little body in 4D made my heart melt and fall more deeply in love with her than I already was. Funny thing is she sure is one stubborn little baby. There is no denying that at all. What was supposed to be a 15 min ultrasound turned into a 2 hour ultrasound off and on and three walks around the building. It also consisted to drinking apple juice and eating candy to get her to move from the stubborn position she was in. She was only showing us her back and kicking away. Finally we were able to get some good shots but the lady was not accepting that so we have a free come back visit at 18 weeks. Yay! Can't wait to see her in just another week!

This is by far my favorite photo of her and shes smiling if you can see it. Can't wait to see her grow throughout the months!

I leave everyone with a photo of me at 16 weeks. I took photos before 16 weeks but I really couldn't see anything until now! Its a tiny, tiny bump but it's there LOL!

How far along? 17 weeks and 1 day :)

How big is baby? Sweet Potato

Total weight gain/loss: Still ZERO!

Maternity Clothes: I wear maternity shirts because I am not going to lie but they are the most comfy shirts ever! 

Have you started to show yet? a little, little pooch

Sleep: Off and on

Best moment this week: Watching our baby girl move a storm in the ultrasound and seeing her face smiling at us!

Miss Anything? honestly soda and sandwiches

Movement: None :(

Food Cravings: Sweets, sweets and more sweets!

Anything make you queasy or sick? Mexican food

Gender prediction: We already know its a GIRL!

Symptoms: Nada! Love it!

Major purchases this week? Storage ottoman for baby toys

Looking forward to: Our next ultrasound at 18 weeks!

2.5 years ago....

2.5 years ago this month we were preparing for our first IUI. We were so excited and nervous. We had everything ready and felt like this was it. We never knew at that moment that our world would be changed forever. We never knew how naive we were about this entire TTC process.

Thinking back to that first time and the times after that it boggled my mind as to why it just wasn't working. It seemed like we were doing everything right....were we not meant to be mommies? As our first failed IUI stared at us clear in the eye we knew it would get easier and harder at the same time. What we never knew was just how strong we would become, together.

I never in a million years thought we would be able to go through the emotional journey of TTC. We were both put to the test with our first IVF. All the countless injections, pills, exams, driving and crazy hormones were all so daunting at the start. I remember crying before we started....there next to me was my wife Sarah holding my hand with tears streaming down her face just as nervous as I was. Together we held hands tightly and went through our IVF battle ready for whatever came our way. By the second IVF we were ready. Our wounds were healed but there was still band-aids all over our broken hearts. Despite the past we kept going and kept smiling. Happy and blessed to be able to go through it again. Happy that everything went without any problems. Scared shitless we left our faith in God and let our worries out the door. We both always agreed that no matter what we would NEVER give up.

Then we got the best present in the entire world....at the moment of our positive pregnancy test all negative energy and bad memories went out the door. Only happy ones were filling the room. I remember looking at Sarah in front of me. We started jumping up and down and immediately stopped so our miracle wouldn't get hurt. We hugged each other so tight. I never wanted to let go because in her arms I felt safe. Ever since that positive test that has forever changed our lives our days are filled with daily talks to our baby girl and blissful thoughts of what she will look like and how exciting we are to become the mommies we have always longed for.

This year we celebrate 9 years together and I remember on our 4th date we were talking about children....and here we are getting ready to meet her in just five months!

Life is great, and one thing I can pass along is to never, ever give up!

First come love, then comes marriage, then comes baby in the baby carriage and a tighter budget!

I was trying to be creative with my title but seeing as I am falling asleep and my allergies are kicking me in the butt that is all I could come up with at the time.

Ever since we became pregnant my mind has been in a totally different ballpark. I now have daily things on my mind such as the health and safe being of our little girl, what she will need, and making sure everything is in order for her as she is born. Along with the endless thoughts a tighter budget has also been on my mind. I want our baby to have a great future. We already started talking about college funds, preschool, activities....yeah I know we may be jumping the gun a little fast but I am a HUGE control freak and I have to have things somewhat researched and prepared.

