Ultrasound Update 6w2d

Skipping the details first since this is what inquiring minds want to know:]


One precious little heartbeat at 108 bpm and an over achiever measuring one day ahead at 6w3days!  Everything is where it should be and I'll try to scan the picture soon!  Good Friday=Great!  

The little details-
We waited about thirty minutes before the appointment and there were two couples with around three year old boys in the waiting room.  You know they were most likely the results of modern medicine and it was nice to get that hope stirred up before the scan.  When they called us back, I was so disappointed because it was my least favorite ultrasound tech.  She's always in a hurry, can be hateful and just always has a debbie downer presence about her.  So, as soon as she left for me to change I shared my thoughts about her with PC and this was his comment as we were leaving the room "How can someone give you such happy news but you leaving feeling sad?"  She worked her "magic" on him as well.  Anyway, she told us "I know you'll have questions but let me do my work first and then I'll turn the screen around and let you know what you're seeing."  At least she didn't keep us waiting too long and she said "I see one embryo with a heartbeat."  She takes some pictures and then turns the screen and asks if we've been pregnant before to which I answer no.  Then she points out the amniotic sac, the yolk sac where the baby is getting it's nutrition, the embryo and the heartbeat.  She told me that the heartbeat is within normal range but they would like to see it higher at the next scan in 10 days.  If that's good, they will release me to my OB.  I asked her if we can have a picture and she said she would lay one on my file.  I tell her that we've been waiting to tell our parents and here's how she wraps it up, "Yeah, I would wait until the next ultrasound... the next few days are the most tricky.  But then again, that's your choice.  You can get dressed and take this up to the front."  See what prompted PC's comment?  Good grief. 
We took our papers to the front desk and the lady took it and said "what a big baby you have!"  Yay for someone smiling for us.  We made our next appointment and were on our way.  We didn't talk much on the way home.  We are thrilled and those are all things I wanted to hear today, don't get me wrong!  We're more thinkers than talkers and that was just our way of processing the news.  We're both okay knowing it's one growing in there!  On some level I'm sad that one didn't "stick" but God knows what is best for us.  We went to the grocery store then came home and slept for a couple of hours.  We're both drained from this ongoing roller coaster ride but we can rest easier that we've made it through another hurdle!

All in all, it was a Great Friday and we have lots to look forward to this weekend.  We are telling our parents regardless of the warning from debbie downer today... they are the people closest to us we need their support right now!  Thanks for all the positive wishes yesterday! 

Let Good Friday be Great!

Well, it's the night before the big ultrasound #1 tomorrow morning. I am beyond nervous.  Please, please, please let tomorrow be confirmation that everything is as it should be!  During this 2WW, I bought about ten dollar store HPTs and I have P'dOAS at least every other day just for some kind of reassurance.  The dollar store tests have not let me down as far as two lines but the test line has not been as dark or darker than the control line.  After using so many OPK's, I can't get past that two lines means pregnant regardless of which line is darker.  My sore bbs are really the only consistent 'sign' that anything is different right now, but even that's only noticeable when I hug PC or lay a certain way.  If I'm hungry, I'm h-u-n-g-r-y and everything tastes better with salt, but that's not much different either.  No nausea or at least nothing close to running to the bathroom.  Just a bit more fatigue than normal.  No glow... where's the glow!?!  I've also figured out that blog reading does not always help with working on the worries.  There are a lot of IF sisters who, after months or years of TTC, get a BFP only to experience heartbreaking losses.  I'm not immune, and I can't help but to be so scared of the unknown. 

Here are my happy thoughts right now... if we do get a good report... we're going to tell our parents since we'll see them both over the holiday weekend.  Moments I've only been able to dream about. 

Please keep us in your thoughts tomorrow for a Good Friday that turns out to be Great!!!

IVF FYI... part 2

One more post about things I learned from others to get through IVF#1 as related to PIO shots.  I have been reading blogs but I am behind on comments this week and hope to spend the rest of the week before our first ultrasound (deep breaths...positive thoughts...) catching up. 

PIO shots

This is the routine that worked for us.  (Prior to any of this- at Egg Retrieval- the nurse drew some helpful "x marks the spot" places on my backside.)

• Put an ice pack on my backside for about 5 minutes.  (Some people say not to do this because the ice will hinder the oil from spreading, but that hasn't been a problem so far.)

• PC holds the PIO bottle to get it warm while my backside is chilling.  Some bloggers suggested putting it in your bra works just as well.  (However, we chose 8:30 each night and I am usually in pj's and sans the bra by that time!)

• Put my "toasty toes" in the microwave for 3 minutes.  This thing has been a lifesaver!  A lady where I work makes them... it's filled with corn and stays toasty for more than an hour!

• Wipe the PIO vial w/ an alcohol swab.  

• Fill syringe with 1mL of air, draw up the PIO, change the needle to a 25g 1 inch.  

