Pictures...

I totally forgot to share these images from when we announced our news so here they are... better late, than never :)

This is what our little miracle looked like on our Day 5 transfer... amazing what technology can do!

This was take on June 1 when we got to see the heart beat for the first time... that little flicker was worth the wait!

15 weeks...

How far along? 15 weeks, 3 days 

Weight gain: 4lbs under my last Dr. appt. STILL :)

How big is baby? should be about the size of an avocado 4-5 in 3-5oz

Sleep: Not any better... but at least I can still sleep somewhat on my stomach 

Memorable moment of the week: Last week I bought a pair of UGG booties for Baby H to come home in.  They are adorable! Our 5th Anniversary was on Aug 4 and Chesney turned 5 on Aug 5th :)

Miss anything? Wearing my regular jeans

Movement: None that I know of yet. Can't wait though!

Activity of the week: Nothing too exciting... have a lot of work this week.

Food cravings: Chinese food... that was our 5th anniversary meal since our weekend away was an epic failure :(

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope

Wedding rings on or off? Still on :) 

Happy or moody most of the time? A little more emotional lately, but that could be due to more than just being pregnant with the recent events that have happened.  I guess because of the weekend, I'd have to say more moody than happy.... or maybe that's just mood-swinging... HAHA!

Looking forward to: Week 16 :) haha! No particular reason though.

Baby H's booties to come home in!

Chesney's Birthday Cake... he loved it!

Got a little crafty...

I'm not one to do a lot of crafts but I saw this idea on a few blogs and thought it was cute... Since I'm not really showing yet, I probably won't be in the pictures until I am, and that's a maybe! Ha!!  Anyways, amazing what a poster frame, chalk board paint and spray paint will do!

14 Weeks...

How far along? 14 weeks, 2 days (100th day of pregnancy)

Weight gain: 4lbs under my last Dr. appt.

How big is baby? should be about the size of a navel orange 4.5in 2-3oz

Sleep: STILL awful! Tossing and turning all night long... have had a headache for the past 3 days as well so that hasn't helped... 

Memorable moment of the week: Unfortunately it's not a happy memory, I lost my cousin, April, on Friday, July 27 at the age of 36 :'(

Miss anything? Cool weather! Ready for fall! (Ha! Not pregnancy related)

Movement: None that I know of yet. Can't wait though!

Activity of the week: I got sick of looking at the high chair sitting in a box in the garage so I put it together.  A little early to do it, but the cat will enjoy it for now I guess! Ha!!  Also attempting to make a chalkboard.  Still in progress right now.

Food cravings: Cody's salsa he makes (cream cheese, sour cream and salsa mixed together)

Anything making you queasy or sick: I actually did have bread almost make me sick the other day, but I think that was because of the headache, being worked up and not feeling good in general.  I'm fine now :)

Gender prediction: Still girl :)

Wedding rings on or off? Still on :) 5th wedding anniversary coming up on Saturday, Aug 4!

Happy or moody most of the time? Mostly Happy I think... mostly tired from not sleeping the best but I better get used to it!

Looking forward to: Our anniversary weekend! 

13 weeks...

I'm not sure if I'll do the whole weekly "belly pics", mainly because I'm self conscious, but I saw this on another mom's blog and thought it was awesome so this will probably be my weekly update! Here goes nothing....

How far along? 13 weeks, 3 days

Weight gain: actually minus 3lbs since last doc visit YAY!

Maternity clothes? I actually had to make my first trip to MOTHERHOOD last week to get some pants because mine, even the stretchy ones, were getting a bit snug for me so I picked up a couple shorts and a pair of dress pants and a few tops to get me through summer. The tops are a little too loose yet, but they are nice to lounge in.

Stretch marks? Unfortunately I had these BEFORE I got pregnant so I'm not sure how much worse they'll get once I start showing!

Sleep: Awful!!!!! Toss and turn all night long already! Bought a body pillow only to have Cody use it more than I do! And I was worried he wouldn't want it in the bed, but he uses it!!! HA!

