Apparently I've turned into a bad blogger (even worse than I used to be!). Here's a quick update on Ninja...our 2nd beta was drawn Monday the 20th and came back 976, which is more than doubled so we were done with blood draws :) Our next date to look forward to is Oct. 8th, which still seems like forever away, for our ultrasound! At that point we should see little Ninja's heartbeat and most likely be released from the RE.
As far as being released from the RE, that means I need an ob to go to. I think I have decided to switch ob's. I really liked the ob that I went to with Emily, but her nurses kind of rubbed me the wrong way sometimes, and since that is who mainly is taking care of you, that is an important relationship. I called my primary dr. to see who they would recommend and the girl that answered the phone very whole-heartedly recommended another ob who practices in the same building as my previous ob. She said many of the girls there have gone with him, and I know several other people who have used him and really like him. So I went ahead and put a call into his office. Of course they don't really know what to do with me, since I am under the care of an RE currently, I'm not a "normal" patient yet. We finally decided to go ahead and schedule my nurse intake visit for next week (the 5th) and from there we will schedule my next appt. probably a couple weeks after I am released from the RE. Hopefully I will enjoy this dr. and staff as much as others have!
In Ninja news--he/she is the size of an apple seed this week, which is ironic because we are studying apples at school :) So far I'm vacillating between symptoms and no symptoms depending on the moment. It's hard because a lot of the symptoms can also be blamed on the pio, so I don't know what to blame them on. My symptoms seem to be worse later in the day and before bed. I usually feel pretty good in the mornings. They are definitely much more intense at this point than I remember them being with Emily...hopefully that's not a sign of things to come!
Monday, September 27, 2010
Saturday, September 18, 2010
What a rollercoaster!
The past week has been a roller coaster like no other. Last Sat. I took my 1st home test, to confirm that the trigger shot was out, it came back negative as expected for that point. I tested again Monday, which I believe would have been about the time I got a positive with Emily, it was negative. I was bummed, but knew it could be too early. I tested again Wednesday, still negative. At this point it should have been positive, so I all but declared the cycle done and was really bummed. Chuck started telling people it was negative and that night we spent hours discussing our next steps.
I knew I still had to go in for a beta on Friday, but was not excited about it. I didn't do any more home tests because I couldn't bring myself to see the negative and by not testing I could hold out some small amount of hope that it would be positive. I had made the decision that I would not call in for the results until after school, because I remembered all too clearly how upset I was after the FET. I noticed about mid-morning that the nurse had called and left a voicemail, but didn't plan on checking it until after school. I knew it wouldn't say anything more than call back we have your results, since they have never actually left results on voicemail.
After lunch I had about 10 min before my kids came in from recess and something convinced me to go ahead and check the voicemail to see if I could tell by the nurse's tone what the news was. Imagine my shock when I hear nurse Wendy say "call us back, we have your numbers and you will be very happy with them". Immediately I thought "Happy?? How could I be happy about a negative?? She must be mistaken!" Of course, I had to immediately call her back. I'm now down to about 3 min. before kids come in. I call her and before she can even tell me my results I tell her "I wasn't going to call until after school because we've been testing at home, and it's been negative". To which she responds with "Your beta was 326, you are very much pregnant" To which I repsond with "but it was negative, we tested and it was negative!" She continues to reassure me that it was very much positive and then gives me the breakdown of numbers and dates.
Beta-326
Progesterone 47.7 (they want this over 50, so we will continue with nightly shots for 4 more weeks)
Repeat beta-Sept. 20th
Due date-May 26th
1st Ultrasound-Oct 8th
Last PIO injection-Oct 14th
I immediately text Chuck and send out an e-mail to our "cheerleaders"
Chuck's immediate response-Ninjas are really hard to find so it just took extra equipment to find him.
We are beyond the moon thrilled and now more than ever giving all the glory and praise to God! Weds. when Chuck and I were talking, I asked, "how can prayer make a difference at this point, the baby needs to have already implanted, we should be getting positives, how can God change biology?" He responded that "God can do whatever he wants!" And boy did He!! Biological in order to have a beta on Friday of 326, my level on Wednesday should have been around 150, a home pregnancy tests picks up at levels of about 25. Clearly God was looking out for us....He is awesome and amazing!!
