4 & 5 Weeks

Friday, June 9 -  10 days post-transfer, 4 weeks pregnant?
Wow! I can't believe our first round of IVF worked! This morning I had my first blood draw to see if I am pregnant. Dr. Loret De Mola called me, with Jim the embryologist and some nurses on speaker, and told me, "You're going to be a mommy again!" I was shaking and so excited! My level was 188 and he said that everything looks great! He wants to me continue the progesterone shots and come back Tuesday for a follow-up blood test to make sure that my HCG levels are increasing appropriately.

It's weird because I don't feel pregnant, so I think it's going to take some time for it to really sink in - I can't wait for our first ultrasound! This pregnancy is going to be completely different than my last two. Judging by my levels, we've got one little peanut growing in there - thank goodness! That immediately gives me some reassurance because I know that I can and have carried one baby successfully to term. The part that worries me is my cervix. Is it going to permanently have issues because of what happened with the twins? Or is it a pregnancy by pregnancy issue and it'll be completely fine? Of course I won't know the answer to these questions until much further on, but they're already on my mind.

I will try my best to take it easy, but sometimes that's difficult with an almost 3 year old at home. I've been on lifting restrictions for the last ten days and that's been really hard. I wasn't supposed to lift over 20 lbs. Luckily Anna's a tiny little thing and is only about 24lbs, but telling her I can't lift her was sad, and of course, there were times when I just needed to. Tim was excellent about doing things for her so that I wasn't straining myself. I feel like I should keep those restrictions on myself until/unless I'm told otherwise. I am going to be picking apart every little symptom and feeling for the next nine months, but if it brings us a healthy baby, then it'll be 100% worth it.

I just want to shout to the whole world that it worked!!! Hopefully soon people will be reading this! :)

Wednesday, June 14 - 4 weeks, 6 days *I think*
Yesterday I went in for repeat blood work to make sure my levels were increasing & they are! I was at 731 yesterday with my progesterone greater than 40 which is excellent! Our first ultrasound is scheduled for a week from today. I'm a little worried that it's going to be too early to see/hear the heart beat, but I hope not.
I still don't feel pregnant at all. My boobs are slowly beginning to get a little tender, but otherwise I've been feeling relatively normal - maybe a little more tired than usual. Tim jokes that I already have "pregnancy brain" any time I mix something up or can't think of a word...I think part of it is just "I'm on summer break and don't want to think-brain".

Friday, June 16 - 5w, 1d
It's been a week since I found out that I'm pregnant and sometimes I forget, but yesterday into today, the fatigue has hit! I was exhausted last night and slept pretty well overnight. I also took a two hour nap this afternoon while Anna was sleeping. I don't remember being this tired with either of my other pregnancies, but they say each one is different. My boobs are definitely not sore yet, but I have felt a little bit of stretching pains now and then. Pretty much nothing out of the ordinary except feeling like my energy is gone today! Thank goodness Anna is pretty good at entertaining herself, but I still feel bad that I don't feel like doing anything. Hopefully this doesn't last long.

Today's "issue" (which isn't really an issue) is continuing my progesterone. I'll be on it through my first trimester, through my 12th week, which means 7 more weeks to go. I can either continue with my one evening injection which is much less expensive, but makes us feel like we have a "curfew" at night because it has to be given at the same time each night and we've been doing 8:30. Or, I can do the vaginal suppositories, which I was on when I was pregnant with Anna. They're kind of gross, but can be done twice a day (morning/night) without such strict time restrictions. The problem with those is that they're expensive! I just picked up 15 doses, which would be 7.5 days worth, for $40! I'm not sure that I want to pay $40 a week for the next seven weeks... Right now I'm having the fertility clinic call it into my mail order pharmacy to see if I'll be able to get a larger quantity or lower copay (or both). If not, I might just continue with the injections because they are way less expensive. We'll see what pans out over the next few days. Right now I'm going to continue the injections, I have ten left, until we hear from the mail order pharmacy.

