Processing...

We have been spending the last two days processing the information we were given on Friday. It's hard to believe that we could be parents to THREE babies in a few short months. Wow! We still aren't exactly sure how to feel. I think my biggest concern is my health and the babies. I know with triplet pregnancies, there can be many complications leading to months in the NICU for the babies and lots of bed rest for mom. We have laughed a few times at the idea of going anywhere with 3 babies. In case you've forgotten, there are only 2 of us. :)

We've decided our mantra for now is 'one day at a time'. It's so early in the pregnancy and so hard to know what may or may not happen, that it's easier to just think about one day at a time.

We found out our doctor will be out next week, so our next appointment will be the following Monday, December 7. It will be hard to wait that long to see what's going on inside me, but the babies will be that much bigger and thus, it will be a more interesting ultrasound. We are being realistic about the fact that this pregnancy may end up being twins instead of triplets, but like I said...one day at a time.

For now, our due date is July 27 and I'm 5 weeks 4 days pregnant today.

Thank you all for your continued prayers. Obviously, someone prayed pretty hard for us!! haha ;)

Did I hear you correctly?!

We are currently having 1-2-3 babies!!! What?! Yep, triplets! We're in shock! Our doctor says they all look good so far, but to take it day by day.

So far I've cried 3 times and it's only been 1 1/2 hours since we found out. We're scared, excited, worried, nervous, happy, and so much more.

The ultrasound picture wasn't very good today, so I'm not going to post it. Our next appointment is next Friday where we will get another internal ultrasound and hopefully hear the heartbeats.

Little Update

It's been a couple days since I last wrote and a few things have changed. It seems the morning sickness has lessened. Although on Sunday morning I was making eggs for breakfast and had to call Craig into the kitchen to finish so I could sit down for a few minutes. No fun, but I've waited so long to be pregnant that it's kind of nice to have such strong symptoms. The last couple days I've noticed myself being very tired. Usually by lunch, I'm ready for a nap...too bad my work doesn't pay me to sleep. :0) My breasts have also become increasingly sore, as they did last time. I will probably start wearing a sports bra to bed soon.

That is all for now. I will update more after our big ultrasound appointment on Friday.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Beta Test #2

Our 2nd beta was done today and they were hoping my number (365) had doubled to 730. It was 775!!!!! As a reference point, last time my beta was 85 the first day and 213 by the second appointment. We aren't sure what to think except that we're hoping if there are multiples, there aren't 3. Triplets would be scary on so many levels. For now we just wait and wonder. We have our first peek (internal ultrasound) next Friday morning.

I've been having several symptoms of pregnancy, but the most pronounced is still the morning sickness. Generally, I've been better by lunch though so not too bad. This morning I felt great and was even able to have a cup of decaf. I've also noticed myself being pretty tired by the end of the day. Other than that, I don't have any other odd things happening. I believe I've experienced my first craving though....V8. Hey, at least it's good for me.

The details

I woke up this morning at 4am because I was so sick. My stomach was killing me! I tried to get back to sleep because my alarm was set for 5:15 and I knew if I got up, I'd never get back to sleep. I dozed off a couple of times but mostly just tossed and turned until the alarm went off. I promptly went downstairs to eat a bowl of cereal. It made me feel a little bit better, but I still wasn't feeling great. I popped 2 tums and tried to ignore it.

My blood draw was at 7am and my friend Jen (also an IVFer) and I have a theory that our RE's office calls early if your pregnancy test is positive and later if it's negative. When I received a call at 8:20 (and I had just experienced morning sickness) I was pretty sure it was positive. However, then I got another call from the office 20 minutes later. Oh yeah, and ANOTHER one an hour later. I was starting to panic. Craig and I agreed to meet for lunch so we could listen to the voicemails together. We met at a little place near my office and listened to the messages in the car before going in. The first one went something like this, "Hi Miss Nicole (our nurse calls everyone Miss) this is Karen. When you get this message give me a call." Oh great. What does that mean? Oh and I should mention that Karen is usually very upbeat and was quite neutral in the message. The next message was a hang up. Then the third said, "I've probably already worried you (yep) and I didn't want to leave this on your voicemail (oh no..leave what?) but congratulations!" "We are all so happy for you guys". Craig and I celebrated with hugs and kisses.

I decided to call her back after lunch so she'd know I got the message and because she was obviously dying to talk to me. She repeated how excited they all were and kept saying congratulations. Almost immediately after hanging up she called back...this time she told me how everyone in the office was standing around waiting for my lab results this morning because they were all rooting for us. What wonderful news! We feel very lucky to have such an amazing staff taking care of us.

