Well I couldn't wait..................

Pat called this morning and woke me up :) I had just happened to have a pregnancy test sitting out on the counter.... and of course best time to take it first thing in the morning so I figured I would do it with him on the phone, he protested a bit saying it was to early (we have been here before and he hates to hear me cry) but stubborn me I did it anyway............ and after two short minutes I said "there is a line! there is a line! I cant believe its positive" and ran up stairs to wake up his mom and show her :)

I am over the moon happy!!! The line is faint but there is no mistaken it is there. I am still very early so it will get darker as the days pass. I am only 12 days past ovulation so this is great for where I am in this cycle :)

Pat and I are so lucky, blessed and super happy with the news I just couldn't wait to share!!!

Here is the picture of my first positive pregnancy test!!!!

Tic Tock Tic Tock

The wait has got to be the hardest part of IVF..... I have 8 days left until my BETA (blood pregnancy test) and it is realllllllllllllly dragging along, which is pretty amazing considering I have been busy.

Pat leaves early tomorrow morning for Washington DC. So I will be on my own for the results.... not REALLY on my own because of course I still have my family and friends here but it just wont be the same as either celebrating with him or crying on his shoulder... (celebrating, celebrating, celebrating-positive thinking) But he will be the first call I make....

Of course there is the whole home pregnancy test debate. You can get an answer right away and not have to wait nearly as long, probably accurate by Sunday. That would give a pregnancy enough time to produce the hormones to show positive.. but the RE gives you a date for a reason--- I am sure its not just to torture us? Right????

The problem with taking the home test really is more mental... if its positive you then worry if its accurate, if its strong and not just a chemical pregnancy (which wouldnt show till BETA) and if its negative.... you end up sad, heartbroken and then comes denial--- big time denial-- "Its just too early" and you torture yourself again and again re-testing. I know this stinks because I did it last time. I am really really wanting to wait till next Friday, but boy oh boy do those sticks yell out come pee on me--- I will tell you---" . Then there is the fact that I just don't know if I can make it through seeing yet another negative test, I have had probably close to a hundred of those in the last three years just waiting for one positive.... crossing my fingers that I have enough self control to hold out till March 5th :)

As for symptoms so far, there aren't to many because it is still really early and I am still on hormone injections that can do all kinds of weird things to your body... but I have had lots of little cramps so I am really hoping thats a good sign of the baby (babies) getting cozy in there... We will see..... hmmmmmm March 5th.....

~Heather

Our babies first picture

What do you think? I think they look like their daddy :)

Oh my!!! Final report on our embryos

I think I am in shock just a little--------- I was hoping for the call today to find out that 2 embryos made it to freeze...... Well......... WE HAVE 9!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can not believe how great this cycle has gone for us. This is way more then I could have hoped for or imagined.

I am hoping and praying that the babies I have now stick but it is such a comfort to know that if for some reason it doesn't or if we would like to have more babies in a few years we don't have to do the whole stimulation process again.

Pat and I are truly blessed..... and excited :)

Yesterday my wonderful husband was a great nurse, he took great care of me and even cooked lunch (I gave him step by step instructions from the other room hehehe) his mom and Aunt Debbie babied and spoiled me... dinner on the couch served on a tray, reading material and lots of treats. Better not get too used to it :)

~Heather

Babies are in!!!

Today was one of the best days I have had. I was so worried about our little ones and what was happening when I got up today and on our drive to the clinic. Would they survive? Would they be good quality?

On the drive over we have to go over a long bridge that crosses the Tampa Bay. I look for dolphins every time that I have been on it. Today was the first time since I moved here in 1999 that I saw one :) I told pat maybe it was a good sign....

So we get to the clinic, get settled and the Dr. came in along with our Embryologist and said, "Well I have a good report for you" the Embryologist stood behind him nodding her had and giving the two thumbs up sign. I was sooooooo incredibly happy I got teary-eyed. So here is what we have..

2) Grade1 AB perfect little Blast!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! More then I hoped for.

It gets better------ Embryologist said she was watching "lots" of them and she will let us know tomorrow "how many" they were able to freeze!!! I was so happy it was "how many" and not "we will watch and see if we can" which I heard last time.

On the ride home we went back over the bridge, we saw another dolphin :) Perfect!

