Evan, Aidan, Bella & Sophia » January 2008 Journal Entries » AboutMyBaby - online baby scrapbooks, photo albums, videos, birth and pregnancy announcements

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Thu, Jan 31, 2008 10:36 AM
B.L.O.A.T.E.D.

I am so bloated. I can’t believe it. My appetite is totally gone, I am very nauseated, so I can’t be gaining weight. But my abdomen feels HUGE. A lot of it is in my head, as my pants still fit. But I can’t get over how full and bloated I feel. I keep having major lower back cramping/pains, too. Lovely.

6 days until Ultrasound/Bloodwork
8 days until Progesterone injections begin
11 days until Frozen Embryo Transfer
18 days until I can test with a Home Pregnancy Test.

Whoa, this is all going so fast. EEK!

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Wed, Jan 30, 2008 12:36 PM
Progesterone In Oil (PIO) & syringes

All my progesterone and syringes arrived last night. We are set to go! I hope Slawek remembers how to administer intramuscular injections. It has been 4 years since he gave me one last!

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Tue, Jan 29, 2008 9:37 AM
Oh the nausea ~ The estrace is killing me. I have absolutely no appetite whatsoever, and I have constant nausea (reminds me of 1st trimester/pregnancy nausea). I walked over to our printer at work yesterday and had to quickly run to the bathroom, I thought I was going to throw up right then and there. I am so surprised. I know nausea/vomiting is a side affect, I just didn’t realize it would hit me this hard. It seems to continually get worse so far, too, which worries me. I hope it doesn’t get worse.

I am extremely tired, as well. I have been going to bed every night with Izabella at 8-8:30 pm. I just can’t make it past 9 pm. It’s a good thing I have only had 3 photo sessions this month! I would have trouble editing them in my current state of exhaustion.

My Progesterone vials and syringes arrive today.

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Mon, Jan 28, 2008 8:48 AM
The kids have had a really rough week. All 3 have been very sick this week. The coughing, fevers... it's so draining on everyone. Evan got it first on Tuesday, then Aidan and Bella looked terrible on Saturday. Her eyes were so red I thought she had pink eye. I ended up holding her most the day on Saturday. Sunday was better, she bounced back - but all 3 are still coughing.

I was just bragging a week ago that we have had a mild winter in our house, as far as illnesses go. None of my kids have been sick in months. So, I guess I jinxed us - or we were due. Hopefully this is it for the winter and Spring will arrive SOON! We are all tired of this cold weather.

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Thu, Jan 24, 2008 12:39 PM
Frozen Embryo Transfer Scheduled! 2/11/08

I just got the call from Dr. Scheiber’s office.

Our FET is scheduled for 2/11/08.I was originally told it would be around 2/4/08, but when I asked about the push back she said scheduling and the fact that our embryos are “cleaving” pushed us back. I don’t know what she is talking about, I looked up cleaving and it says cleaving is cell division online. And I know our embryos are still frozen. But, that’s fine.

2/06/08 is my Ultrasound and Bloodwork
2/08/08 I start Progesterone In Oil injections (on order from Freedom Pharmacy)
2/11/08 is our Embryo Transfer
2/25/08 is my tentative beta test dateHere we go! Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers. I hope this estrogen doesn’t make me totally insane by the time 2/11/08 gets here.

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Thu, Jan 24, 2008 10:38 AM
CD1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Finally, CD1. I think I have the longest LP of anyone I know (15 days). Soooo frustrating when you want the witch to arrive, but good if we were TTC naturally.

I just took my first 2 estrace pills and called Dr. Scheiber. I had to leave a message, and my message said 4 things:

#1. Calling to report CD1 and that I just took my 1st two estrace pills.

#2. Calling to schedule my Ultrasound and Bloodwork.

#3. Calling to find out the results of my HIV test (blood was taken exactly 1 week ago).

#4. Called to ask Dr. Scheiber to switch me to PIO. He said I could do PIO shots if it would ease my mind, and I prefer to do so.

I asked that the nurse call my cell back, and she did. My HIV test was fine (duh, I knew that), and she has me marked as "cycling" now! WOO HOO!

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Wed, Jan 23, 2008 10:40 AM
If we conceive.........

our due date would be HALLOWEEN! 10/31/2008!

Conception would be 2/8/08, with a 3-day transfer on 2/11/08.

Your baby was conceived around February 08, 2008.
Your first trimester begins January 25, 2008.
Your second trimester begins April 19, 2008.
Your third trimester begins August 02, 2008.

Your estimate due date is October 31, 2008

How’s that for wishful thinking?

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Tue, Jan 22, 2008 10:40 AM
What are the possible side effects of Estrace?

