5w0d: A Little Update

Today I am 5 weeks pregnant!!!

• Last night I had my last Lovenox injection! Yay!!!!
• Dr. A won't be in the office on July 7th (the day my 1st ultrasound should've been) so I'll be having it on July 8th (next Thursday).  I'll be 6w1d, so I would very much hope to see a heartbeat (or beats).
• I took a half day of vacation today to have 2 cavities filled.  The dentist's policy is to avoid the use of lidocaine until the 2nd trimester, so I only had one of them filled (that didn't require any numbing) and I made an appointment for the other one for August.  
• I celebrated the rest of my free afternoon by going to Baskin-Robbins and getting the most delicious double-scoop in a waffle cone.  Caramel? Chocolate? Peanut Butter? My creation had it all!
• Calculus class #6 tonight: It is going really well and is already almost 1/3 over! Gotta love summer classes!

This weekend, we are going to start the work necessary to make a nursery.  It's going to be significant. I'm afraid to take a "before" pictures because they will be SCARY! Here are the steps:

1. Clean out the "den" and get its roof fixed: The "den" is an addition to the back our house from the 70s (the rest of our house was built in 1924).  It has a fireplace and we used to have a TV, couch, some chairs, and computer back there.  But we decided we didn't like that set-up, so we moved our computer to the dining room, which is open to the living room, where the main TV is.  Since that time, the roof on the addition started leaking.  It has a drop ceiling and many, many of the tiles are seriously damaged (plus they're super ugly).  It has since become a repository for CRAP.  It's like a giant (20 x 13) unorganized closet with a falling down ceiling (not pretty).  It's bad.  But, our plan is to move our bedroom to this room which will involve fixing the roof, putting in a new ceiling, replacing the fugly paneling with drywall, building a closet, doing something to make the fugly fireplace look pretty, new carpet, and, of course, all new bedroom furniture, bedding, and decor.
2. Make our existing bedroom into a nursery: This will just involve normal activities like new carpet, painting, closet organization, furniture, bedding, and decor.
3. Painting and decorating Katie's room: Katie's room is upstairs in our 1 1/2 story house.  It has the potential to look like an adorable Pottery Barn room, but we have never had the money set aside to paint & decorate at the same time when Katie knew how she wanted it done (her tastes have changed frequently over the 6 years we've lived here). But I know she won't feel it's fair if we get a new room and the baby gets a new room while hers is still a blank slate, so we need to do commit to an idea and do it.

I'm thinking all of that will take every bit of the next 35 weeks! I need the blogosphere to hold me accountable!!!

I guess that's it for me...there's not much to do at this point except wait for the ultrasound (and get busy on those projects, of course)!

8dp5dt: Second Beta Results

The office just called with my beta from this morning: 63!  That is A-W-E-S-O-M-E!!!!!  The doubling time was 27.13 hours. My second beta with Jack was 40. Needless to say, I am over the moon!!!!!

My first ultrasound is July 7th (6w0d).

My due date is March 2, 2011.

Also, today is our 4th wedding anniversary.  I have Calculus tonight and Forest is working on a paper, so we're not really doing anything to celebrate today. Maybe over the weekend we'll have a nice dinner out (one of our favorite activities).  We have A LOT to celebrate, after all!!!!

Forest had these sent to work.  He is a keeper, for sure :)

Thank you all for the congratulatory comments. Your support is invaluable to me!!! 

We're not planning to spread the news in real life for awhile.  Right now I feel like waiting until 20 weeks!  We'll see how it goes. The only people who know right now are Katie and my friend Kim.  Forest is going to tell his kids this week, but other than that, we're going to wait.  So, if you know me in real life, help me keep it on the down low, pretty please?

7dp5dt: A Little Less Ghost...A Little More Line...And a Beta to Boot!

Well, thankfully, the lines are ever so slowly getting ever so modestly darker.

From this morning:

You can see this one without using your imagination, right?


Also, I got my beta from yesterday (6dp5dt): 21. With Jack, my beta at 6dp5dt was 18.


In the way of symptoms, I've had some cramps today (that's a good thing, right?) and I am so.freaking.tired!  Also, I maybe felt ever so slightly nauseous this afternoon.  YAY!!! I'll cherish every moment of it!

I am still feeling really good about everything. Although, I don't think my prediction about twins is going to bear out, given these faint positives and that singleton-esque beta. Time will tell, I guess!

Second beta is tomorrow. Yay!!!

5dp5dt: Wanna See My Ghost Line?

Well, I tested this morning...


...I tested yesterday morning too (at 4dp5dt) just to make sure the trigger shot was out of my system...which it was. 


