Graduation Day

Today, we met for the last time with Dr. L and his wonderful staff at Advanced Fertility Care.  This clinic has really been amazing, so thorough and warm and caring.  I have loved working with all of them.  We also saw the little belly bean again today, who has had exactly one week's worth of growth in the past week - couldn't be more perfect! The heart rate is now 134bpm, strong and regular.

Little baby, has now grown to 11mm - almost tripling in size in 1 week!

 



 

Today also marks the day that we have been released to the care of my INCREDIBLE midwife at Nurturing Hearts Birth Services which I am SO excited about! We will see her for the first time in exactly one month, June 6th, at 12 weeks pregnant.  M & C are a bit nervous, as any new parent would be, about waiting that long for a check up but I'm feeling great about this little bean, I'm having lots of pregnancy symptoms and I know everything will be just fine! I am to continue taking progesterone and estrogen support for the next approx. 3 1/2 weeks until the placenta takes over, but other then that - we're a "normal" pregnancy now and couldn't be happier about it!



First ultrasound!

We had our first ultrasound this morning which revealed one tiny little belly bean, measuring right on track and nestled in the perfect spot - we even got to hear its little heart beating away at 111bpm!

 Little baby, measuring 4mm

 

 

As a seasoned mom of 4, the "glop glop glop" of the fetal heart beat is a familiar, albeit reassuring, sound to me - but to hear and see the reactions of M & C as they heard their much-loved baby's heart beating for the first time was PRICELESS, absolutely priceless.  I feel so honored to be on this journey with them and can not wait to hear that "glop glop glop" many more times!

Baby's heart rate (at the bottom)

Fortunately, I won't have to wait long! We go back next Monday for a repeat ultrasound and if everything still looks good - we'll be "graduating" and will be released to the care of my AMAZING midwife for the duration of the pregnancy.

Growing, growing, growing...

Yesterday was our 5^th and final blood test and the beta hcg level came back at 1908.7 which is EXCELLENT! We are definitely catching up in numbers and this little bean appears to be healthy and growing quickly! We will have our first ultrasound on Monday 4/29; because it’s a very early sonogram (we’ll be 6 weeks + 4 days) they will be looking for three main things – how many do they see (there should not be any surprises here as we only transferred one but there is a small chance, as with any pregnancy, that the embryo could have split into identical twins), how big they are and the placement within the uterus.  If we happen to see a flicker of a heartbeat that is fantastic but if we do not it's ok because it’s still early.  We will go back about 10 days later for a second ultrasound and it’s really at the second one that they would expect to see the heart rate.  In the meantime, we're all very excited for Monday!

We Did It!

After our transfer on April 2nd, M & C asked me not to test at home, to wait for the blood test, to help relieve some of the anxiety that we all felt seeing negative tests last time.  As it turns out, sometimes I'm not very good at following directions but, as a result, on Wednesday I had the great joy of sending this:

 

 

It was a very long week for me, it took a long time for me get a positive pregnancy test so no one was more shocked than me to finally see a positive the evening before the blood test! I've since been back to the doctor to check beta levels twice and everything is rising appropriately, Dr. L is really happy with how things are progressing and of course, so are we! I go back again for another check on Wednesday but the pregnancy tests keep getting darker so we're all feeling great about it!

 

 

 

Congratulations M & C!!! So very excited for you and your growing family!

Transfer Complete!

We transferred the last remaining embryo today, frozen at the early blastocyst stage.  The embryo survived the thaw with NO cell damage which is excellent! The transfer went perfectly and now we wait until the blood pregnancy test on April 11th!

Here's the embryo before transfer:

And after transfer, in the uterus (the embryo is the bright white spot in the center of the pic):

The embryologist said that the embryo should continue to grow and implant tonight or tomorrow - of course, we are all hoping that that's exactly what happens!

Back in the Saddle

I'm very excited to share that after some discussion, re-signing of contracts and meeting with the fertility doctor - M, C and myself are ready to try again to make them parents! We just got our new calendar and are set for an April 2nd frozen embryo transfer! I am already on the birth control pill (which will allow Dr. L to control my cycle while we prepare) and I will begin injectable meds a week from today.  M & C have one frozen 5 day embryo leftover from our last cycle and Dr. L thinks we have a good chance with this embryo.  We are all so excited and definitely covet all the positive thoughts and good juju you can muster! Here we go again!!!

Another Door Closes

I am sad to report that after careful consideration, M & C have decided, for financial reasons, that they will not be prepared to cycle again until July 2013.  They have terminated our contract early, as is within their right, but would like me to wait for them until July. 

This came as a complete shock to me and I am...a little confused, a little hurt and very sad.  But I do believe everything happens for a reason.  Maybe the timing is just not right - my family and I have a very busy year ahead of us between school and dance and chorus and moving...maybe this is the universe's way of telling me not to take on too much at once.  Maybe July will be better for all of us.  Or maybe it just wasn't meant to be...maybe there's another couple out there who needs me more urgently.

Everything Happens for A Reason

I don't know what the reason is yet, so I will wait until it becomes apparent to me before I decide my next move.  Thank you all for your support, it has meant so much to me!