Stim Day 5

Results of today's appt:

Estrodiol: 540 (quite the jump from the 41 at baseline last week)

TSH: 10.7 Oops. Yeah, that's a lot high. This was actually done at the baseline appt but didn't ask the full number today. Caused them to up my Levothyroxin to 100mc from the 25 I was on before that appt. Was told today I needed to make an appt. with an enrodcrinologist. My number has never been this high before. Yikes.

Follies:

- Left: 10.06, 11.44
- Right: 12.02, 12.16, 12.33, 12.70, 12.88

So, based on all of the above, they adjusted my meds:
- Bravelle: dropped to 75 iu
- Menopur: kept at 150 iu
- Ganirelix: start 250 mcg sub-q tonight

Stay on the Dexamethasone throughout. Wasn't on this last time so I asked what it was for as it's basically a corticosteroid. They mentioned that they have added it to help reduce inflammation to help with implantation - so the uterus potentially wouldn't fight it as much thinking the embie was a foreign body when transferred. Interesting.

I'm actually not liking how this cycle is progressing. Yay for having follies so far, but it's making me nervous as it's mimicking my first 2 cycles which were both BFN's. 9 days of stimming which looks to be about on track for this cycle. While it would be nice to not have to go 16 days like my BFP cycle, I kind of like the theory of slow and steady wins the race rather than the speedy cycle with crappier eggs.

And yes, I do realize every cycle is different. Just hard not to compare when those 1st two cycles were so similar with similar results, you know?


On 2 unrelated notes:
- 1st round of Girl Scout cookies arrived today. I felt guilty and ordered from 2 ladies at work this year (they bought to support my son's daycare ;-) ) Let's just say I've already eaten too many and have buried them at the bottom of my bag. Out of sight out of mind? I doubt it ocme 3:00. ;-)

My sister is coming down to stay for a few days! This is the sister that lives in Australia. She came home on 2/11 and goes back on 3/18. She usually only comes home once a year so I'm trying to soak up every minute that I can. I saw her the 1st 2 weekends she was home, but she has either been visiting my other sister or sick after that. Looking forward to having her all to ourselves!

Hope you're having a great day!

So, It's Been a While...

Yeah. More than a while. Try 2+ years. ;-)

Ryan is now 2+ years old - almost 2.5. Hard to believe. And, after a LOT of back-and-forth, we have just started our first round of IVF for little one #2. Also hard to believe. So, I thought I'd start blogging here again to keep track.

Here are some pics of Ryan:

We are currently potty training and he's doing really well! We still haven't braved going diaperless when we leave the house to go to the store or for naps/bedtime, but he is in underwear at home and at school. He feels like such a big boy!

He is honestly the joy of our life. He is SUCH a happy little boy. He has some tantrums every once in a while like any 2 year old would, but honestly - I thought it would be so much worse! (and, before anyone comments, I do know we aren't even yet 3 and there are still plenty of times for tantrums even then! ha)

He loves to chase the cat, swing, has really gotten into sports lately and loves to read. He can count to 20, knows his ABC's, knows his address and can speak in full sentences. He's into trains, cars, reptiles and dinosaurs and his favorite book is Dinosaurumpus!

He also loves the outdoors and walk in the woods (just like his Daddy!)

During these last 2+ years I have found out I much prefer the toddler stage to the newborn stage. So, if we do get lucky with this IVF cycle, what do you think the odds are of the little one coming out as a one year old? Can we at least compromise at 6 months? ;-)

As mentioned above, we went back-and-forth so much on wether to try again or not for a second baby. I mean - we have been so blessed with Ryan, why not just be happy with what we have, right? Especially since we are definitely no spring chickens any more (not that we were when we went through this the first time). I don't know. Scares the hell out of me sometimes when I think about it. But, we also know the joy of a little one and we know Ryan would be a great big brother. So here we are!

Had CD3 appt on Thursday and started Stims and Dexamethasone that day. Here's what I'm doing as of now:

Stims Days 1-4:

Bravelle: 150 iu
Menopur: 150 iu
Dexamethasone: 0.5 mg
Levothyroxin: 100 mcg

Differences so far from my BFP cycle:

- Bravelle vs. Follistim (not much of a difference, really)
- Didn't start with Lupron (did both Lupron and Ganirelix last time)
- No estrogen priming
- No baby aspirin (they've changed their procedure with this one and don't have you start until after retrieval to help reduce the risk of bleeding since it's a blood thinner)

Next check is on Monday. Curious if this cycle will turn into the rollercoaster marathon like Ryan's cycle was. I'm ok if it does. Just curious how my body will react this many years later, you know?

OK - I've typed long enough. Hope everyone is doing well!