Get emergency medical help if you have any of these signs of an allergic reaction: hives; difficulty breathing; swelling of your face, lips, tongue, or throat. Call your doctor at once if you have any of these serious side effects:

chest pain or heavy feeling, pain spreading to the arm or shoulder, nausea, sweating, general ill feeling;
sudden numbness or weakness, especially on one side of the body;
sudden headache, confusion, problems with vision, speech, or balance;
pain or swelling in your lower leg;
abnormal vaginal bleeding;
pain, swelling, or tenderness in your stomach;
jaundice (yellowing of the skin or eyes); or
a lump in your breast.
Other less serious side effects are more likely to occur, such as:

nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite;
swollen breasts;
acne or skin color changes;
decreased sex drive, impotence, or difficulty having an orgasm;
migraine headaches or dizziness;
vaginal pain, dryness, or discomfort;
swelling of your ankles or feet;
depression; or
changes in your menstrual periods, break-through bleeding.
Side effects other than those listed here may also occur. Talk to your doctor about any side effect that seems unusual or that is especially bothersome.

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Fri, Jan 18, 2008 10:41 AM
My fortune cookie fortune today:

No harm in putting all your eggs in one basket - just watch it closely.

How fitting! But I don’t think we will be risking putting all our eggs in 1 basket. We wouldn’t want sextuplets! HA! How funny, though.

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Thu, Jan 17, 2008 11:41 AM
Blood Draw ~ Take 2

I’m back!

The nurse told me I am totally overreacting.

I am actually happy to hear it. I am glad she feels that way.

They said they simply forgot to draw enough blood and that I shouldn’t read into it all the things from my past experience in 2004. If that hadn’t happened to me, I wouldn’t be as distraught about it, and she is right. So, for now I will focus on NOT obsessing about this and wait for my test results.

I asked if they can be rushed, she said she would try to have them rushed. I’m sure that means “No, you will get your results in 1 week just like last time.”

I also asked if all our other bloodwork came back, and she said “yes - everything was negative” (including Hep A, Hep B and Slawek’s HIV bloodtest).

I said a prayer on the way to work that I get a quick, negative result and that I can put this forever behind me.

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Wed, Jan 16, 2008 10:42 AM
I have to go back into Dr. Scheiber's office tomorrow - apparently they did not draw enough blood for my HIV test. Ugh! I wish that test was behind me.

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Wed, Jan 9, 2008 1:43 PM
Mock Trial Transfer & FET Consult:

Today was our mock trial transfer and consult for our upcoming Frozen Embryo Transfer (FET). I got so emotional today. Just imagining that we were in the same building as our frozen babies - I don’t know, emotional I guess. We had such a positive IVF experience the last time, I have all positive/warm feelings when I enter that building.

Appt. details:

We have 6 embryos that are all 6, 7, and 8 cell. He said that 5 of them are excellent quality. They are frozen in 2 straws (sets) of 3 and they were frozen the same day as my IVF fresh transfer (3 DPO).

What we are doing is unthawing 1 of the straws, so we will have 3 embryos. He said typically 2 survive, sometimes 3, so we’ll see. He wants to transfer 2 or 3. I said I am scared about transferring 3, but he is suggesting 3 since a frozen cycle is less successful than a fresh cycle. He also asked what we would do with the 3rd if all 3 survive the thaw. Do we want to transfer all 3? Or do we want him to place 2 in the proper area of the uterus (up high for a hopeful implantation) and then place the third down low so it didn’t have as much of a chance to make it/implant. We’ll think about it, not sure. Quite possibly we won’t have to make that decision. We may only get 1-2 embryos out of thawing 3, so we’ll think about it once we know how many survive on the day of the transfer. They will be thawed the day of the transfer, just hours before the transfer. If none from the first straw survive, he will thaw the second straw. It concerns me because he said that the last 12 months of their Frozens have been the best successes of their business. I can’t handle triplets - my BODY can’t handle it. We prefer a healthy, singleton pregnancy with no frozens remaining.

Slawek and I both had to have HIV blood draws and I had an ultrasound. He measured my uterus and said I just ovulated (already knew that - I ovulated in the middle of the night, I think, or sometime VERY early this morning). I ovulated on the right side, and he showed me the corpus luteum cyst remaining from the ovulation. He said I had nice, thick lining and then did the mock trial. He just inserted the embryo transfer catheter and pretended to place them (while watching on the monitor to see where the proper placement is). He said I had an inverted uterus, but I already knew that from the first time.

I got all my prescriptions (estrace, prometrium, etc.) and need to fill them asap.

The Plan:
CD1 (around 1/25) - start oral Estrace (estrogen) and I call and tell them I am cycling. Estrace will more than likely prevent me from ovulating on my own and will also help me thicken my lining even more than naturally. (only 5% of women still ovulate on estrace).

CD 8-10 - Ultrasound. I will come in, they will measure my lining to make sure it’s thick enough for a transfer and they will draw my blood for an estrogen level.

Embryo Transfer - sometime after CD10, probably before CD13. (approximately 2/5/08 )

Once the embryo transfer occurs, I will start vaginal prometrium suppositories. I expressed that I hated the suppositories the last time (I bled on them until I changed to Progesterone In Oil shots) and he said I can do the PIO shots if I want. We’ll see. I’ll start with prometrium suppositories. If I do ok (no spotting), then I’ll continue, otherwise I’ll switch to PIO, he told me I could call.