So, the logistics are....we have another pregnancy test on Friday morning to make sure my numbers are rising (HcG level...pregnancy hormone) and the baby is developing properly. We will then have our first peek at the baby next week sometime. I don't know the date yet, but I'm hoping they can squeeze us in before Thanksgiving. We really want to know how many babies are in there since we transferred 3 embryos. Our HcG level today was very high.....365 for those of you who even know what that means. Generally, but not always, that means a higher chance of multiples.

This probably goes without saying...even though Craig and I are excited, we are also a little scared and cautious after having a miscarriage. We will not be telling anyone who is not on this blog list about the pregnancy until the 12 week mark. Please respect this by not telling your families until we are ready. Thank you, thank you.

I will, of course, keep you all updated as we learn more.

The test was....

POSITIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) I'm on the way out the door for a celebratory Thai dinner with Craig. I will write more later but didn't want to keep you all hanging.

Tomorrow is the big day!

In case any of you have forgotten, tomorrow is our pregnancy test. I know, I know...none of you forgot. We definitely didn't! It's a day of mixed emotions. We are excited, nervous, anxious, and relieved to finally get to this point in the process.

We have made the decision to wait to listen to the voicemail from our doctor's office together, after work. We will be listening to the message between 5:00-6:00, so expect an update after that. We will need to call family and let them know what the results are first, so I will update after we make those calls and have time to process the news ourselves.

Please send many prayers and positive thoughts tomorrow!!

Thank you to everyone for all your support through this crazy process. You keep us motivated!

How many more days?

I'm getting a bit stir crazy waiting for Wednesday to arrive. I've been working really hard to try to keep myself busy. It's not so much that 9 days is a long wait, but I've been over analyzing every little thing I'm feeling. I haven't had any sure signs of pregnancy yet.

So far this is what I've experienced (all of which could be signs of an impending period or side effects from the massive amount of hormones I've taken in the last few weeks):

1. Face broke out with zits...everywhere! Gross, but I was able to get it under control with a few extra washes of my face. This has happened to me both of our other rounds.

2. Twinges over my ovaries and uterus area. Also has happened both times.

3. Minor breast pain that continues. I've had that both times, but they were each a bit different and I can't remember what it was like at this point during either round.

4. Stomach upset. This is new. I was eating salad and drinking a virgin bloody mary today and had to stop several times because of an upset stomach.

5. Tired. I've also experienced this both times.

Like I said, none of these things are sure signs of pregnancy but I wanted you all to be up to date on my "symptoms".

I had a blood draw today to check my progesterone and estrogen levels. So far everything is going fine. I will continue to take both my estrogen pills and my progesterone injection at the same dose.

My next trip to Spokane is Wednesday when we will have a pregnancy test. I have to work that day and I haven't decided if I will listen to the voicemail right when they call, or wait until after work. Either way, I will update shortly after so you aren't waiting.

Leftover Embies

We were told on transfer day that we would get a call yesterday to let us know how our 5 leftover embies were doing and we could then make the decision whether or not to freeze. The biggest reason we weren't going to is if the quality of these embryos wasn't as good as the ones we already have frozen. Soooooo last night at 5:00, we still hadn't heard from the office so I called our nurse and got her voicemail. I left her a message to please call me in the morning to let me know what was going on with our embryos. She happened to be working late last night so she called and apologized that no one called us. She hadn't been told to call us or that we were considering not freezing this time. She also told me that we had 4 very good quality blastocysts (well developed embryos) that had been cryopreserved. At first I thought, um....you didn't even ask us? And then I thought, I'm so glad they decided so we didn't have to. And then I thought, I wish they would pay the bill. ;-) Truthfully though, we are so pleased that we had 4 to freeze, and 4 blastocysts at that. That means that 6 days after retrieval we had a total of 7 good embryos (the 3 they transfered and 4 others) out of 14. Those are incredible numbers!

Transfer

Our transfer went smoothly. We arrive 30 minutes early, me with a full bladder and they took us right back to our room. I asked to go to the bathroom just a little bit and they actually let me. I guess they don't doubt a veteran when she says she has too much in her. :-) Our RE came in shortly after to show us the pictures of our embryos and talk to us about how many to transfer. It didn't take us long to conclude that we should transfer 3 this time so we will have no regrets if this round doesn't work and also to give us the best chance at success. I'm sure some of you might be concerned about 3 embryos being put back, but keep in mind that at our RE's office the chance of high order multiples (triplets or more) is 2%. Each embryo is graded and the 3 we transfered back were 1 excellent and 2 very good quality.

