Baby Making!

So here we are, Transfer Day!! We got up this morning and headed south. It was a pretty quiet ride down. Chris has been sick with what we think is the flu - perfect timing - and then we hit North Salt Lake. Our nerves got to us. A fight broke out of something stupid and the tears came out. All in all - we worked it out, but we were both scared. Chris was scared it wouldn't work and I was stressed with the responsibility my body has. Can I make this embryo attach and this little baby grow?? I sure hope so. I have asked alot in my prayers to God, but please let this one happen. Please!

After some breathing exercises we walked in and headed to the doc's office. They took us right back, I did the routine, get undressed from the waist down sit there, you know the drill. We waited for about 5 minutes when Dr Gercheff came in. I was excited! She was the very first Dr was saw. She gave us the pic below of the embryo to take home and I started to cry! Cried hard. That is our baby! She told us we had text book embryos and she suggested we implant just one. Doing one also qualified us for a study they are doing comparing fresh to frozen being implanted, so they are paying to freeze the embryos at their costs! Yahoo! We just saved $1000! After we talked about this, she left the room to give us a minute, I turned and looked at Chris and he was crying. How Sweet! I don't know who is more excited! Me or him!! So we did the transfer. It took about 10 minutes. We got to watch on a monitor the most of the process. I got the "shoe horn" in me and she cleaned my uterius, the embroylogist came in with the embyro and in it went. They also put some of the solution the embyro was hanging out in so it had something familiar. Did I mention they had me take some valum, yummy stuff! I was totally relaxed. After the transfer was done, I got to kick back and sleep for about 30 minutes. I get the best naps at that place!
Here is our embryo! This is the one they implanted. The big part is what will become the baby and the circle around it will become the placenta. I keep finding myself holding my belly and saying, please attach and stay in there. We headed in the car and headed home, let me tell you, that valum was amazing!! Love it! We drove home and I had to do the classic "Phoebie" from friends. Stay in their little embyro!

Chris took the pic and I layed down and slept for two hours!! Good sleep is amazing. I am grounded to the couch and bed. I have a lot of projects planned on the computer and lots of books and movies I am going to read this week. I am kind of excited to kick back and relax. I haven't don't it since..........Jamaica, no if I only had some virgin pina coladas and a warm sunshine. We will go back in 12 days to have a blood test to see if we are prego. Keep the prayers going! We are know they are out there!! I feel selfish for asking, but I want to be selfish thru this!! Thank you everyone!

Thursday, Friday, Saturday & Sunday

Sorry it has taken me a couple of days to get caught up - but I am here and giving you the update!

I will start with Thursday!!
We got up before the sun - I hate getting up early! We were up at 5am and out the door by 5:45am..........and it was snowing! I am so glad I didn't drive. My Mom, Chris' Mom and Chris' sister came with us! They were such a help!! We arrived at the U of U at 7:00am and headed back about 10 minutes later. Yes, we were both really really nervous. I wasn't sure how they were going to do my procedure and Chris knew that his "boys" were going to hurt! We went back, the hooked us both up with IV's we signed consent forms and off we went. Chris went in before me. They wanted to make sure that they had sperm before they started on my procedure. About 10 minutes later, off I went. I was so nervous. My Mom got to go in with me, Thank Goodness! They explained the procedure to me and off we went. I went in and sat in a chair that they tilted back, so my head was below my butt, hehe, and then the bottom of the chair fell out! It was kinda cool, I know, lame. They started the drugs - and I was on the beach! It was nice and sunny and ouch! What was that! I don't remember alot of the procedure, but my Mom said I was hilarious!! They take a vaginal ultrasound and put a needle at the end of it. They guide it up to your ovaries and one by one they "vacuum" out the eggs (follicles) into their own vial. Dr. Jones was able to get 16 of them!! 16! I am superwoman!! After they were done, they wheeled me back to my room; they did the same with Chris. We both slept for about 10 minutes, we had our juice and crackers and we were on our way. We had strick rules to stay down all day and take the next day really easy. Chris could lay down, take drugs and use his peas. I was told not to lay flat or sit up straight, take Tylenol and if I needed it I could take one of Chris' drugs, and stay down for about two days and take it really really easy. No problem! I hate to say it, the Gatorade diet didn't end. I am still it, blah. So we got home Thursday and crashed. Here are some pics - Keep reading, I will post the weekend!