This cycle has been so great for us so far, we have been truly blessed. Not only do we have two great little beans hopefully getting cozy in their momma I will have some frozen which would give us another opportunity to expand our family :)

Here it to the two week wait. March 5th will tell all :)

~Heather

Embryo update #2

I still can not believe we are already at our embryo transfer! In less then 3 weeks I will officially have a blood pregnancy test(BETA) and be pregnant...............or heart broken.............. but I will not go there .... so in less then 3 weeks, I WILL BE OFFICIALLY PREGNANT :)

This cycle has just gone by so fast... but please remind me of this when I am in the two week wait of my pregnancy test, because that will drag on forever I am sure.

Yesterdays update on my 8 all-stars

4) 8 cell embryos
3) 7 cell embryos
1) 6 cell embryo

All we grade BB, which pretty great. The 4 8-cells are exactly what you want to see on this day, but the 7 & 6 cells are good too. Still no news on the 12 others, as I know they are all alive but getting no updates on them.... I will have a different nurse tomorrow I am sure I can get all the goods and details from her :)

Tomorrow we are looking for Blastocyst. Morula's are ok but really we want the Blastocyst. This is where the embryo begins to split and start making cells that will eventually form the baby and the other half will form the placenta. I am praying for two nice Blast to transfer and crossing my fingers for one or two to freeze.

As of 7:00 tomorrow I will be pregnant, please let these little babies stick :) I will update when we get back and let you know how the transfer went.

~Heather

Embryo update

Well I got the call today and here is where we are :)

8 embryos are 4-5 cells and are A-B grade- These little guys are who I am pulling for to bring us home a baby

12 embryos are still alive but they are a bit behind and are C-D grades (nurse kinda wrote these little ones off)

The good news is with this many we will be doing a 5 day transfer which will truly show us which embryo will give us the best shot (actually at this stage they will be called a blastocyst).

The bad news is I am having some mixed feelings... I am super happy I have 8 strong embryos but of course I was hoping for a few more. I just have to keep thinking positive, that this will be it for us, but it is just plain...........HARD.

Lets go with my good friend ratio/statistics.... (average) 20-25 % of fertilized eggs will have genetic capabilities to become babies, so theoretically I will only have approx 4 blast from my original 20--- so 8 is great.. but I still wanted more at this point, but in the end I really am only expecting 4. Hmmm maybe I am just an over-achiever, Pat must be rubbing off on me :) It only takes one I know..... hopefully it will be a grade A (like its father)

I will have another update tomorrow morning. Till then please keep my little "babies" in your prayers

~Heather

The Fertilization Results Are In....

We are truly blessed and I couldn't be happier. All 24 eggs were mature!!! 20 have fertilized so right now we have 20 little embryos growing :) This is fantastic news. As the days go on of course not all of them will make it so the fact that we have this many at this stage gives us really great odds for bringing home a baby.

I will have another update for you tomorrow!

~Heather

Retrieval is here!!!!!!!!!

Great news!! All of the worry for nothing. We had 24 eggs! That is three more then last time. I truly couldn't be happier....well until they tell me I am pregnant :)

Now my job is to sit, relax and recoup while Pat's "swimmers" get busy. They will call me tomorrow and let me know how many were mature and fertilized.

I am off to relax, drinking lots and lots of fluid to help keep the OHSS away. And I have a fabulous nurse taking great care of me... world's best mother in law :)

~ Heather

IVF #2 Post 8

Ahhhhhhhh so nervous about tomorrow. Last night the trigger shot went great (mother-in-law is a pro). I tested to make sure it went in fine. Since its the most important one, I like to be certain and because it is the pregnancy hormone, HCG, it will make you test positive on a pregnancy test.... the only time I have ever gotten a positive pregnancy test is from one of these shots---sadly--- although hopefully not for long :)

Today was a nice break from the shots, its the only day during any IVF cycle you get no meds and no shots. Tomorrow night I start progesterone, it helps to support a pregnancy. They are intramuscular shots so I can't give them to myself, either Pat or his mom does it and anyone who has done a cycle before with these will tell you they are the WORST & for sure no fun.

I am ready for these puppies to come out! I try not to complain because it is for a good cause but my goodness is it uncomfortable. And of course my lingering thought is about my E2--its just too high and I know after thy remove the eggs its going to get worse, its the name of the game I suppose.

We will be leaving the house at 5:55 am to get to Tampa.. the one good thing about being allergic to latex is you always get to be the first surgery patient. The surgeon is nice and fresh................... or maybe just warming up?? I will go with nice and fresh for the day.

