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

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Fri, Feb 29, 2008 7:09 AM
5 Weeks:
Your baby is now about the size of an apple seed. That’s about 0.08 to 0.16 inches (2 to 4mm) from crown to rump. It has formed a distinct head with the first stages of eyes and ears. The spinal column and cord are formed. Buds that will grow limbs have also formed. The heart is starting to beat and at this stage its beating may even be detected by sensitive ultrasound equipment, though, it’s still very early. The kidneys, liver and nerve cells have also begun to develop. Ten dental buds are growing in the jaws. Blood circulation has begun and primitive red blood cells circulate. The neural tube has closed over along your baby’s spine. The optic vesicles, which resemble tiny discs of pigment set in cups along the sides of your baby’s head will develop into your baby’s eyes. A distinct tail is still present. The body is shaped like the letter “C”.

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Thu, Feb 28, 2008 8:15 AM
I wanted to post an update. After getting everything straightened out with the Aboutmybaby owner, I think I am all set. The password is pretty difficult now, so no one (not even Slawek, LOL!) should be able to figure it out. For the time being, I am going to leave this site as-is (not password protected). If 1 more thing happens, I will be password protecting it and will send out emails notifying everyone what the password is. Thanks !!!

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Lucille: I just wanted you to know how much I appreciate all your input on IVF with the twins. You have give me encourgement for my daughter. After trying for 4 years and having miscarried once, she is finally pregnant with twins. (Boy and Girl) Her due date is May 16. 2008. I have enjoyed so much reading yours stories on IVF and you have given me hope for her. I also enjoyed seeing such beautiful pictures you have taken. I hope I can remember some of them whe it is time for me to take take a few shots of the two little ones coming soon. You truly have a talent and seem so calm with your family of twins and little girl. Well God Bless and thanks for all the imput on IVF. PS I hope you ever has disrupted your website pays dearly! How dare them is right!

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Wed, Feb 27, 2008 3:13 PM
Beta #2 (19 DPO) = 500!!!!!!!!!!

That’s way higher than I ever expected. They were looking for it to be at least 60% higher than my first beta of 182, so at least 292. I also know that most positive/good calls at Dr. Scheiber’s office are made in the morning, and most negative/bad calls are made in the afternoon after Dr. Scheiber has had a chance to review the results. So I anticipated bad news after not hearing from them all morning. I finally called about 1 pm and left a message asking for a return call.

Trish called and apologized for just getting back to me. She said they had 2 nurses go home to sick kids today and they are very short staffed. She said 500 is BETTER than just “ok” and she scheduled my 1st Ultrasound!!

3/12/08 ~ 10:30 am ~ our first Ultrasound with Dr. Scheiber at 6w5d!

2 weeks, I can’t wait!

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Mon, Feb 25, 2008 3:17 PM
Feeling a bit better about my first beta results...

After worrying and obsessing about my 182 beta all morning and afternoon, I feel a bit better after finding the following:

http://www.conceivingconcepts.com/learning/articles/hcg.html

* At 17 DPO, the average HCG level is 132 mIU/ml, with a typical range of 17-429 mIU/ml.

http://www.advancedfertility.com/earlypre.htm

NORMAL TWIN PREGNANCIES
14 DPO - Ave 68 hCG - 313 high hCG - 56 low hCG
16 DPO - Ave 146 hCG - 803 high hCG - 112 low hCG
18 DPO - Ave 360 hCG - 1760 high hCG - 200 low hCG

NORMAL SINGLETON PREGNANCIES
14 DPO - Ave 48 hCG - 119 high hCG - 17 low hCG
16 DPO - Ave 95 hCG - 223 high hCG - 33 low hCG
18 DPO - Ave 292 hCG - 758 high hCG - 70 low hCG

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Mon, Feb 25, 2008 10:11 AM
Beta #1 (17 DPO) = 182

A little lower than I thought, but hopefully still ok. We’ll repeat on Wednesday at 8:30 am to see if it’s progressing as it should be. Carmen Woody, my IVF nurse, said anything over 100 hCG is good, so I’ll just hold tight to that.

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Fri, Feb 22, 2008 10:21 AM
First Level 2 Ultrasound & MFM appt ~ 3/31/08!

I am so excited. I finally worked up the nerve to call Dr. Brady’s office and schedule my appts. I don’t know why I have been so nervous. :) But I know it takes a while to get on his schedule, so I wanted to go ahead and do it. Hopefully I won’t have a need to cancel this appt.

3/31/08 ~ 9w3d
9:30 am - Level 2 Ultrasound for viability and growth
10 am - Appt. with Dr. Brady (Maternal Fetal Medicine Specialist/Perinatologist)

It feels a little strange making this appt. with Dr. Brady for an ultrasound when I haven’t even schedule my ultrasounds with Dr. Scheiber yet. Dr. Scheiber will have me do an ultrasound at 6 1/2 weeks or so (around 3/10) and also at 8 1/2 weeks or so (around 3/24) before “releasing me”. And then the following week 3/31 I will have another Ultrasound and appt. with Dr. Brady. Lots of things to look forward to.

