Spotting Scare

Last night J had some spotting and we freaked out a little. It didn't last long and there wasn't much blood but it was bright red and frightening.

Since it stopped quickly we didn't call our dr until this morning. He said since it stopped and it wasn't accompanied by cramping we didn't have to worry, it was normal but if we wanted to come in this morning we could. So we did. :)

We drove (quickly) back from Scranton, PA where we had celebrated Thanksgiving. We thought the office closed at noon but at 9am when we spoke to our dr, he told us they were closing at 11am today. Needless to say, we scooted out of M's parents house in whirlwind time making up all sorts of excuses on the way. To make it a little more complicated, we had our brother and sister in law riding back with us. And I should restate, no one knows that we are pregnant yet.

Miraculously we made it to the dr in time and were brought right in for an u/s. The u/s technician said immediately that she didn't see any bleeding in the vagina and then preceeded to say there was no bleeding in the cervix or around the gestational sacs. PHEW! She then did the usual measuring and asked J to hold her breath a few times. After a few minutes, she turned the monitor and showed us the sacs and then showed us the heartbeat of Baby A!! All J could say was OMG! We had NO idea we would be able to see a heartbeat today! She then showed us Baby B and we could not yet see the heartbeat. She said this was of no concern for a few reasons. One, and the primary reason, being the positioning of the 2nd sac. (As you can see, Baby B still looks smaller in this image, but it isn't, it's just shy.) It is located lower and almost behind Baby A so it is hard to see it. Secondly it was still early, they didn't expect us back for 3 more days to see the heartbeats. She was confident everything was just fine and once it gets a little bigger, we'll be able to see them both.

Our dr then came in and said while he couldn't really explain the bleeding, he stressed that most if not all pregnancies have some spotting. As long as it isn't heavy and accompanied by cramping, it is fine. He did a quick examination and concurred that everything felt normal. We were 6 weeks 2 days pregnant today and J's cervix was measuring 7 weeks. He said we didn't have to come back in on Tuesday but to reschedule for a week from today; next Saturday. He adviced J to stay off her feet for a few days and also said we may see more spotting so not to be alarmed. We'll let you know how that goes. ;)

We are relieved yet still in shock of seeing a heartbeat today. Absolutely Amazing!

Happy Turkey Day!

Just wanted to wish everyone a very happy Thanksgiving! Enjoy the turkey! :)

Guess we should have listened to you

Many of you speculated, some of you guessed and a few of you even insisted.

Well, please meet Baby A and Baby B :)

Looks like we should listen a little more closely to our well-educated blogging friends. (Due to the angle of the ultrasound when the picture was taken, you can't see Baby B that well but they are both about the same size)

We were able to see 2 yolk sacs in their respective gestational sacs but it was too early to see the babies or the heartbeats for that matter. Our doctor advised us against going out and buying matching outfits until we see the heartbeats next week but he feels that everything looks great at this point and he'd be surprised if we didn't have a great visit next week as well. He said a lot of other positive things but we didn't really catch it all because we were so overwhelmed. We just stared at each other smiling. And to be honest, we are still wearing our smiles. We both always wanted to have twins, so maybe this is the reason (if there has to be one) for our last baby not making it.

We are told their due date is July 23rd and that we are 5 weeks 5 days pregnant. Our Dr said J's uterus felt 6 to 7 weeks in size and the cervix was long, thick and closed (closed sounds good to us!). We have our next appointment on Tuesday Dec. 2nd at which point we should be able to see two heartbeats. It is going to be a LONG holiday weekend – but we are filled with so much joy!! :)

We'd like to thank you all for your positive sticky bean vibes … it worked... TWICE!

New betas are in!

6487

It doubled. It a little more than doubled actually so we couldn't ask for anything more. Tomorrow afternoon we go in for our first u/s to see the gestational sac! How exciting!! :)

J has been extraordinarily tired lately. Besides very tender (and large!) bb this is her only major symptom. Very mild nausea sets in from day to day - but nothing a few pretzels and some Ginger.Ale can't fix. Ginger.Ale is seriously the miracle elixir. Today J slept most of the day, lucky for her she works from home! Not so lucky for her company (wink, wink). She gets some random pains in her belly which freaks us out - but we're pretty sure all is well and it's just all of her ligaments and uterus stretching ... or gas. :)

We love the betas we've been getting, but we are ready to see the sac ... and the heartbeat ... and the baby! We've gotten to all these milestones before and we really won't be able to relax until we get past the heartbeat hump. We haven't been lucky enough to get to that milestone yet. We think this is our time!