So with all that talk....our budget came next. Before the baby it was just "us". Now that we have a baby in the picture I want to provide the best for her so we are making sure we don't just spend to spend money anymore. I never have been a savvy shopper when it comes to food and gas but starting now I need to be more on top of things like that. I have decided that creating a baby budget will help us with all the extra costs involved in having a baby....first stop.....to stop buying for the baby because its cute!!

Ever since finding out we are having a girl we have been buying what ever strikes our eye...thing is if we don't stop now there will be nothing for anyone to buy off our registry. First person I need to get on board is my lovely wife who so happened to convince me to buy her two more pair of shoes tonight...ARG!

SO besides getting our budget ready here is a "list" I found to help us get on the "right" track.

Preschool

We would like to put her in preschool at age 3 to help with developmental skills. We want her to interact with other kids on a daily basis and get to know life outside of just her family. 

HEALTH INSURANCE

Bye bye “Individual +1” health plan. Hello “Family Plan.” This means our deductible with be $3,000 and monthly cost will go to $70 a month. I know really good insurance.

FLEXIBLE SPENDING ACCOUNT 

Need to look into starting one of these accounts to help with co-pays and unexpected "medical" expenses.

LIFE INSURANCE

Got one in place but I need to look at getting it increased in case anything was to happen there would be enough money.

WRITING A WILL

We really, REALLY need to work on setting up a will and getting it certified with our attorney. 

COLLEGE SAVINGS

The only thing more frightening than imagining our itsy bitsy Baby Girl as a college-aged young woman (who will still wear turtlenecks all day, every day per Sarah's orders) is how much her tuition will cost. And while we haven’t yet figured out how much (if any) she’ll be expected to contribute to her own education, we’d like to start saving to cover 100% of tuition. That means it’s time to figure out all the specifics of 529 plans and the amount we’ll need to set aside for tuition plus inflation starting as soon as she is born.

Ok, I know this is a bit extreme but for me this is how I cope with the many changes that are soon to come. The many changes I would never trade for the world!

Name Change

Yesterday was such an amazing day for me and our family! When we got married in 2009 I was just hired with my new job at the hospital and all my paperwork was being finalized that the thought of me changing my name would hold a stop to the process of me starting my job. Stupid thought and I regret it more and more each day that went by but I can't keep holding that grudge on myself. Anyways we knew that we wanted to change my name but with the cost of TTC it was out of the question. After finding out we were pregnant we knew the first step would be to change my name. In fact on December 31, 2012 we put in the paperwork to make this change and FINALLY yesterday at 8:45 AM my name change was official!!

I stood in front of the judge while I was sworn in and he said my old name to my new name and my heart was beating a mile a minute. I said "yes" and was dismissed. I got the paper in my hands with the certified copy that it was for sure official. Such an amazing piece of paper!

Right away we went to the social security office and DMV and changed my name immediately. Now I have the wonderful task to changed everything else! 

Now I feel like a cohesive family and once the baby is born we will start the adoption process for Sarah to adopt her. 

Life is going so well!

15 weeks

Ok....well almost! Tomorrow I will be 15 weeks preggo! I can't believe time is flying right by us. Today at lunch it sank in that in about a week I will be four months pregnant! Wowzers....they sure do not kid when they say that time goes fast when your pregnant. This leaves us with 176 days until we see our little peanut!

Things are coming along in our household! We are cleaning and weeding still. As you can tell we are in no hurry to weed out lol. We sure are taking our sweet time. Its nice to get rid of stuff that we have been meaning to do for YEARS!

The babies room got painted this weekend by my lovely wife. She also finished building all her closet units so I have more room....because based on the clothes we have recieved from friends and family she sure is going to be one spoiled little girl!

Other than that nothing really going on. I do wonder at times when the "pregnant" feeling will hit me. I know that I am pregnant because I think about it on a daily basis but I still have a teeny tiny bump and my clothes are still fitting...they are getting snug as we talk but other than that I feel pregnant but not....does this insanity make sense?!

Sarah and I were talking about it the other night and we came to the conclusion that we won't really feel pregnant until she moves and we can feel it or see it. Right now she is still so small and while she is doing baby zumba in my tummy I still do not feel her. I honestly can't wait for that moment. Until then I cherish everyday of being pregnant. Everyday that passes by is a HUGE milestone!

Getting things done!

