Retrieval day

                        

Sunday was the big day we had been waiting for, we had been preparing mentally and physically for this day. We made the drive to Thousand Oaks on Saturday so we would have time to relax and didn't have to be up so early and rush the day of. We got to our hotel Saturday and unloaded all the snacks I had purchased for after my procedure all my friends who had been through this said to have high sodium after to help with the bloating, I got pickles (thanks to my mother in law and her knowledge that pickles have tons of sodium), goldfish, granola bars and Gatorade. After resting we headed out for dinner we ended up at outback and had a great dinner discussing our soon to be kids! We headed back to the hotel after dinner and just relaxed I was a bit worried about the time change and missing our appointment or alarm after calling in a wake up call from my father in law I was able to head to bed. Morning came early and I was starving only to remember I couldn't eat or drink till after the retrieval, the hotel smelled like breakfast talk about torture. We arrived to the Dr. Office and my nerves started filled out all the paper work and then it was time they called us back, I got all dressed in my gown, robe, and hair cover. I felt more like a celebrity at a medical spa then at a Dr. Office. My nurse came in and went over everything with us then I was taken to the procedure room, I held back my tears as I left Greg always the worst part for me. The nurse got me in the bed and bundled me up put heating pads on my arms and started to prep me, she got my iv in and gave me something to relax me Dr. K came in and said hi and went to scrub in. Next thing I know I was waking up and we were done seemed so quick Greg was waiting for me in recovery and they told us the wonderful news they were able to retrieve 18 eggs!!! I was in some pain they gave me a shot to help with pain and one I was fully awake they got ready to discharge me. Greg took such great care of me he got me some food and then took me back to the hotel and let me sleep off the meds. I felt pretty good that night so we went to dinner and got some frozen yogurt I think the yogurt was my favorite part. I was in some pain when we got back to the hotel so I called it a night and headed to bed. Monday morning we headed home after breakfast at the hotel. Monday afternoon Dr. K called to let is know 15 of our 18 eggs fertilized I was so excited I am now a proud momma of 15! 

Will update soon as we get more info about our 15 praying they continue to thrive and grow! 

                                         

                                                   All dressed and ready for procedure!

                                 

                                                 All done and waking up!

                          

Almost time......

Its almost time for retrieval! Yup already hard to believe this past 2 weeks have been full of trips back and forth to the RE and injections but we have almost made it to the next huge step. Let me update you on what has been going on this week.


Monday I made the 3 hour drive to Thousand Oaks to see our RE who I love without him I am not sure we would be to this point! I had my blood drawn to monitor estrogen levels and had my date with Mr. Wand (ultrasound machine) Dr. was very happy with results as this far which made me happy! after a great appointment I made my stop for lunch at Taco Bell my favorite place and headed home. I got the call when I got to home that my lab results came back amazing and I would be adding in another injection to my nightly routine. I grabbed all my medicine and headed out the door for Bible study I enjoy my Monday night time with the ladies there and they are so supportive of our IVF journey. So far I have done injections at our friends house while there for dinner and now Bible study oh the stories I will have for my children!
Tuesday and Wednesday I watched my friends kids and had to make the easy decision that I can now only wear yoga pants or stretchy pants the meds make me so bloated that I am worried when I go into public someone might ask me when I am due :/ another lovely side effect. Wednesday my husband even came home with flowers for me!!! For those of you that know us know how big this is I am always giving him a hard time about how I never get flowers.
Thursday I made the 3 hour trip back to the RE to be checked blood work and date with Mr. Wand I decided to give him a name since we have dates so often haha anyway Dr. K was super impressed with me and decided he didn't need to see me until retrieval day Eeeekkk! They gave me all my instructions and sent me on my way.
Friday(Today) I am packing getting ready for my procedure this am I took my last 225iu of Follistim hopefully ever! and tonight I will be taking the last injection of Menopur again hopefully ever! and then triggering ovulation and in 35 hours from then I will be getting set for retrieval!
I  don't know if its the hormones or what but as I type this I am crying, I am crying because we have come so far and being done with injections means we are closer to our goal of our babyshoes!!! I am truly so thankful for all the love and support we get from each and everyone of you without you all I am not sure I could do all this!
I will update as soon as I can on how retrieval goes and how many eggs we are able to get!


I will leave you with some picutres from this week....

Flowers from my hubby! 

My fastly filling sharps container

Progress of my follicles 
My super bloated belly and giving myself and injection!

"Shot,shots,shots....everybody"

Lol every time I hear that song now it has new meaning for me. I am currently day 4 of the follistim and Menopur shots all is going well I am now after 3 years able to do my own injections proud moment for me!!! We went to the dr yesterday (Friday) and all is going as planned which is great news!!!! He gave us the weekend off from traveling the 3 hours and some change down to see him. Today since we were given the weekend off we ran some errands and purchased our birthday/anniversary gifts to each other two rocker recliners that will match our couch Greg says they will be perfect for rocking our amazing IVF baby/babies! Tonight we are watching movies and relaxing tomorrow same thing before traveling back to dr. Monday and back Monday night for my bible study! Have a great weekend everyone I'm headed back to be lazy and watch some movies with my hubby and furry kids. First I will leave you with some pics from this week.