Tagged!

Christmas Tagged by Gia, so here it goes!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Recyclable brown bags personally decorated
2. Real tree or Artificial? REAL
3. When do you put up the tree? It's already up. (JUST KIDDING) Early December
4. When do you take the tree down? Early January
5. Do you like eggnog? Not so much
6. Favorite gift received as a child? ALF doll (for both of us, strange you say? Clearly we were destined to be together)
7. Hardest person to buy for? We're really good shoppers
8. Easiest person to buy for? Each other
9. Do you have a nativity scene? No, but looking for the perfect one
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Definitely mail
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Nothing that couldn't be regifted ;)
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? We're changing this question to FAVORITES - A Christmas Story, Home Alone (1), Charlie Brown Christmas, Frosty the Snowman, the original Miracle on 34th street, Elf
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Black Friday
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? See question 11
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? M's homemade apple pie or homemade Christmas cookies
16. Lights on the tree? Yep, white lights
17. Favorite Christmas song? Too many to list, no single favorite but we have been listening to Christmas music since Nov 1 ;)
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Travel - family in PA and DC
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? But of course, we could say them or sing them
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Angel
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Both
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Traffic near malls
23. Favorite ornament theme or color? Silver and Red
24. Favorite meal for Christmas dinner? Turkey and stuffing and lots of sides (does this sound a lot like Thanksgiving?!)
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? To see our baby's heartbeat

We tag TravelHer

Four Digits

Things are still looking great! Our beta this morning was 1604! YAY!

We were told to come back in on Monday for another bw and if all looked good, we'd have our first ultrasound on Tuesday. We both already love our nurse Jenn, but when she calls with news like this, we love her even more. :)

We have not told any of our friends or family yet about the pregnancy or even that we were doing IVF. This one we are keeping to ourselves and our blog readers until at least 12 weeks.

On the up and UP

We had follow up blood work on Monday and our beta was up to 434! We are very happy with this number since it more than doubled since Friday!! We haven’t been able to blog because our home internet isn't working correctly and we can’t get on important websites such as our blo.g and hot.mail =\ Since J had to travel for work Tuesday and Wednesday, we won't have our next bw until tomorrow morning. We sure like the reassurance of a rising beta this early on! We are very excited about our numbers but because of past events, are still a little cautious about falling in love with the idea of being TRULY pregnant. We've been through that heartache and it SUCKED!

But we are taking it day by day and staying relaxed and just enjoying the beginning of the holiday season!

The results are in...

It's official.

We're pregnant!

And with a whopping 176 first beta, we are EXTREMELY happy!

Our last miscarriage started with a 12.1 beta so we are feeling pretty good today. We go back in on Monday for our next bw. In the meantime, J is to start prenatal vitamins and 1 baby aspirin a day and we are more hopeful than we have ever been.

Not really sure what else to write so we'll end it with YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY! :)

Only During Your TWW Would...

Only during your tww would the below list of symptoms be acceptable and even welcomed.

* Complete exhaustion
* Nausea
* Sore BB
* Frequent trips to the bathroom
* Cramps/Bloating

All good pregnancy signs right? Well, the best sign of all was this one we got this morning...



Slight nausea kicked in last night and continued this morning and well, the rest of the symptoms have pretty much been on and off throughout this whole process. We can’t wait for our blood work tomorrow to see where our beta numbers are. With the way our perfect IVF cycle has gone, we won’t accept anything less than 100% (or well a beta of 100 would be nice) ;) We are excited but obviously cautious as J’s had 2 miscarriages already. How nice it must be for those people who take a pregnancy test, see it's positive and that's that. They have a beautiful baby in 9 months. No worrying about beta numbers, weekly ultrasounds, or if they’ll see a heartbeat or not. They're JUST pregnant. Since we are not “THOSE” people, we’ll just take it day by day, reach each milestone as it comes our way. First being good numbers tomorrow.

TWW

Well, we are headed into the last few days of our tww. We go in on Friday for bw to see if we are pregnant. We’re just going to go ahead and assume we are, is that bad? No, there haven’t been pregnancy symptoms really, none that J hasn’t had since she started the injections (cramps, sore bb, exhaustion which is prob from progesterone) but we are going in hopeful and with a positive attitude. The last 2 times we tried to get J pregnant, she did. Unfortunately both of those pregnancies ended (chemical and no heartbeat at 6 weeks) but can that really happen again? Could life be so cruel as to have history repeat itself over and over again? Can these 2 “perfect” blastocysts really not implant and form at least 1 beautiful baby in 9 months?