I knew I still had to go in for a beta on Friday, but was not excited about it. I didn't do any more home tests because I couldn't bring myself to see the negative and by not testing I could hold out some small amount of hope that it would be positive. I had made the decision that I would not call in for the results until after school, because I remembered all too clearly how upset I was after the FET. I noticed about mid-morning that the nurse had called and left a voicemail, but didn't plan on checking it until after school. I knew it wouldn't say anything more than call back we have your results, since they have never actually left results on voicemail.
After lunch I had about 10 min before my kids came in from recess and something convinced me to go ahead and check the voicemail to see if I could tell by the nurse's tone what the news was. Imagine my shock when I hear nurse Wendy say "call us back, we have your numbers and you will be very happy with them". Immediately I thought "Happy?? How could I be happy about a negative?? She must be mistaken!" Of course, I had to immediately call her back. I'm now down to about 3 min. before kids come in. I call her and before she can even tell me my results I tell her "I wasn't going to call until after school because we've been testing at home, and it's been negative". To which she responds with "Your beta was 326, you are very much pregnant" To which I repsond with "but it was negative, we tested and it was negative!" She continues to reassure me that it was very much positive and then gives me the breakdown of numbers and dates.
Beta-326
Progesterone 47.7 (they want this over 50, so we will continue with nightly shots for 4 more weeks)
Repeat beta-Sept. 20th
Due date-May 26th
1st Ultrasound-Oct 8th
Last PIO injection-Oct 14th
I immediately text Chuck and send out an e-mail to our "cheerleaders"
Chuck's immediate response-Ninjas are really hard to find so it just took extra equipment to find him.
We are beyond the moon thrilled and now more than ever giving all the glory and praise to God! Weds. when Chuck and I were talking, I asked, "how can prayer make a difference at this point, the baby needs to have already implanted, we should be getting positives, how can God change biology?" He responded that "God can do whatever he wants!" And boy did He!! Biological in order to have a beta on Friday of 326, my level on Wednesday should have been around 150, a home pregnancy tests picks up at levels of about 25. Clearly God was looking out for us....He is awesome and amazing!!
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Transfer :)
Our transfer was yesterday and we couldn't have asked for a better day. We dropped Em off at school and headed to Iowa City for our 10:45 appt. We actually ended up in Iowa City really early (not sure how that happened...we are never early!) so we stopped and got gas and then ran to Walgreens because I forgot socks and I needed them to wear into the procedure room. We got to the clinic at about 10:30 and waited a few minutes in the waiting room before being called back. We had the same nurse as on Thursday--she was wonderful. We go back, she gives Chuck her scrubs and gives me my gown and glass of water to make sure my bladder is good and full. We are then off to the procedure room. First order of business is to meet with the embryologist, for me this is the most nerve-wracking part--we hadn't heard anything since Friday about how our 6 embies were doing, and I don't deal well with the unknown!
The embrylogist comes in and gives us the best news we could have asked for! Of our 6 embies, 1 of them was an excellent grade expanded blast (right where they want it to be)-which was the one we would transfer, 1 was an excellent grade blast, which they froze, 2 were a the morula stage and 2 were at the cleavage stage. Those 4 they will watch and decide to freeze if they make it to excellent or good blast.
Once we got the news I became giddy with excitement. I think the relief of good news, and the anticipation of what was happening put me over the edge. We ended up having to wait about 30 minutes for the dr. to come in and do the transfer, during which time we had some of the strangest conversations. I think we decided that the reason we had to wait so long was because they were listening to our conversations :)
Some examples of what we talked about--
Chuck as a song on his phone called "Everybody needs a ninja". It is annoyingly catchy and silly. He happened to play it while flipping through his play list, and I commented that if he played it while they did the transfer we might end up with a ninja blasty. He of course loved that idea, and is now calling our lil blasty ninja blasty with the hope that he/she comes out already ninja trained :)
While discussing what happens next with blasty I said that it would hatch out of it's shell and then attach to the uterus to begin the growing process. He then began imagining what tools it might have inside the shell to hatch out, beak, hammer, etc (I don't remember them all, but I'm sure Chuck could add them!) Creating the mental image of little blasty using this arsenal of tools to hatch out was really just too much for me in my already giddy and excited state!
