March!

I think it has been a couple months since I did a general family update. Well, Shaun has been learning a lot! He knows most letters and can count to 10 consistently! He got a couple sets of letters and numbers for his birthday and has been learning them ever since. He also loves to play with his foam letters in the bathtub. Last bath time he even requested to spell his name! So I said let’s find the “S”, then, “H” and so on. He was so happy to have spelled it at the end and said “Shaun!”

We are doing well considering that things didn’t go well with the IVF. We are content with our family and will give it one last shot in a few months with the 2 frozen ones we got. Since we can plan when I could potentially get pregnant, we are going to do it in late June or early July so to get a potential due date of March or so. That gets it past Christmas and Shaun’s birthday. God knows and has a plan for what the future will bring to our family.

Bill worked twice this month, in Everett & Boise, so he will be skipping May so we can go to the Family Life “Weekend to Remember” marriage conference. Our church has encouraged couples to go because it is so good, so we decided to sign up! We are so excited to go. We will get a weekend away in a hotel in Redmond. Shaun will be spending the whole weekend at Grandma and Grandpa’s! He has only spent one night there once last September when we went to a concert, so this will be big! Grandma and Grandpa are willing (and happy I think) to have Shaun and also take Abby (dog) too. Sometimes Abby can be more work than Shaun because she likes to get into things. We will get a whole date weekend! I’m going to miss Shaun so much though.

We also got tickets for May to go to Shaun’s first live show; Sesame Street Live! It sounds like there is going to be a bunch of singing and he loves the characters so hopefully he will have a good time.

Happy Easter in a few days! Jesus is alive!

Final Result

The result is negative. The HCG level went up to 18, but that is not enough of an increase to indicate a pregnancy. The gal said that sometimes HCG levels can stick around for a little while. She consulted with the doctor to get this information. She said they might have me come back in after my cycle has started again (or if it doesn't after a week or so) to make sure the level is down. I am doing fine, as best as can be expected. Sad, but I know God has a plan for us. We just don't know yet if it is to be a one child family or more. I know being a one child family wouldn't be all bad, at least we have Shaun, and I will be forever eternally grateful for God giving us the amazing responsibility of being parents to Shaun. He is such a miracle! I tear up the most when my mind starts wondering and I think of Shaun not having any siblings. Ok, I have to stop writing about that.

The good news, that I don't think I have posted here on the blog yet, is that of the 7 embryos that were still growing at the time of the transfer, 2 of them made it to the blastocyst stage on day 5 where they could be frozen. So, we will have one more chance! This frozen transfer will not happen for at least a few months because there has to be at least one cycle in between, and then the suppression cycle, and then the transfer cycle. We also have experience with doing the frozen cycle (last August with the 2 embryos from Shaun's cycle), so we know what to expect with that too. It is much simpler. No stimulation just the progesterone shots starting around the time of transfer. The embryologist said that the process of freezing the embryos has improved since 2007 when the last set were frozen, so the odds of getting pregnant are basically the same as a fresh cycle now. So, my best guess is that may be done in June sometime. We do know that this will be the last fertility treatment that we do. We made that decision at the time we decided to go ahead and do a full round again with Grandma & Grandpa's money. We'll keep you posted.

1st Results

Just got the call regarding the first blood test. Good & bad. The good is that my HCG score is 13, the bad is that my HCG score is 13.

Anything over 5 is considered positive, so I get to go back on Sunday, but it is a really low positive so she wasn't too hopeful.

Let's hope for at least 26 on Sunday. I will post an update then. Bill flew out to Boise this morning for Navy duty. I just got off the phone with him and teared up when I was telling him. He reminded me that this is all in God's hands and we have prepared ourselves as much as possible for a negative result. Shaun is waking up from his nap now, so I think I will go give him a big hug!

Successful Transfer!!

The transfer went very well!!! There were 2 embryos that are at 8 cells, which is what they like to see at day 3, so those are the ones that were transferred!

3 others stopped growing, and 7 others are still growing, but at a slower pace.

The first blood test is on March 12! I'll post an update then on what the result is. I am resting the rest of today and keeping it low key for the coming weeks!

Here is the picture of the 2 embryos under a microscope just before they were transferred:

Here is an ultrasound picture of them inside me! Look where the arrow is pointing and you will see a white dot; that's them

Shaun's 2 Year Pictures!

13 babes a growin’!

Of the 18 eggs retrieved, 13 were mature and thus fertilized and are all currently growing!!! This is a very good start. With Shaun’s cycle I remember that the percentage of good eggs was less and the ones that started growing were even fewer than the good eggs.

The transfer is scheduled for Sunday at 10:30. However, if they feel Sunday morning that we can go out to day 5, they will call us by 8:30 to let us know. The transfer itself only takes a matter of minutes, and then I lay there for about 20 minutes and then take it really easy for the rest of the day and easy for the next 2 weeks!

I’ll post the next update on Sunday, either first thing in the morning if they have called us, or after we get home from the transfer!

Successful Retrieval!

18 eggs were retrieved this morning! They say that is really good, not too many and not too few. Everything went smoothly. I was driffting off to never never land, and then I was waking up in the recovery room with Bill sitting next to me, just about half an hour later. I'm not in any pain. I haven't experienced any pain in the past either, but they say to take my pain meds if needed. The rest of the day I will be lounging on the couch, doctor's orders!

We went to McDonalds for breakfast afterwards because I was starving! I couldn't eat or drink anything until after the procedure.

I'll post an update tomorrow with the results of the fertilization!