Yes, we are pregnant. At least until we get the results of the bw on Friday.

I hope I don't get bed sores...

...as I'll be horizontal for the next few days. ;) I certainly won't get stir crazy though as my wife is taking EXCELLENT care of me and our babies. The dr recommended 2 days of bedrest but I plan on laying here until.... well, they are born. We're not taking any chances ;)

Everything went great this morning. Unlike what we have read on other blogs, M was not allowed in the operating room for the transfer. It was just Dr R, a very hyper nurse, the embryologist and me in crazy moonboots that they kept referring to as "stir ups". I mean my legs (up to my knees) were STRAPPED into these bright yellow and black boots!

We are lucky to have 3 extra blasts that were able to be frozen today (for the bargain price of $1700 which of course is NOT covered by insurance). We are hoping that they remain frozen for at least a year ;)

Aside from a cyst check appt or two, now we just sit tight (and look at our little picture of our blastocysts) until we go in for a pregnancy test late next week. Our TWW is slightly shortened by the 5 day transfer but it sure doesn't make it any easier!

And the 6 report cards are in...

5 of our little embies are dividing perfectly and look very strong! The sixth is looking good just lagging slightly behind the others in the cell dividing. Our embryologists thinks it will have caught up by tomorrow. Guess we'll see :)

We are just sitting here watching the elections and are hopeful that our kids will be born during an Obam.a presidency.

We just need one more perfect report tomorrow and our scheduled 7am transfer on Thursday is a GO!

Cautiously Optimistic

Yep, six fertilized little growing embryos all with half of J's genetic makeup (lucky dawgs!) :)
It is truly insane to think about it in this way. Just 15 miles west of where we sit, right now, there are 6 babies-to-be growing. Our six little babies. Dr R wants to do a 5 day blastocyst transfer which means Thursday at 7am, 2 of those little babies-to-be will be inside J. FINALLY. We are SUPER nervous that some may not make it to day 5. Is it ok to be sad if some don't? Not sad b/c we won't be able to use them, but sad b/c right now they are growing and mulitplying and... real.

Dr R decided to do a 5 day transfer b/c these 6 embryos are multiplying perfectly and have a perfect shape to them. He wants to be able to watch them for a couple more days to be able to pick the perfect 2 to transfer. So, now we wait, again. Wait for our next fertilization report tomorrow. Wait for the transfer on Thursday. Wait to see if they embed. Wait to see if we are pregnant. Wait.

We are worried that Dr R should have chose a 3 day transfer but we know if he did, we would have worried about why we weren't doing a 5 day transfer. No matter what method we use, it is still 100% a guessing game. All up to luck and chance with a little assistance from a guy in scrubs.

In the meantime, we'll try to keep busy but we are not sure what else there is left to do! We did everything we could this past weekend waiting for our first update! The house is spotless, the coupons are clipped and organized and as previously mentioned, the sewing is done too. Aside from an insane amount of pills J is on post IVF, there are no more nightly injections to do and her stomach is finally beginning to look somewhat normal again. The only reminder that any of this IVF stuff ACTUALLY happened is J's sore ovaries from the retrieval and a small IV prick mark on her arm.

tick tick tick

Who else is sick of waiting for our Dr to call with the results of the fertilization?

Oh, just us? Ok.

9 Lives

This morning we went in for the egg retrieval bright and early. By 8:30am Dr R pulled me from the waiting room to give me the outcome of the retrieval. First and foremost, everything went well and J did great. Secondly they had managed to retrieve 9 mature eggs! 9 is a good number. We are happy with 9. Then Dr R said that the important thing is that they are 9 good eggs. He repeated that they look really good. We are happy with 9 really good looking eggs.

Once J woke up from the anesthesia we went home and spent the bulk of the day relaxing in bed ... and by relaxing I mean waiting impatiently to hear from our Dr about the fertilization. So we did what we could to make the day go by quickly. Today J realized that M has a new nervous habit. Sewing. She couldn't have stitched more holes in sweaters, sweats, and socks today. If it was stitchable, it was stitched. A talent like this can come in handy in 9 months!

We should hear tomorrow and are waiting IMpatiently for more good news. It's weird to think that somewhere miles away from us our potential babies are sleeping (and growing) in a petri dish!