8w update!

We had our 8w (and final) ultrasound with the RE on Monday. The baby measured 2 days ahead (8w4d) & HB was 164bpm! The RE's office "released" me with a really cute ultrasound pic baby card & a stack of pregnancy magazines, though they can't officially release me while I'm still on progesterone (though they probably will be releasing me unknowingly while I'm still doing PIOs since I REFUSE to go cold-turkey at this point). They did decrease my dosage, so I have to go back tomorrow to see how my p4 is holding. I will absolutely be telling them if I am not comfortable (if it has dipped too low by my standards, since the highest it has been this whole time is 20). I refuse to play the "what if" game should something happen, you know?

My TSH is back down to normal levels at 1.86, so that is reassuring. We are excited for this weekend because we're heading up to central PA! My parents are throwing me a 30th birthday party on Saturday & we're giving my mom her early Mother's Day gift. It's a frame with the picture and poem shown below! G's mom is getting the same thing the following weekend for Mother's Day. We're still very nervous to tell anyone, though...I can't wait until 12w for a little more security.

Isn't the pic so cute? The head is on the bottom left and the little feet are on the bottom right. The yolk sac is on the top!

7w update

I'm nearing the end of my 7th week! I can hardly believe it. I go through days where I feel miserable (like Tuesday) and then days like today where I feel GREAT & that actually scares me a bit. I'll take feeling miserable at this point, just for a bit of reassurance.

I had a bit of cramping on Wednesday & that scared me, but there was no spotting, so I know it's not cause for alarm - I know there's lots of stretching going on in there. Monday is our last scan with the RE and then we're released to the OB - I'm terrified about that simply because I've been so spoiled with weekly scans. I've contemplated buying a dopplar around week 10-12 just to give myself some peace of mind.

As you can see from the picture below, the 2nd sac that they discovered last week has gotten bigger. Even though we know it's empty, the pregnancy hormones seem to be feeding it and causing it to grow. I hope it goes away soon, even though the PA didn't seem to think it could cause any complications! Everything else looked good. The baby measured right on target at 7w2d & the heart rate was 136bpm! Hopefully more good news is coming!

Belly pic @ 6w

This pic is from about 6w2d, I think, but it's all bloat - that little belly you see goes back and forth from being there and not being there depending on the time of day. Is that normal??

Houston - we have a heartbeat!

Well, G never did get around to taking that belly pic, but I took one yesterday since we...

SAW AND HEARD A HEARTBEAT!!

We also saw another mass in there which we've determined was likely a 2nd sac that just never developed (considering how high my betas were, this would make perfect sense, since I was right in the average range for twins). Trust me, I'm perfectly fine with one, healthy baby. We also got u/s pics yesterday & saw our little bean - not much to see yet at 1/8 of an inch, but we're so in love already! Progesterone was holding steady at 20 & hcg rose steadily to 30,896. The doubling time has slowed, but I'm not worried at this point since A) we saw a 2nd sac that had previously been contributing to the huge betas most likely and B) now's about the time for slowing betas anyway.

6w2d according to my calculations, but 6w0d according to the measurements. Heartbeat was great at 120 bpm, which is above the normal for 6w (90-110). They haven't given us a due date yet, but if you go by the conception date, it would come out to December 5th. If you go by their measurements of 6w0d, then it would be December 7th...I don't think G would mind sharing his birthday week at all, do you?

I caught him last night researching what the baby looks like at 6 weeks. It was so stinkin' cute. He even called me in and showed me the website. Then he of course got ahead of himself & started looking at what we'll see in upcoming weeks...though, I'm still having a hard time making it from one day to the next.

I have no real symptoms other than being really tired (which to be honest isn't much different from my norm, though I could usually push through without a nap & I can't do that as easily anymore). My bbs are pretty sore, too. I did get my TSH results back from yesterday & it did come back still slightly elevated, so they upped me to 100mcg & we'll retest & hope that it goes down. It wasn't too high (3.8) but still something to def. keep an eye one since they like it to be between 1 & 2.

Becki was just over the moon for us! She sounded like she was crying on the phone when I called her yesterday - I just hope the little bean hangs in there for the long haul. We want to tell our families so badly, but of course we want to do it in person & G is adamant that my family know first (since his family gets so many other experiences with us), so we're holding out to my birthday weekend (April 30) since we're going up for a visit & bday party for me (since it's my 30th). And then we'll tell his parents the following weekend, for Mother's Day.