At home getting ready to leave, see how tired I am!! I hate mornings!We just got to the U or U - headed in - oh boy!Chris say this ad and we laughed before we went in "Coping"After my procedure - sweet dreams!Chris eating is cracker's & juice - I think he still a little sleepyEating my crackers & juice - love the hair! All Done! Headed home!

Friday

What did we do Friday - oh ya! Slept all day and watched movies. Pretty boring. You think it would be nice to relax, but after awhile, it gets pretty boring. And let me tell you about my new shots. I am off all of my other ones and my belly is feeling amazing now! The new one is my Progesterone, this is to help build the uterine lining. Pretty much telling my girl parts we are prego. These are done in my back - right about the love handles. They HURT! I dread 7-8pm, dread. Chris has to give them to me and I have to have them until the 10 week of pregnancy. Maybe I only want 1 baby.

Saturday

I got up and showered! So did Chris!! Chris worked his way off his meds. His "boys" are feeling pretty good. We took it easy still. We did laundry and hung pics up in our house, finally. But for the most part we stayed down. Remember how I said the doc said not to sit up straight, yeah, it hurts. Sitting up straight puts alot of pressure on my ovaries and that was a sharp shooting pain.

Sunday - Valentine's!

Happy Valentine's! We are both up moving around and loving it!! We are both still a little sore but moving around. Chris prepped our entry way to tile - that about killed him, but he was ready to. We ran into work for a couple of hours and we cleaned the house. Dr. Jones called me to see how we were doing. She reminded me that I need to eat a lot of fiber, I guess the Progesterone can make you constipated, believe me! I don't want that - so we headed to the store and loaded up. She also told us that out of the 16 eggs we got, we had 12 that were working!

Monday

Embroyologist called me this morning - we head down tomorrow morning!! Is this real! Are we really going to the doctor to get prego? Oye......it's a good thing I am sitting down. It has felt surreal that my "kids" are being created outside of my body. So, we have 12 embryo's to choose from tomorrow! The doc will sit with us and let us know how they look and what we should do. Tomorrow we have a big decision. Implant 1 or 2. Chris and I have felt different on it, but we figure we will see what the doc has to say tomorrow and we will make the decision. Once they implant the embryo, I am grounded to best rest for about 48 hours!! Online scrapbooking and reading- here I come!!

This is pic of my hand - it is way bruised from the IV. I never realized I was a bruiser.

This was a really long post and I am sure I am missing alot, but most of all, Thank You for being patient with me. Thank you for all the love & prayers. We have felt them and know that God is with us!! We love you all and I will let you know how tomorrow goes!!

Thursday

I got my HCG shot last night - I am so excited to be on the HCG craze, even if it only lasted for one shot!! haha!! Can I tell you that I had a break down last night. ME, break down - never! But I did. I cried. I am scared! Terrified!! What if we have done all of this and it doesn't work? What if I am a terrible Mother and my kids hate me! And What if I bring a baby into the world and I can't support it or protect it from everything out there??? HUH!?!??! I know - everything will be fine and I am just going thru the cycle of emotions. I know I will be a good Mom, I know I can't protect this child from everything, and I know that this whole process we have started will work.

Tomorrow morning - 7am at the U of U. Blah. If you know me, I HATE mornings and I know I am not going to sleep a wink. But I am going to be sleeping good when they knock me out - oh the dreams I am going to have!! I will keep you posted. Be patient with me - it might not be tomorrow or Friday. I will have my cell phone & email if anyone needs to get a hold of me. Don't be offended if I don't respond right away!!

Yippee!!! (Did a little twirl!)

Hip Hip Hooray!

Thursday is for sure the big day!! We had another appointment this morning and all is looking well. We have about 12 eggs give or take depending on the way they mature. My ovaries have increased by 30% and I have a pocket of fluid next to my left ovary, so I have to be extra careful. Take it easy for the nest two days and you guess it, more Gatorade, blah. Over it! Give me a coke! Chris has big day Thursday also. He will have a biopsy done to retrieve his "soldiers". Our "Mom's" & Robyn (Chris' sister) will be going down with us to take care of us a drive us home! We are going to have fun! If you have never seen me stressed out about something - this would be the time to see me, Thursday morning. It will all be good though!

