It's a Girl!

My daughter was born by planned (but unscheduled) C-section on 06/30/2008. She was 5lbs 13.5oz and 20in long. We had irratable cervix and bleeding in early 2nd tri and then found an eccentric cord insertion at 19 week ultrasound (which is 3x as frequent in IVF). Our eccentric cord insertion went to velimenous cord insertion at 26 week ultrasound which resulted in slowed fetal growth & low amniotic fluid...also with low amniotic fluid baby couldn't turn from being breech, so when they got positive lung development at 37w ultrasount they pulled her that day. My OB knew it was possible and I made sure I didn't eat anything after breakfast so we could do it that day if needed. She technically is normal birth weight and full term, so only the C-section was unsual.

Kicked to the Curb

Had my last u/s with RE and have been given the boot the the OB. Dh came along and was a wee bit bubbly. We're at 20mm which puts us at 8w4d when my date is 8w6d....constistant with the 7 day transfer of slow blasts. hb = 178 ...wow, that's triple my resting rate. Saw stubby little arm buds, big head, and curling umbilical cord. Placenta is placed on upper posteior, which I guess is good. So no more "bean" we are in "grape" territory.

RE said he usually does final u/s at 9.5 weeks but he is leaving for Carribean cruise today and pushed it up earlier. Said at 9.5 weeks 99% of fatal trisomies will have resulted in m/c, so he said at 8.5 weeks he's 95% sure my pg is viable. He also dictated a note to my OB indicating I was not high risk and should only need genetic tests indicated by my age. *yeah*

Dh then proceeded to harrange me about how big this baby was gonna be...9-12 lbs runs in his family, 7-9 lbs in mine. Whoa boy! When Dh is 6'5.5" and I'm 5'11" the genetics run big.

I really wanted to go to Coldstone Creamery on the way back. I had saved extra calories just for the outting and it was closed with a sign on the door for employees to call to get information on why the store was closed. *bummer* Ended up eating my diet ice cream at home.

I guess this is my last blog until birth, because I have left my RE and the realm of IVF/ART. Big kudos to Dr. Daly & his staff at Grand Rapids Fertility & IVF making this possible. I can't say that I have enjoyed myself, but I do finally feel optimistic about finally becoming a mother.

First Ultrasound

Weight: 157.4 lbs
Mood: a little moody
Medications: none!

So there is a little story to tell before we get to the results of my first ultrasound....

Last night I was laying on my stomach in bed waiting for my dh to finish up in the bathroom. It's my turn so I do some sort of quick maneuver to "jump" out of bed and end of pulling my entire uterus region out of wack. I doubled over in pain/discomfort. It passed quickly, but I was kicking myself silly.

Later that evening when I used the bathroom I had two light, mucusy spots of blood. I could have cried right there, but nothing followed those two spots. I had a horrible night of waking nightmares and squirrel brained worry.

I get up this morning and I am touchy in that region, kinda like something swelled-up
overnight and for the first time in all of the IVF process, I skipped Spinning. I was so nervous that I screwed something up. Of course, this entire time I am also thinking that maybe this is just the beginning of morning sickness. I already have what I call afternoon/early evening malaise about half of the time, but my mornings have been just fine.

Well onto the the ultrasound. I did tell the RE what happened and how I was worried that I had done some damage. He didn't seem too concerned especially after we found my proto-incipient baby, complete with fetal pole, yoke sack, and a nice little heartbeat of 118 bpm. Next ultrasound is the December 12th, which he admitted was early because he is going on vacation. He also instructed me to make my first appointment with local OB for later that week.

Oh...and my official due date is July 16th. We'll tell family as a Christmas present and friends at our New Year's party.

Yeah I Stopped Posting

Weight: 160.4lbs
Mood: Normal
Medications: One last progesterone pill

Dh was wondering why I had stopped posting. Well this is my IVF blog, not my pregnancy blog. Since I'm off daily meds and am now in monitoring of my early pregnancy, I don't feel compelled to post everyday. I also found other IVF blogs annoying when I'd click through and they are blogging about their 3 year old twins having left IVF behind years ago.

I had my second beta today. I had a feeling it was going to be just fine because my breasts found another cup size this weekend. So my first beta at 7dp7dt was 29.6 and my second at 11dp7dt was 193. Also my progesterone is high enough that I can stop taking the pills. So I'm off meds entirely! I must have not done too much damage to my ovaries if they are producing progesterone for me.