For what purpose would one have a trigger shot during an FET?, you ask? My clinic says the hormonal environment should mimic an ovulatory cycle as much as possible.


I woke up around 5 am today and knew I wouldn't be able to get back to sleep without testing...so I did.  I promise there is the faintest, slightest, hint of a bordering-on-imaginary line.  Here is the picture Forest took, holding it up to the light: 

It's the + sign = BFP kind

Hmmmmmm....you can't see it? Even if you tilt your head? Even if you look at your screen at an angle? Well you'll just have to use your imagination, then!!!


Here it is in black & white with the color boosted by 9 times (that seems mutually exclusive, doesn't it? Well NOTHING is too hard for my MacBrook Pro):

How about now? You see it now, right? Right?


Okay, so I took this one at 5:00 pm. Can you see this one?

It's there...fo' sho - a bit more noticeable in person.  I can see it. It's my favorite one so far. :)


My first beta is tomorrow, but they don't typically provide the results of that one unless you ask, specifically, and it's not a STAT order, so they claim they don't get the results until the following day (which I happen to know is not true, depending on the time of day one has one's blood drawn, but I digress).  The second beta is Wednesday and they call with the results of that one.


Of course I will test tomorrow morning too, at which time I'm hoping to see a bit more line and a bit less ghost.  


I am still very optimistic - I figure negative thoughts don't do ANY good and, at least in my case, negative thoughts don't help prepare me for disappointment, should some be looming in my future. So it's positive thoughts only up in here!!!!


I am also very excited that I got to meet a friend from the Internets last night!  My friend Jen from the What to Expect When You're Expecting (WTE) board we used to post on came to vacation in St. Louis and she wanted to meet me!!!!!!!! We went to the Royale Dumpe - a 16th Century Dinner Theatre.  A fun time was had by all :)

So, uh, let me know, Jen, if you don't want me to post your picture on the Internet, and I'll take it down!!! :) But isn't she cute!?!??!? She wonderful and has such a sweet spirit. I am honored that she wanted to meet me. 


I feel very blessed to have "met" such wonderful ladies, like Jen, over these troubling years.  You are definitely infertility's silver lining!!! Love you all, MUAH!

Glowing

So a co-worker came into my cube today to talk work stuff, but he kept getting distracted by how "radiant" I looked.  He actually said that I was "glowing" and he asked me what was different.  He asked if I had gotten some sun or what I changed. I said, "Maybe it's because my hair is getting longer?" (I'm not quite ready to be spreading the potential news among co-workers!).


He's a bit of a flirt in general, but it's nice to know I look happy enough to appear to be "glowing" already!  


He is an MD, so maybe his diagnostic skills are just.that.good ;) We're 2dp5dt :)

3 Blasts Left

My coordinator at the RE gave me the "particulars" on our frozen blasts:  


They froze the 6 we had "2, 2, 1, 1", meaning two were frozen in pairs and two more were frozen separately.  I didn't ask how they decided to do that, or if the configuration had anything to do with the quality of the blasts in November.  But, the bottom line is that they did a slow-thaw of 2 yesterday morning and then, when we got there yesterday afternoon, decided to thaw one more with the "quick-thaw" procedure for whatever reason.  Maybe one of the slow-thaws didn't have a high cell survival rate? I dunno (which is why I put "particulars" in quotes!). But, anyway, we transferred 3 and we have 3 left. So that's cool! :)


My 24-hours of bed rest has now come to an end. I'm going to get off the couch now and take a shower and go to class. I started Calculus on Monday (again).  I'm actually going to finish the class this time...I promise!!!

Mah Bay-bees

Pictures as promised! Hey - I'm on bedrest, so I can fulfill my blogging obligations for 24 hours!


Here are the Crawford Triplets as of 1:30 pm CST June 15, 2010:

I believe that the bigger two are the "slow-thaw" blasts they started warming up this morning.  And I guess the third one is from a quick-thaw this afternoon.  It doesn't really seem like they followed my thawing instructions...and I don't know yet whether there was a 4th one that was thawed and didn't make it...details, details - they're light on them at this office.


And here I am enjoying the "recovery room" with a bladder very full of 2 very large margaritas (one pear and one pomegranate):

So far I feel strangely optimistic.  I say it's twins: a boy and a girl.  Hey - I was right about Jack wasn't I?  Let's see if I can get luckier with the whole staying pregnant part this time...


My first beta is MONDAY! I plan to POAS Sunday.

Triplets for now...

Well, we transferred 3 lovely blasts, so I'm pregnant with triplets for now :)


I'll post pics soon - I'm still in the supine position with a bladder full of 2 margaritas...

Transfer Day!

Only 4 hours and 47 minutes till transfer!!! I'm excited!!!!!

It Was the Best of Times...

