Lame Super Power

I have a new super power thanks to the pregnancy.  It is the super powerful sense of smell.  It is the WORST super power.  I smell every little thing.  The dogs are super smelly to me and they never were before.  I can smell the food from the night before clear through the whole next day.  I can identify spices in the food I eat before I even taste it.  Ugh.  Not a good super power. 

6w0d

Today I am 6 weeks 0 days pregnant.  I am so grateful to have made it this far.  Last pregnancy on this day I was in the hospital awaiting my D & C.  Not good.  Today is good.
 
I'm having LOTS of pregnancy symptoms which I am taking as a good sign.  I am queasy all day long.  I was severely ill until I had my acupuncture in the afternoon.  About five minutes after she placed the 2 needles for nausea, I felt SO much better.  I have MAJOR food aversions- don't even mention seafood in my presence.  I swear I've gone up a cup size, and the girls are super sore.  The IVF bloat is slowly receding but is still there.

I am so happy that our LO is still with us at this point.  I pray that our u/s on Tuesday goes well and shows a nice healthy bean(s).

Symptoms

I know this is perverse, but I'm really excited that I'm having nausea, tender breasts and a heightened sense of smell.  It is helping make this pregnancy seem real.  I am also super, super tired all of the time.  I love that I can't open the fridge without gagging (well at the time I don't love it.)  I love that I am now sleeping in my sports bra to alleviate discomfort.  I love that I have an underlying sense of sea-sickness.  All these things (to me) point to a nice sticky baby that will be here for the entire pregnancy.  I hope so.  I pray with all my heart, mind and might that this time our little one will make it home with us.

Cautiously Hopeful

I'm cautiously hopeful that this pregnancy will continue to grow and thrive. I had my 2nd BETA done today and the nurse, Sarah 2, was very pleased with the rise. She scheduled me for an ultrasound during my 6th week of pregnancy. I'm still having cramps, but she thinks it is completely normal. I hope so. Here is the chart that shows the rise in hormones.

BETA

I had my first BETA today and it was great!  My number is 213.8, which is much higher than it needs to be to be considered pregnant at my clinic.  The nurse told me they want it to be at least 50, so I'm looking good. I had to take a digital test today to see the "pregnant" so here it is: 

I head back on Tuesday for a repeat BETA and hopefully it is still looking good. I'm still having some cramps, but they are much milder than before. I just pray that this one is a sticky bean this time.

Good Day

It's been a good day.  The spotting is gone today.  Hooray!  The cramps have lessened today.  Hooray!  I was able to go out to lunch with my DH and BFF.  Hooray!  And.....

I got a positive HPT for the 2nd day today.   Hooray!   I am pregnant.  Hooray! Tomorrow is my BETA.  Hooray!  I hope that it will show a nice strong number.

Letter to our 3

Dear Baby(ies),
Please snuggle in for a long 9+ months.  Make yourself(ves) at home.  Know that your dad and I can't wait to hold you in our arms and have waited and prayed for you for so long.  Just hang out and grow and do your thing and we'll do ours to prepare for your arrival.  We promise to do our best to be loving, supportive parents and do all we can to help you grow and thrive.  We love you with all of our hearts.
Love,
Mama & Daddy

Losing Hope

This cycle is not looking good.  I have had extreme cramping (similar to the cramps I experienced with my miscarriage) for the past 2 days.  I contacted the nurses at the RE and Sarah 2 called me back.  She seems to think that it will be ok.  She said that early pg symptoms are very, very similar to AF symptoms and that they get women calling freaked out about cramping/spotting/bleeding that then go on to be pg.  I hope that is the case, but I have a bad feeling about it.  Even if I start bleeding, she said I should come in for the beta on Saturday.  Please Lord, let this work.

Testing out the trigger

I've decided once again to test out the hcg in my system so that I'll know if a ++ test is a true ++ versus a trigger ++.  I started testing today, which is 10 days past trigger.  The test was a complete and thorough negative.  I'm really excited.  This means that any ++'s I have going forward could mean that one (or more) of the little ones have stuck around.