I feel like time is flying by. When we first found out we were pregnant on Christmas Eve I kept thinking about the weeks ahead. I had so many thoughts about 6, 8 and 10 weeks. All of a sudden those weeks came and went! Now here we are almost 14 weeks and in our second trimester. Now I know what my friend meant when she said just wait....time will fly by. I didn't believe it one bit!

Ever since we found out we were pregnant we started a "list" of things that need to get done. Not urgent things but things we have been meaning to get done for sometime. This list consists of the following....

• painting baby room
• organizing all closets
• organizing all drawers 
• getting rid of stuff we no longer use
• having a garage sale
• building closet unit for baby room
• replace all area rugs in three rooms
• retouch paint within house
• get garage in order
• purge, purge and purge some more!

I know my list is way more but for now this is a good start. Well today Sarah decided to start on the baby closet. While she is almost done I decided to be some help and sit next to her and take pictures! LOL as you can tell I am a big help.....NOT!

We also cleaned the entire fridge inside and out and cleaned every bin. Cleaned the filter and moved the fridge. Phew!

I also decided to start putting up some of my Easter decorations. I got tired and stopped...oh what a poor excuse!

After that Sarah's mom came over and surprised us! She knew we were getting ready to buy our crib for the baby and she wanted to be the first to buy us a gift for our baby girl. She bought us our crib/furniture set! We are so excited to receive in through the mail!! I feel like a little kid at Christmas time! 

Isn't it puurrtty?! We are still undecided on the crib bedding. We are going to be searching on Pottery Barn or Amazon for our "dream" bedding. We are also going to start looking at paint colors this weekend! 

Phew writing all of this sure makes me tired!

Till next time! Toodles!

Our pregnancy announcements!

I remember 2.5 years ago gazing at baby stuff and having ideas in my head about how I wanted things to go. It seemed like we would never, ever get there. I thought we would never get be pregnant and here I type on the couch almost 14 weeks along. We knew we wanted to announce our pregnancy to our friends and family and I knew there was no better way than photos! Who doesn't love photos?! Here they are! Enjoy!!

Nuchal Scan

Yesterday was our nuchal scan. I wasn't one bit nervous because the day before we got out blood test results stating we were in the normal range for any chromosomal abnormalities. So this appointment was more of an exciting time to see our baby peanut!

When we got there they had me empty my bladder and took me to the next available room. I was full of excitement! The tech told me I had officially graduated to the belly sonogram. I was delighted! I didn't have to take my pants off anymore who isn't excited for that?! Anyways I laid down and she put the cold gel on my belly and started moving the wand on my belly. Holy smokes was it painful. She used so much pressure and it hurt. Needless to say I have many bruises from how hard she pressed on my belly. She was completely rude. Not sure why there are rude people working around pregnant women. This is a time for happiness! After ten minutes of the tech sighing back and forth and complaining about our baby not cooperating...whoops she must be stubborn like her momma she finally decided that she needed the vaginal probe. As soon as that happened she was able to get a better picture. Our little peanut was just showing us her back the little stinker! She was able to get three measurements and our average was 1.34! So after that little let down and rudeness the doctor came in and proceeded to say that all is good and that I don't need to come in until the anatomy scan....she doesn't know that we know already, LOL!

Hope all is well with everyone!

Let's play catch up! Oh and gender reveal!

Wow it has been a long time since I last posted on here. So much has happened the past couple of weeks.

To start everything with this pregnancy is going great! I have had zero complications thank God. It has been a smooth sailing pregnancy in all honesty. Around week 9 I started having major nausea and major food aversions. There was not one food in sight that sounded good. I was starving and when I ate the baby sure did not like anything....except sweets. Yes, you heard right. Anything with ice cream and chocolate sure did agree with the little peanut! Finally around week 12 my nausea subsided and food started sounding good again. I started eating more solid meals. I do find that any mexican food does not settle well at all but other than that its good to be able to eat a meal without feeling like I need to go and lay down.

Tomorrow we will be 13 weeks! Officially in the 2nd trimester! Wowzers!! Where the heck has time gone?! Now our days consist of getting the house ready and what we need to start buying. So excited for all this planning! This has been the best time of our lives. We have bonded closer and the love I feel between Sarah is greater. We both are so in love its amazing and SO in love with this baby in my belly. She has us wrapped around their fingers.