My "hunt for the embie" ultrasound is in two weeks. I'll give another update then.

BFP

Weight: 156.2 lbs
Mood: Bi-polar day
Medications: 1 shot of 1/2 ml progesterone in oil, switching to oral med tonight

So what does BFP mean....BIG FREAKING POSITIVE. In the words of the nurse, "We have a pregnancy". She shocked the hell out of me, I was not expecting it what so ever. My blood test was at 8:30 am and she called at noon. I betcha they call the postives first cause those are at least good news. She rattled off my hcg and pregesterone levels and tried to coax my pharmacy name out of me so she could call in my new perscription while I sat here slack jawed.

My coworkers where over the partition and Pam remarked to Missey.."She sounds shocked". But of course, since Pam isn't from my office and is not clued in, I had to wait until she left to confirm for Missey that it was the nurse with good news. So I have to admit my husband was not the first person to know because my coworker overheard the phone conversation. Well heck, I suspect the nurse #1, the doctor and the lab tech all knew too. So that makes at least four people.

Soon as I could clear the office of customers I called dh and said "Hello Daddy". Ok, he was shocked too. I usually don't call him at school, but exceptions must be made. That and I think it might have been tacky to tell him via instant messenger.

I had to call the nurse (#2) back because I didn't write down my beta numbers. My first beta at 14dpo is 29.6 which would explain the two negative home pregnancy tests in the last three days. I would have only started picking up on those today because most require 25-50 on the beta to even cause a faint positive.

I have to go back on Monday for my second beta to see if my hcg numbers are increasing like they are supposed to. Dh wants to go out for red bloody steak tonight, and I am sure that I'm the designated driver for the next 9 months.

Last Shot!

Weight: 157.6lbs
Mood: Glad this thing is winding down
Medications: PIO IM shot 1/2 ml twice daily

Gave myself my last shot! Woot! I was getting sick of those things and being tied to a schedule. Official beta blood test is tomorrow. I noticed how my weight was up 3lbs as a result of transfer and how it went down on the first morning I tested. Seems the embies stuck around for the weekend before checking out.

I not as upset as you could imagine I'd be. I think this is going to work next time or maybe the time after. The success rates for my age group is only 35% which means you have to try and fail a few times. Next time's goal is egg quality over quantity.

I rolled over my sick time for the first time in 10 years, it's going to cut into holiday shopping money but hopefully if we catch on our February cycle I can take a nice long holiday break next year. I'm not looking forward to February driving for my monitering though.

I keep talking about that bottle of red wine, but I think I may decide to do the perfect margarita at Applebees. I think I'll go whole hog on the coffee tomorrow after beta too by getting a full on expresso.

As for my blogging plans, I'll post whenever there is a IVF related event to note, but this everyday stuff is going to stop. I blog my final, after period, weight for comparison to pre-cycle. I really wonder how much extra weight these PIO shots boobs are. They really are what my size should be and maybe instead of the boob reduction I wanted, I should invest in my real size. Ha!

Right Cheek, Right Thigh, Left Cheek, Left Thigh, Repeat

Weight: 157.4 lbs
Mood: Normal, but tired after auditions
Medications: PIO shots twice per day 1/2 ml IM

They kept me late last night for auditions but did let me sing for a lead. I'm guessing I'll be a mission girl, probably the trombone player because the director and I used to march trombone together back in college. Actually considering who we've got, we could probably stage the Mission band with real instrumentalists.

I always know I'm doing a good job driving out to Vermontville if I see at least one deer. I saw two last night in the driving sleet. I also have the ritual of stopping for a 20 oz diet Faygo, but they where out and I ended up with something caffinated.

I was feeling crampy and PMSy yesterday, that's faded today. I feel my libido coming back and that has been actively gone for about 3 weeks now. I won't miss the PIO shots, I won't miss the worrying about how I move or what I lift and I won't miss the secrecy.

I told my boss on his return from Dodge City on the "death" of my embies. Just wanted to assure him that he won't have to freak out about a future maternity leave just yet. Actually now that the memory of egg retrival has faded, I feel like I can do this again. Ask me the day after retrieval and you would have had a different answer.

I'm 5dp7dt and not exactly optimistic.