Pregnancy

The first trimester went pretty well other than food aversions and tiredness, I have no complaints. We have gotten ultrasounds about every two weeks so its been nice to see the progress and has helped ease our anxiety about the health of the baby. Just came into our second trimester and we thought the big worry of M was gone… Last Friday night I stood up from the couch to find blood pouring out of me. I was sure this was the worst case scenario. We went and got mom, called our OB and headed to the ER. My OB came in, kicked the ER doctor out and was right on top of things. Turns out I have early placenta previa where my placenta is partially covering my cervix. This is normally diagnosed later in pregnancy. There is good and bad, because I am early, it could work itself out (praying for this without any other incidents) – if it doesn’t it could mean preterm labor and C-section. Not concerned about a C-section, but the preterm labor scares the crap out of me. I am on pelvic rest for a while, they are unable to tell me how long. We are going to the OB every 2 weeks now, I cannot lift over a gallon of milk, no sexual activity and basic walking. I am following the doctor’s orders the best I can, we worked too hard for this little blessing!!

We're PREGNANT!!!

Hi Everyone! I apologize for my lack of updates, its been a crazy ride and we have been awful busy trying to enjoy it! All of you know by now that we FINALLY got the news we waited so long to hear! WE’RE PREGNANT!!! It is kind of a funny story of how we found out… Jay took the afternoon off because we wanted to be together when we got the results of our blood pregnancy, so I asked the doctors to call after 12:30pm on that January day. Well, I was just getting ready to head out the door to go pick Jay up and I got a message from Susie with a thumbs up. My heart immediately started racing!! So I asked her to clarify… I WAS PREGNANT!!! OMG OMG OMG at this point I was crying so hard I couldn’t ready my phone!! The words I have waited for, for so long!!! Ok so then I had to pull myself together for the drive to get Jay. On the way I was asking myself should I tell him or just wait for the doctor to call?! Well I decided I wanted to tell him so I stopped at Wal-Mart on my way to pick him up and got him a card. I always do random cards for Jay so I knew it wouldn’t throw him off… I placed it above the visor of the car knowing her would take it down and be nosey once he got in the car. He opened it… I was driving… Instead of “OMG” “Really” or something else I was imagining he says “You already know?!?!?!!” I pulled the car over and started to cry again! Then we just soaked in the moment, part of us in disbelief that this was finally happening for us. We pull into Wal-Mart and wait for the doctor’s office to call… Of course we needed to act surprised (which was awkward) but we did, and all was well! As we prepared to go into the store to get little items to tell our immediate families, doesn’t Jay’s sister walk by our car window! What are the odds, middle of the day!!! Jay instantly jumped at the chance to tell her, and so we did!! We then drove to Warren to tell my sister because supposedly she was home sick today. We get there and no one is in sight. What the heck!? So I called her and told her Uncle Andy and I came to visit thinking that she was home… well turns out she was in Barre. Ok, so we left the little onesie there and later face timed. We get home to tell my parents and mom went to the bar! So we tell dad. Mom will have to wait. We move on to his parents and his mom is MIA too! At the hockey rink! What the heck is going on here, no one is where we want them today!!!!!!!! All was well, we ended up telling them all and of course they were elated!

Pictures from FET #2

FET #2 Done!

We had another incredible experience with transfer #2 yesterday (01/20/16). The embryo was BEAUTIFUL! It was starting to hatch too which is excellent because "a healthy blastocyst often begins hatching from its outer shell between day 5 and 7. Within 24 hours after hatching, embryo implantation begins as the embryo invades into the uterine lining." That is what we are shooting for!!! I created this embryo comparison from transfer 1 to 2... there is quite a difference.

The process was the same, only this time it was Dr. Casson doing the transfer and a male embryologist preparing the embryo for transfer. Everyone (as usual) were great! Dr. Casson is quite the comedian! He was telling us how his daughter just switched to vegan and how she "went to the dark side" and then started cracking vegan jokes! We were all laughing!! The transfer went really well and now the 2 week wait begins (again). Keep us in your prayers. Pictures to follow in next post!

Clinging to HOPE

Here we go! Round two IVF Frozen Embryo transfer has arrived! We are again filled with many emotions from fear and anxiety to hope and excitement. We know our time is coming and we are hoping that today is the start of that! Thanks for the messages, its comforting to us knowing we have so much love and support surrounding us!

2nd Transfer coming up!

Hi All, some may know this about me but I rely on inspirational quotes and positive energy to push forward when I am feeling stuck in a rut. What happened last month is no exception. I came across this quote yesterday that I felt was the perfect dictation of mine and Jay's story... "Be stubborn about your goals, and flexible about your methods." I love it! After years of trying to control the shit out of everything in my life, I finally gave in and since then I have taken a lot of pressure off my shoulders. I have learned to bend and flex and roll with the punches and it is absolutely the most important coping mechanism I have learned to adapt to!!! With that said and in the interest of pushing on, we have our second IVF transfer on January 19th!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WISH US LUCK!!!!!! Not that I am getting my hopes up or anything but I would love to take belly pics with my best buddy! :)

The excitement didn't last...

So our hope was to be able to surprise our families and close friends on Christmas day with GOOD news. We went Christmas Eve morning for a blood pregnancy test. While we waited we did some last minute Christmas shopping to occupy our minds. My phone rang and our stomachs dropped. Hoping for the best, I could tell from the tone of Dr. C's voice that we weren't going to like what he was about to say. In his words "well you are pregnant but not really... I have to be honest Jennifer its not looking good." He went on to explain that yes the embryo implanted into my uterine lining however he suspected based on the low levels of HCG that it was a biochemical pregnancy and that it detached aka an early miscarriage. This is actually quite common but many women don't know it happened and by the time their period is late any trace of HCG is gone. Unfortunately because we are doing IVF and monitoring everything so closely we were made aware of this heartbreak. We went back the day after Christmas for more blood and my levels declined and he was able to confirm it. It was a tough blow... but we are believing that everything happens for a reason and our time WILL come.