Our ultrasounds have been great, its such a pleasure to see our baby peanut growing and progressing at each and every appt. Baby is growing right on track if not even a tad ahead. Heart rate has been great and that sound will never, EVER get old. If only I could make it my ringtone!

Tomorrow we have our Nuchal scan! So another chance to see our baby peanut!! WOOHOO!! I am super excited for this scan not even one ounce of nervousness. I have felt so relaxed and calm during this entire pregnancy.

In other news we decided to do a blood test called MaternTi21 test. Its a blood test that looks for chromosomal abnormalities and at the same time tests gender....now what a double whammy! Well we got our blood drawn on Feb. 13 and this afternoon we got the results. I ran to my doctors office and picked up the envelope and ran back downstairs. Called Sarah and I opened the envelope while on the phone. I scanned as fast as I could and read the chromosomal tests first and all were negative. A huge sigh a relief was felt. Then I scanned to the gender and it said "no Y chromosomes were detected".  Holy crap!! I cried tears of joy. I said to sarah "were having a GIRL!!!". I was shaking and in tears. I wanted a healthy baby but its even more a plus for a little girl. We are tickled pink for sure!!

In the past week we lost a great man. Sarah's grandfather died. Many have told me that while one life is taken one life is given. We kept tossing back thinking God has a plan for everything. It took us 2.5 years to get pregnant treatment after treatment. We thought we would never see this side. God has a plan and while we may not understand it at the time everything happens for a reason.

I promise to be better at posting. Tomorrow is our Nuchal scan! Can't wait to post pics :)

I would also like to thank everyone who has been here through thick and thin. You all are amazing!!

8 Weeks & 2 Days!

Okay, okay I admit it I have been a really bad blogger. Bad! A lot has happened in the past two weeks and boy do we have to fill everyone in!

SO what has been going on?!

We had an appointment with our IVF doctor today to get another ultrasound I was so excited and not one tad nervous. Its amazing my nervousness has calmed down dramatically. We were running late to our appointment and trust me this never happens. I was already excited enough it didn't help! We arrived and our favorite nurse Melinda walked us back to our usual room #3 and we waited for the doctor to come in. Finally before you knew it I was laying down waiting for the wand and we saw the most beautiful thing ever. A beautiful baby peanut. Measuring beautifully at 8 weeks and 1 day! The doctor said this is perfect because each baby has a give or take of 6 days for growth so the fact that our little peanut is growing right on target is awesome! Grow baby, grow!

Then.......we heard the heartbeat! I instantly fell in love and the beautiful sound that we heard was the most amazing thing ever. The doctor said our BPM were around 165-170. Perfect!

We then got up and got two huge hugs from both the doctor and the nurse and he said "congratulations"! We then got released and this is the last time we will see him until we are ready for baby #2 which will be a long, long time from now, LOL!

So now we are off to our OBGYN. We will be working with my OBGYN that I have been seeing for a year already. We love her and feel comfortable with her. Our next appt will be in two weeks which we will be 10 weeks & 1 day!

Our little peanut sure is growing! The first one was taken at 4 weeks 6 days and bottom one is 8 weeks!

How far along? 8 weeks & 2 days!

How big is baby? Green Olive! 

Total weight gain/loss: None!  :)

Maternity Clothes: I had to give in.....I bought a pant strecher because mine are starting to feel a tad snug.

Have you started to show yet? Not yet

Sleep: Off and on

Best moment this week: Hearing the babies heartbeat. Best music to my ears. So in love!

Miss Anything? I have had a large craving for soda....ugh! LOL

Movement: None

Food Cravings: Nothing. Food is just so blah. 

Anything make you queasy or sick? Nothing yet

Gender prediction: A girl

Symptoms: Tired some nausea otherwise awesome!

Major purchases this week? Maternity pant saver!

Looking forward to: Our next ultrasound at 10 weeks!

6 weeks and 2 days ultrasound!

