From First to Second (&ICLW)

Those of you who are visiting from ICLW – a brief history:

My husband and I started TTC over 3 years ago. Eventually, he was diagnosed with low count and I with PCOS. We spent a few months trying hormone replacement to increase count with no luck and our RE told us if we wanted to get pregnant then we were looking at IVF.  One month we finally found ourselves looking at a count that was within normal limits and decided to try an IUI. That got canceled when it was discovered that all my major follicles were growing on the side of my blocked tube. (seriously?) After that, we moved forward with an IVF. Today, we are 13 weeks pregnant with twins…..and I still can’t believe I’m finally able to type this.

Now, onto the update:

I am a competitive person, and it is rare that I become excited about moving from first to second. But today that move marks a big and significant milestone: from the first to the second trimester.

THAT I can get excited about. Things are starting to feel more real and I’m beginning to think more “when” than “if”. For me, this is pretty significant. Bryan even bought me a gift to celebrate: Mums

I totally didn’t put it together until I told my mom they were mums and she asked if he had done that on purpose

The Good

• We are officially in the 2nd trimester! While I totally get that this doesn’t mean we are home free, it does mean our risk of miscarriage drops significantly
• Bryan declining a cigarette at a get together because he is “going to be a daddy”. He has also lost 10 pds and I am super proud of him.
• Telling all my parents at work about the pregnancy, even though most of them suspected since I started to show so early
• Knowing what I was finding on the doppler really WAS the heartbeats, when this was confirmed at my latest appointment
• I made it through the first trimester with minimal nausea – really almost none. I still can’t believe this. I’m almost nervous bc the first trimester was so nice to me.

The Bad

• I have been less than thrilled with my first two OB visits. I saw a nurse practitioner first who I had to tell I was having twins, and she still told me I only needed to gain up to 4 pds. Everything I’m reading says with twins you need to gain more – more like 8 pds after the first trimester. The second person I saw was a midwife, who when I asked what I should gain had to go look it up (bc it was twins). At least she was able to find the heartbeats, though still made an offhand comment about how its too early to completely tell if they are separate. I only didn’t push it because I had found them myself. My next appt is with one of the OB’s, and I’m going to respectfully request to be seen only by an OB from now on. (The nurses and midwives don’t deliver but they can do checkups)

The Weird and Amusing

• For the first time in my life I’m voluntarily skipping workouts (read: walks) and eating more, hoping to gain some weight. I’m getting on the scale hoping for a HIGHER number.
• I’ve had McDonalds nuggets 4 times in the last 3 weeks
• I have retired 3 pairs of jeans- well, temporarily.
• There are no longer gaps in my bras. Sometimes I stare at “the girls” and wonder if they are really mine. (Well, hello there – where did you come from?)
• Sometimes the books freak me out
• More than once I’ve nearly left my phone behind (its normally attached to my hip so this is pretty significant)
• I think its finally time, at 30, to lose the belly ring.
• More than one person has laughed and said “this is the only time I can say you have a belly!” (simply bc I was too workout crazy before)
• I prefer my couch to exercise….or moving in general

An updated belly pic can be seen at Bubbles and Squishy

April ICLW and National Infertility Awareness Week

Greetings ICLW’ers. I think its fabulous this months’ ICLW coincides with NIAW.  I love ICLW because it forces me out of my familiar blog shell to find other fabulous blogs I might have missed otherwise.

In our case , we will hit 3 years TTC this August (ugh). We are dealing with mild PCOS and male factor. DH is currently giving himself shots 3x a week of HCG, FSH and LH in hopes to improve sperm count. At this point we have enough (sperm) for IVF, which is something we’ve planned and put off a couple of times already due to other circumstances. At this point, we are seriously considering an IVF Vacation, because at least if it doesn’t work, we get a 2 week tropical vacation. (albeit the most expensive vacation ever)We are still trying to find out some details, but think that this is probably the way to go, even though it would postpone it for a few more months.

I wrote a semi awareness post a few weeks ago when I participated in the Analogy Project with my post Another Marathon, Metaphorically. I’m going to attempt to write several posts during this week including the theme “Dont Ignore Infertility”, however, I’ll probably end up with writers block with my luck.

Thanks for stopping by

Tidbits and February ICLW

It’s been interesting around here the last few days.

Bryan was making dinner on Sunday while I played Super Paper Mario on the Wii. We had nothing planned but a nice relaxing evening.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t in the cards.

Suddenly, I hear a “WHOOSH”, and flames are shooting out of the pan in the kitchen. I, not realizing its a grease fire, don’t honestly think much of it, figuring he’ll throw some water on it and it’ll be done. He, knowing it IS a grease fire, picks the pan up in attempt to avoid burning the house down and directs it towards the sink. Grease is shooting out of the pan. He throws the pan into the sink and I, still not knowing its a grease fire, turns the water on.

Oops.

It re-lit, but luckily there was a wet washcloth in the sink so I covered it with that and it went out no problem.

Bryan on the other hand, was not so lucky. The shooting grease had made a few direct hits to his face and arm, meaning a trip to the ER was in order.

I’m speeding to the VA hospital with my emergency blinkers on. I just KNOW I’m going to get pulled over, but Bryan assures me it is fine, the cop will just escort us to the hospital. We are ALMOST there and I get pulled over. The cop takes my license and offers to escort us. We get to the hospital and Bryan runs in. I meet up with the cop and he hands me back my license…..and a speeding ticket.

@$$hole.

Bryan is ok. Hurting, but ok. He has second degree burns on his cheek, lips and upper arm. He’s been hanging out at home on painkillers. So I apologize if I haven’t been commenting much recently…..which leads me to:

February ICLW

An update for those of you are are new stopping by: In January we had decided to move forward with an IVF next cycle with a hopeful transfer mid-April. Then, Bryan’s VA endocrinologist  decides to add another hormone shot, swearing this will help us get pregnant naturally (we have mild “female factor” and more severe “male factor” – only enough sperm at last count for IVF). After much thought and now with this recent incident, we are probably going to put the IVF off until late spring/early summer. His next SA is April 1.

Finally, though it’s been posted on numerous other blogs, I wanted to add my support to Mo, who, after suffering 3 miscarriages, made it to 23 weeks and her water broke. At last update they were inducing her, and things aren’t looking good. I was really only a lurker of her blog and not nearly as close to her as some others, but my heart absolutely aches for her. Please send her, her husband, and her baby thoughts and prayers.

I can’t even begin to imagine.

To anyone who has suffered a loss or situation like this……I wish there were something I could do or say.

January ICLW

January has been a busy month for us.

When Christmas came around with a “special” present from AF in 2011, hubby and I  had a long talk and decided it was time to press forward with IVF.  With the theme in mind that 2012 is the year for babies,we met with our RE on Friday the 13th(ha), which you can read about here.

The very next day, I ran my second full marathon, which, even though I’ve done one before, felt like a huge accomplishment. I will keep running until I’m told not to, but won’t be training for big races anytime soon, as we have decided to go through with the IVF in April. I just got some bloodwork taken, will be on Metformin for about 5 weeks, and we’ll start the process in late February, hopefully transferring our child in mid to late April. It was both an easy and a difficult decision, which I’m sure you all understand. Infertility is expensive, but the alternative to not trying is turning out to be more costly than I would have originally guessed. 

So here we are, two AF visits away from staring what will hopefully be the first and only IVF cycle, and allow us to finally become parents.

Thanks for stopping by, and hope you’ll stick around!