21 days

Yes our sweet little boy is 21 days old today. He was born on Oct 4, 2009 at 11:16PM weighing 6lbs 3oz.

Waiting...

Never thought I'd make it to 38 weeks and be sitting here waiting for the baby to arrive. Seems funny to think that all my pregnancy I was praying for the baby to stay put for at least 35 or 36 weeks and now I want this baby to come out asap. No signs of labor yet. Hopefully the baby will show it's pretty face asap. Can't wait to hold her/him in my arms.

31 Weeks. Woohoo

31 weeks tomorrow. Yayyy. I know I havn't posted in a while. Well I really didn't have any updates all this time. I don't feel much different. Just lots of fetal movement which I love. I have had an ultrasound at 26 and 30 weeks to check baby's growth since I had low Papp-a but the baby is doing perfect. so the low papp-a probably meant nothing. Go for my fist specialist's visit next Wednesday, Aug.12. So glad to be able to make it to 31 weeks. my doc says once I hit 32 weeks we don't need to worry at all about the baby coming early but I am pretty confident now that the baby will make it to 37 weeks.

Sleeping is getting a bit uncomfortable especially turning in bed is hard. feeling so hungry all the time. Other than that I feel great. love being pregnant.

23 Weeks!!

Can't believe i'm 23 weeks along but still scared that I have a long way to go. Had my 23 week ultrasound yesterday. The baby measured right on track for 23 weeks and looked so beatiful. it showed us a big yawn which was so awesome. the baby was trying to hide it's face the whole time. so cute!!!

Now the worrying part. the uterine flow from the placenta is a bit restrictive so I will have to monitored more closely. I will go back for another doppler ultrasound in 4 weeks and then depending on the results at that time they may see me every other week or every week. I just hope I can make it to 35 weeks without any problems. Please god keep the baby safe in utero until at least 35 weeks.

19 weeks detailed ultrasound

I know I have horribly neglected this blog. I have been checking it everyday and all the other blogs I follow but reading some posts on other blogs got me worried that things can still go wrong even though I am halfway through the second trimester so I was really scared to post anything. Had our 19 weeks detailed ultrasound and everything looks good. We've found out the gender but we've decided to keep it a surprise for the rest of the family so I won't say it out on the Internet either.

I am very superstitious so I am not going to buy any of the baby stuff before the baby arrives. I've decided I'll just pick everything out and then have hubby do all the shopping when the baby is here.

Feeling Better About My FTS Results

I went to see my doctor yesterday and discussed the results with her. She is really good to put your mind at ease. She said what this could mean is, that I may have preterm labor, hypertension or a low weight baby but she said they will monitor me closely and make sure everything is going smoothly. She also said that she has seen quite a few women with low PAPP-A but never had any complications with their pregnancy, so it could mean nothing. I feel so much better. I get to see her every week now which means I get to hear my baby's heartbeat every week. Awesome!

First Trimester Screening Results

I got my FTS results yesterday. I had the blood draw at 11 weeks and the u/s was yesterday. it was amazing to see the baby move its hands and legs and move around. We were elated. The nuchal measurements were good and they were able to see a nasal bone as well so everything looked good but when they combined the u/s findings with the blood work, my risk of down's and trisomy 18 went way up. I still have a negative screen and don't need to get an amnio but I am worried about the blood results. I have googled a lot about low papp-A levels and there is so much stuff. I am gonna try my best not to worry too much about it because a lot of women do get positive outcomes.
Here's a baby picture at 12w3d.

He/she is so cute already!

OMG 12 weeks!

This is the day I have been counting down to ever since we had our BFP. I know I don't officially start the second trimester until 13 weeks but still 12 weeks has a lot of significance to me. I kind of feel like I am past the danger zone after I hit 12 weeks. I can't say I am going to relax now and enjoy this pregnancy because I know I will still keep worrying about little things.

I am really starting to show now, I will post my belly pics soon. I will go maternity shopping this weekend because I have only one pair of non-pregnancy pants that fit me so I wore the same pair all week. haha I know it's not gonna fit me next week so I need to buy some clothes.

Is this just bloating or....

My boss who knows that I am pregnant following IVF just commented today while I was sitting at my desk typing, that you can start to tell now. I was like "really?" I am only 9 weeks. I know my tummy looks bloated but I didn't think other people will start to notice just yet. Maybe it's because she knows that she's been really observing me or have I really started to show a bit already? It's possible though because I am petite.at 5'4" and weighed only 97 pound before IVF. I have gained about 8 pounds since then and I know my pants are getting a bit too tight. I cannot button or zip up most of them.

Oh I just bought the Bellaband yesterday so I wear all my pants unzipped. My first maternity purchase and it's great. I love it.

Oh and Chandita nominated for an award. Thanks Chandita. i will get to that at some point tomorrow. It's just been so busy at work but I really wanted to mention that people think I have started to show already.I like it though.

