Pale shade of green?

Well it is confirmed- we have 1 baby growing strong!

Tuesday was the appointment in Ohau and we were not only able to see our little comma but also able to hear the heartbeat.  It was amazing, Clint was doing the video and I don't think I have ever seen him smile quite so much. We both stopped talking....that is amazing in itself!

After we left the doctors office (quite relieved) we, of course, went to Target! I purchased my first maternity clothes and Clint and I went through and looked at all the cute little baby stuff.  I believe he did play the video every 5 minutes while he walked around!

This week for me has been interesting- I am losing weight.  Why? No, I am not throwing up, just not eating. I feel horrible. Almost like I had way to much wine the night before. My bagel and cream cheese would not work this morning but funny that a glass of milk and now a smoothie seem to be helping. I am hoping that when I stop taking the progesterone and the estrace next week that will help as well. I am on hormone overload! Yes, even the crying has begun. I cry over baby socks, puppies, kittens- yea, I know really stupid stuff.  Why was I praying for symptoms last week?  Well it is all worth it and its all for a great cause....our sweet little nugget (aka comma)!

Week 5

So this week our little nugget(s) are the size of apple seeds. This is also the week that normal women find out they are pregnant. I know that I am fortunate for knowing early for a few reasons.  I have been taking prenatals now for 4 months along with extra calcium. I had my last glass of wine with Partice at the gallery a week before the transfer and have been able to eat healthy and nutrient rich meals for the last few weeks. The unfortunate part is the waiting game. Since we have learned earlier we have had more waiting - the 10 days after the transfer, and as of today we have another 10 day wait to see just how well our transfer went. We are, of course, hoping for twins.
This week I have noticed some subtile changes.  Sleep seems to happen more frequently. Now, I do wonder if it is baby or the fact that I have caught a cold. Yes, a cold! Tuesday was the sore throat followed by Wednesday - Friday sore throat, stuffy and coughing to today just sounding hoarse and my ears feel clogged.  BOO!  We have also layed off the shots this week and are using the "alternate method" to let my poor rump heal. Tonight, however,  I have brought the ice pack to the gallery with me and will resume shots when I return home at 10.  You will never hear this from me again but I am glad to resume the shots...
Looking forward to the next set of changes!

Positive Positive

The long 10 day wait is over!  We are positive, positive that we will be having a baby!

Saturday morning we were up early so that Clint could do 8am Crossfit and I could be at the lab early for the first of the 2 blood tests.  With all that done we headed to baby beach, we hoped that it would bring us some luck- around 1 we needed to head home so that I could get ready for work and decided to stop by Cilantro's to get my favorite - Nachos!  As life would have it I get the news as I am being handed my food. I run outside and meet Clint with a huge grin, give a giant thumbs up and we both become teary eyed in the parking lot!  Like high schoolers we jump on our phones to start spreading the news that the first test came up positive.  It was so exciting and wonderful to know that everyones prayers had been answered and that we are FINALLY becoming parents!
Today's news while exciting and awesome was nothing near the excitement of Saturday. I let Clint answer the phone today to get the news- figured it was his turn, I like to share! :) I will be sleeping easy tonight, and am excited to share the news with Rotary tomorrow.

Remember the date....8/23, that's when we find out how well it all worked!

Embryo Transfer

Clint and I ate our way through Oahu. Upon arriving Wednesday we went to Chili's for lunch, drove around the north shore and for dinner stuffed our faces at Red Lobster.  We did enjoy our ride around the island, we saw a cove with 30+ turtles and was amazed at the beauty of the north shore and inner Oahu. I still find it amazing how each island is so different. Before our gorging at Red Lobster we managed to get pedicures and do some mall walking and people watching at Ala Moana.
Clint was up early on Thursday morning for work. He walked a few blocks to the nearest Starbucks. I got up around 7. I was a bit tired as we about froze from the AC and a inconvenient fire alarm rang all night. Of course Clint did not hear a thing! Christine our PA calls around 7:15 to go over the day with me since it is her day off and will not be there for the transfer.  At this point I am starting to get excited! Clint comes back and we head out for our next meal- Denny's, where we both order 2 eggs.  He finds this so amusing! We head back to the hotel, pack up and over to the Doctors office we go.  I am drinking my water so that my bladder is full for the procedure.  Clint and I also showered last night as we can have on NO perfumes (like from deodorants, soaps and lotions).  We are finally brought into a waiting room where we wait for Dr. Frattarelli.  When he enters he tells us that out of the 7 embryos that 4 have made it to the blastocyst stage and he will be giving us 2 of those and freezing the other 2. If for some reason the remaining 3 turn into blastocyst  he will then freeze those as well.  Now that my bladder is full, we are taken into a curtain room where both Clint and I put on booties and hair nets, I change from the waist down and wrap up in a sheet.  We walk across a small hall way and into the transfer room where I get to lay on a bed with a giant harness.  There is a TV screen to my left that has my name on it. I verify that its me and then its magnified and we get to see our 2 embryos. Pretty cool to say the least. Clint is video taping everything so I see mostly his back and the back of his head. The embryos are sucked up into a turkey baster, brought into our room where a very thin tube is placed through my cervix and the eggs are placed into the top of my uterus.  At this point (still looking at the back side of my husband) the nurse also has a sonogram on my belly and we all of a sudden see 2 bright spots at the top of the uterus. There they are in the easy bake oven! From here I am transferred to another bed, wheeled out and lay there (with a VERY full bladder) for 20 minutes. During this time Clint is texting and emailing everyone we know pictures of the embryos.  My favorite response was from Aunt Manda back to Clint- "awe, they look just like you"!
So here are the rules: for the next week- no swimming. I am to drink plenty of fluids that include juice, sports drinks and of course water. No alcohol, smoking or drugs- really?! Continue with the progesterone injections (will be using the suppositories to let the bruises heal for the next 3 days) and my favorite- continue my normal life, minus really strenuous activity. Oh darn, just when I was thinking of training for a marathon!
When we left the dr's office the first thing we both did was to put on deodorant when we got to the car! We made a trip to Target to browse around, found Puka Dog in Waikiki  for lunch and then sat on the beach until it was time to go home.  We were picked up by the "Adult Hendersons" brought home showered and then to Outback for a quick dinner.
Last night I slept like a champ- apparently it poured all night?  I am feeling fine- like nothing is new other than my butt still hurts.  We now have 22g needles, apparently the 18g are for drawing out the fluid not injecting it. I cannot express the amount of pain the 18g needles are- these 22g are a piece of cake! I am so thankful for that.
So now the waiting begins... August 8th!