I am really hoping some of my smaller follicles caught up and we get a few more retrieved. I will let you know when I get home!

~Heather

IVF #2 Post 7

Well... here it goes... I am kinda nervous!
Today:
Follicle size: 8) 14mm or bigger 7) 12-13mm and then some small ones
E2 4600!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh boy I am sore just thinking about this
Lining 9.6!!!!! At least this is great.

Last time at this point:
Follicle size: 20) under 14 6)under 12
E2 3900
Lining 8.8

So here is what the nurses are telling me, that really they should give me one more day, but because me E2 is dangerously high they cant... so she told me to try not to worry because if she looks back on my history this is typical for me and that when the go to retrieval there will most likely be quite a few more... I am so scared for OHSS, if it gets to bad they will cancel my transfer!

Please folks if you pray, add in a small one for me....

IVF #2 Post 6

Ok so I haven't even made it a week and I skipped a day. Oops! I feel like a teenager who forgot to do my homework... but really I have a good excuse. No REALLY I do :) We were super busy (and I was way to tired). We had our whole house loaded onto a moving truck yesterday so there was some last minute packing and cleaning. Thank the lord my wonderful mother in law had come by and was a huge help. With my ovaries being soooo swollen I could only do a little at a time before I needed to sit.

It was a little sad when they moved our bed I found a keepsake box from our last IVF, my hospital band, the "baby" pictures of our embryos and the little tiny petry dish... I still cant believe we are at this point again. Ugh! I got a new picture for the box today, one of all of my follicles.. they look like a bunch of grapes.

In the middle of all of the moving excitement we got the phone call that the house Pat and I put an offer in on in D.C. got accepted (we had been negotiating since Feb 1) So since we haven't seen it yet we had to get a visit scheduled for Pat to go do a walk-through and make sure we would like it (I know this is a bit backwards but we like to keep things interesting around here I guess).
Needless to say with the snowstorm getting him a ticket was a bit tricky as well.... I did say snow storm, along with a million and one news stations right??? Well my handsome, sweet, slightly stubborn but very smart (graduated with over a 4.0 average) husband, decided there was no need for a winter coat. Do you think he is possibly regretting that decision now? You Betcha!!! I got a call from him and it went something like this:
"Helllllooooo"
"Pat are you ok?"
"yes I am just shivering"
"did you get a rental car?"
"I have to go so I can put my hands back in my pockets"

I had to laugh only because I asked him 100 times this morning to please take a coat....Florida boy + snow= listen to your wife

On a great note my follicles are coming along nicely :

Yesterday
Follies 1) 15 1)13 4)12 and 20 just under 12 mm total of 26
E2-2033
Lining 8.5 triple layer

Last cycle at this point I had:
Follies 1)14 1) 13 and 7)12 9) just under 12mm total of 18
E2- 1518
Lining 8.2

Today:
Follies 10) 12-16 mm & 20) just under 12mm total of 30!!!!! WOWSA BABY?!?!
E2- 3500!!!!
Lining 8.9 triple layer (my goal is 9 by trigger so this looks great)

Last cycle at this point I had:
Follies1)16 3)15 5) 14 6)13 5) 12 total of 20
E2-2500
Lining 8.2

They are adding an extra day (same as last cycle) to help the little ones get bigger but they took away one of my meds because my E2 is so high today (not complaining that is one less needle I need to take) ....mostly because I have so many eggs producing it, but if you remember they like to keep that number below 4000 to avoid OHSS, the good news is they are very closely monitoring me....bad news I think I will for sure be well over 4,000 by tomorrow which means I will be VERY swollen in a few days, like big, really big... however bring on the stretchy skirts and yoga pants I am ready for it.

Tomorrow should be trigger day, cant believe its here already!! Happy Valentine's Day to you all!

PS go see the Valentine's Day movie-it was very cute

What a great day on the baby front!!! Numbers are in and they look great

Lining Today 8.2 Triple Stripe Yippee!!! Oct 8.4

E2 Today 1262 Oct 900
Follicles Today I had 24!!!! 2)12 mm 22) just under 12mm Oct 18 total 1)14 1)12 16) under 12

This is really good news. They decreased some of my medication so I dont make too many more, my body can focus on growing the ones I have. The u/s tech said my lining looked "perfect" I left the office with tears in my eyes. I am just soooooo happy things are going so well.