Monday, June 19 - 5w, 4d
Holy fatigue! Friday, yesterday, and today I've taken a nap when Anna takes hers. Thankfully she's been sleeping for around two hours each day, so I've been able to get in a nice nap, too. I'm taking this as a good sign that our little Bean is developing as he/she should. :) I can't wait to see him/her on Wednesday!

Wednesday, June 21 - 5w, 6d
Today's the day we get to see our little bean and I'm so nervous. I'm so afraid something is going to be wrong, or there isn't going to be a baby there. I imagine this is what it's going to be like for the next nine months before doctor appointments...Of course the appointment isn't until 2:30, so we have a lot of time to waste this morning.

Yesterday Anna and I went shopping at Target and she wanted to get the baby some clothes. She picked out a pink Superman onsie (so they can match) and I grabbed a blue one, so we have those ready to share when we find out what this baby is. Anna is very excited already. She pats my belly sometimes and talks about the baby in my belly. I told her that we're going to see it today and a few days ago she asked, "I can hold the baby?!" I explained that we have to wait for the baby to grow really big ("like me?" - not that big) before it comes out and we can hold it.

Evening update: We were able to see the sac surrounding baby and the yolk sac, but the baby was too small to see or hear a heart beat (she said just smaller than 3mm). As soon as she put the ultrasound thing in, Anna said, "Aww, there's the baby" even though she had no idea what she was looking at and it wasn't on the screen. It was cute and I'm excited to take her to future ultrasounds so she can watch Bean grow. I was right about how far along I am, and the nurse and doctor reassured us that everything looks wonderful for this gestational age. They weren't surprised that we couldn't see the heart beat, but the doctor is going to be gone next week so he wanted to see all of his IVF patients before he leaves.
The nurse originally said they wanted to see me back in two weeks to confirm a heart beat, but the doctor told me I'm welcome to go see my high-risk team now. Since I'm going to Chicago for my CF appointment tomorrow, I'll probably contact my high-risk team on Friday to see when the soonest I can get in. I'm anxious and excited to get back to that team. I love them and I'm hopeful that they'll do everything they can to help ease my stress during this pregnancy. I feel slightly reassured after today's appointment, but I'm still a little stressed because we couldn't hear the baby. I was so nervous throughout the whole appointment, but the doctor and nurse assured us several times that everything looks perfectly normal. For now, I just go day by day until I have another appointment scheduled.

I'm looking forward to seeing my CF doctor tomorrow. I didn't get to see her in April, so we haven't really discussed losing the boys yet (I did call her the day it happened, but we haven't fully talked about it). She know we're going through the IVF process, but she doesn't know I'm pregnant. I'm excited to tell her. :) Tomorrow I'll be six weeks. It seems like I've known for so much longer and that I should be further along, but that's what happens when you find out at 4 weeks!

4 & 5 Weeks

October 27th: 5 weeks

Dear Baby or Babies (we don't know yet),
YAY!!!!!!!! I am so excited to be pregnant again!! It has taken us six months of frustrating fertility appointments to get to this point, and we were on the brink of IVF, so the word excited doesn't describe the way I'm feeling enough.

I cannot imagine what my body is going to look like carrying two babies, or how it's going to handle it, but if that's what we're in for, then we're ready as we can be. If you're just one lone little bean in there, then I'll be equally excited (and maybe a little relieved) because I know I can handle it.

You're already giving me a run for my money and keeping me on my toes. I started having pregnancy symptoms just one week after having the IUI. My nose is already on high alert and I've come to hate the smell of popcorn because they make it every Friday at school.

I've also had some experience with coughing up blood already. After talking with some of my CF friends, it seems kind of common, but I don't remember having this issue when I was pregnant with your sister. I've been in contact with my CF doctor and we're increasing my Vitamin K to daily for a week. She also wants me to keep running (although I feel that might be part the trigger) to keep working my lungs and get that junk out...just to take it a bit easier. We'll see!

