An Overdue Update!

Well hello there!

Was my last post really my 20 weeks update?!? I've officially earned the title of worst blogger ever. What a crazy 7 months it has been, let me tell you!

I've been trying to get an update up for ages but life has just been crazy!! More on that later...

On February 28, 2014 we welcomed our beautiful daughter Kadence Lillian into the world. She was 7lbs13oz and absolutely perfect in every way! I was 40 weeks and 3 days with absolutely no signs of her coming out on her own, so we went for the induction which is pretty common for IVF babies that go past 40 weeks.  Labor was quite scary actually, I'd like to say that it was a smooth delivery, but it wasn't. We had a very close call, but I was able to deliver vaginally still so that was good. I still plan on doing a labor and delivery post, hopefully I will have more time soon.  But she is just over 3 months old, and doing well. She's had some reflux issues and colic, but overall she's a very happy and healthy little girl. She's truly a miracle in every way!!

So onto other news...Travis got his dream job right at the end of my pregnancy and has been commuting 4+ hours every day pretty much since Kadence was born. Not to mention he was gone completely for 2 weeks in CA for training. Luckily, we have now sold our house, and found one closer to his job, and will be moving in just over a week. Crazy, crazy!!

I cannot believe how much my life has changed in just one year. It was June 10th last year that Dr. Surrey transferred one beautiful embryo into me, and now one year later here we are. I am so grateful for all of our struggles because I know if it wasn't for my infertility I wouldn't have Kadence, and I just can't imagine living without her. She is my whole world and I know everything happened for a reason, she was meant to come into our lives this way.

It's hard to see the big picture sometimes, especially in our darkest hours. I just want to send a huge virtual hug to anyone struggling to conceive, please don't give up hope. Even miracles take a little time!

XOXO

20 Weeks!

What?!? 20 weeks? I'm already halfway???

It's crazy how the time has gone by so fast, but so slow at the same time. The first trimester felt like it went on forever because I was on bed rest for most of it, but this second trimester has been flying by.

Other than the Subchorionic Hematoma and all of the bleeding and bed rest, the first trimester wasn't too bad. I was very lucky because I had minimal morning sickness. I didn't have much of an appetite, and I did feel pretty nauseous off and on for a few weeks but I never actually threw up. I don't know if I had the typical fatigue like most ladies get, being on bed rest I was resting all of the time so I really didn't get tired.

As for the second trimester, I have felt pretty good! The one exception is that I lost so much of my strength being in bed for almost 2 months that I had lots of pain and cramps as I was regaining my strength. But, that's about the worst of it. I haven't really started to "show" until recently, but baby has measured right on track, or bigger at each appointment so I guess I'm just a slow show-er.  We were lucky to find out the gender at 16 weeks. We held a reveal party where we all found out together with a cake, some of Travis' family was even able to fly in from the Midwest for the party, it was an absolute blast! I'm so happy to say that baby F is TEAM PINK!!! :) As far as feeling movements, I haven't experienced too much of this yet because I have an anterior Placenta (it's on the front acting as a barrier between the baby and I.) I do feel a few little nudges on the sides a few times a day, and in the coming weeks as baby girl gets stronger I should start to feel more and more. I can't wait, feeling her little movements is easily the best part of my day!

Now onto some fun recaps...

 

 

Out little girl at the 20 week anatomy scan

20 weeks!

Thank you everyone who has kept us in your thoughts and prayers, it still just means so much to us. We still have to pinch ourselves from time to time to confirm that this is all real. Sure, we still worry, but we are so happy, and feeling so so blessed! We are trying to take it all in while doing our best to enjoy every minute of this beautiful journey.

I continue to think about my fellow TTC sisters that I've met throughout my journey, I haven't forgotten about you even though I have been horrible about keeping up with blogging.You all are on my minds, and in my prayers often!

XOXO

Subchorionic Hematoma

Subchorionic Hematoma

I'm Alive!!!

