2dp5dt

Im going to chronicle symptoms so that way i know whats happening. My bb are starting to get sore..and im still tired.i

"Petri" is in!!

At 1000 yesterday we transferred a healthy boy into my uterus!!! He was a pre-blast which is i guess better then a morula but not as great as a blastocyst. But the doc was happy with his development so fingers are crossed!!

The transfer went well. Dr. P called me beforehand to tell me about his development, that was nice of her. Dr. B did the transfer and got right into my cervix with no problems. The nurses were great and i was outta there by 11. Pete and i went out to lunch and i came back and napped and watched movies. Last night we also went out to dinner at a really nice resturan. It was good to get out and get my mind off of things. Today i went shopping for xmas and for my nieces 3rd bday. I needed to get out of this house. I walked around real carefully and took care of my movements, people watching me must have thought i was crazy lol. After shopping, i went up to my moms and got Jack. Now everyone is home and things are back to normal.

i felt pretty crampy yesterday and alittle bit today, i seem more hungry then usual too. But it prob all in my head.

I got my progesterone drawn today and it was 115!! It was 19 with Jack!

I go next friday the 6th for my beta...im hoping it nice and high!!

One Healthy!!! :)))

Finally got the call at 545 that we have one healthy little BOY!!!! :))

One arrested in growth, one had Trisomy 16 and 2 others had Complex Abnormalities.

Im going in tomorrow at 940am for the transfer.

Keep the positive thoughts coming!!

5 in the running

Our late bloomer didnt progress past 2 cells so 5 got shipped off this morning for the PGD testing.
there were:
2 8 cell
1 7 cell
1 6 cell
1 4cell

I call again tomorrow btw 2-4 to get my tentative transfer time. Dr. P will call me as soon as she hears if there are any healthy ones. This is going to be one long day....

Im feeling better today. Still sore but manageable. Ive had 3 PIO shots so far and so far it hasnt been bad. I hope to be getting thme for the next 10 weeks :)

A Late Bloomer :)

So we now have 6 in the running. I had Pete call cause i was too nervous. They didnt give us the cell counts just that we have 6 and will be sent out tomorrow for the PGD. It only takes one!

fertilization report

out of the 15 eggs, 9 were mature...5 have fertilized. I cant be upset b/c at least some fertilized. We call tomorrow at 2 to find out how many are growing. It only takes one.

Egg Retrieval

It wasnt that bad. Im feeling pretty out of it though. The 2 nurses that were with me today were really great. One of them is actually the girl who told me all about PGD, i took care of her 3 years ago when she had her daughter! How crazy is that?! The the other one was a nursing student a few years back that i had shadow me a few times. So weird, but def. glad to have known someone.

So i got there at 7am and got all dolled up with my OR cap and jonny. Got asked a bunch of questions. The anesthiologist was great and got my IV in without any pain AND on the first attempt!I got wheeled in arounf 740a. I remember looking up at the ceiling and seeing the light start spinning and the the nurse putting my feet up in stirrups and hen next thing i know they are waking me up.

So we got 15 eggs!! Im super psyched with that number. Its the same amount i got with my other 2 cycles and im hoping to get 2 healthy out of the bunch again.

I felt great after the retrieval just minimal pain. I got 4 mg of Morphine which helped. We left at 940a. I got really nauseous on the way home and threw up into a dog bone box! But after i threw up i felt better. Pete made me some pancakes a lil after we got home and ive been in and out since. He just left to go get jack and then he's going to his parents for the rest of the afternoon so i can rest.

Tomorrow we'll get the fertilization report around noon time. I hope we have some healthy babes growing :))

Jacks 2 year appt.

If your looking for an IVF update scroll down.

Pete and I took Jack to his 2 year well visit this week. He's 25.8 pounds and 34 1/2 inches! He shoot up from the 10th percentile in both areas to 25th and 50th respectively! He grew 4 inches and gained 4 1/2 pounds in 6 months!

He recieved the flu vaccine and the Hib. He also had to get his blood drawn. All of that was awful. I couldnt take off his band-aids for 2 days cause he'd freak if i touched his legs! poor thing...

His speech is very garbled when he tries to say a sentence so Dr. S said she'd sent out early intervention. Im pretty sure he's just fine. He stared saying UT-OH, thank you (well his version), done and his other words are becomng more understandable in just the past few days.

Here we go!!

Ive been waiting 4 months for this and here it is!