Yup - I was right :-(

Reflux it is. Went to the pediatrician today and she agreed 100% with my diagnosis of Ryan's issue and gave us an Rx for Zantac to try. 0.5cc twice a day. If things don't improve, than can try 3x/day. Here's to hoping it works!

While we were there, we popped him on the scale to check his weight:

Ryan's Weight:
Birth: 8.0
2dPP: 7 lb 7 oz
2 weeks: 8 lb 1 oz
Today (5w4d): 9lb 15oz!

So he is just 1 oz of being an even 10 lbs!

I also popped myself on the adult scale and am down 1 lb from the last I checked - yay!

Mommy's Weight:

Final Total PG Weight Gain: +11
1 week PP: -12 lbs -- officially below pre-PG weight (but far from where I should be!)
2 weeks PP: -22 lbs -- apparently my body really likes no longer being pregnant or on any more IF drugs!
5w4d PP: -23 lbs -- So not much of a loss from a couple weeks ago, but a loss is a loss, right? ;-)

So, let's hope this Rx works and he starts to feel better soon!

And if I don't get on before Thanksgiving, Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Reflux?

Ryan is increasingly crying/whining while feeding, is almost constantly squirming (ie: straightening out, kicking his feet, pulling his head away (while still attached to nipple - ouch) while eating, gets the hiccups a lot and has been super fussy/crying lately. So much to the point we're having a hard time consoling him right now after he just got done eating. Doesn't spit up much, though - 2-3 times max since he's been born.

I can tell he is definitely in some sort of pain and it breaks my heart. We originally thought maybe it was gas, but after reading up, I'm beginning to think maybe reflux?

Will call the pedi tomorrow/Monday and hopefully get an appointment to get this figured out!

I'm sorry, Ryan!

Blood Lines

DH is absolutely in love with Ryan. And I can't even put into words how it makes me feel to see him with out little guy - it's beyond amazing. He is such a good daddy!

DH is adopted and has never met his biological family. He has never had any desire to. And while DH was out today he sent me this text message:

"Did you know Ry Guy is the first human I have met that I share DNA with? That's pretty cool. I love him!"

I never really thought about it that way, but I think it's so amazing and so special that DH finally has this special link, you know? ;-)

Visiting Daddy at School!

Besides being a teacher, DH is also the SADD advisor for his school - and yesterday we took a trip to school to visit daddy and bring some cookies that we made for the kids!

Baking with Mommy:

(I may or may not have accidentally dropped cookie dough on Ryan's face during this picture and just had to kiss it off of him) lol

Visiting Daddy!

Was a great day!

1 Month - wow

Has it really been that long? I have been a very bad blogger! I've been writing things down on paper, but haven't put them in here. Wasn't sure if I wanted to put pictures of him out here or not. But, I've decided I do! Especially since I have one in my siggy on the message boards anyway. ;-)

So - I will go back and type those entries into here and will back-date them so they'll be in order for history. ;-)

In the meantime, here are a couple pics!

OK - wow scary face on me, but this was right after he was born - yay!

If anyone's still reading this, check back soon - I'm hoping to find time between holding our little guy and feeding him to get them up soon!

He's here!

Ryan Thomas was born at 2:22 am this morning weighing in at 8 lbs even and a nice 22 inches long!

I'll post more later when I get some pics from my family. DH and I are in love already!

Going to the Hospital!

So - apparently the little guy WAS trying to break his way out last night. ;-) I woke up this morning at 5:00 to go to the bathroom and felt a gush of water. Thought ok - might be my water breaking. Then I started to feel contractions about every 5 minutes.

Was supposed to go to the doctor this afternoon anyway for a check, but they had me come in anyway. On my way out the door, I had no doubt that my water broke and had to go change before I could leave the house.

They did an internal and I'm 100% effaced, but only 1cm dilated (boo!). But, since my water broke and I'm GBS+, they are requiring me to go in now to the hospital anyway.

So - now just waiting for the husband to get home and we'll be on our way. Wish me luck!

Belly Movement!

The little guy was going crazy in my belly, so I thought I'd take a quick video. Don't mind the poor quality or weird sound my camera is making, but you can see he was having a grand time in there! LOL

40w2d - Movement!

Maybe he's trying to work his way out of my belly?! LOL

40 Weeks - Happy Due Date To Me!

Well, today is officially my due date and looks like it's going to come and go without us getting to meet our little guy!

We had our first bi-weekly appointment this morning which started with the NST then the regular appointment. I've had one NST before when I was nervous about not feeling him move (only to have him go crazy while I was sitting in the waiting room), so I was looking forward to today's appointment. I love just sitting there listening to his heartbeat and feeling him move!

DH didn't go to the one prior (was out of town), but he went today and was amazed at how much he moved!

I knew going into the appointment this morning that he wasn't going to be ready, but to look at the tape and see not a SINGLE contraction on there? Yeah.... ;-) The only spikes on the contraction line were from when he kicked the monitor! lol Doctor's exact words were: Well, he's as happy as a clam in there!