Mother's Day is always a bittersweet day for me.  Today has been one of my better ones.  I'm sure it's because I'm in the hopeful mode with this current IVF cycle.  I did have a few tearful moments when I missed my little Rowan and realized how prego I would have been if we hadn't lost her, but other than that it's been pretty good.  I spent the day on bedrest hanging out with my man.  He's the best and I would rather spend time with him than anyone else.  I also was able to talk to my mom on the phone and wish her a happy Mother's Day which is always nice.

Shock and Awe

I'm in shock.  Our IVF nurse called yesterday and one of our embryos made it to freeze!!!  How awesome is that?!?  We had written off both of the embryos that were left as they were graded at such a low quality on day 3.  However, one of them continued to grow and made it to freeze.  Our first (and only) tot-sicle.  :)  This makes me really happy on several levels.  For one thing, it gives me great hope for the 3 that were graded well on day 3 and were transferred.  It also gives me hope for a sibling down the road, or as my DH put it a "hail Mary" shot if this time around doesn't work.  Our nurse (Sarah 2) was super happy too.  She was bursting with the news. :)

Today I'm doing great.  I'm hoping that the blastocysts(s) are hatched and attaching to the lining.  Tomorrow they should start implanting and burrowing in for the long haul. 

Here they are...

We have pictures from our day 3 transfer of our three little embryos.  We've decided to name them Hank, Dean and Triana.  Hopefully, by today they have graduated and become blastocysts.  Tomorrow they should start hatching out of their shells and then Saturday they hopefully will attach to the lining and snuggle in for 9 months. 

 


Bedrest is going ok. I'm having a hard time not feeling isolated. The last time I was going through this my 3 BFF's were all out of work and available to call and visit. Now all 3 of them are working. I've had family and friends check in via text, email and phone, but I'm still really missing social interactions.

I'm happy to be taking this time to allow the babies to snuggle in. I'm blessed that I have the opportunity to have this time off from work to do this at all. I just know that with this being our last shot at conceiving our little one(s) I want to be able to look back and know that I've done all that I can to try to make it happen.

PUPO

I'm officially pregnant until proven otherwise.  We had our embryo transfer today.  I was nervous all of last night and this morning.  I was POSITIVE that none of our embryos had made it.  We didn't get a call from the clinic telling us to stay home, so we headed in an hour and fifteen minutes early for acupuncture.

I enjoyed the acupuncture prior to the ET as it really helped me relax.  I know that's not the only reason for it prior to ET, but it sure helped me.  We then went back and met with our RE.  He came in and told us he had really good news and a conundrum.  The good news was that we had 3 grade-4 embryos (lab grades 0-5, with 5 being the best and hardly giving 5's out) and 2 that were below a 3.  He was hesitant to only put back 2 as my prognosis is medium-low with a pregnancy with 2.  However, if we put back 3 our prognosis almost doubles for a take home baby.  The percentage of triplets goes up, but if we were willing to take the risk, we would be more likely to have a baby. We opted to put back 3.  We signed paperwork, got pictures of our embryos and waited for the transfer.

We went back to the OR and they set up everything.  We saw our babies on the screen and then they brought them in and transferred them to me.  I then was taken back to our recovery room and had acupuncture again.  The acupuncture after wasn't quite as relaxing, but that was mostly due to side effects I was having from the meds they gave me to relax my uterus.

After the transfer we grabbed some lunch to take home and now I am all tucked into my bed and resting.  Oh, and we had a lovely surprise when we returned home.  Some dear friends had sent us a basket of daisies (my favorite) and a lovely note. 

ER & Fert Report

Had the ER yesterday.  It went pretty smoothly.  The anesthesiologist was concerned about my cough and didn't want to put me completely under.  She decided to have me use an inhaler and then gave me some narcotics in the IV to calm the cough.  It worked and I was knocked out.  The RE was able to retrieve 11 eggs.  We went home and I spent the rest of the day in bed resting and sleeping. 

This morning (while I was sleeping) our nurse called with the fertilization report.  There were 10 eggs that were mature and 6 have fertilized normally.  I am scheduled for the transfer on Tuesday at 1.  I am slightly excited, but more than anything I'm nervous.  I hope that our 6 keep growing and dividing normally so that we have a couple for transfer.  I'm resting again today.  I still have some ovary pain, but not too bad.