At five weeks you're the size of a BB pellet or a black peppercorn. It's fascinating to read how much is developing already in your tiny little body(ies). Its been three years and I've easily forgotten. I'm planning on staying on Kalydeco during this pregnancy because, to me, the risk of stopping it is greater than staying on it. When I was pregnant with Anna and I stopped it, my lung function hit an all-time low, and I definitely don't want to take that risk again.

October 29th: 5w, 2d
I had my running group again this morning and we ran/walked 2.4 miles. We did a flat course and I felt very tired throughout, but my lungs felt great afterwards. I haven't had any straight blood or streaking today since my run, so I'm hoping that it's getting healed in there.

As long as everything goes well over the next month, Daddy and I are planning on announcing to everyone using our Christmas card. We're not sure how/what we're going to say yet, but I'm looking forward to everyone's reactions! :)

Weeks 4 & 5

Just found this in my "drafts" folder, didn't realize I started this early. :)

On Tuesday, December 2nd, I had my first positive pregnancy test. Since I couldn't wait, I actually tested two days earlier than I was supposed to, oops! To be on the safe side, I tested Wednesday morning, Wednesday evening and again on Thursday before going in for confirming blood work Thursday morning.

First test, Tuesday

Wednesday morning

Wednesday evening

Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday tests

My hcg level came back at 189--a nice, strong number. My progesterone (which helps the baby stay in there) was also a nice strong number of 19.3 (they want it as close to 20 as we can). It was official, I was four weeks pregnant!!! It was so hard not to scream it to the whole world, but I knew that we had to wait a while to make sure the pregnancy "stuck" before telling anyone.

On Saturday, we went to Isaac's second birthday party where I learned that my sister-in-law was pregnant with her second baby! She's about two-three weeks ahead of me; how cool to have cousins so close in age! I wanted SO bad to tell her, but it was way too early and we still needed to get our second round of blood work back.

On Monday (4 weeks, 4 days), I went back to the doctor to get another blood test done to make sure my hormones were increasing as they should and the pregnancy was progressing appropriately. I have never wanted a weekend to go by so fast in my life! When the office didn't call me by the end of my work day, I grew impatient (and a little worried), so I called them. Hcg levels typically double every two days, so we were expecting my level to be between 700-800. My hcg was 1,015!!! My progesterone, on the other hand, was down just a bit to 15.9, so they decided to put me on supplemental progesterone for the first trimester, just to be on the safe side. The nurse told me to come back in two weeks for our first ultrasound where we'd be listening for a heartbeat and possibly seeing the embryo sack. My first ultrasound is scheduled for Monday, December 23rd at 10am and I cannot wait!!! I'll be six weeks and four days then. :-)

On Thursday, December 12th, five weeks, I took another pregnancy test (that's #5 if you're keeping count) just to make sure I was still pregnant. Of course, the line was nice and dark. :)

I haven't had a ton of "typical pregnancy symptoms", at least not yet. My boobs have been sore since the day I took the first pregnancy test. One random day during week four I had a very heightened sense of smell. I could actually smell my mascara as I put it on. Thankfully that hasn't come back yet. I haven't been super hungry and have been eating less than I usually do, so Tim's really making sure I'm getting those calories.

This past weekend, on Saturday the fatigue started setting in and I stayed on the couch and either slept or read the entire day. On Sunday (5 weeks, 3 days), I woke up feeling awful! I had a terrible sinus headache and a fever. I contacted my CF doctor (who already knew I was pregnant, I told her right away!), to see what I could take that would be safe for baby. She told me to take Tylenol for the fever and Claritin for the sinuses. A couple hours after taking one extra strength Tylenol, I was already feeling a little better. I decided to take Monday off work to make sure that my fever was under control and to get some rest. I'm very thankful I did that, its exactly what I needed. Of course, poor Tim came home Monday evening with exactly the same thing I had and has been home from work for two days. We're both now on the upswing and are very excited for the first ultrasound on Monday!!!