At todays check I had 22 follicles. 15 measurable and 9 mature, 7 less then 12. So im hoping for 10-15 eggs. My e2 level shot up to 1155!! I was only 102, 3 days ago! Things are very similar to jacks cycle so im hoping thats a good sign. The e2 reflects how many maure eggs you have. For every mature egg you get a reading between 100-200. So with a level of only 100 a few days ago, this is major improvement!

Symptoms wise im extremely bloated and look about 4 months preggo. Im getting inermintent headaches and my bbs are sore.

So im triggering tonight at 730pm and the surgery is scheduled for 7am Saturday. My mom is taking Jack overnight friday. Pete and I are gonna go out for a nice dinner and see a movie. My mom has a wedding saturday night so pete will pick him up saturday afternoon. This will hopefully give me enough time to rest.

Please send us some good luck!! :)

check #2

Now i have 17 follicles cooking and my E2 shot up to 550 (or 515, i couldnt understand what the nurse said)...not great but better. I know most dont have any clue what that means but i make a note of it for my personal use :)

The follicles are ranging from 12mm to 19. I have 6 that are "mature" and 6 that are under 12.

So it looks like Saturday is most likely going to be the retrieval! Im hoping to get 10 eggs. I got 15 my last 2 cycles but i had 22 follicles the first time and 25 with Jack.

It only takes one :)

U/S #1

So heres whats cooking. I have 9 measurable follicles and 7 that are super close. I have 4 that are "mature". It looks like im stimming like jacks cycle. Im really hoping to make it a day or 2 longer so we can get more eggs. They are going to call me this afternoon to tell me the plan.

Edited to say: Sticking to the same plan. My e2 is only 102. Which doesnt make sense with 4 mature follicles, i should have at least doubled to 160. So now im scared this isnt going to work out. I go back tomorrow at 7am for another u/s and b/w.

first E2 level.

This is the part of the cycle where things start to ge interesting!!

I went today for my E2 level. This is the estrogen level. Each mature follicle ( where he egg grows) secretes estrogen, each mature follicle gives a level of 200.

Today im at 85. Which is good. Im not "stimming" too quickly like i did my first 2 times. Im hoping to make it to 9 days of stims which would land me for ER on Monday. I only did 7 days with my firts cycle and jacks....average is about 10 days. If you stim too quickly your ovaries get filled with too much fluid which can lead to water surrounding your lungs (which is NOT fun, happened to me with my first cycle).

I go back Tuesday for an u/s and bloodwork. Im feeling good. I can feel the ovaries working and im slighly bloated but so far, so good :)

Why IVF and what is PGD?

I know alot of you are new readers and dont know much about my history. So im going to try and explain it as simply as i can.

I can get pregnant on my own very easily. Pete and i got pregnant on our own within 1-2 months everytime we tried. Thats not my problem. I dont do IVF to get pregnant, i do it for the PGD so i can STAY pregnant.

PGD is Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis. It basically is a super expensive test to test our embryos to make sure they are healthy before we "transfer" them back in. You hear alot about it on GMA and the Today show when people want to choose genders for their kids or eye color, blah, blah. I get so upset over those stories because its a test that really helps people.

With 4 unexplained losses the doctors couldnt find a reason why i couldnt hold onto a pregnancy. So we do the PGD to make sure we have a healthy baby in there (since most miscarriages are due to genetic problems) and i also do Lovenox injections to help with blood flow to the uterus to help the baby thrive.

The road to number 2!

So last New Years we found out i was pregnant. I got on the Lovenox and went in for a beta right away. The beta was low, 32 and then 48 hours later it was 32 again. So i knew something wasnt right. But then the betas rose appropriately. I felt fine so i tried to remain positive. But one night after dinner i started cramping and went to bed early. I woke up with the worst pain. It felt like someone was stabbing me in the ribs on the right side. I took some tylenol pm to help me go back to bed but the pain continued.. Then i had a gush of blood. Pete was awake with me and i knew we had to go to the hospital. Long story it was a ruptured ectopic and i lost the right tube, i was 6.6 wks. Recovery was awful and much worse then my section with jack. I went back to work 3 weeks later ( i work on a postpartum unit in the same hospital i had the surgery). I have to walk through Triage to get to the elevators, i had a panic attacks for the first 2 weeks back, i would cry and needed someone to walk with me up to the floor. It would take me an hour to pull myself together before i could see pts. Going through something like this is very difficult when you need to be around new moms and babies for 8 hours,in the the same hospital where you lost your baby. And taking care of assholes who do drugs or trashy people who just dont give a damn, gets to you. So it was hard. I started to see a counselor in feb and went on zoloft. It helped. I wasnt ready to try again for quite awhile, i needed to work on myself. So i focused on me and jack, lost 15 pounds and just had the summer to go on family trips and hang out with my miracle.