Best moment of the week: I was in the nursery today putting together the mobile that I finally found that matches my bedding set and I turned around to find Chesney laying next to the crib like it's always been his spot to lay. So cute!!!

Miss anything? Not really, once in a while I miss my wine and pepsi but I'm over it!

Movement: None that I know of yet. I'm sure there is plenty going on in there but nothing I can feel yet!

Food cravings: Nothing right now. Last week it was Zucchini bread, and I've ate 2 loaves! A slice every day for breakfast and it goes fast!!!

Anything making you queasy or sick: Eggs... that started a while ago and I still haven't tested it out to see if it's still like that but I think I might hold off until after baby is here to find out.

Gender prediction: Girl... but we won't know until January!!!

Labor signs: none

Symptoms: none

Belly button in or out? In and I hope it stays that way!

Wedding rings on or off? Still on but after a long day, they can be a little snug!

Happy or moody most of the time? A little bit of both and I think Cody would agree! Ha!!!

Looking forward to: My next doctor appt on Aug 3 and then my 2nd ultrasound on Aug 30! And then hopefully feeling this little miracle moving around by Sept!

Thank You

We would like to thank everyone for all the "congrats" and well wishes yesterday after we announced that we're expecting.  We were overwhelmed with all the responses and kind words.  We feel truly blessed to be surrounded by such great friends and family and we cannot wait to share our little miracle with everyone in January.  Thank you again!!!

Always,
M&C

Finally an update, but a good one at that!

It’s been a while since I updated the blog and there’s a reason for it.  Since 2009, Cody and I have been trying to start a family.  It’s been a LONG road with many ups and downs, countless doctor appointments, procedures and much more!  Then in May of 2011 we started down the adoption path, hence the purpose of this blog, and if you’ve read it up to this point, you know where we are in the adoption process. 

So... that brings me to the update... Back in January, some friends of ours that have been going through a similar situation with starting a family mentioned that they were referred to Gundersen Lutheran in La Crosse for possible IVF (In-Vitro Fertilization).  When we heard that, a light bulb went off in my brain and I wondered why we were never referred there since it’s close, ect... so I did some research and wrote some emails to Gundersen’s IVF department.  After a few emails, we set up an appointment for February 14 to meet with Dr.Trumbal at Gundersen to discuss IVF as an option for us. 

Well, as you can about guess by now, on Feb 14 we were told that we CAN do IVF and that we could start during their next cycle as long as we got all our tests and paperwork done before they started.  You can just about imagine our excitement!  In March I had a procedure done to check my uterus and make sure it was “set to go” and on April 13 I started giving myself shots everyday to prepare my body for IVF as well as grow follicles (eggs).  Yes, I gave MYSELF shots every day, never thought I would be able to do it but I did!  Around April 20 I went in for what was called “baseline” day where the doctor did an ultrasound to see how everything was going inside of my uterus as well as meet with the team of docs, nurses and technicians we’d be working with during our IVF process.  After baseline day I started my follicle stimulating shots to grow my follicles (eggs) and we went back on April 30 for an ultrasound to see how they were progressing.  Everything looked great and we had a ton of follicles but the doc wanted to grow them for a couple more days so back home we went and then back to La Crosse a few days later to check on them.  This happened twice, going to the doc, growing them a little more, going back to La Crosse.... By the time we went back for the last ultrasound before my retrieval, my ovaries were HUGE and I was so uncomfortable.  I felt like I was sitting on my ovaries all the time, that’s how big they got with all the follicles inside of them. 