I tested again this morning with Second Morning Urine (SMU) and the test is darker than yesterday, so I’m hoping this is a good, viable pregnancy.

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Wed, Feb 20, 2008 12:27 PM
12 DPO
DIGITAL pregnancy tests says: "PREGNANT!"

It's real!

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Wed, Feb 20, 2008 11:22 AM
Bella is hilarious. She has curiously watched as Slawek gives me Progesterone In Oil injections every night and is now giving her doll babies injections in the rear. It’s hilarious. I have seen her take any stick type toy over to her doll babies and try to give them (and me) shots in the bum. So funny!

Evan is my lil lovey boy lately, too. Every night after Slawek gives me my PIO injection, Evan comes over and rubs my hip for 10-15 min. It's the SWEETEST thing! Then he gets on the couch and has me rub his hip, too, - saying he has a "boo boo, too". It's really sweet. Once he had Aidan helping him, but most the time it's just Evan taking care of me. :)

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Tue, Feb 19, 2008 10:26 AM
11 DPO
I am PREGNANT!

I got a BFP + on a FRER and an Answer Early this morning! Yes, at 4:20 am! HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAH

Slawek is always saying how he hates it when I tell things to my online friends before him, so I ran in and showed him. He totally sees it and said, “Congratulations, now get back in bed.” I said, “no way! I have to do a photo shoot with my pee sticks.”

I know, you can’t see much - it’s still light. But they are there (the 2nd lines). I feel much more confident today!!!!!!!!

Due Date: HALLOWEEN 2008!!!!!!!!!

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Mon, Feb 18, 2008 7:35 AM
10 DPO
This morning I took a FRER home pregnancy test. I swore I saw a ghost-like, faint second line on it, but not really photographeable - so I took a Dollar Tree HPT. I am swearing I see a second line, especially after I invert it. I’m not sure what to think. I cautiously think I am pregnant. Hopefully tomorrow's test will be more conclusive.

Last night, while lying in bed, I started with the pinching cramping again (I haven’t had this in 2 days or more). I have had an overall crampy feeling, but even that had really subsided over the last few days (which worried me even more). But last night, the pinching cramping started again and I thought to myself, “maybe they/it are implanting now.” Implantation is supposed to happen sometime between 5 DPO - 10 DPO, so 9 DPO (yesterday) wouldn’t be out of the question, right? And IVF/FET supposedly implant later and produce lower levels of hCG. So, I convinced myself last night that I wasn’t out of the game yet. I even had a dream that I was pregnant.

I am hopeful.

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Wed, Feb 13, 2008 8:58 AM
Someone hacked into my site. Unfortunately, someone figured out my password, hacked into my site here and changed my passwords (and set up a visitor password). There are truly evil people in the world. I will be implementing a visitor password within the next day or so, and in the meantime, I have the aboutmybaby team looking into the IP address for the person who made the changes in between 2/9 and 2/12/08. I am not taking this lightly and will be contacting the police as soon as I have the information. I have been a victim of cyber stalking before and intend to take this as far as I possibly can. I dropped the charges for the last person, but have no intentions on doing it again. This website contains 4 years of my children's lives, statistics and data - all of which are important to me and my family. How dare you.

If you wish to obtain the password to this site, please email me at:
cgorczyk@fuse.net
and I will forward the site password.

Thank you.

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Kathy: I'm sorry about what you are going thru, I enjoy you different poses and backgrounds, I try to take pictures of my own children and grandkids like yours ,but don't turn out so good.I'll keep trying ,pictures last forever and the memories are so important for our families.

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Wed, Feb 13, 2008 8:29 AM
This is a continuation of yesterday - I have the same pulling, pinching and cramping that I have been having since yesterday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Please implant little ones. Nestle in. I also had a twinge of brown spotting. It could be from the transfer, implantation or anything I guess. But I am still thinking positively!!!!!

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Tue, Feb 12, 2008 8:29 AM
Sometime right before lunch today, I started with all this cramping, burning and pinching. I am seriously hoping it’s a good sign. I had cramping & pinching like this with both my pregnancies. +++++++++

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Mon, Feb 11, 2008 11:00 AM
3 PERFECT/EXCELLENT EMBRYOS TRANSFERRED!

I can’t believe it! I just can’t! We got to Dr. Scheiber’s office and we had 100% thaw success! They thawed 3 of our embryos and all 3 survived and are beginning to compact! Dr. Scheiber said this was awesome news!!! He sat down and went over the risks again with us. Did we want to transfer only 2? Transfer 3? He said transferring 3 still gives us a VERY low chance of triplets, but does increase our chance of twins quite a bit. Slawek and I looked at each other and both said, “THREE” - so at 11 am, all 3 were transferred. God was with us today, we knew it. And it was the only decision for us to make. How could we choose to throw 1 away? We are both strongly against selective reduction, and this, in our minds, is no different.