A cute little heart!

Yes we saw a cute little heartbeat On Thursday and it was the most beautiful thing in the world. We were so happy to see the baby in the right place. The baby was measuring 6 weeks instead of 6w5d and the heart rate was 118bpm so that has gotten me worried a little but the doctor did not seem concerned at all. His words were "your baby is measuring absolutely fine. We are not out of cookie cutters. everyone grows at a different rate". The clinic has already released my chart and now I just get to see my family doctor until she sends me to a gynae. I think I am gonna ask my family doctor to do another early ultrasound in a week or two to monitor the growth. I have been reading about babies measuring a little behind and there's all sorts of things. Anyone have any ideas. I still need a lot of your prayers.

Yep! It's True.

Just got a call from the RE's clinic and yes I am Pregnant. I still cannot believe this! Thank you so much God. OK now this may sound weird but I don't have my beta numbers because apparently my clinic doesn't even do blood test. They only do urine pregnancy test. Canada is weird! I don't know if not having beta numbers is a good thing or bad because if I did have my numbers I would obsess over them unnecessarily. But the good news is, my ultrasound is scheduled for February 19th. So exactly 2 weeks from today. Woohoo. I don't have any symptoms yet other than the occasional cramps but the nurse said that was completely normal. Oh! she said my due date would be October 9, 2009. Awww.

A BFP for me! Really?

I could not resist testing this morning and yes I got a BFP ! Oh my god ! I have never seen one of those before. The line was faint but it was definitely there. We'll be 7dp5dt this afternoon so I think it's OK to have a faint line (no chance that I still have the trigger shot in my system because that was 14 days ago right?). I know we still have to cross a lot of hurdles but we I have never had a BFP in my life so I am over the moon right now. It's so surreal.
I was awake at 5:00am and debating whether I should test or not. DH wakes up at 5:30 and leaves for work at 6:30. So I waited for him to get up and go downstairs. I jumped out of bed as soon as he left the room and POAS. I stared at the stick for a minute and thought there's no way I will have a positive. I was just about to burst into tears when I saw a faint line building up. I could not believe it. I ran downstairs to hubby and showed him the line. he said "yes that is of course a line" I hugged him again and gain and was shaking with the stick in my hand. It still feels like a dream. I will test with a digital on the weekend and then I have my beta on Feb. 4. Thanks for praying for me everyone.

6dp5dt and already dying to test?

I love saying 6dp5dt. Awww. but yes I can't wait to test. Since yesterday morning I have this urge to test but I keep forcing myself to wait another day. I know some people get a positive test as soon as 5dp5dt but I am too scared to test. I really want to but then I think what if it's not was I want to see. I will see how much longer I can wait. Although I am really keen on testing tomorrow morning because we'll be 7dp5dt. Waiting Sucks. Please people send positive vibes my way.

A beautiful Blast

Yes they transferred a beautiful blast on Thursday. Hubby and I were not sure if we should accept the RE's suggestion and transfer only one because we had three good blasts. But since the embryologist said we would still have the same success rate since the blasts were of such good quality we went ahead and transferred one. s/he looks beautiful on the picture they gave us. They were able to freeze one more blast, so we now have a total of 8 embies on ice. I was on bed rest for the last 48 hours. Hubby really spoilt me rotten but honestly I hate being on bed all the time. My bum started hurting. Oh! my official pregnancy test date is Feb. 4 but I know I will do a hpt way earlier. Any idea how early you can test after a 5 day transfer?

Transfer Today..

Yayyy we get to bring home our embies today. I'm really excited. I just wish everything will go smoothly and the end result is worth all the wait and pain. Out of the 4 embies that the lab selected for blast, 3 have made it. The other 7 were frozen on day 4. The embryologist said our results were really good so far. That makes me feel so good like I passed some exam with really good grades hahaha. Anyways, the transfer is at 2:00pm. We have to be at the clinic at 1:30pm. Glad we live only 35 minutes away from the clinic. I will be on bed rest for the rest of today and tomorrow, so will update on Saturday. Wish me luck!!

Wohoo we can trasfer a blastocyst

Our embryos are doing great. all 12 are still growing nicely and our embryologist said we can do a 5 day transfer or maybe even a 6 day (never heard of that..) . I am so happy about that. I really wanted to have 5 day transfer.

I had to go to the clinic this morning because my belly was really tender all day yesterday. I couldn't even walk straight and Sunday night, I don't know what happened I went to the bathroom around 12:30 pm and fainted there. I fell on the floor and was unconscious for a couple minutes. The sound of me falling on the bathroom floor woke hubby up and he helped me up. I now have a big bruise on my cheekbone and it hurts. But yeah it was really scary. But all is good. My re did an ultrasound this morning and said everything looked fine. I may have just dehydrated. We are a go for the transfer. I am so excited.