• Lay the filled syringe under my "toasty toes" for 15-20 seconds, not long- barely warm.  NOTE:  Made a big mistake here... PC and I were talking and I left it under there too long.  I got it too hot and it was more painful than any other injection... I burned my inner butt, ugh.  

Then I hand it over to PC.  The SAME conversation (not that anyone needs this info. but it throughly documents the experience), give and take a few words, takes place:
PC- Relax your hips
Mac- I am... go
PC- Waiting on alcohol to dry
Mac- It will be ok
PC- I'm going right here in 3, 2, 1... stick... all clear... 1/2 way...3/4...done
Mac- Good job, thanks babe

I also asked him if he checked for blood the first few times until he started getting mad at me for asking every time.  I figured it's not a good time to have him mad at me! 

• PC holds the beveled edge up and does a dart-like action.  It's really not that bad of a stick.  The only time it's hurt is when I overheated the oil and a couple of times he pushed a little too hard trying to get the oil out.   

• Afterwards, I put a piece of gauze on the area and walk/massage for 2-3 minutes.  

• Last, I sit on the corn bag to warm the area for about 20 minutes.  

Sometimes I'm sore the next day, sometimes I'm not.  I think it may have to do with how much I relax my hips but when I try to focus on relaxing my hips, it makes it worse.  We've done these for going on five weeks now and they're a literal pain in the a$$ but if they are creating the best environment for this little one, I will gladly grin and bear it!
  

IVF FYI... part 1

I'm putting together some different posts about things I learned, and keep learning, (mostly related to meds) through the IVF process in case something might help someone else.  We're so very fortunate that we got our BFP from IVF#1... I've read blogs of women who have gone through the process two, three and four times and I'm in complete amazement; they are much stronger than me.  I am not posting any of this because I think it's the "right way"... instead, maybe someone can learn from my trial and error!  In fact, I am an example of what not to do because clearly I flipped out with my first injection!  These are just tips and tricks that helped me and most of it came from advice from other blog readers, web surfing, and (as mentioned) trial and error.  Besides, I'm also in the 2WW until my first u/s and need something to distract me and blog about while I pass the time.  And I like bulleted lists:]


Appointments

• I kept a bag ready just for all those appointments with a calendar/notepad, usually some reading material, bottle of water, pen/pencil, germ-x, panty liners, cash for the parking fee, pair of socks (in case I was wearing sandals... I'm a socks in the stirrups girl) mints and random other things I considered appointment essentials.  I dropped my wallet and phone in there each time and this became my purse on those days.       

• During the time of frequent visits, I had to do the injections at the clinic since it's a long drive for us.  I would just pack my meds/needles the night before and found it helpful to drop the Lupron down in an old pill bottle and put a cotton ball over it.  I was always worried about a spill or something breaking.    

Meds

• One of the most helpful things for us was setting everything up in one room on a table.  (AKA- the wannabe nursery room.)  The bathroom is right beside it so we could wash our hands and then all "supplies" were within reach.  I even put my prenatal vitamins on the table so I wouldn't forget them.  

• I didn't realize until the second or third night of injections that the little see through part in the lid of the vials was the "trick" to getting all of the liquid out.  You can pull back while pulling the needle down and see what you're doing to suction it all out.  Didn't leave any in the vial after figuring that out... probably something I should have learned at injection training!  

• When they extended my meds by one day, those vials came with Q-caps.  Oh, how those made life easy.  If you have the option, they save time!

• Some people are lucky that the stims do not burn.  I blamed the burning on Menopur but when I stopped using it, turns out the Bravelle was the culprit the whole time!  Anyway, what helped me with the burning was pinching myself a little.  I watched a few youtube clips of women doing the injections and one girl talked about how she focused on the pinch and that got her focus off the stinging and she was right!  Somehow it made it easier to tolerate thinking I was causing the sting rather than the medicine.  Mind over matter? 

• I kept getting confused about when to change the estradiol patches so I started writing the date on them.  Problem solved!

• This was probably a crazy OCD-type thing to do, but I always wanted to do the Lupron injection on one side and the stims on the opposite side and then rotate.  It made me feel like I was balancing out the meds, not because someone told me to.  So I would write an L on the small round bandages I used to stand for 'Lupron' and kept up with rotating the injections that way.   

What I need a tip/trick for... how in the world to get off the sticky stuff from the estrogen patches!!!  I've tried soap, baby oil, scraping it... I promise that I DO bathe but that stuff doesn't come off!!! 

 

Part 2... PIO shots and side effects

And the winner Is...

Now what are the odds of this?

Commenter #16 belongs to the person who inspired me to do a giveaway because I won her first giveaway, cool!  Congrats to Carlia at The Stork Drop Zone for winning the clips and notepads!  Thanks to everyone who participated and I already have an idea for the next giveaway so please join in again!