Monday, May 19, 2008

Good News!

Hey everyone!

Thanks for being patient for our results. We found out last Wednesday, but wanted a little time to ourselves to get used to the results one way or the other. I was scheduled to get a blood HCG beta test on Wednesday morning. As you can imagine, I could not sleep a wink Tuesday night. I tossed and turned and dreamed and prayed and worried. The doctors has said NOT to take a home pregnancy test because of the HCG shot I was given prior to the retrieval as part of the drug protocol. This shot can give you a false positive test result on a home test because it can stay in your system up to 14 days. My sister asked me Tuesday night if I was gonna take a home test anyway. I hadn't given it much thought because the drs said not to...but after my sleepless night Tuesday...I changed my mind.

I awoke really early Wednesday morning and decided to take a hpt (home preg. test). It was very quickly positive. My heart stopped beating. My brain couldn't really comprehend this result. I had never seen one of these! I have taken probably close to 50 hpts and never have I gotten even a light positive. I braced myself for the reality of it being a false positive because of the hcg shot lasting up to 14 days in your system...but wait, it had been 16 days. So this excited me, but I tried not to count my chickens before they hatch.

So I headed into the lab for my blood test later that morning at 8 am. I was somewhat relaxed, but still tenative. I had a busy day at work, and was worried that I should have taken off in case the results were less than desirable. I think it was very good that I was working because I was busy and not really thinking about it all. Around noon, I got the phone call. Thank goodness it came early in the day because I wouuld've died waiting until 4:00! The nurse from my fertility clinic confirmed my previous hpt. I was pregnant! (What? That word in relation to me?) She said my beta result was 228 and showed a stable positive result. I was to continue the Progesterone shots (I told her I didn't care, I would take those every morning for the rest of my life if I had to) and head back to the lab Friday morning to confirm the results with a doubled beta blood test result.

Friday I went back and got blood drawn. I got the results around 4:30 that afternoon that yes, indeed, my beta number had more than doubled. I was relieved to say the least. I was MORTIFIED that they would tell me..."Oh I'm so sorry...that first result wasn't for you, we made a mistake."

We haven't really told that many people except for those of you who have been following our story, praying for us, and have been so loving and supportive in our journey. (So don't tell anyone yet, Ok?) When you go through infertility, you have some emotional baggage that you carry around. Jeremy and I both are on one hand, over the moon excited, on the other hand, terrified that this baby won't stick. With help from God and some good family and friends who continue to pray for us, I am sure we will deal accordingly. I've decided to be happy. I will resist my natural inclination to be a Debbie downer. (I am negative in relation to myself, but, I think, very positive for other people...weird.) No matter how long God allows me to enjoy this pregnancy --if I get to follow it all the way through or if He takes my baby to heaven early--I am gonna enjoy what I have. I know that sounds morbid. But its really not to me. I'm going to relish the here and now. That is the lesson I feel like I've been learning lately.

So sometime mid-next week I will go in for an ultrasound. This will determine if we have one or two babies floating around in there. I have a feeling its just one, but you never know! Jeremy is excited about the idea of twins...I am a little scared! God knows what's best for us.

Thank you so much for your prayers! Please continue to pray. I hope that this is encouraging to those girls who are going through infertility and not a painful story to read. I can remember reading many conception stories and sometimes being very encouraged and sometimes being really discouraged and sad. It will happen for you too! I have read from fertility doctors that it is very rare that they have a patient that doesn't get pregnant eventually. I will continue to pray for you.

Monday, May 12, 2008

Update...kinda!

I will not know any results from my round of IVF for another 5 days or so. I have to get blood drawn for a beta pregnancy test at Park Hill. I am very nervous and my glass-half-empty side is struggling to come out. I am choosing to not think about it until its here. My mantra lately has been to not borrow trouble! I will not worry about tomorrow. I will cross that bridge when I come to it. So for those of you...fellow bloggers, friends, and family...in an effort to maintain my sanity, I will post my results here when I feel like I can face the world with them. Thank you for your prayers! And check back sometime around the end of the week or the first of next week. You have followed me on this journey and we'll see where it leads us!

Last Weekend was a blur!

Hi everyone!

I'm not sure why I haven't felt like blogging lately...I guess I felt like I had nothing to report. I still don't! Let me update you on what's been going on.
This is me in the 'recovery room' at the clinic where I got my embryo tranfer, May 3. It was painless, they didn't even give me anything for this procedure, but I have to sit still for about an hour afterwards. Jeremy and I headed home directly after because I had to be on bedrest for 48 hours. They meant serious bedrest too. I was not allowed to leave my house, to shower, to really get up for anything besides the bathroom. I was SO bored and helpless! Our sweet family and friends did bring us food. Jeremy's mom brought us dinner one night and so kindly waited on me! Idon't think I moved from the couch the whole time she was there. I felt like such a blob! Then Sunday morning came around and we couldn't even go to church. Our friends, Krissi and Will, brought us Subway for lunch. (It sounded so good to me! All these hormones that have been pumped into my body have made me crave some crazy stuff!) Then my mom brought us dinner Sunday night. She brought shrimp alfredo, salad, bread, and CAKE with cream cheese frosting. Yum!

Finally Monday morning came! I was free! I could bathe! I could LEAVE THE COUCH, much less the house! I had plans to go into town and just do nothing! Krissi met me for lunch at Atlanta Bread Company with her little girl. We had fun watching her eat. I had the California Avacado sandwich and vegetable soup. It hit the spot.

Then I left lunch to head to Hancocks Fabric and WalMart. I got this great idea to make aprons for my mother-in-law and grandma-in-law for Mother's Day. So I bought all the material and headed to my mom's house to use her sewing machine and her brain! (I'm a new sewer, so I had to ask her many questions!)

Here's my mother-in-law, Barbara's apron. This is a picture before the pocket was sewn on. I got the pockets embroidered.
Kind of a blurry picture (I took it with my Iphone). But it turned out pretty cute. This next one is Grandma Walker's apron. She lives on a farm and raises cattle among other things. No, she does not raise dairy cattle, like my husband liked to point out because of the 'expansive udders' on the cows in the fabric. Sorry, I don't know the difference between cattle quite yet!That's my mom modeling it! She will probably hate me for posting this pic...we were in our comfy clothes while I was sewing that day! She made me promise to not get her face in the pic. Here's the pic of the embroidered pocket for his grandma. I got it done in 'western' font. So cute!Now my next sewing job is to make my mom and myself one.