And more good news just keeps a'coming! G's friend from work (aka his Bro-mance & friend that he coaches with) just shared today that he and his wife are 11w pregnant & just saw the heartbeat yesterday, as well! How cool is that? So the little beans can be buds!

Nervous

I think this will be the point each week when I start to get nervous again. Ultrasound is coming up Monday, and once again, I'm freaking out because I have no symptoms other than the larger bbs (and hey, I'm NOT complaining about that!).

No spotting at all anymore due to the progesterone supplements, so that is good, since the spotting always freaked me out. Dr. Google has not been my friend, though, as I've constantly been searching crazy things like "do progesterone supplements mask pregnancy symptoms?" Ugh - I think I've gone crazy. I'm sure everything is fine. I'm even going to get G to take a belly pic tonight...5w4d!

Starting Anew...

I never thought I would be typing this out again, but I need to get it down so that I don't forget what has happened. We've been pretty hush-hush about our frozen embryo transfer cycle just because we didn't want to make the same mistakes we made last time...we didn't want the "is everything ok?" and "when is this happening? when is that happenings?" As much as we are truly grateful for the support of our family and friends, it just made it that much harder to have to eat our words last time and say that we had miscarried.

So we started out not telling a soul. I told my boss just so that she didn't get upset when I took a couple days off of work & I told one of my co-workers because she was helping me with my shots and that is it. No parents, no other friends, no one. In fact, when we went up to my parents' house this weekend for Easter and two weekends prior for a family dinner, I learned to do my own shots rather than spill the beans.

On March 18th, we transferred 2 beautiful blastocysts. Seeing as how this is pretty much our last effort, we put all our eggs in one basket (pun intended, I guess!) and sprung for the laser acupuncture that they were offering. They boast that it improves implantation rates 5-6% in their study group, so we figured for the extra $200 it cost, it would be worth it.

In the time since our original donor cycle, we also had repeated pregnancy loss bloodwork done on me, which revealed one mutation of MTHFR which inhibits my absorption of folic acid, so we added a folic acid supplement to my protocol. I also self-added one baby aspirin to my medicine chart, which is to help with any clotting disorders I may or may not have (to prevent miscarriage).

On the morning of our beta, March 27th, I took a pregnancy test, which came back negative. Actually there was the faintest of faint lines, but seeing as how I had some spotting and cramping the night before, I took it as a BFN.

Lo & behold, I got the phone call several hours later that, not only was I pregnant, but my 1st beta at 14dpo was a SUPER number at 163. We were both in shock, but not excited like we should have been. We had been to that place before & we knew better than to get our hopes up prematurely. But we hoped, and we prayed, and we prayed some more.

2 days later (16dpo), I went back for repeat bloodwork & discovered that not only had my number doubled, it had almost tripled to 412! I was beginning to get more excited at this point. However, when I inquired about my progesterone level, which they said looked "good," I discovered that it was low by most RE's standards at 13. So I did what any desperate girl would do. I first called and got my PIO dosage increased (only by a 1/2 mL). I also pleaded for a prescription for progesterone suppositories, but to no avail. You see, some REs don't give much thought to p4 levels (or apparently to their patients' sanity!!!!). So again, I did what any desperate girl would do...please don't tell...I self-medicated. You see, I had some expired progesterone suppositories in my refrigerator & with the help of my enablers (aka my online infertility girls), I started taking my p4 supplements.

I also begged for a 2nd repeat beta for some peace of mind (especially since we were traveling to my parents' house for Easter). Again, I got the call with good news! My beta needed to be at least 1648 to meet the standard 48 doubling time (now at 20dpo) & it came back with a SUPER STAR number of 2379 & my p4 went up to a comfortable (for me) number of 20. Not sure if it is the extra p4 supplementation, but I'll take it. Many of my online girls were thinking twins at this point because my betas are so high.

I went back today for more bloodwork and our first ultrasound. I was terrified. This was the point last time when we discovered there was nothing there. No gestational sac, no yolk sac, just an "indeterminate mass" & we were crushed...
BUT NOT THIS TIME!!! This time we saw ONE beautiful gestational sac with a yolk sac inside! Just what we wanted to see. The PA said it was too early to measure for a due date, but that everything looked just like it was supposed to look today (5w2d according to my calculations). My bloodwork also came back stellar with my p4 holding steady at 20 & my beta shooting up to 8067!! That's an awesome number!

SO now we wait for next Monday's ultrasound & bloodwork to check on the progress! I'm not sure at what point I'll be able to relax and get really excited, but I'm sure the day will come. Right now, I'm just happy to have made it this far...farther than we've ever made it before!