I can't believe it! Were here! 6 weeks and 3 days pregnant! Feels amazing if you ask me! The past week I was getting nervous and excited for our ultrasound on Saturday because I was scared there was going to be an empty sac with no heartbeat. I talked and prayed to our baby(ies) that they would stick and grow. Before we knew it time had come and we were sitting there in the same room we had become familiar with during our follicle scans. My nerves had hit through the roof and before we knew it we saw the beautiful sac with our baby we had longed for a long time. We are pregnant with one baby! The doctor said everything was just perfect and beautiful and then we saw the heart flicker beats of beauty. My heart skipped a beat looking at the baby and the heartbeat flickering. I am so in love. We are so in love. We were able to breathe a sigh of relief and the doctor hugged us both and said congratulations! We were given our EDD of September 5th, 2013! Approx 33 weeks and 4 days to go or 7.5 months!

Our next appointment with our RE is in two weeks when we will be 8 weeks pregnant! I do believe this will be our last appointment with him :( After that we then are discharged to our OBGYN which we already have picked out and the hospital we are going to be delivering at.

How far along? 6 weeks & 3 days!!

How big is baby? Blueberry (How cute!)

Total weight gain/loss: None :)

Maternity Clothes: None, but my pants are fitting more snuggy. 

Have you started to show yet? Not yet

Sleep: Started to switch. Some days I have amazing sleep other days I have horrible sleep. I did get my snoogle in the mail and it has helped with my side and neck issues. 

Best moment this week: Looking at our beautiful babies heartbeat. One beautiful flicker!

Miss Anything? Yes, yes I do.....Honey Mustard, Mayo and Turkey Deli sandwiches! 

Movement: None

Food Cravings: Milkshakes and smoothies.

Anything make you queasy or sick? Nothing yet but I do have food aversions. Food is just not the same anymore!

Gender prediction: a girl :)

Symptoms: Tired, Lower back pain, cramps, bloated and more tired!

Major purchases this week? Doppler machine!

Looking forward to: Our 8 week ultrasound to see our little peanut growing!


It wont let me post the video of our sonogram and we didn't get any pictures because he does everything through a flash drive! Im working on it!

5 Weeks & 1 Day Pregnant!

I know I have been so bad at blogging! Would it be okay to blame it on my constant tiredness?!

Today I am 5 weeks and 1 day! Time sure is flying by if you ask me! We are still on cloud 9 and not sure we are getting down any time soon. We were soooo nervous and excited to get our first Beta and when it came back at 108 we were relieved and excited. Then we were told to come back on Monday for another Beta. That wait was more nerve-wracking than the first! We were not even fixed on a number but more of the fact that it was going to double. We then got the call after many hours of waiting that our beta had doubled and even a little more to 349!

Everything has been going great. I still continue on my twice a week acupuncture appointments because they help with relaxation and help minimize the risk of miscarriage. I love our acupuncturist! Did I ever mention that she told us we were pregnant before we even tested. On Thursday, December 20th we went for our weekly appt and she felt my heartbeat on my wrist. She said "it feels great girls!" I felt the heartbeat she was talking about and it felt weird, like pearls rolling through my blood. Well after that we felt great! The next day towards the evening I felt menstrual like cramps, lower back pain and sorry for the TMI but loose stool. Exact symptoms I feel a couple days before I start my period. I literally sat on the toilet waiting for it to start. I thought it was a bust. Then after four hours it went away. Suddenly something told me this was the  our embryos implanting. The next day like clock work I felt the exact same "period like" symptoms.  A couple of days later my symptoms were a nagging headache, pulling, light nausea, and tiredness. I napped two-three times within a day. There was just not enough sleep to make me happy. 

My symptoms continue off and on. I had a horrible pregnancy cold. It started with a sore throat, runny nose, and ear ache. It went away after a couple of days, I have lower back pain and period like cramps which tell me that everything is going great. Tiredness continues daily and I just started feeling bloated the past day and a half!

How far along? 5 weeks & 1 day!!

How big is baby? Size of a sweet pea

Total weight gain/loss: None! Which is a good thing! LOL

Maternity Clothes: None, but I sure am getting bloated. 

Have you started to show yet? Not yet

Sleep: Isn't sleep amazing?! I could nap anywhere. Im just trying to make sure I lay on my left side only. This has been hard for me since I am normally a right side sleeper. I will do anything to keep this pregnancy!