In June we went to a wedding on the Cape and spent the weekend there. This is the weekend we decided we'd go back to Dr. P and see what she had to say about our options. I called that monday and they had an appt available that coming Wed! I wasnt ready for it to be THAT soon! So we went in mid July. She basically told us our best bet would be to do the IVF/ PGD again. She also gave us the great news that the PGD would most likely be covered (it is, and thats 5000 dollars we thought we'd have to pay!!). Pete and i did all the tests and bloodwork and were ready to go in sept. The Egg retrieval was going to fall on Jacks birthday party weekend so we postponed it to this month.

So here we are...

IVF is a 4 part process.

Part one...suppression. I started this on Sept. 30. I take 10 units of Lupron every morning, its an injection that goes into my stomach. This take about 2 weeks. My period was 5 days late. I was very uncomfortable. I went in for my baseline on Oct 13th but my lining was still to thick so i had to go back once my period decided to show, which it did the next day (thank goodness!). So i went back on thursday 10/15, my lining went from 9 to 5.6 (needs to be under 7) so things were good to go.

Part two...stimulation. I started 200u of Follistim last night (another injection in the stomach). Im also still in the Lupron but its decreased to 5 u, i do that one in the morning. The Follistim, stimulates the follicles to grow. The follicles contain the eggs. The Lupron is still given so you dont ovulate while your follicles are growing. I go in this Sunday for bloodwork to make sure im not stimulating to quickly. I hyperstimmed my first cycle so we dont want that to happen again.

Part three...egg retrieval (ER). Prob around 10/25ish

Part 3.5.. PGD analysis...see which embryos are healthy (3 days after ER)., then embryo transfer (happens 5 days after egg retrieval).

Part 4..then we wait...

Jacks 2!!

Jack turned 2 on september 19th. We had a construction party theme. My neighbor and good friend, Tracey made an awesome dirt cake which was put into the back of a toy dump truck. I put oatmeal into a sandbox and put all of jack Wheel Pals in there with shovels such and i put drawing paper over 2 coffee tables and cut out little dump trucks for the kids to color. About 40 people and 10 kids came. It was chaos (since the party got moved into the house since it rained) but it was a great time :)

Jack is so much fun and everyday im so thankful for him. He's starting to talk more and more. Right now hes banging on the windown saying "HIIIIII" to the garbage truck. He says about 25 words and 2-3 word sentences. "Pop, Plllllllleasse" is his favorite lol. He loves cars, coloring, blues clues, jacks big music show, dora, the moose from nick jr., music (dancing!). I take him to Tumbles once a week for an art class which he loved but he's sick of it so we are going back to the regular gym class. His favorite is sliding down the slide and the obstacle courses, along with the zip line. He also loves being outside and going for walks around the neighborhood. He calls is juice his "boof". He loves to jump, give hugs, he hands you everything and if he's playing you have to do it with him. He's a good sharer and is constantly handing me his toys. The dogs are great with him. He bounces all over Nala and she could care less. Sadie more or less ignores him, lol. He's not very good at eating, but loves fruit, yogurt, french fries, hot dogs, and pizza..ohh and his pops! I buy those go gurt yogurts and freeze them :) Hes very social and is always saying "Hiiii" to people. He loves talking on the phone too. he just figured out how to undress himslef so thats been interesting! He naps in the morning 10-12 and sleeps from 8p-7a.

He's a great kid :) <3

Im still working 3-11, 24 hours a week. Its good hours since i dont miss too muc while im gone. My mother, FIL and Tracey watch him when im not here. Next sept im going to look into a preschool type program for him for 2 or so days a week.

a very long overdue update!

Jack is doing very well. He is 16 months and such a riot! He's been walking since Sept 1st and i was the one who saw it! He says mommom, daddee, doggy,hewwo, nana (banana), dat (that). He loves to climb all over everything and is a very social baby, he loves everyone. His favorite shows are lomax, elmo and barney. He sleeps from 7pm to 5am then naps btw 8am-10pm to 10-12, then takes a small nap in the afternoon if im lucky.