So - I have another appointment on Thursday which will include another NST, an u/s to check for fluid levels and another appointment with the doctor including an internal. Based on that appt, we'll go from there to determine if we continue to let things go or pick a date.

So - I guess it's up to the little guy to see what he wants to do! I'm in no rush, but do want to meet him soon!

On a related note, I wanted to wish Larissa the best of luck - she is only 2 days behind me and is in labor as we speak! Come on, Larissa!

This Weekend and Last

I apparently didn't post about it, but my mom came down to visit last weekend to spend one last "solo" weekend together before the baby arrived and it was awesome! Dad was supposed to come down and hang with DH, but something came up and he couldn't come. :-(

But, I still had an awesome time just hanging with my mom! We hung out and chatted, went shopping, went for walks, out to eat, apple picking (complete with cider donuts - yum!), just everything! Yay!

And this weekend DH and I are spending together in case it's our last one as just the two of us. We've been trying to do things like that lately anyway, but the reality has set in that this may, in fact, truly be the last weekend! We're going to go to dinner, watch movies (not in the theater - I can't handle sitting there that long anymore), go for walks, just whatever we want to do, whenever we want to do it. I can't wait! (And yes, I know we can do many of those items with the baby, but it's still something special to do with just the two of us). ;-)

Here are some pics from apple picking (I like the ones better with my mom in them, but I don't want to post without her permission):

And Larissa - if you're reading this - we are so close! Wonder which little guy will come first!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

39 week Appt & pictures

Had my last regular weekly appt on Wednesday at 39w2d and the doctor said everything looked good! He said I've even dropped some, but I'm not sure I see it. Maybe? lol

I now go twice weekly until the baby is here and if I go more than a week overdue, we'll do another ultrasound for sizing, placenta, etc... But, as far as next week's appointments go, they'll be the standard weight/bp/hb/urine checks - but we also get to do an NST before each. I'm actually looking forward to that part - getting to hear his little heartbeat for about 20 minutes while I get to not be at work! lol

Here are the stats for this week's appt:

Baby's HB: going strong and steady as always in the 140-150 range
My BP: 114/70
My Weight: +1, so now at total +12 (I thought I was supposed to stop gaining at this point? ha)

And a couple pics:

Just 4 days to go!

Nursery Pics!

Despite being 39 weeks tomorrow, we are not done - still have to hang stuff on the walls, and we can't decide WHAT to do for curtains, but thought I'd share what we've done so far. it's at least usable if the little guy comes tomorrow!

I don't have a good before picture (forgot to take one), and went through many a paint change, but here's the progression so far...

"The Before": The closest "Before" that I have. The entire room was the off-white/cream color you see on top with brown stained trim around the windows and base boards:




We then painted the bottom "Guacamole" and the top "Lettuce Alone" green (both by Olympic). We loved the bottom, the top looked AWFUL. So, I bring you:

"The During":




The paint "chips" looked great in person, but on the wall, ummm, no. I swear it glowed. So off to the store we went again and bought spent forever comparing shades of blue for the top instead. We finally settled on "Crashing Waves" also by Olympic. And to that, we bought some chair rail, while, and even mitred the corners ourselves. So this now leads to:


"The After":




We love the colors - the chair rail/trim really set it off and add the perfect touch!

To this, we added the Baby Mod "Cadence" Crib from Walmart in Espresso...


The Crib:



And the "Hartford" dresser by Rockland from JCPenney...

The Dresser/Changer:




Both came super fast, were pretty easy to put together, and came with no scratches. They look beautiful - both rich espresso colors that actually match really well despite being different colors - and seem pretty sturdy - ESPECIALLY the crib. I recommend to anyone!

Here's the bedding - "Monkey Vine" from BRU - ties in the greens, blues, and browns...


The Bedding:


I love the colors and the subtle monkey-theme. Very cute! I had this on my wish-list but wasn't going to buy b/c, honestly, it's pretty expensive. But my mom surprised me with it one day - she has spoiled this little one already (she also gifted us the crib - we are so blessed) and he's not even here yet! Thank you, mom!

The Decor:
As I mentioned above, we're not done decorating, but we added an espresso colored wicker basket to the dresser with the changing pad, a matching wicker hampter and are also going to be adding white shelves to the wall to put pictures, other items and are also going to have his name over his crib like this:

Name with be olive green to match the walls and the monkey will be this brown. Other than that, we may hang a few other things, but for now, that's about it.

OK - this post turned out longer than I thought (sorry!), but I just love the room. It's not even done, yet neither DH nor I can stop going into the room. We just love it! And the colors should be able to grow with him from infancy into boyhood, no?

Oh - and if you have idea for curtains, let me know! We've tried white, brown, and green, and don't like them. Thinking we may have to do a mixure.