Good Work!

The retrieval went well yesterday. they retrieved total 16 eggs. 11 were mature, 2 borderline and 3 immature. I was very sleepy afterwards so just snoozed the rest of the afternoon. I could watch the retrieval on the screen in front of me but I couldn't really make out what was on the screen as I was sedated. I could feel a few pokes here and there like someone was playing around with my ovaries but it wasn't bad at all. I just feel a little tender in my tummy today but nothing unbearable.

Now let's get to the Fert. report.
The embryologist called very early this morning. I was still in bed. 12 fertilized normally. yayyy... 2 fertilized abnormally so they can't use them. They are gonna try to fertilize the remaining 2 as they did not fertilize. But I am happy with the 12 that fertilized. I mean 12 is not bad. We'll find out more about the growth status tomorrow morning. Kindly keep me in your prayers. It means a lot to me.

Retrieval Tomorrow.

Retrieval is schedules for 10:00am tomorrow. We are supposed to be at the clinic by 9:30am. The trigger shot last night wasn't too bad but my belly hurts where I gave the shot. I have a few bruises from all the shots. But guess what no PIO shots for me. The RE gave me a prescription for Prometrium suppositories and Estrace. My clinic thinks PIO shots are no better than the suppositories but all RE's have a different opinion I guess. But I am happy that I don't have to take any more shots.

I will try to update after the retrieval tomorrow or maybe Sunday. Until then please keep me in your prayers.

Trigger Tonight!!!!

Yes that's right. Only ten days of stims and trigger shot tonight. I was feeling so nauseous all day yesterday so I didn't go to work. But yesterday's appointment at the RE was really good. The RE explained everything to me as he measured my lining and counted and measured my follicles. My lining yesterday was 11mm which they say is great. He counted 14 follicles total and they were all between 16mm and 21mm.
I saw two different doctors this morning and one of them was in training so she was not an expert. the other doctor was helping her out while she did my ultrasound. But yes the follicles are at a good size and i am to trigger tonight with 7500 units of HCG. My estrogen this morning was 9456 (this is Canadian scale and I know it's different from the states). The nurse said it was on the high side but it's still good. So hopefully no OHSS. And they counted 14 follicles again this morning. 9 on the right and 5 on the left. Lefty sucks but I know it's not her fault because she's the one covered with endo adhesions.
Only one shot tonight. Yayy and tomorrow will be shot free. They gave me some Valium to take tomorrow night so I can sleep well. Please pray that everything goes well.

More Gonal-F..

I met a new RE On Sunday but she was in a rush for my ultrasound because she had to go in for a retrieval after my ultrasound. So I didn't get to ask a lot of questions. All I know is she counted 8 follicles. 4 on the left and 4 on the right and my lining was 7mm. I am not sure if they count them all or just the bigger ones. Some follicles were close to 10mm and that was after 6 days of stimulation. So she upped my Gonal-F dose to 225 IU now. Hopefully I will find out more tomorrow. I am hoping they can retrieve at least 15-16 eggs.

A little bit more...

So after my blood test this morning, I am now supposed to up the Gonal-F to 150IU for the next 3 days and then I go back for bloodwork and ultrasound on Sunday. Plus I have to start taking my injections a little earlier because I have been taking them right after I get home from work but the nurse said this morning that was a little late. It would be better if I take them around 4:30 because then the blood levels are more accurate in the morning, which means I have to take them at work. Crap! It takes me at least 15 minutes to do both injections but you outta do do what you outta do.

This morning was a little crazy. Don't know what the hell I was thinking, I sped through a red light. I am sure I will get a ticket because I saw the camera flash. Dang it. My first ever Red light ticket. I never do that. I am one of those people who stop a mile away if they see the light turning orange and I had plenty of time to get to the clinic. I was actually the first one to arrive and they had'nt even opened the doors yet. Oh well, I'll just assume that I paid these 300 dollars to the RE.

I did it!

So I did my first shot last night. I went home a bit early last night becase I have to do the shots by 5:30pm. It wasn't bad at all. I guess the trick is to inject really slow and it does not sting at all. mixing the powder and distilled water for the Luveris shot was a little tricky. Took me 20 minutes to do 2 shots haha. I think I can do better than that. I did not feel the Gonal-F shot at all. I am supposed to take 112.5IU of Gonal-F so it's just 3 clicks and I felt like nothing went in. Maybe because it's a small dosage? is this how it feels?

Stims today.....

I know it has been so long since I posted on my blog but the holidays were so busy. So here's the update. I am done with suppression. Had my baseline blood test and ultrasound this morning and it's a go. Eeee.... I have to take 2 injections this evening. I have never done this before so I am really scared. Maybe I'll get my friend who's a nurse to help me. She lives right next door and I have told her about our IVF. But I am not sure if I really want her help. I will try on my own first. Those of you who've been through this phase please give me some advice.