Tuesday, June 30, 2009
7 weeks pregnant
I am 7 weeks pregnant today and everything is going great. My first ultrasound at 5w3d was fine, everything measured appropriately, but it was too early to see the heartbeat. We had our second ultrasound yesterday and there was much more to see! We saw a perfectly sized baby with a heart beating at 133 beats per minute! It was so cool and exciting. We have also told our families about the pregnancy, and they are beyond excited. I'm pretty sure the baby shopping is already in full gear. I will try to figure out how to post the picture tonight.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Telling the Families
So, if (when!) everything goes well at the ultrasound on Friday, we're going to start spreading the news...a little bit anyway. So far the only people we have told are the very few (literally 3) people who we confided in about the whole IVF procedure. They were there for us along the way and obviously knew that we would find out last week, so we let them know the good news and swore them to secrecy. It's still so early and so many things could go wrong, but we are going to go ahead and start telling those closest to us anyway - we want them in on the secret! Here's our plan so far:
Cody's Family - Cody's mom, dad, and brother are coming to visit us on Saturday. Cody and I decided it was really important for us to tell our parents in person and this is the only chance we will have to see them in person until August! We plan to write something cute in a Father's Day card for Ed and wait for the reaction. Then out to dinner to celebrate!
My family - I can barely talk to my mom on the phone right now because the urge to spill the beans is so strong. We are planning to tell them next Sunday, June 28. Under normal circumstances we would try to tell them first, because I know my mom would want to be the first to know. But times are not normal - my sister is getting married June 27! I want all the attention of my family to be appropriately focused on her until after the big day.
Orchestrating this involved a teeny tiny lie to my parents. When I was in CA for Emily's shower last month, I was right in the middle of shooting up all the IVF drugs, so I told them about the procedure. I figured they don't know anything about IVF, they won't think it is weird that we won't find out for a month after taking the drugs (in reality you find out in a couple weeks). Unfortunately I was foiled! It turns out my mom's colleague is going through IVF right now too and is sharing all the details of her protocol. As a result, my mom totally knew approximately when I should have had my procedures and when we should find out whether it worked. So, the lie was born and I told my parents that we had experienced a delay in our protocol and wouldn't find out anything until July. I am pretty sure they will understand - this will be their first grandchild and I would definitely not want them to split their excitement and fawning between me and Emily next week.
For both sets of parents we are going to tell them not to tell any of the rest of our family or their friends, etc. until later in the pregnancy. I don't think it's realistic for us to think we will wait until the second trimester. We will probably wait until I am about 8 weeks pregnant to tell our friends. We are having a July 4th party right around that time, and there are probably at least 5 people that would call me out if I don't have a drink in my hand! I plan to tell work the next week. I may have to tell earlier if I start to get bad morning sickness and have to miss work, but I'm crossing my fingers that that just isn't going to happen!
I am really excited and really nervous to tell. It makes it so much more real, and I really hope we won't regret telling them so early. I know our parents will be so excited, I can't wait to see their reactions!
Cody's Family - Cody's mom, dad, and brother are coming to visit us on Saturday. Cody and I decided it was really important for us to tell our parents in person and this is the only chance we will have to see them in person until August! We plan to write something cute in a Father's Day card for Ed and wait for the reaction. Then out to dinner to celebrate!
My family - I can barely talk to my mom on the phone right now because the urge to spill the beans is so strong. We are planning to tell them next Sunday, June 28. Under normal circumstances we would try to tell them first, because I know my mom would want to be the first to know. But times are not normal - my sister is getting married June 27! I want all the attention of my family to be appropriately focused on her until after the big day.
Orchestrating this involved a teeny tiny lie to my parents. When I was in CA for Emily's shower last month, I was right in the middle of shooting up all the IVF drugs, so I told them about the procedure. I figured they don't know anything about IVF, they won't think it is weird that we won't find out for a month after taking the drugs (in reality you find out in a couple weeks). Unfortunately I was foiled! It turns out my mom's colleague is going through IVF right now too and is sharing all the details of her protocol. As a result, my mom totally knew approximately when I should have had my procedures and when we should find out whether it worked. So, the lie was born and I told my parents that we had experienced a delay in our protocol and wouldn't find out anything until July. I am pretty sure they will understand - this will be their first grandchild and I would definitely not want them to split their excitement and fawning between me and Emily next week.
For both sets of parents we are going to tell them not to tell any of the rest of our family or their friends, etc. until later in the pregnancy. I don't think it's realistic for us to think we will wait until the second trimester. We will probably wait until I am about 8 weeks pregnant to tell our friends. We are having a July 4th party right around that time, and there are probably at least 5 people that would call me out if I don't have a drink in my hand! I plan to tell work the next week. I may have to tell earlier if I start to get bad morning sickness and have to miss work, but I'm crossing my fingers that that just isn't going to happen!