I'm sure there were more strange and goofy conversations but those are the 2 I remember most distinctly.
After our random conversations, 2 drs. and the nurse come back in to do the transfer. This part really is pretty much a piece of cake, legs in stirrups, ultrasound on abdomen to watch the catheter to go in the uterus, practice catheter in, no problem, actual catheter in, blasty is "blasted" in and we are done. We lay for another 30 minutes and then are sent to get dressed and home. Blasty's 1st request in mommy's belly was chick-fil-a for lunch so we stopped at the mall, Chuck got lunch and then home for 2 days of couch time.
I am now 24 hours in to couch time with about 8 to go and bored out of my mind, but enjoying the relaxing, quiet time, hoping that blasty is doing the same.
Next step is to test--in a couple of weeks I will head to the lab for an early morning blood draw to find out if blasty stuck or not. Obviously our prayer is for a sticky blasty and a beautiful baby 9 1/2 months from now!
Huge thanks to everyone who has been praying for us and helping us get through these days. My school staff and the church staff has been wonderfully supportive of the time we need at home and helping us keep things organized and running smoothly.
Without further ado---meet Ninja blasty-
The embrylogist comes in and gives us the best news we could have asked for! Of our 6 embies, 1 of them was an excellent grade expanded blast (right where they want it to be)-which was the one we would transfer, 1 was an excellent grade blast, which they froze, 2 were a the morula stage and 2 were at the cleavage stage. Those 4 they will watch and decide to freeze if they make it to excellent or good blast.
Once we got the news I became giddy with excitement. I think the relief of good news, and the anticipation of what was happening put me over the edge. We ended up having to wait about 30 minutes for the dr. to come in and do the transfer, during which time we had some of the strangest conversations. I think we decided that the reason we had to wait so long was because they were listening to our conversations :)
Some examples of what we talked about--
Chuck as a song on his phone called "Everybody needs a ninja". It is annoyingly catchy and silly. He happened to play it while flipping through his play list, and I commented that if he played it while they did the transfer we might end up with a ninja blasty. He of course loved that idea, and is now calling our lil blasty ninja blasty with the hope that he/she comes out already ninja trained :)
While discussing what happens next with blasty I said that it would hatch out of it's shell and then attach to the uterus to begin the growing process. He then began imagining what tools it might have inside the shell to hatch out, beak, hammer, etc (I don't remember them all, but I'm sure Chuck could add them!) Creating the mental image of little blasty using this arsenal of tools to hatch out was really just too much for me in my already giddy and excited state!
I'm sure there were more strange and goofy conversations but those are the 2 I remember most distinctly.
After our random conversations, 2 drs. and the nurse come back in to do the transfer. This part really is pretty much a piece of cake, legs in stirrups, ultrasound on abdomen to watch the catheter to go in the uterus, practice catheter in, no problem, actual catheter in, blasty is "blasted" in and we are done. We lay for another 30 minutes and then are sent to get dressed and home. Blasty's 1st request in mommy's belly was chick-fil-a for lunch so we stopped at the mall, Chuck got lunch and then home for 2 days of couch time.
I am now 24 hours in to couch time with about 8 to go and bored out of my mind, but enjoying the relaxing, quiet time, hoping that blasty is doing the same.
Next step is to test--in a couple of weeks I will head to the lab for an early morning blood draw to find out if blasty stuck or not. Obviously our prayer is for a sticky blasty and a beautiful baby 9 1/2 months from now!
Huge thanks to everyone who has been praying for us and helping us get through these days. My school staff and the church staff has been wonderfully supportive of the time we need at home and helping us keep things organized and running smoothly.
Without further ado---meet Ninja blasty-
Our annual trip to Ohio....