Well hello, blog. It has been far too long since I've updated everyone on how things are going, and for that I apologize. More on that later...

So, the good news is that everything with the pregnancy is going great. We had an ultrasound today at just under 11.5 weeks. The baby is measuring right on track. We got to hear the heartbeat for the first time, which was very cool. We love seeing our little miracle as much as we can!!

So, onto the rest of the story....As a warning, there is definitely a certain level of TMI coming up. 

It all began during the last week of June. One day I discovered that I was bleeding, it was more than spotting, but not a huge amount, but it was bright red. So I called the clinc, but since CCRM is so big it can take them several hours to get back to us. I decided to also call my gynecologist because I was so worried I didn't want to wait. Luckily, the Dr was able to fit us right in. I had a physical exam and an ultrasound. My cervix was closed, which was great news, but they did see blood in there. The ultrasound wasn't able to show much because I wasn't even 6 weeks yet, but we did see the gestational sack, and since we only transferred one embryo this meant that they could probably rule out an ectopic. We got the best news that we could at that point in time, but of course we were still freaking out. On the way home from the Dr's, CCRM finally called. They wanted us to come up the next morning for another HCG pregnancy test, and to check my Estrogen and Progesterone levels. We did that, everything came back how it should, so I was put on an antibiotic and was told to take it easy. So a few days passed, and in the middle of the night the bright red bleeding started again. Only this time there was much more, and I was also passing clots. So I called CCRM once again and left a message knowing they would get it right when they opened the phones at 8am. This time they called me back pretty fast, and we were up in Denver a few hours later. So once again they drew my blood to check my Estrogen and Progesterone, and I got another ultrasound. A few days had passed since the last bleed, so this ultrasound was a little more interesting. We still couldn't see too much, but they were able to diagnose me with a Subchorionic Hematoma, SCH for short. This is basically a tear that accumulates blood between the sack, and the uterus. When the embryo implants, sometimes the embryo can tear away just a little and blood starts to accumulate in the tear. Some people bleed, some people don't, I'm a bleeder. Not much is know about these, and they find that they are more common in IVF pregnancies, though they don't know why. A SCH can lead to further complications, but 9 times out of 10 they eventually resolve themselves in 1-6 weeks. Mine isn't alarmingly big or anything, in fact it's considered to be pretty small, but it does like to actively bleed. So at this point I was put on bed rest, because bed rest is the only way to treat these. Our bodies just need to heal on their own. So since then I still have had other bleeds, I had one about a month ago that was so heavy and lasted all day long, I was so worried that I was miscarrying, it was so heavy, and it lasted so much longer than usual. But once again, it was just my SCH acting up, which was such a relief. With the ultrasound today the SCH was quite a bit smaller, and was down close to the cervix which they said explained all of the brown spotting I've had lately. I haven't had a bright red bleed in 2.5 weeks, just brown off and on. Since the bleed is healing, we may start to reassess the bed rest situation, maybe I can go out and at least eat meals at the table? It's hard because obviously what we're doing seems to be helping, so we just don't want me to take on too much too soon still.  

I hope to be blogging more, for me typing from bed has proven to be a little harder than I thought it would be, but I do want to be better about keeping everyone updated. I have also been horrible about catching up on my blog reading lost, so I also hope to get better with that as well. 

I hope everyone has an awesome weekend! 

XOXO

Beta #2

Wow, well it's been such a surreal past few days!!

We did our second beta on Friday and it needed to be over 209 to indicate that this is a viable pregnancy, and it was 276! :) :) :) We are still in so much shock, but we are feeling so happy, blessed, and oh so grateful!

So what now?  I will go in for some blood tests on Thursday to check my Progesterone, and Estrogen levels, then next Friday, July 5, will be our first ultrasound.