Best moment this week: When my wife texted me this morning and said "Our babies are the size of a sweet pea!" She was SO happy and excited!!

Miss Anything? Honestly, nothing yet. LOL

Movement: None

Food Cravings: Turkey, Turkey, Turkey, and more Turkey!!! YUMMO!

Anything make you queasy or sick? Nothing yet

Gender prediction: We will be finding out how many babies we have growing in my womb in a week so as of right now a boy and girl!

Symptoms: Tired, Lower back pain, cramps, bloated and more tired!

Major purchases this week? Snoogle pillow!

Looking forward to: Our ultrasound to see how many are growing and their heartbeats <3

Wishing everyone lots of baby dust and happy and healthy pregnancies! 

Off to bed! LOL

Second beta!!!

Our second beta was today since they had more blood draws today then yesterday.

Our came back at 349!!!!

Will update in a post later tonight!

BETA results!!!!!!!

Results are in and my beta #1 is 108!!!!!!!!!!! We are only 12 days past 3 day transfer!! We go back on Sunday for second beta and ultrasound in 2 weeks! Will update more!

Thank you all for your support!!!

ETA: 12 hours

We have about 12 hours until our first BETA! We are so excited and nervous at the same time. We go in at the wee early hour of 7:15 and then back to work I go. Then it's the waiting game until they call. I know I will be a nervous wreck until they call not really sure I will be able to work, lol!

Nothing new to update but the fact that we used the last couple of HPT's. I know call us crazy and peeaholic but its so beautiful to keep seeing that positive test. I will update as soon as we get results!

Thank you for all the congrats!

We Caved In....

We did. We caved in even though we said we wouldn't. I mean at first it wasn't hard at all and then 7dp3dt it got hard. I mean hard. It also didn't help that my lovely wife was chasing me with a pee stick. I do believe she is more obsessed with them than me, LOL! So after the nagging and nagging I decided to test. I forgot the nervous feeling you feel waiting for the test to show its face. After waiting the necessary time we both looked up and we saw that stark white background we have been used to seeing for what seems forever.

We then got sad. We cried and then started feeling defeated. I was sad but something told me to not give up yet. We had five days to go there was still hope. I had faith in God that everything would be okay.

8dp3dt (Christmas Eve): Negative (AKA stark white test) We had family coming over and other parties to attend that day. We hosted our Christmas Eve party and by 3 PM everyone was gone. We were getting ready to go to the next party and then Sarah said lets test again. I knew what it was going to say so I said sure as I POAS. As we sat there waiting Sarah picked up the test and she said I see a faint, faint line. I said yeah right. I mean for awhile I felt like we were making up lines! I grabbed the test and brought it to the kitchen where its brighter and sure enough was the faintest line I have ever seen. I mean you had to turn in in the sun to even see it. We were shocked, scared, happy, and excited! We immediately went to Target and stocked up on pregnancy tests. We came home still in shock and smiling like never before. We opened the box and took another test before we left for the party it had only been 2 hours and there was a little bit more of a line. From there on it was a pee stick party and it has been the best feeling ever to see those pregnancy tests get darker and darker.

Even better yet we tested today 10dp3dt on a digital and it came back positive with the word "Pregnant". A word we have been waiting to see for 2 long years. We feel blessed to be at this stage. We have our BETA on Friday at 7:15! Literally 34 more hours until our test! WOWZERS!!!

I have been peeing on sticks left and right on four different brands to be exact. All different brands to confirm what we already know.

I had tried to explain to Sarah that this cycle I have felt completely different. Not just with symptoms I have been feeling an intuition. This feeling has been beyond amazing to feel. Like nothing in the world matters more but keeping these babies safe and healthy.

I have had lots of symptoms since 6dp3dt and it is really just too much to write in tonight's blog! I will make sure to update tomorrow!

Until then I leave you with some photos of our beautiful pee sticks!!!

This literally was the BEST Christmas present EVER!!

Merry Christmas!

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas from our home to yours!!

7dp3dt

Still here! Hanging by a thread if ya ask me! These past couple of days have been super super busy. Have I mentioned I love doing a transfer during the holidays?! It sure takes your mind of everything that's for sure!