This afternoon I went to the RE for my pre-op and here is what got a little crazy... on the IVF group that I belong to a few of the girls had problems with infections in the past and it has always made me wonder because they haven't checked me for any infections "down there" in ages, maybe two years? So I have been wanting to be tested for a "just in case", I don't want any stone unturned or having any "what if" or "I should have" when this cycle is over, I just have to know I did everything in my power. So today I fib and tell the nurse the meds are bothering me "down there" and I would like to be "checked" and she was like "its probably from the medication but if you really want to we will check it out..........." Low and behold I have two different infections?!?!?! Not even one symptom? Isn't that nuts I am sooooooo glad I checked. Two prescriptions later and I am back in business. So from this point here is what I think....

They fixed my cervix
They fixed my lining
They fixed my infection
Lots of eggs

This may be it :) I have such a great feeling about this cycle!!!

I go in tomorrow at 7:15 am for another check, I will keep you posted!

~Heather

IVF #2 Post 4

What a day. As you probably know Pat & I are also in the process of moving to Washington DC (you know that place that is covered by over 3 ft of snow). So I am up getting ready this morning waiting for the guys to come make crates for the T.V's and a glass top table..... I get a phone call at 8:00 am saying they are almost here and they will actually be packing the house today. Um...OK??? I am a procrastinator big time so I was really not ready for them, and let me tell you they are fast, they already finished two bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, family room, kitchen and 1/2 of the formal living and dinning. I was running around like a crazy person trying to organize what we would need with us for the next month, paperwork, washing rugs, clothes, sheets etc. Our poor puppy Maggie was stuck out side most of the day and she came in shivering... guess who else isn't very ready for the cold weather (probably my bad for shaving all of her hair off). My parents were going to watch her while we were in limbo and staying with Pats mom, but after my sweet dog drug my mother down the sidewalk on her face... you can imagine she was not to happy about this. SO I must give a BIG BIG thank you to my very good friend Corinne who will be puppy-sitting for us. Not sure what I would have done without her!!!

Well after the busy day I was in so much pain from the cramping in my ovaries and so sad looking around at our boxed up house I had a little melt down after taking my shots, I am not sure if I was over emotional or oversensitive but they actually hurt pretty bad this evening, so of course the tears came.... and I sobbed something along the lines of "I am tired of being a pin cushion, please let this work" But my sweet husband gave me lots of hugs and told me it will all be okay, I love that man :)

Tomorrow will be super busy again bloodwork & ultrasound 7:15am back to the house for the guys to pack, then as soon as Pat gets here I am back off to the Dr at 1:15 for the pre-op. I am so looking forward to the house stuff finishing up, it will all be done before the more important parts of the IVF happen so I can relax and de-stress a bit. We will be staying with Pats mom & Aunt Debbie until we get up to DC, love those ladies couldn't ask for better people to be staying with!

I will be excited to post my updates tomorrow, cant wait to see how big my follicles and lining have gotten.

~Heather

IVF #2 Post 3

The numbers are in....... folks I am feeling pretty lucky :) For all of the non-IVF'ers , there are just a few things our Dr. looks for at this time, here is a breakdown so when I update as we go along you will know exactly how things are going:

1. Follicle size- this tells them when the eggs are most likely be mature enough to retrieve, they like to see at least 1-20 mm and 2-16 mm or bigger before they will give you the trigger shot (trigger is HCG- the pregnancy hormone, it gets eggs nice and loose for the Dr, like when you ovulate naturally) A day after trigger they harvest the eggs.

2. Estrogen level aka E2- Tells them approx how many eggs that are growing are likely to be mature as well. They like to see this number between 2000-4000 on trigger day... since I am pretty good egg producer my E2 on trigger day is usually very close to 4000... over 4000 can cause Ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS)-- this is a naughty little fellow we want to avoid. I have had OHSS once before and I can assure you I don't want it to happen again. In Oct I was very proactive with this and I will be again this time. The other rule of thumb is 200 per mature egg. So if we are looking at 4000 I should have close to 20 mature eggs. In Oct I had 3900 E2 and retrieved 21 eggs- all mature.. so for me this is a good estimate

3. The lining of your uterus- My RE (those who remember what this means get an A++) likes you to be 9-12, triple stripe makes it even better. This give the little embryos a great place to attach and grow, the better the lining the better my chance of having a successful IVF cycle. Last time my final lining was 8.8... close call. The higher your E2 typically the thicker your lining.

Here is the true deal... all of this together should make sense...
Nice sized follicles = high E2 = nice lining etc.