This is a very meaningful story for us. We had a few hours to kill right before the transfer, so we decided to take a walk around Ault Park. Ault Park is meaningful to us because we used to frequent there when we dated, and also had our Wedding Pictures taken there. Of course I had my camera with me, as I fully intended on documenting the day (see Frozen Embryo Transfer Album). I went up to stand on the steps so Slawek could take a picture of me and when I looked down, there was this little silver cross looking right back up at me. Slawek and I had just been discussing whether we should transfer 2 or 3 and I had been praying hard about it. We felt like it was a sign. A sign from God that everything was going to be ok and for us to trust in Him. I felt an immediately sense of peace. No one was around at the time, we were all alone at the Park. (It was only 15 degrees!) But what a meaningful experience we had.

After the transfer, I went to my acupuncture appointment, and then we went to our hotel and lounged the rest of the day.

Please God, watch over us. I am hoping and praying for Your strength. Amen.

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Sun, Feb 10, 2008 9:33 PM
Night before transfer...

I am so nervous. I can’t sleep. I have entered the “worrying” stage. I can’t help but worry none of our embryos survive. I keep envisioning Dr. Scheiber calling saying to just stay home tomorrow, as none of them survived the thaw. I know, it’s a worst case scenario, but it’s been on my mind.

Please unthaw safely little ones… we are counting on you!

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Fri, Feb 8, 2008 8:34 AM
103.3 DEGREES

That’s what my fever was all night last night. Whoa, I have never been this sick in my entire life, that I recall. I am taking the Tamiflu that Dr. Lichter prescribed and hoping that I am better by Monday. I am riding the fever out, as he agreed that letting my body have the fever (instead of taking a fever reducer, such as Tylenol, etc.) is better. He agreed with me on my thinking that letting my body have a fever to kill the virus will get rid of it faster than taking Tylenol to fight the fever. So, I rode it out. I was up a lot last night. I fell comatose about 6:30 pm and then Slawek played with the kids. Finally about 8 pm he got me off the couch and told me to go to bed. Then about 11 pm I woke up with the 103.3 fever. Ugh.

I was on my knees last night praying to God that he help me get my illness under control by Monday. I can’t have that high of a fever, it is not good for embryos. If Monday comes and I still have that high of a fever, I will be taking fever reducers around the clock.

Tonight starts PIO injections. I hope Slawek remembers how to deliver an intramuscular injection. It’s been 4 years!

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Wed, Feb 6, 2008 11:35 AM
Ash Wednesday, Ultrasound (lining) & Bloodwork

I’m back from my ultrasound and Estradoil (E2) blood draw. My lining measured 9mm and has a triple stripe. Dr. Scheiber said anything >6mm is good. Dr. Scheiber also said once I start the Progesterone shots (Friday), that my lining will get even thicker.

Dr. Scheiber asked if we had decided how many we are going to transfer (if we have all 3 embryos survive the thaw). After speaking to him at great length about it, and discussing how Slawek and I both feel, we have decided that we will be transferring all 3 embryos (up high for proper implantation) if all 3 survive. I asked our risks of triplets. He said we have 40-50% chance of conceiving. If we do conceive, 25% chance of twins; 5% chance of triplets. So, I guess I feel ok with that. We’ll know more on Monday when they are thawed. He said he will ask us once again once we see the quality of what we have (whether they look healthy/compacted on Monday, etc.)

So that’s it. Friday I start Progesterone shots and we scheduled my beta on 2/25 at 8:30 am. I will be 17 DPO on 2/25. I will be testing with HPTs on 2/18, approximately.

Bring on the shots!

PS. There was a woman in there with TWO sets of twins. A set of twin boys who looked 6-7 and a boy/girl set of twins who were maybe 3. The boys waited in the waiting room for their mom/dad and the younger twins to come out. The mom came out and held up her ultrasound pic and said,
“IT’S TWINS!”

a THIRD set of twins!!!!!!!!!! OMG!!!!!!!!

Shortly after she left, another woman (by herself) came out and showed the front desk receptionist her ultrasound pic. Another set of twins! TWINS were all over today.

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Sun, Feb 3, 2008 2:28 PM
We went to mass today. Not a good excuse, but it has been very difficult to get to mass the last few years. But the boys are at a good age now - there is a preschool aged class they can go into during homily (until communion). We took them to their class and they had a great time. They immediately ran over to play with the playdoh and scissors. It was really cute.

Slawek went to get the boys right before Communion (Bella just stayed with me throughout the service). We all walked up front to Father Joe to receive our Communion as a family. We were each handed a wafer. We don't drink from the challis (germies), but instead we all dip our wafer into the wine. I did it, and ate mine. Bella watched and did the same. Aidan's turn. Aidan threw his wafer into the wine (purposely). Then the challis-bearer stood there and allowed Aidan to dinkle his fingers into the wine! OMG, you should have heard the gasp. My mouth hit the floor, so did Slawek's mouth. But what do you do? Aidan is 3! He doesn't know it's "holy" or anything. He just thought it was liquid to play in, so he flicking his fingers around in the dark red liquid - fun to him. The challis-bearer pulled the challis away, dug out Aidan's wafer and gave it to him (he ate it, thankfully) and we walked away.

I was embarrassed initially, but later had to smile about it. He didn't know any better. He has holy hands now, though. :)

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