This is a short blurb of our conversation on the way home, "We are going to be parents!" That was about it! We are so excited, but trying to stay humble. Something could still go wrong. But we know deep in our hearts that we are headed in the right direction. Keep the prayers coming, they are working. I can't say enough Thank Yous to the big man upstairs and to you!

THANK YOU!

Updated Dr's Order

We had our check up this morning - everything looks really good and right on track! Yippee!! We were so nervous this weekend. My ovaries are looking really good and have calmed down, but they are enlarged, so I need to take it easy so they don't rupture. Taking it easy has been pretty hard for me. Not doing the laundry, vacuuming......but watching Chris has been entertaining! So for now, we kick back and relax. I can still go to work, but low stress. We go back again tomorrow morning to re-check everything and to have my estrogen level checked. Speaking of estrogen - that is why I am so tired, they have turned my estrogen off to keep me from ovulating. We have about 12 eggs on one side that look great and are pretty much ready to go, but I have 8 on the other side that are a touch behind. That is why the Dr wants to wait. So here is how the schedule will go. Shots like normal in the morning (still 3), Dr's appointment to check everything, if my estrogen level comes out right, I get my HCG shot tomorrow night and start taking antibiotics, take it easy Wednesday, back on Thursday to harvest! So it looks like Thursday is going to be the big day!! I have been fighting back the tears and really trying to not get my hopes up. This is real! We are really going to be parents!! Thank You so so so much for the extra prayers! Without everyone we couldn't do this!

Dr's Orders

We had a Dr's appointment bright and early yesterday morning to find out how things are good. We left feeling a little nervous. I need to continue the shots that we have been on and I was told to go home and relax, not bed rest, but unofficially bed rest, and drink at least 2 32oz of Gatorade and come back Monday morning to get checked again. So here's the scope - late Friday afternoon I started to feel pressure in my lower abdomen - the kind of pressure you feel when you ovulate. They looked at my ovaries and said they were looking "juicy". I know, very weird to say. Basically my ovaries are wanting to ovulating and we need to prevent that from happening. The Gatorade will help me re-hydrate and get some electrolytes in my system. So the couch & bed have become my best friends. We rented a ton of movies and Chris has been giving me plenty of Gatorade. I love Gatorade - but right now - I am SO over it! I really don't think my urine has ever been this clear in my LIFE!! The Doc told us to keep in the back of our mind that we may have to cancel this cycle if my ovaries don't cooperate. That is the part that scares me the most. Having a baby is at our fingertips and we are afraid it is going to be put on hold. If they have to cancel this cycle, we will have to wait about 3 months to get going again. My emotions are on high, but my wonderful husband keeps reminding me that we are meant to have a baby and it is going to happen. He has been very positive and even did the Laundry! What a man! I could get used to him doing the Laundry!! HAHA!! I feel bad asking & feel very selfish, but please put out some extra prayers for us.

PS - I got my Butterfingers I wanted the other night!! Kim - you better be laughing!! I have a very strong love/hate relationship with these cravings!!

My Belly

Ok - I am being brave with this picture! Yes, I am bloated and the bruises and red bumps don't show up at all. They are worse in person. Hopefully today was my last night, we will find out tomorrow. We have our Dr's appointment first thing in the morning to find out what day we harvest our eggs and poor Chris gets his manhood cut into. We are going to be worthless that day and probably the day after. Does anyone want to bring us dinner? Just teasing! We are possibly 5 days away from harvesting, that means we are possibly 10 days away from having and Embryo implanted. We have talked a little more about it and I think we are going to have them implant 2 eggs. The possibility for twins, probably a 50/50. Would we be OK with that, absolutely!

To talk about all of this and say it out loud as been a lot of fun and I to have the support we have is amazing! Our family and friends have been so wonderful, we can't Thank You enough. Now that we are so close to doing this, the doubt has started to creep in a little bit. Is this really going to work? Are we defying nature & God? Is God going to be a little upset with me? Am I going to be a good Mom? Oh boy, here we go!!