Oh and I asked the Dr. about whether boys or girls are more common thru IVF. I wanted to know mainly out of curiousity. I know about 7-8 girls who had IVF and have twin BOYS, and hardly no girls. He said I was wrong, and that it’s ALMOST 50/50 girl/boy from IVF. More like 49/50%. So it’s just coincidence that I know so many twin boys.

Dr. Scheiber and all his staff asked us to pull out all the pics of the kids, so of course we had a stack ready to do so. (I knew they would). About 8 or 9 nurses gathered around and so did Dr. Scheiber and they all ooh’d and aah’d over the boys and Bella (mostly her hair, LOL) They have all our Christmas Cards in our file, I saw them. I have mailed them an annual Christmas Card since 2004. I love Dr. Scheiber so much. I remember when we conceived the boys thru IVF and I graduated from him at 9 weeks. I sobbed all the way to the car. I had such a strong attachment to him. I’ll never forget the day he did my ultrasound to see how many babies I had conceived and he showed me one baby with a flickering heart (6 weeks) and then showed me the other twin, he said since I was so good, I got a bonus baby. I started sobbing right there, spread eagle on the Drs. table and he came over and hugged me for the longest time. Now that I look back, it seems almost embarrassing (spread eagle and hugging a Dr.), but it was just one of those moments in life I will never, ever forget.

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Tue, Jan 8, 2008 8:34 AM
Tomorrow is our Mock Trial & Consult!

We have decided to TTC with our frozen embies. :) We made an appt. at the end of 2007 to meet with Dr. Scheiber in order to discuss a Frozen Embryo Transfer (FET). We decided we need to go ahead. Slawek and I aren’t getting any younger, and we don’t want to continue paying frozen cryo-storage fees. So we switched our health insurance to the more expensive coverage that covers IVF and we plan to make a go of this for 2008.

Tomorrow is my mock trial transfer, ultrasound, bloodwork and consult with Dr. Scheiber. I know we have 6 embryos in storage, but I am not sure of the quality, not how they are frozen (in straws of 2 or 3), and what day they were frozen on. I am 35 years old now, considered Advanced Maternal Age (AMA) - :( Typically if you are over 35, Dr. Scheiber does 3 embryos transferred, but with my pregnancy success rate, he may only want to do 2. And truthfully, I would be afraid to conceive multiples with my history of pre-term labor. So much to think about.

Nervous…. anxious….

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Thu, Jan 3, 2008 12:31 PM
The boys are home!!!

Evan had different clothes on, I guess he spilled something all over himself, so they changed him.

Here are my daily reports from Miss Kim:

"Aidan had a great day, played in the bean box (tactile table) and w/ the speech therapist, he especially enjoyed singing and dancing at circle time."

"Evan is adjusting to the new routine. He explored the room, enjoyed playing with the blocks and bean blocks. He had a couple brief tantrums, as to be expected, but he calmed and redirected easily. He spilled juice on himself so we changed his clothes. We tried an open cup, but a sippy cup make work better."

Yayyy boys. (not too surprised about Evan, heh heh)

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Thu, Jan 3, 2008 10:00 AM
I am back from dropping off Evan and Aidan at school. It was hard. Walking out the door, going to my car was SUPER hard. My dad came with me (to find out where to take them, as he will be driving and picking them up). Dad took a ton of pictures, which I will upload tonight after I get home from work. Their teacher, Miss Kim, was super nice. I talked to her for at least 15 min. I wanted her to know that Aidan is sneaky/quiet and sneaks out the door without you knowing (they keep the door open, so that worried me). But the building door is locked at 9:15 am, so no one can get in or out (unless a teacher punches in a code).

The boys LOVED it. I said, "here is your new school" and Evan said, "school?" And looked at me with big eyes. Then they saw all the play areas, toys, craft areas, tactile table with beans and stuff. They were running around like they were cut loose on a farm or something. Too cute. I hope they are having fun. The fact that they seemed to be enjoying themselves did make it somewhat easier.

School is from 9:15 am - 11:40 am. So my dad will drop them off each day between 9:05 - 9:10 am and pick up at 11:40 am.

I hope their first day goes well. Oh, and their assistant teacher is the Photographer we used for Bella's newborn photos. She also did all the boys photos for their first 18 mo. She told me I need to get the kids in to have their photos taken. I just laughed (my photo biz) {wink}

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Thu, Jan 3, 2008 7:00 AM
Today is Evan and Aidan's very first day of Preschool (Fairfield City Schools). Please say a prayer for them (and Mommy). I am super stressed, as this is the first time they will be away from us (the family). My mom has always provided in-home daycare for me (thank goodness), so I haven't had to deal with sending them off anywhere. Aidan is behind in speech and it was strongly advised that they both start preschool. We signed them up, so off they go. Originally, they were going to take a bus, but we chickened out at the last minute and my Dad so graciously offered to drive them to and from school each day.

They will go to school 4 days a week (Mon - Thurs) from 9 am - 11:30 am.

Send positive thoughts our way this morning!

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