We still have 5 others (I know...8 embryos total) wow! that we will decide on tomorrow. Our RE listened to and understood our concerns about freezing too many. A nurse will call tomorrow with a run down of the quality of the ones we have frozen compared to the quality of these ones and we will decide what to do.

Our 1st pregnancy test (also called a beta) is next Wednesday, November 18.

I'm home resting with my feet up in hopes that the embryos will feel nice and cozy in their new home.

I will try to write more tomorrow about what we decide on the remaining 5.

Day 3 embryo update

Our embryos are doing so well!!!! They should be at 8 cells today if they are properly developing. We still have 9 embryos which is shocking: One 10 cell, seven 8 cell, one 5 cell.

Your prayers and positive thoughts are working. Keep it up! :-)

Our transfer will be either Monday or Tuesday depending on how they continue to grow.

Will update when we get more information.

Day 1 Embryos

Our embryos are doing well....of the 14 eggs retrieved, 11 were mature. Of those 11, 9 fertilized. So we have 9 embyros on day 1!! :) They will call with another update on day 3 (Saturday). Until then, we hope and pray that several of those make it to day 5 (potential transfer day). It sounds like we're going to have some tough decisions to make as far as whether we will freeze the leftover embryos this time. We have 3 frozen already from our previous rounds and we are pretty darn sure we won't be doing IVF again...soooo. But then again, they are a lot of work to produce so we'd hate to let them perish. It costs $500 every time we freeze them, plus more money after 1 year. Hmmm...I guess we will wait until our transfer day and seek the advice of our RE.

Home Sweet Home

We are home from the retrieval and I'm feeling really good! I didn't get sick this time, thankfully. The anesthesiologist was a really nice guy and listened to my concerns about getting sick in the past.

They retrieved 14 eggs!!! Great news, but we will know more tomorrow when they call to let us know how many were mature and how many fertilized. For now we will just enjoy the number.

Our nurses are amazing and we feel so fortunate to have them helping us. Both nurses gave me hugs when we were done and one told me how special we are to them. That means so much to me!

I will be home recovering today and tomorrow. I will update again tomorrow when we hear how our embryos are doing.

The thoughts and prayers are working. Keep them coming for the best quality embryos possible!

Retrieval Day Tomorrow

Our retrieval is scheduled for 9:00 tomorrow morning. That time will be nice for a variety of reasons, the first being that Craig and I can go in together. He has to give his sample (nice word for it, huh?) at 7:00 and I have to be there at 8:00 to be prepped for surgery.

The RE said he was happy with what he saw today and when our nurse called, she commented on how great my increase in estrogen and progesterone levels look. I guess Craig did a good job with that injection last night!

Please continue to pray, send good vibes, or positive thoughts!! :)

It's a hit!

Our retrieval is scheduled for Wednesday, so tonight is our trigger shot night. Craig will give me an injection in my butt/hip area tonight at exactly 10pm to trigger ovulation, hence making retrieval of the eggs easier. The retrieval will be done 34-38 hours later. It's one of the big days in the life of an IVFer.

During my ultrasound today, my doctor said, "It's a hit". I asked him what he meant and he said it means my eggs are ready for ovulation. Hmmm...interesting terminology. All of my smaller eggs look to have caught up and are now a good size. Yay! Thank you all for your prayers...apparently they worked.

With our trigger shot being tonight, I have an appointment again tomorrow morning. Then of course, we will be going in again on Wednesday for the retrieval. That will make SIX days in a row I've had appointments! Whew!

I will find out tomorrow what time the retrieval is, and will post to let you all know.

Two Down

I've had two more appointments (yesterday and today) since I last wrote.

My RE is now happy, for the most part, with how things are progressing. The reason I've been going everyday is because my eggs are growing at different rates and he wants to keep a close eye on the really big one to make sure it's not growing and the smaller ones to make sure they are growing. Don't ask me how he knows the right mixture of medicines to get that done, but it seems to be working. He said this morning that we will likely have our retrieval on Wednesday, rather than the originally scheduled date of Thursday. I go back in tomorrow morning for my 4th day in a row to find out if my eggs are ready for the next phase of the process.

I will write more tomorrow night...

Until then, thank you for all the continued prayers, words of encouragement and support. We really appreciate them all!