We have been baking our annual cookie plates and have delivered all of them. Was so nice to visit with neighbors and friends.

We also got the courage to go out in the holiday crowds and get some last minute gifts. What the heck were we thinking?! Well we got what we needed and ran our as soon as we could.

So we have five days until BETA. I'm praying hard those little embies stick. Stick babies stick! We love you so much already!

These last couple of days I have fallen more in love with my wife. Is this even possible?! I'm already so in love with her. She just knows how to make me smile and laugh. She is my strength. She is my rock. I feel so lucky to have her.

Wishing everyone a great Sunday!

4dp3dt

Holy Moley! Is it possible to just sleep until the 28th?!?!

Guess not!

Went back to work yesterday and boy was it the best feeling ever. Lol I know time off is like precious gold but I found myself twiddling my fingers and obsessing too much about this and that. At least at work I'm busy doing data entry all day long so my mind is busy. Plus side to my job. It's a 100% sit on your butt all day long until it hurts kinda of job. So really these babies sure are resting and taking it easy.

Everything is going swell minus the progesterone capsules. Sorry if this is too much TMI but there slimy and disgusting!

Besides that nothing new to report. Have been keeping my angel close to our babies all day long. I pause at work throughout the day to say I love them and that they have to cook for 9 months because there are a lot of people that have been rooting for them. Please God keep then safe in your hands and make sure they are warm and comfy. We love them so much already. *tears* <-----hormones are so out of whack! I cry for everything now including my wife who sang Rudolph the red nose reindeer! Oh my! LOL

Well until next time! I leave you with a pic of my angel that protects these babies.

2dp3dt

Okay this whole TWW (two week wait) thing is serious business. This whole time we have been so calm going through this all like nothing and then the brutal TWW!!

I'm so glad we have so much going on these next couple of days and I go back to work tomorrow. Thank goodness I have a sit down job and I will get my mind off of all this thinking!

Today on our agenda?! Resting, gingerbread house making and more resting lol!

Wishing everyone out there positive baby making vibes!!

Transfer party!

Hi all! I'm back! Thank you to my lovely wife who has been updating the blog! Today was one of many big days...transfer day! We were so calm and just happy. We arrived an hour before since I had acupuncture set up before and after transfer. Acupuncture was nice and relaxing. Before you knew it we were laying down ready for our transfer report. Our doctor came in and gave us our report. Out of the 17 embryos 2 died. Which left us with 15 embryos to work with. We transferred to perfect grade A 8 cell embryos with zero fragmentation!! The other embryos are still growing and we will soon find out there grading scale along with how many made it to freeze!

So as of right now I'm PUPO (pregnant until proven otherwise)!! Came home and listened to Christmas music and got right under the blanket making sure my feet stay warm. Out blood test is scheduled for the 28th! 12 days from now! Yikes! Thank goodness our minds will be busy with Christmas gatherings and cookie baking!

Thank you to all the support and most of all thank you to my wife for taking care of me and our babies. She has cooked me every meal and has been here for me every second! I love you!

Fertilization report!

After a very long day of waiting, we finally got the call from the doctor! Drum roll please......out of the 24, 19 fertilized.  Out
Of those 19, two of them had more than one sperm meet the egg (which is a no no.) So, we have 17 strong, strong embryos!!! We go in for our transfer on Sunday at 11:30. We are so thrilled and exited. All this time we have been being so strong to not think about it and keep it together but now it seems impossible. Starting to be in our minds 24/7 again. Needless to say, we are so very excited and will update more then!

Harvest time!

Hello everyone! For once, this is Sarah updating the blog instead of my beautiful wife. She is currently resting after such a big day for us and, I don't blame her! So, I thought I would give you all a little update! I truly have a new found love for Alexia after today. Most clinics put you out for egg retrievals (our last clinic did also.) Well, our new (BEST clinic, ever :)) did not. They want the patient to be involved and you actually get to watch it happen on the monitor above you. I am assuming that the least amount of times you need to go under sedation is probably also a good thing. Of course, she was given lots of strong drugs to not feel much pain. I have to say, it was pretty amazing. I know to some people it sounds unpleasant but it brought us so much closer yet again. It sure beats waiting in a room for her to be wheeled out to me like last time. I got to be right in the room watching all the action go down. I knew the needle was huge but let me just say, I never knew it was that HUGE!! I mean, I don't think I could ever do that! Probably a good thing that I was the only one who saw the needle out of the two of us today :P. Not only did I get to see it all on the monitor, I got to see each egg go into its individual vial and go straight to the lab. It was filled with pink/ red fluid from inside her, and it was so up close and personal. Lexi really enjoyed being able to watch everything as well instead of not being there either (mentally) due to being knocked out.