Friday on our way to doctor we had bad weather lots of accidents.

Nightly cocktail of Menopur 

IVF #1 kicks off

Today I had my ultrasound to kick off our IVF! Eeeek it's so real now.... We got the all clear ultrasound showed everything was looking perfect. I start follistim tomorrow morning and menopor (spelling might be wrong) in the evening we will go back Friday to check progress and again possibly Sunday! Estimated retrieval is the 8th or 9th of March! Yay let's pray this gets up those baby shoes!! 

     

A Bump in the road

I first have to start by saying how thankful I am to be in such an amazing Doctors care. As I type this update we are about 20 days from starting IVF so exciting and nerve wrecking at the same time. Today our Fertility specialist called with results and information for us, all my testing has come back and there was one result he is concerned with but nothing that will cancel our IVF or stop us from becoming parents. We will be delayed in our transfer as we need to go over some items with our dr. better safe than sorry. I am so thankful for the amazing care we are receiving. I feel now knowing what we do that all our failed attempts were for a good reason. Nature said No and science is saying YES! I was reminded today about a story that went around on social media it was about a person complaining to God why did you let me sleep in? and other whys? God answered and said I let you sleep in because if you would have been on time you would have been in a bad car accident. point being I feel all our failed attempts were to put us where we are now and I am so grateful!

20 days till IVF begins!!! I will keep you all updated cant wait!

xoxo
BabyBlues2BabyShoes

Please continue to send positive thoughts and prayers they are greatly appreciated!

Medicine is here and we start our countdown!

Its beginning to become real!!! Medications arrived and let me tell you there were a ton of needles, and from someone who used to be scared of needles it was a tad bit much. I unloaded the box and then a new emotion set in I went from being scared of the needles to thankful and excited, these medications are going to help Greg and I achieve our goal to be parents!! We now are in count down mode we have not even a month till we begin IVF and I can't even begin to tell you how excited we are to get started!

COUNTDOWN GOALS!

Since we have about a month little less we have decided to relax and enjoy, NO STRESS going into IVF! We spent this weekend doing just that. Friday we went to hobby lobby and got some Project life items to start our album for IVF. For those of you who do not know what project life is its a scrapbook type photo album that is done weekly, we thought this would be perfect to look back on and show our little ones. Can't wait to get started on that as well! Saturday we went and got my computer all fixed up and working again (thats why I am back blogging) and had dinner and fun with some of our friends. Sunday we spent the day relaxing and watching the big superbowl game. Nothing super special but all relaxing and no stress!

I will try my best to update and keep you all posted on our countdown activities and any other important things!


Until then thank you all for your love and support!
XOXO BabyBlues2BabyShoes

Update and New Beginings for 2014!

Hello all so sorry I am such a bad blogger I always plan to update then other things happen and I forget! I promise 2014 will be different!


Anyways let me update you on the journey we have traveled this far. After a BFN (Big Fat Negative) from our 2nd IUI we went on to do a 3rd IUI Dr. said everything looked amazing. Greg and I had talked before hand and agreed that if this 3rd IUI did not work we were going to move on to IVF however we remained positive our 3rd iui would be it! As we started our TWW we both acted as if the IUI had worked and remained super positive. Our Two week wait ended December 27th with a BFN and dang AF came the following day. I had to call the Dr. and fill them in on the negative test and that AF has showed they didn't seem to care and when I asked to talk to someone about IVF they informed me that the next one would be in March, this meaning that they would be strictly working off their schedule and not my cycle I did not get a good feeling from them about the IVF. After talking to Greg about it we agreed to seek a second opinion.


After talking to friends who are currently seeking infertility treatments and those that have been though this before we settled on a Dr. in Thousand Oaks California. I have learned so much through this journey this time I was not going in not knowing anything or unprepared I had 3 pages of question and notes and also had looked up his success rates and other important information, I was able to get us an appointment early in January which was amazing I was informed that our consult appointment would last at least an hour and a half with the dr. getting to know him and going over all options and medical history I was already blown away as our last dr. we saw I think 3 times or so in 3 years. We arrived to our apt with nerves and excitement we were welcomed Dr. Kumar and taken to his office to go over everything. Our appointment was at 11:00 and we left about 2:00pm all our questions were gone over he has power points to show each step in the process went over my medical history and preformed a ultrasound to check on me himself and lastly Greg and I both had blood taken for labs. By the next day I had a phone call from the nurse telling me I was not immune to MMR ( measles, mumps and rubella) and that I would need a booster before proceeding with treatments. Easier said then done getting the MMR was no easy task but I in the end I got the shot and in 30 days we are able to proceed with IVF!


We had a nurse appointment this last week which went over cost and what insurance cover, meds, schedule and all that fun stuff as it looks now we will be starting IVF end of February retrieval will be in march and then transfer will be in April! I plan to keep you all updated on each step as we go.


Current status is we are waiting on AF and then from then we have 1 month till we start our protocol for IVF! next month we plan to take a mini trip before all the dr. appointments and other things begin!    


Thank you so much for all the love and support!


BabyBlues2BabyShoes!