This weekend was our annual trip to Ohio--we bumped dates a little bit so Martha's fiance Nick could join us and of course had a great time! This was Em's 3rd trip to Ohio--her previous trips were blogged about here-http://emilyannslife.blogspot.com/2008/10/ems-1st-trip-to-ohio.html
and here-http://emilyannslife.blogspot.com/2009/10/our-next-adventure.html
This year's trip included wedding dress shopping for Martha as well as a trip to the Renaissance Festival again. Emily got to stay with the boys while the girls went shopping....2 year olds and wedding dresses a good match do not make. So Em watched football and played video games and we went shopping! We had a great time and found some good possibilities for Martha.
Sunday we headed to the Renaissance Festival. As usual the highlight is people watching--there was definitely a lot of that. As we started walking through the shops Em saw a carousel that she decided she wanted to go on. I wasn't really keen on paying the $3 just for her to go around in circles, and saw through the trees camel rides, so I told her we would do that instead. As we made our way through the Festival and around to the camels Em was very insistent about getting there! We finally made it and of course discovered a line. Fortunately it was moving pretty quickly--and in no time Em and Chuck were on their 1st camel ride! She was on cloud 9 and thought it was the most exciting thing she had done in a long time!
and here-http://emilyannslife.blogspot.com/2009/10/our-next-adventure.html
This year's trip included wedding dress shopping for Martha as well as a trip to the Renaissance Festival again. Emily got to stay with the boys while the girls went shopping....2 year olds and wedding dresses a good match do not make. So Em watched football and played video games and we went shopping! We had a great time and found some good possibilities for Martha.
Sunday we headed to the Renaissance Festival. As usual the highlight is people watching--there was definitely a lot of that. As we started walking through the shops Em saw a carousel that she decided she wanted to go on. I wasn't really keen on paying the $3 just for her to go around in circles, and saw through the trees camel rides, so I told her we would do that instead. As we made our way through the Festival and around to the camels Em was very insistent about getting there! We finally made it and of course discovered a line. Fortunately it was moving pretty quickly--and in no time Em and Chuck were on their 1st camel ride! She was on cloud 9 and thought it was the most exciting thing she had done in a long time!
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Fert Report and Transfer day!
Sorry I haven't posted sooner, as soon as school was out on Friday we loaded up and headed to Ohio for a weekend of fun with Jennifer, Mike, Martha and Nick. I called for the fert report shortly before leaving--we had 6 eggs successful fertilize with ICSI. I was somewhat dissapointed that it wasn't a higher number, but am confident those 6 eggs will have our rock star baby in there so it will all be good!
After a wonderfully relaxing weekend of wedding dress shopping and Renaissance Festival we made the long drive home yesterday. One of my favorite moments of the weekend....we made banana cake for several reasons, I had some bananas that needed something done with them, Chuck wanted cake, so we decided to make banana cake in honor of embies miracle day. Jennifer's comment after trying the cake...."if those embies are anything like that cake we are going to have one amazing little kiddo in 9 months!" So here is to hoping the cake is a sign of things to come :)
We are now getting ready to head back to Iowa City for our transfer at 10:45 this morning. Please be in prayer for safe travels, wonderfully growing blasts when we get there, and a safe and successful transfer!
After a wonderfully relaxing weekend of wedding dress shopping and Renaissance Festival we made the long drive home yesterday. One of my favorite moments of the weekend....we made banana cake for several reasons, I had some bananas that needed something done with them, Chuck wanted cake, so we decided to make banana cake in honor of embies miracle day. Jennifer's comment after trying the cake...."if those embies are anything like that cake we are going to have one amazing little kiddo in 9 months!" So here is to hoping the cake is a sign of things to come :)
We are now getting ready to head back to Iowa City for our transfer at 10:45 this morning. Please be in prayer for safe travels, wonderfully growing blasts when we get there, and a safe and successful transfer!
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Retrieval Complete!