Which is where the concern was with my Oct IVF, E2 was at the very high end, lots of eggs, but my lining was just below average ... Now that I explained all this fun stuff..........drumroll please

E2 Today 573 Oct 390

Lining Today 6.6 Oct 5.9

Follicle size Today- under 12mm Oct- under 12mm (very standard at this time)

Exciting!!! Its nice to see the Viagra is doing its job, I am really hoping that my by the time for the embryo transfer I will be at 9mm or thicker. Its good to have goals right? The best is the ultrasound tech told me it looked really great :) yippeeeeee!!!! I go back on Thursday morning for another scan and bloodwork, Thursday afternoon pre-op with a new Dr.... did I forgot to mention my regular RE is having emergency neck surgery??? No worries as long as I get pregnant it doesn't matter who does it, Mickey Mouse, Ronald McDonald, Brittney Spears?

~Heather

IVF #2 Post 2

Well lets just begin by saying I did speak just a weensy little bit too soon yesterday... the belly has begun. Its amazing to me how the tiny eggs cause such crazy extreme swelling. As much as that... well... completely.... stinks, at least I know something is going on in there. So long to my skinny jeans... hopefully they wont be making another appearance for approximately 9 months.

My Daddy came to visit Pat and I today (yes almost thirty and he is still my Daddy) we had a pretty good time... he started off by accidentally dropping an extremely large bottle of juice on the floor... glass of course.. which consequently exploded upon impact. After moping, wiping, vacuuming and getting it all clean we went to dump the juice covered towels & glass into a garbage bag.... let me tell you basketball is not his sport as he overshot the opening by 2 inches... and the mopping wiping and vacuuming began again. As we finished this little number he picked up one of my recent craft projects & accidentally broke off a few crystals.... yep I kicked him out of the kitchen after that. Cant complain though usually he is the one fixing everything not breaking it, that's my job :)

I go in tomorrow morning at 7:15 for an ultrasound & bloodwork. They will check out the size of my follicles and thickness of my lining (go Viagra go). Hopefully things will be moving along nicely, at this point last time we didn't have any quite large enough to measure but they were starting to grow. I cant believe I am on day 5 already!!! Everything goes pretty quickly from this point on, very exciting!!!

~Heather

IVF #2 Post 1

Wow... if you asked me if I ever thought I would be doing a second in vetro fertilization a few years back the answer would have been a quick "nope". But at the same time I probably would have said I wouldn't be doing a first either. Nevertheless we are here, two in a half years, three surgeries and on our second IVF cycle, all in hopes of having our first (unless we get blessed with twins) baby.

As we started our first IVF back in October 2009, we were given an almost 80 % chance of success so needless to say we were pretty devastated when the pregnancy test was negative. As some of you may know I had been sending out regular emails giving everyone the play by play on our eggs and embryos...well the follow up phone calls and emails after the negative test were heart wrenching for me so I thought having a blog would be a great way for our friends and family to check in on our progress.

We are very lucky in the fact that I make lots of eggs and Pat has fantastic swimmers (its all those pesky parts in between that give us trouble). Since everything was pretty textbook perfect last time I am going to try to run stats comparing this cycle to our last, fingers crossed we will have as many embryos to work with. Last time the lining on my uterus was a bit thin which my Reproductive Endocrinologist (I will call him my RE) thinks is the reason it didn't work out for us. We have tweaked my medications and boy oh boy added something I NEVER thought I would be prescribed.....VIAGRA to my protocol. Instead of the uh, um, well.... you know side effects men get, women get nicer linings of their girlie bits. Still though cant really say that word out-loud without blushing...

Today marks our 4th day of stimulating shots... typical cycle is 10 days, then you get a trigger shot to get the eggs ready to be harvested, then eggs out on the 12th day, so far they are estimating my retrieval on Valentine's Day :) Although last time I went one extra day if that happens again they will take them out on the 15th. Its crazy that we are already almost half way there. It is going by so fast. Not sure why, maybe its because I know what to expect this time. I am having a bit less swelling so far (knock on wood that I don't jinks myself). Back in October my sweet husband had to travel for work during this process so I tried to warn him I was very swollen so he could brace himself when he saw me.... yep he did not head the warning... he walked in went to give me a hug and said "oh my god what happened to you" needless to say LOTS of tears followed... pretty sure he wont say that again hahahaha.

I will be trying to update on a daily basis :)

~Heather