So, Katie's Sweet Sixteen was last weekend.  Here is the highlight reel:

Katie & Allison - we all had "katie's sweet sixteen" shirts with monograms

White birthday shirts for the grown-ups - Forest is a good sport, but he drew the line at lilac sleeveless

The crew in the car (Lauren, Grace & Allison from L to R in the backseat). On our way to play golf!

A turtle on the greens!

A break to let some others "play through"

They made it through FIVE HOLES, but then the car arrived to take them to the hotel

We arrived at the Four Seasons at the Lumiere Place Casino

Forest and I decorated the suite...

Custom root beers & cream sodas

...while the girls were chillin' at the pool

The girls went back to the room to get ready for dinner.  This took THREE AND A HALF HOURS, no lie. 

While we were waiting, Forest and I enjoyed some drinks & appetizers on the patio at Cielo

Finally, the girls were ready!

We had dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory

The whole restaurant sang Happy Birthday!

At 12:47 am on June 6th we had cake to mark Katie's EXACT birthday

Sunday morning they got in one final bask in the sun

Overall it was a great success :) Katie has decided she wants all future parties to be at the Four Seasons.  We shall see...

On Sunday we had a family birthday dinner:

Katie & Grammy

Katie & Mommy

Forest & Me

Happy Sweet Sixteen Katie!!!

Then Monday she got her Drivers License!

Times are changing - that's for sure!

Other updates:

• In additional baby making news, the FET is in full swing. A myriad of IM injections are entering my gluteus maxima each night.  We are scheduled to transfer 1 to 3 blasts on Tuesday at 1 pm CST! Wish us luck!!!
• In unrelated, but adorable news, I connected with an old friend from high school on Facebook and she is having a giveaway on her adorable blog.  Check out these AWESOME little hats (that turn into purses!) and register to win one on Emily's blog! Good luck!

FETs are Weird

I feel like this "cycle" has been going on forever. I think I started BCPs in April or something. And now it's June. And it's still TWO WEEKS till the transfer! Why does it need to take so long?


It's Silly.


My protocol was:

1. BCPs for-evah...
2. Add 10 units of Lupron for a couple of days...
3. Drop it down to 5 units of Lupron for awhile... 

I know this isn't exactly what you'd call informational, but I don't feel like getting off the couch and checking my calendar to make it accurate.  


So anyway, Lupron for awhile (plus Dexamethasone in the morning, for fun and energy) and then Monday we started these periodic "E2V" IM injections.  Do not ask me what that's for - I guess it's just to throw some estrogen in there to make my lining shiny since my ovaries are all suppressed and stuff, given the weeks and weeks of Lupron.  The first of these shots was Monday and the next one will be tomorrow evening.  Then I do another on Monday (the 7th) and on Thursday (the 10th).  Then I await further instructions. I imagine those instructions will involve the Z-pak and, at some point, the PIO in my cabinet and the Ovidrel in my refrigerator.


Transfer is tentatively set for Tuesday the 15th.  The only thing that could mess it up is if my lining acts weird.


I had a random transvag u/s yesterday. I guess it was just to make sure I didn't develop a giant cyst or polyp or something over the last month.  I told Dr. A our plan for the thaw:

1. Slow-thaw 2 (of 6) blasts the morning of 6/15.
2. If both survive, transfer them.
3. If they don't survive, quick-thaw 2 more and transfer those 2.

An ingenious plan, don't you think?  


But then he said, "What if only one survives? Do we still thaw 2 more?"


Drat! I hadn't thought of that! So, Forest and I talked about it and decided that, if only one survives, that is what we'll do: thaw 2 more and transfer all three. YIKES, right?  But I guess the chances for triplets in that situation are pretty slim.  Forest would seriously freak the heck out if we had triplets.  But surely he'd get used to it, right?


Anyway, I will now stop counting my blastocysts before they thaw.


I guess I think the FET is weird because it's so sloooowwwww. There's not as much to obsess over. No follicle counts, no exciting yet scary E2 numbers, no threat of OHSS, no hormone-fueled excursions into the crazy recesses of my mind, no fear that the eggs won't be mature, no fear that the eggs won't fertilize, no fear that the embryos will stop dividing.  Just thumb-twiddling mostly.  


But on the cool side, I am FET-ing at roughly the same time as IF blog royalty. And Cindy posted some totally nom-able pictures of her (for realz) seriously adorable baby, which makes the whole Internet happy :)


Also, Lis put it perfectly when she marveled at how cool it would be if her upcoming FET works and she brings home a baby from the same batch of blasts as his sisters.  That would be truly, truly cool indeed!  I hope that one of Jack's pack makes it into our arms too.


Cheers!
Amy