We reported bright and early to the hospital, so early in fact that the receptionist wasn't there yet. They have a phone in the lobby that tells you what to dial if no one is there yet, I tried 4 times and it was busy! Fortunately the nurse came out and found us pretty quickly. We had another fabulous nurse today, she even remembered us from when we were there for Emily, which I was very impressed with! She took us back, did vitals, changed clothes and got forms signed. Then anesthesia came in and did her spiel and put in an iv. It didn't hurt going in, but she said she had to go through the vein and back again (??) not sure what that means, but she said it would leave an ugly bruise, and it definitely is! Then Dr. Ryan came in (also the dr. who did Emily's retrieval) went over our consents again, and we were off. I love how quickly they get things done there, we were there at 7 and I'm pretty sure I was in the OR by 7:30. Once in the OR they got me situated, injected the wonderful drug into my IV, the room started spinning and I was out. Next thing I remember was waking up in my room again 45 min. later.
I don't think I was too goofy this time, I do remember asking Chuck the same questions many times, even though I knew I had already asked them, but I couldn't remember the answer he had given. The nurse got me some sprite and crackers and took vitals every 15 minutes. An hour later they had me get up and go to the bathroom, and then we were on our way.
We stopped at IHOP on the way out of town because I was starving and then back home. I took a quick nap and am now resting on the couch for the rest of the day :)
Now for the numbers.....
1st Emily's cycle-19 retrieved, 15 mature, 13 fertilized with ICSI
This cycle-15 retrieved, 12 mature, still hoping and praying for a good fert report :)
We will call tomorrow to find out how many fertilized and if it will be a 3 or 5 day transfer. Please pray for our lil embies that are hanging out in petri dishes in the lab tonight that they can grow and multiple!
I don't think I was too goofy this time, I do remember asking Chuck the same questions many times, even though I knew I had already asked them, but I couldn't remember the answer he had given. The nurse got me some sprite and crackers and took vitals every 15 minutes. An hour later they had me get up and go to the bathroom, and then we were on our way.
We stopped at IHOP on the way out of town because I was starving and then back home. I took a quick nap and am now resting on the couch for the rest of the day :)
Now for the numbers.....
1st Emily's cycle-19 retrieved, 15 mature, 13 fertilized with ICSI
This cycle-15 retrieved, 12 mature, still hoping and praying for a good fert report :)
We will call tomorrow to find out how many fertilized and if it will be a 3 or 5 day transfer. Please pray for our lil embies that are hanging out in petri dishes in the lab tonight that they can grow and multiple!
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Retrieval Eve....
It's kind of like Christmas Eve only more interesting :) We are set for our egg retrieval tomorrow morning at 8 a.m. Which means we need to be in Iowa City by 7 a.m. Which means we need to leave our house by 5:30 a.m. I am convinced that this cycle and all of it's ridiculously early mornings is simply preparing me for many, many more months of little sleep...right??
Our final u/s and b/w was Monday morning. We were up to 13 follies over 10 with several of those over 15. Monday was the worst as far as feeling icky, I felt like my insides were going to explode. Yesterday and today were much better, hopefully that isn't a bad sign, but simply a sign of my body adjusting. My estrogen on Monday was 2282, which is good, the nurse said it was approaching "high" so they would be watching me for hyper stimulation, which I have heard is not a pleasant experience.
Tonight is an easy night, no meds, no shots, nothing, just attempting to sleep. My emotions vary between worried and anxious to relaxed and calm. We'll see how much sleep I get. Please pray for safe travels, easy medical procedures and lots and lots of mature eggs tomorrow! Friday will be a long day as we wait for our fertilization report, so please pray for patience and nice high numbers with that phone call! It is hard to believe another leg of this journey is almost over!
Our final u/s and b/w was Monday morning. We were up to 13 follies over 10 with several of those over 15. Monday was the worst as far as feeling icky, I felt like my insides were going to explode. Yesterday and today were much better, hopefully that isn't a bad sign, but simply a sign of my body adjusting. My estrogen on Monday was 2282, which is good, the nurse said it was approaching "high" so they would be watching me for hyper stimulation, which I have heard is not a pleasant experience.
Tonight is an easy night, no meds, no shots, nothing, just attempting to sleep. My emotions vary between worried and anxious to relaxed and calm. We'll see how much sleep I get. Please pray for safe travels, easy medical procedures and lots and lots of mature eggs tomorrow! Friday will be a long day as we wait for our fertilization report, so please pray for patience and nice high numbers with that phone call! It is hard to believe another leg of this journey is almost over!
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