Things have been going well. I weaned him completely on dec 19 and i believe i got pregnant that night. I found out on new years. But my betas were 32 and then 32 again 48 hours later. I knew from the start it wasnt going to end well. but then my betas starting rising appropriately. Everything was going well until 1/20. To make a very long story short i ended up with a ruptured ectopic pregnancy and had emergency surgery. I lost my right tube. Im pretty devastated and was hoping for a "normal" pregnancy. My OB basically told me to stick to ivf since that was my only successful pregnancy out of the 6 i've had.

So we are going to wait until Jack is 2 and try for another.

11 months

isnt he handsome?

Im sorry i havent kept up with this and ireally wish ihad but these few months have been tough. IN april pete broke his foot so for 3 and a half months i had no help with ANYTHING! He got the OK to start walking again last week so things are getting better aroud here.

Jack is getting so big and doing so much now. He started crawling well a few days after he turned 8 months and hes been on the go since! Now hes WALKING from toy to toy but nothing more then a few steps. He loves to walk back and forth from pete and i . He stands on his own and keep good balance for quite awhile. He has very good motor control and can prevent himself from falls by falling cautiously..its pretty funny to watch. He crawls up the stairs and loves climbing up on toys and the babygates. This kid is constantly figuring out something else to make me have a heart attack! He also found out how to flush the tiolet so my showers are very entertaining to him...lol.

He "talks". He says da-da, hi, mama and grunts alot and waves his hands when he wants something. If we say certain things he tries to repeat them. If we say "jack" he says JAH...he gets the first sound out...he does this with most words..esp if he hears them alot. He waves and says HAAII too...love it.

He was 17 1/2 pounds at 9 months...still tiny :)

Im still nursing and he showing no real signs of stopping. Which is OK right now but in a few months im hoping itll end. He nurses about 4 times a day (with a few snacks inbetween just to make sure its still there). Im trying not to worry about it too much. Plus im finally starting to lose weight froom doing it so im using it to my advantage!! He also eats what we eat and does very well. At first he gagged abit and scared the crap outta me but now he only gags if he shoves food in his mouth too quick. He has 6 teeth (teething sucks, BTW....he doesnt sleep wen he teeth nd it not fun for a few weeks...motrin is my friend).

so thats that. I cant believe he's almost one. I cannot begin to tell you how much fun i have with this little boy. I never knew love like this existed and it only gets stronger!

8 months

OK im alil late with this but thats OK :)

Lil man is doing great!

Hes been crawling backwards for a few weeks now. Hes VERY close to moving forward, its only a matter of time. He gets so frustrated that he cant seem to figure it out that he yells and gives this mad look...we cant help but laugh at him!

He's finally mastered sitting up from laying down...hes been working on that for awhile now.

He is SO curious! Hell notice something across the room and HAVE to go see it..since he cant walk yet ill help him over to it (by holding onto his hands and he walks...he LOVES doing this...and would do it all day if mommys back would allow it!) once he get over to the object he shouts with glee! too cute!!

He stands by holding onto something for quite awhile and love the perspective and gets all excited when he's doing it.

I have a very strong feeling he wont last long with craling, i think once he figures it all out he'll be running all around.

he has his bottom 2 teeth and his top 2 are breaking through as we speak.

he hasnt slept through the night since 6 months and im tired! i dont know if its teething, being attached or pete thinks hes having nightmares of not crawling yet! lol

we are still nursing and hes showing no signs of wanting to stop. I got a period last month so i guess im fertile again..we'll see what happens with that.

jack hates fruit and im lucky if i can get him to take 5 bites of breakfast. He does fairly well with veggies and LOVES his meat dinners. He eats earths best organic baby food and loves it. Im still nervous about giving him finger foods since he choked on some a few weeks back, im too scared to try again. I know i need to though.

he loves the ABC's and stop crying as soon as i sign it to him.

he HATES getting his diaper changed or getting dressed, hes such a squirm that i do the majority of it on the ground now.

Pete broke his foot 7 weeks ago and is still in a cast...it hasnt been fun!! i give single moms props b/c he cant do anything for him!

stuck in a moment

i did one of thses posts during jacks first few weeks of life i thought itd be a good idea to do another.