On May 5 I had my egg retrieval.  I was a bit anxious about the procedure as I’d never been under “conscious sedation” before, I’ve always been completely out for any “surgical” procedures.  Looking back now, the worst part of the day was when the nurse was trying to put my IV in... I could’ve slapped her!  The first place she tried was on the side of my wrist.. yes, my wrist.  I have NO CLUE why she thought there was a vein there because there isn’t!  Then she tried on the TOP of my arm just below my elbow, again, she couldn’t hit the vein to save her life!  By then I was getting a bit upset and I think she knew it because she went and got another nurse that knew what she was doing and she hit my vein in my forearm on the first try!  Anyways, we retrieved 26 eggs, 20 of which were mature eggs that all got fertilized by a process called ICSI (this is where they inject one of Cody’s swimmers into each egg to fertilize it).  17 of the 20 eggs fertilized and started to grow into embryos and because we got so many to fertilize our doc told us that we would have a Day 5 transfer done. 

On May 10 we went back to La Crosse for our embryo transfer.  Usually between the day of fertilization and the transfer day a few of the embryos die off or stop growing so we were expecting to hear that we had about half of the 17 left when we got to Day 5... BUT, we were told that ALL 17 survived to day 5!  Some were a bit slower at developing but still growing nonetheless.  We had 2 that were mature enough to transfer and one of them was just a bit better than the other.  Because we had so many eggs that would be potentially frozen for future use and if we were to have transferred both our chances of both of them “sticking” would’ve been quite high, we decided to only transfer the best one on that day and save, well freeze, the rest that were mature enough to be frozen.  The transfer itself was easy, I had to lay flat for an hour on the table after it was all said and done and then I had to lay low for 3-4 days after as well.  By the end of the 2^nd day, I was ready to pull my hair out I was so bored! There are only so many games to play on the ipad and  movies to watch on TV! Haha!  The day of the transfer I also started progesterone shots that I had to take daily and these shots have to be given to me by Cody as they are in my backside.  Not the most fun shot to take but you get used to them quickly. 

My first beta test (which is just a blood test that can measure for the pregnancy hormone HCG) was scheduled for May 19, which was a Saturday.  I should probably mention that the morning of May 17 I woke up after a horrible dream about the coming Saturday and decided to pee on a stick to see if I could see any results BEFORE going to the lab and to settle my mind.... well, I finally saw what I’d been waiting 3 years for... TWO PINK LINES!!!!!  I was so excited but apprehensive at the same time because with IVF, it could’ve been a false positive so I didn’t get too excited until I heard back from the doc’s office. 

Well that Saturday came and went and we went to La Crosse for a whole 5 min to do a blood draw, came home and waited by the phone for a phone call... of course that phone call didn’t come until Monday morning before I left for La Crosse again for the 2^nd beta test.  The nurse called and said my numbers were good but we’d have to wait to see what that day’s numbers were so off to La Crosse I went again for a whole 5 min and back home to wait by the phone.  Finally they called and the nurse was spouting off numbers to me and I figured out in my head that they had doubled but I still had to ask her... “Does this mean I’m pregnant?”  That’s all I wanted to hear!!!!  She said yes and congratulated me and as soon as I hung up the phone my fingers were dialing Cody as fast as they could (He was in Florida training). 

To fast forward a bit from that wonderful day in our lives, the next best day came on June 11 when we got to see our little miracle for the first time and see it’s heartbeat!!  I was more nervous for that appointment than any other appointment to date because I just wanted to see that little flicker on the screen!  Once I saw it, I started to cry and what felt like a ton of bricks on my chest, lifted off and I could breathe! 

To top that miraculous day, last Friday, July 6, we got to HEAR the heart beat.   It was strong at 170 beats per minute.  We also got to meet our OB Doctor that we’ll be working with the next 6 months (hopefully, since she’s REALLY hard to get into) and she is fabulous! 

So as of TODAY we are 12 weeks pregnant and headed into the 2^nd trimester.  Our official due date is January 25, 2013.  I have to say, this first trimester has been pretty good to me and has went by pretty fast.  I haven’t had sickness, just fatigue and that’s already getting better.  We are SUPER excited to FINALLY share this news with EVERYONE and not have to hide it any longer.  We’ve had so much support already from our families and close friends while going through this journey and we feel truly blessed.  We are hoping for a very uneventful next 6 months and we are praying for no snowstorms come the end of January! Ha!!!  Thanks for reading!!

M&C