Again, I cannot say thank you enough to everyone who has supported us, prayed for us, and lent a loving hand, you mean the world to us!!!!!  For now we are still taking it one step at a time, and trying to enjoy this feeling as much as we can!

XOXO

Beta #1

Today was our first Beta, which is basically the blood pregnancy test that measures HCG (it's released only when you're pregnant.) We have been a nervous wreck to say the least, but I am now so happy to be able to pass on some great news.

Beta #1 at 9dp5dt is 126!!!

We got the call first from our nurse, and then a few minutes later Dr. Surrey called to personally congratulate us. I have to say...I just adore him, he is such a kind and caring person, a real class-act! We still have a long road ahead, but so far things are going very well. They wanted to see the beta over 50 today. We will go back in on Friday morning for another beta test, and by Friday they want to see that HCG value increase by 66%. If my math is correct (which it seldom is lol) it should be over 209 at that time.

Right now we're still trying to believe that this is real. It's a lot to take in, and we want to stay cautiously optimistic right now since it's still so early. We are so excited, and we are really hoping that this is just the start of something beautiful!!! <3

Thank you all SO much for the thoughts and prayers! I'm a firm believer in the power of positivity and prayers, and I cannot say enough "thank you's" for all of the love and support we've been receiving. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

XOXO

PUPO!!

I'm PUPO!! (Pregnant Until Proven Otherwise!)

Well today I am 6dp5dt (6 days past 5 day transfer.) I'd like to say the time has flown by, but that'd be a lie. Things have been awful around here, which is one reason for my lack of posts, things have been NUTS!

First off, I'll cover the transfer, because that actually went very well. Once again, CCRM impressed me with their efficiency, care, and professionalism. I was slightly worried about the full bladder thing, I worried for days prior to the transfer that I'd pee on the Dr. as he was doing the transfer, it was actually stressing me out a little. I was conservative with how much water I drank, especially because I knew I had the acupuncture before the transfer. It worked out really well with the way I did it, and there was an ultrasound tech checking my bladder regularly via ultrasound which quickly eased my mind. No one got peed on, what a relief! :) The Valium helped the day to go by very fast, I give the experience an A+!

Everything was great, the acupuncture before and after was a nice addition to the transfer, and overall I left CCRM feeling very comfortable, and hopeful!

Embryologist prepping Frostie

One perfect little love

By now, HCG should be in my bloodstream, but we have not taken any home pregnancy tests. To be honest, I don't know if we will or not, there's a lot of fear of what we might see when the results pop up. Sometimes I want to test, other times I really don't. I go in and out of thinking that this worked, and that uncertainty is killing me. I've been having some early pregnancy symptoms, but it's hard for me to know if they are just side effects from the Progesterone, or if it's from our little Frostie. I was on the Progesterone for 5 days before the transfer, but I only was having cramping as a side effect until around 3dp5dt. At 4dp5dt I stated getting random headaches, waves a nausea, soreness on my outer breasts, and low random cramps different from those initial cramps I was getting. I am trying SOOOOO hard not to read into every little thing going on in body right now, because really, they all could be from the Progesterone. Today I have had no symptoms at all, I am feeling fine, which is making me a little sad and worried. It's amazing how hard it is to not read into every little sensation, or even lack of sensation during these days of waiting. I would say that I am prepared for whatever our test result is, I just need to know.  I have so many sensations that I have been feeling, and sometimes I feel so pregnant, but other times I don't. I'd like to think that I am not going crazy here, but I very well might be lol. I will know for sure on Wednesday. 

Now onto the not so pleasant happenings...