* Jack wakes up btw 5-6am (sleeps about 10 hours straight)
* my favorite part of the day is bringing him in bed with me until about 7-8am and he nurses while i doze on and off.
* i just stare at him and fall sleep by rubbing his head and listening to him eat.
*im usually awoken by him pinching my nose. he loves playing with my face..he grabs my lips and nose....sometimes that doesnt feel too good, since his nails are always sharp!
*he wakes up very happy and all smiles. The dogs greet us when i open the bedroom door and they get all excited and jack just watches them in amazement and squeals.
* i put jack in either his swing (which is very close to being packed up since hes getting too big for it) or exersaucer while i get my coffee ready and breakfast for pete and i. I also run around and try to straighten up the house before jack wants to eat again.
* Jack loves his exersaucer, playing the playard and his jumperoo. His favorite at the time he rolling on around and exploring EVERYTHING!! I sit and play with him until about 10am and then he eats again.
* i nurse him and i just love this time. As soon as i pick him up he slams his head into my chest and nuzzles in..its so sweet. His whole body relaxes once he latches on and he coos for the first couple minutes. Its an amazing time...not so amzing when he decides to bite my nipple though..OUCH!!
*hes a very lazy nurser and falls asleep between sides so it takes awhile for the feeding to be completed. But i dont mind since before i know it hes going to be running out of my arms, so im soaking this all in!
*Around 1 we go for a walk ..about 5 miles..and he protests for a bit but then he falls asleep for a good 45 minutes. He always wakes up during the last 15 minutes of the walk and screams!! My neighbors all look out their windows and give me funny looks, lol. SO needless to say i probably burn the most calories in those last 15 minutes from speed walking!
*jack loves Earths Best Organic baby food and he gets all excited when i strap him in his highchair. He waves his feet and arms and i can feed him fast enough. He hums when hes ready for another bit.
*he gets his bath around 6-7 and hes loves to splsh the water and bit on his toys. He also is very good at filling up the cup and pouring all over me! He would stay in that tub all day if i let him.
* when he gets dressed or gets his dipaer changed its an O;ympic event. He squirms all over the place and try his hardest to find something to play with. He takes the diapers the burp clothes...anything to play with while im changing him. I started giving him all the different pacifers while im changing him to distract him. He thinks they are toys and holds them up and stares at them...its too funny, but it helps me get the job done!
*he falls aslpp around 8pm. I nurse him to sleep which i know i shouldnt do but it works for us and thats all that matters. Since jack is on his side when he nurses he grabs onto his bumper in the crib and tryd to nurse off of that when i put him to bed. Its too cute!

7 months old

its 1am and i just got home from work so if this makes no sense, im sorry in advance :)

Jack is SO good :) He is such a happy baby! I miss him so much when im away from him. I hate that i come home from work and hes sleeping, ijust want to spend time with him all the time.

He's rolling all around, sitting up, he tries like hell to sit up from laying down, he LAUGHS and SQUEALS, oh its so funny! He's still a big "talker". He loves the remote, phone, laptop, my keys...everything he cant have..he'll have 10 toys in front of him but still reaches for the phone, lil bugger!! He is such an explorer..and such a "boy" already. He loves going outside and sitting on the ground and feeling the grass. He always wants me to place him down so he can see whats around him. I have a feeling im gonna be in big trouble once he starts moving more. He reaches out for pete and i..he also knows our voices. Its the best feeling when he doesnt know im in the room and i talk and he turns towards me and stretches out his hands...makes my heart melt! He loves to be sung too and just LAUGHS at us. He's looking like sucha little boy know!! I have some pics that ill have to post soon.

THings around here are good. I still hate going to work. I really do love my job but i just hate going. Pete broke his leg this past saturday so its been tough finding someone to come down until jack falls asleep (he cant bear any weight on the foot and hes on crutches so he cant so ANYTHING). So these next 6 weeks are going to be tough but we'll make it through.

Im still nursing. Jack has 2 teeth now (one broke through about 2 weeks ago and the other bottom one broke the other day) and he bites here and there. It doent hurt as much as i thought it would. He's taking to the baby food much better and eats a whole 2nd food jar for lunch and dinner. Breakfast is just nursing and maybe some fruit..he'd rather just nurse in the mornings. And i gotta say this whole "losing weight is easy while nursing" is bull crap! If i went to the gym and burned 500 calories a day for the past 7 months id be a size 2! Im stuck at my prepreggo weight (which im not complaining about but COME ON!!) I cant get the dam scale to move. I started walking 5 miles a day (jack naps in the stroller) and im TRYING to eat better...but im always hungry b/c of the nursing...i need to work on making the right decisions..

So thats it...i just love being a mom!!