SOOOO....to the big news! He retrieved 24 eggs and they all look MATURE! He mentioned to us that this was his huge goal to get them to all be mature and strong eggs. We are over the moon. They will call us tomorrow with a fertilization report. He says to be open to both a three-day- and five-day transfer. It's up to those little embryos, even though, I am secretly hoping so hard for a five-day. I guess, you can say I am biased....lol!

 I just love our doctor, and I don't think I will ever get tired of saying that! He is so down-to-earth and treats you like not only a patient, a friend. It's nice to have someone make you laugh and bring happy vibes to such a serious time. He shows that he truly cares about each one of his patients. Hes not in it for the money. Every time we call with a concern or anything and talk with a nurse, he mentions it when we see him. He is in the loop and cares. For example- this morning my wife was counting down the minutes to call our clinic as soon as it opened this morning. The reason being because this morning before the retrieval, she didn't feel bloated anymore and thought something happened or that she ovulated early. Called and got cleared that, that was definitely not the case. They were all in there and my wife is just a worry wart. Anyways, when we got in the room for retrieval, our doctor comes in and jokingly says, "So,I heard you prematurely ovulated!" Lol! I just love how he knows about everything even when its not a big deal. He cares. Anyways, I guess it's safe to say that my wife is more in love with her owl heating pad than me tonight.

P.S- In the past, we won a "sperm" shirt from our sperm bank after winning a contest. I told my wife it was fitting to wear it tonight for good luck and good fertilization numbers tomorrow!

Twas the night before egg retrieval....

Tomorrow is my egg retrieval and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous.

I'm just as nervous this time, if not more nervous, than I was last time. I also never imagined I'd be doing this again so soon as in my mind. I can't keeping looking back to the past so here we are again going through this to TRY and get our baby.

Last night was my final FSH injections and the most important shot ever....the trigger shot! I can't even tell you how excited I was to complete these week long injections!! I swear if it wasn't for my bloated belly I would have jumped up and down! I counted how many injections I took for for IVF cycle #2 and we finished with 78 injections! Yikes, and my stomach shows! Its bruised and purple! 

Yesterday I had my final blood work and ultrasound before I got the go ahead for trigger. My estrogen came back at 3645 and my progesterone stayed at 1.1. The doctor counted over 20 follicles between 18-24mm! My lining was 12.48 so everything is looking fabulous! 

Tomorrow our retrieval is scheduled for 11:15AM!! SOOOOOOOO excited and ready for this!! I will update tomorrow on how it goes.

In the mean time I have been starting to get my "drink on" of course with water only, LOL! I am trying so hard to not develop OHSS! I do not want it and since I have lots of follicles I fall deep in this maybe category. So today I finised my day with 2 liters of water down. Even though I have gone to the bathroom a bazillon times I have to do what I gotta do!

I leave you with a photo of my view today from a work conference I attended today. A beautiful rainbow to bring lots of baby dust!

Anyone and everyone send us good baby vibes!! We could use it all!

Almost there!

Today I went in for more blood work and my estrogen came back at 2465. The nurse told me to continue my FSH, Menopur and Lupron and come back in tomorrow morning for more blood work and my last final ultrasound before my trigger shot. Excited and nervous all at the same time!

Tell ya the truth I'm so over the injections. My hormones are so off the wall. This cycle I have been finding myself more and more emotional! I cry at the drop of a dime. For Pete's sake today I cried a total of 5 times! Over silly things one of them my injections. I sat there glazing over three injections. The thought freaked me out lol! Now I feel like a big baby lol! All I can say is I'm super excited to go to sleep and wake up to see how all our follicles are doing!

More updates tomorrow!