So a very aggressive wildfire started just a few miles from my house the day after my transfer. How's that for timing, right? We had a massive fire (Waldo Canyon Fire) last summer in my town that made it into a residential area. At the time, the Waldo Canyon Fire became the most destructive fire in Colorado's history. Unfortunately, this fire that's going on now (Black Forest Fire) has even surpassed the Waldo Canyon Fire. So far, 484 homes have been destroyed, and there have been 2 confirmed deaths. The first started on the day after the transfer, and it started so strong, it was going crazy, it was very hot, it was very windy, and the fire was calling all of the shots. I became very worried early-on that we would need to evacuate. Luckily, we were just south of the evac line, but it didn't change the fear and sadness I continued to feel. The evac lines kept expanding, and nothing but pure destruction was going on. As selfish as it is, I was so sad, and mad that this had to happen right after my transfer, while I was still on bed rest even. With all of this happening, I actually thought for sure that my transfer was doomed, I was just so upset for too long. I have gotten more optimistic since then, I think that our little Frostie is resilient and strong enough to handle it all, but it still just makes me realize how cruel and unfair life can be at times. I'm still just so sick over all of this, I cannot believe that my hometown where I have lived for 28 years has seen such devastating fires two summers in a row. The fire is now 55% contained, which is good, but it doesn't change the horrendous damage that this thing has caused. My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone affected by this fire, especially those who have lost their homes, and for the family and friends of those who lost their lives.

That's about it for now, I will leave you with a few photos from the fire. Stay safe and healthy, friends!

XO

Taken from our bedroom shortly after the fire started

 

 

Acupuncture!!

OH MY GOODNESS!  What an exciting day this has been!!

So today we went up to CCRM for my lining check, and a blood draw to check my Estradiol again. I am so excited for this post, because I am just so shocked by the results, in a very good way!

I had my first baseline Doppler Ultrasound back in December, and at that time the news wasn’t so good. My left side was 5.45 and my right side was 4.76, and the blood flow was also slightly reversed. I was told that with those numbers I wouldn’t be able to get pregnant and/or sustain a pregnancy. 

To hopefully combat this problem I was advised to start Electroacupuncture twice a week starting 4 weeks prior to the transfer.  What is Electroacupuncture, you ask? I like to call it acupuncture on steroids, but there is a little more to it than that.  It's a back treatment where needles are on the lower back, legs, and ankles. After all of the needles are placed, little clips similar to jumper cables are attached to each needle. The clips cause electric pulses, so basically each needle gives a little zap every few seconds. Each session starts by working needle-by-needle, slowly increasing the electricity until each is at a comfortable level. The goal is to have it high enough to be able to feel it, but not high enough to where you can’t relax and fall asleep. There’s quite a science to finding that place where the levels are just right. It can also be hard to maintain the levels, after about 8 minutes your body gets used to it, and the sensations lessen. There have been many times that I have needed the electricity cranked up a little mid-session for that reason. It probably sounds worse than it is, it really isn’t that bad.  Sessions are 30 minutes, and the time goes pretty fast. I have done some regular treatments as well, and those have been just your average acupuncture, but 2/3 of my treatments have been the Electro.

Ok, so where am I going with this? With my lining check today they did another Doppler, and I am STILL in shock with the results. Today, the blood flow was not reversed at all, it was perfect, and the values went down significantly! The left side is now 3.2, and the right is 3.0, they want to see those values below 3. I’m not quite there, but this is amazing considering where I was just a few short months ago. I originally had one more session scheduled on Friday, (not including the 2 on transfer day) but they wanted me to add one extra session tomorrow to hopefully get them a little lower before the transfer, but even if we don’t, this should be fine. YAY!! :) 

Everything else went pretty well with the appointment. My lining is at 9.2, and they want that over 8, so that is perfect. The only concern is my E2 level…They want it over 300, and I’m only at 196. As a result, we’ve added an oral Estrogen pill that I need to start today. Hopefully that pill combined with my Estrogen patches will get me to where I need to be before the transfer. Otherwise, things are still right on track. Today I had my last Lupron injection, and I will now start Progesterone tomorrow morning, along with some pills-an antibiotic, and Medrol. Things definitely seem to coming along nicely, and I am so thankful for that!

I hope you all are having a great day!

XOXO