OK - guess that's it. I'll try and post more pics once it's finished, but here are a few last shots of the room with what we've at least got in there so far. Thanks for looking!

Hope you have a great weekend!

38 Week Pics!

I never remember to post them when I make my regular weekly update. But, here are pics from this morning at 38w4d. 10 days until the big EDD!

38 Week Appt

Nothing again out of the ordinary. Was probably my shortest yet.

Baby's HB: he didn't say, just said sounded good and regular
My BP: 110/80
My Weight: +1, so now at total +11

That was about it. When he looked at my belly he goes "Wow, no stretch marks!" Then proceeded to look around and then go - oh wait, there's one - but you can hide that since it's down low". I was like - what?!?! I look at myself every day in the mirror for them and haven't seen any. So you can bet I went home and did the same thing (and made DH check, too). And no - there was stretch mark there. I blame it on an underwear line. ;-)

He said to schedule an appt for next week (but I already have them booked past my due date), but that he hoped he didn't see me again! lol I told him I was ok if he continued to bake in there until full term. ;-)


How far along?: 38w3d - only 11 days left until D-day!
Total Weight Gain: +1 since last appt, total +11
Stretch Marks?: not on the belly - Dr was wrong! ;-)
Sleep?: same - eh. Getting lonely. I find I end up moving to a spare bed and sleeping by myself. I think I get in my head too much and get worried about waking DH up with all my movements. And therefore get even less sleep. I miss sleeping with him!
Best Moment This Week: DH begging to meet his son ;-) It's so cute how much he wants to meet him!
Movement: he's keeping busy ;-)
Food Cravings: Still nope. Would be helpful if I did on those nights where I can't decide what I want for dinner!
Labor Signs: not really - would be nice to have some to let me know something's going on, but I'll be patient.
Symptoms: same as always.
Belly Button In or Out?: Still in.
What I miss: sleeping and being able to move as easily - especially when trying to finish up the nursery.
What am I looking forward to: finishing the nursery and my mom's visit this weekend!
WeeklyWisdom: nothing.
Milestones: I'll be hitting single digits this week on the number of days left until EDD!

37 Week Appointment

Nothing out of the ordinary - just a standard appt:

Baby's HB: 150's
My BP: 120/70 (went up from 110/70, but OB said they didn't worry unless it was over 140/90)
My Weight: -1, so now at total +10

OB did what I'll call an external exam - measured fundal height like usual (on track) and then felt my uterus for the shape, size, and position of the baby. While he didn't get any real measurements, he said that the little guy felt like he was "average" which I'm ok with! lol I'll take average over a big/little guy!

Other than that, nothing else too exciting. Still carrying high, so I expect him to be in there for a while still. Gives my lazy butt time to finish things up!

37 Week Pictures!

I forgot to post them below, so here goes:

One of these days I may put a side-by-side of now vs. earlier in the pregnancy. I haven't done that yet even for myself to look at!

Hope everyone is doing well!

37 weeks = Full Term!

Not much to update this week other than I'm Full Term! No, that doesn't mean I want him to come now, but hey - I don't see him making his move yet anyway. ;-)

We had our birthing class on Saturday and, while long, it was informative - especially for DH who hasn't done as much research yet. And we have our last class tomorrow night - Infant & Child CPR. Why it is scheduled to take 3 hours, I'm not sure (maybe they're doing other safety things, too?).

Other than that, I've been a shot-free, "regular" pregnant girl for a full week now and it's kinda nice!

How far along?: 37w1d
Total Weight Gain: +0 since last appt, total +11
Stretch Marks?: still no new ones - still just the couple on the underside of my breasts, knock on wood!
Sleep?: same - sleep, up to pee, sleep, up to pee, repeat.
Best Moment This Week: Full term!
Movement: he's keeping busy ;-)
Food Cravings: Still nope.
Labor Signs: not really
Symptoms: same as always - periodic heartburn, we're back to constipation, my lovely right rib and leg.
Belly Button In or Out?: Still in.
What I miss: wow I'm boring - not much has changed in a lot of these. Still the same - sleeping all night on my back/stomach.
What am I looking forward to: dresser arriving and we can hopefully finalize his little room!
WeeklyWisdom: nothing really. I bought an exercise ball and plan to use that often.
Milestones: Full Term!

This Weekend

We have a lot going on this weekend!

Friday:
- Work shower (yummy cake!)
- Going to grab dinner and see The Informant with Matthew Damon. Looks good!

Saturday:
- Birthing class
- Finish up shopping for the baby (we got 3 of the same stroller, so thought we'd return 2 to finish things up).

Sunday:
- DH watch football and go fishing
- Me - finally turning in that pregnancy massage gift certificate DH got me for my birthday! Yaaaay!

Hope you all have a great weekend!