I am really excited and really nervous to tell. It makes it so much more real, and I really hope we won't regret telling them so early. I know our parents will be so excited, I can't wait to see their reactions!
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
5 weeks pregnant today
Today I am 5 weeks pregnant. Last week, after taking three home pregnancy tests (Cody could not be convinced until he saw the word "Pregnant" on a digital test), we also had blood work done by my Reproductive Endocrinologist a/k/a fertility specialist. I went in on Tuesday to have my first beta hcg test, where they test the level of hcg (pregnancy hormone) in the blood. The number is not so important as the fact that in a healthy pregnancy, the number should double every 48-72 hours.
So I went in on Tuesday and found out my beta level was 151! That is a good solid number. The average for a single baby at that stage is about 100, and the average for twins is 200. So while we were very happy with that number, it didn't give us a whole lot of indication whether 1 or both of the embryos we transferred had stuck. Went back 48 hours later on Thursday and my level was 275, so almost doubled in 48 hours - great news. Went back again on Monday and I was at 1092, so everything is textbook so far.
Typically with twins the numbers go up more quickly, so we are happily thinking there is one little one in there. Honestly, we will be ecstatic either way. If it is twins, I will be so happy not to have to go through IVF again, we would be happy with two children. If it is one, I will be relieved, after all the medical intervention it took to get me pregnant, not to have a high-risk pregnancy.
When my nurse called Monday with the beta level, she wanted to schedule my first ultrasound for Monday, when I will be 5w6d. That wasn't going to work since I am leaving for California for my sister's wedding on Sunday, so they said they would do it this Friday instead. I will be 5w3d, so there is pretty much no chance that we will be able to see the heartbeat yet, but we should be able to see at least the gestational sac, and hopefully a yolk sac and a fetal pole (but maybe not). The two things we *should* be able to learn from the ultrasound are: 1) that he embryo is in the right place - namely my uterus and not a fallopian tube. Ectopic pregnancies are even less common in IVF pregnancies than in regular pregnancies, so hopefully we are good there; and 2) we should be able to confirm how many embryos are in there. So exciting, we will update after the ultrasound Friday!
So I went in on Tuesday and found out my beta level was 151! That is a good solid number. The average for a single baby at that stage is about 100, and the average for twins is 200. So while we were very happy with that number, it didn't give us a whole lot of indication whether 1 or both of the embryos we transferred had stuck. Went back 48 hours later on Thursday and my level was 275, so almost doubled in 48 hours - great news. Went back again on Monday and I was at 1092, so everything is textbook so far.
Typically with twins the numbers go up more quickly, so we are happily thinking there is one little one in there. Honestly, we will be ecstatic either way. If it is twins, I will be so happy not to have to go through IVF again, we would be happy with two children. If it is one, I will be relieved, after all the medical intervention it took to get me pregnant, not to have a high-risk pregnancy.
When my nurse called Monday with the beta level, she wanted to schedule my first ultrasound for Monday, when I will be 5w6d. That wasn't going to work since I am leaving for California for my sister's wedding on Sunday, so they said they would do it this Friday instead. I will be 5w3d, so there is pretty much no chance that we will be able to see the heartbeat yet, but we should be able to see at least the gestational sac, and hopefully a yolk sac and a fetal pole (but maybe not). The two things we *should* be able to learn from the ultrasound are: 1) that he embryo is in the right place - namely my uterus and not a fallopian tube. Ectopic pregnancies are even less common in IVF pregnancies than in regular pregnancies, so hopefully we are good there; and 2) we should be able to confirm how many embryos are in there. So exciting, we will update after the ultrasound Friday!
Sunday, June 7, 2009
About to Be a Family of 3!
Well, I'm pregnant! After a whole lot of trying the old-fashioned way, a battery of tests and several procedures to help us get pregnant, I finally got a positive pregnancy test today. I have the official blood test at my doctor's office on Wednesday, so we are being cautiously excited until then - but after dozens of negative tests, I am pretty excited to see these positives.
Cody and I decided to start this blog to keep our far-flung family in the loop about pregnancy updates and then other family stuff in the future. We won't actually be sharing the big news for a few weeks, but wanted to start chronicling the adventure from day 1. Thanks for reading!
Cody and I decided to start this blog to keep our far-flung family in the loop about pregnancy updates and then other family stuff in the future. We won't actually be sharing the big news for a few weeks, but wanted to start chronicling the adventure from day 1. Thanks for reading!
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