53 days to go...

Well this last week has been full of pre embryo activity!

Let's start with Thursday, Clint left for Ohau!  Friday was to be egg retrieval day and with that being said Clint would have a 2 hour window to do his part- deliver the sperm.  Well as all things go they moved the retrieval date back a day to Saturday.  So poor Clint finds himself in Ohau for a few extra hours but I think both of us were glad that he was there and ready if he was needed. Thursday evening he met with Julie from Pacific Egg Donor Inc, I had no idea but Clint was getting to meet up with our donor.  He called with so much excitement - he went on and on with how awesome of a job we did picking her (let's just remember, she was my first choice). He also said how much the 2 of us had in common and a few minutes after that she friended us both on FB.  I did not think that I would want her in our lives but have completely changed my mind for a few reasons. One being- if there are ever any medical problems. I also like the idea of our possible babies knowing who she is and what a giving person she is. Lastly, I don't think any child is hurt by having a few extra people to love them! She is such an extraordinary young lady, I myself cannot wait to meet her and give her a huge hug!

So Saturday arrives, 7:45am I send a message to our donor letting her know that we are thinking about her and that there are so many people praying for her. Looks like our prayers have been answered at this point because at 9:45am I get a text : Mission Accomplished! Whoo hoo is all I can say! We had a bit of wait time on Saturday but they let us know they were able to harvest 53 eggs! From this point they fertilized 10 and placed 27 into the freezer!  We would have to wait till Monday to see just how many embryos we would have. So now the real fun begins....progesterone shots!

I can very easily say I have a WHOLE new respect for IVF/donor egg moms. We are the crazy bunch that want children so bad we will endure 8+ week of shots with the biggest needles (not long but thick) and a fluid the consistency of Vitamin E oil.  While I was excited for Clint to get back I was also scared shitless. Really you want my husband to give me shots....my husband who will get a pair of scissors and cut skin growths off his leg, the same man who has also NEVER given anyone a shot! AND lets not forget draw him a picture of where to give me these shots- really!!?  So the night went as this: Clint picked me up from work, I grab the ice pack I brought with me to work and ride home with it attached to my right butt cheek.  So we get home and it is finally shot time. Clint readies the GIANT dart,(I refuse to look at the needles, so he has put everything into a purse of mine and uses it as his DR bag) makes some marker marks on my rump we get into shot stance.  Shot stance looks like this: we are left hip to left hip and I grab the back pocket flaps of his shorts, he has one arm around my back and holding on to my waist- you know it might just be easier to take a picture.  Needless to say I hear, "here I go"- "O Crap!!, I am going to have to redo it- it all ran out" to my reply of "WHAT??!!!"  Yes, that is right, the fluid ran down my leg and NOT into my cheek!  So here we go with injection #2 for the evening- first icing the left cheek and poke and all done!  Whew! I get my massage on the injection site to ensure that I don't get lumpy butt syndrome. So not that bad, well at least that was until about 3:45am when it became uncomfortable to lay on the memory foam mattress.
Sunday was a fun day, I sat very carefully on every and anything that my butt came into contact with. I have bruises- 2 of them, one on each cheek.  Cheryl and Jim came over to the house after church and before I left for work.  Upon entering the house she says- "Can I see your butt?", well at least I am getting some sympathy!  So lets fast forward a few hours, ice on rump on the way home, ready for shot #2 (really its the 3rd one but #1 did not count).  Ready and jab...not so bad!  Good job honey! Massage was good too!
Here it is now Monday. I get up and am not sore where I was injected last night.  Clint got word from the PA that we have 7 embryos growing strong!! We attended Crossfit- which greatly helped the soreness. Our dear friend Vicki Jackson came by around 2 to show Clint how to better give me the shots and also recommended that we go by the pharmacy and get  22g needle vs the 18g darts we are currently using.  I am in agreement with that, unfortunately that will happen for tomorrow! BOO!! Hope tonights injection goes as well....

25 days and counting

Not too much excitement on the quest for baby.  I started to take Estrace last Sunday 2mg a day and then sonogram every week to check the uterine lining. It does look as if the calendar is set - July 22nd for egg retrieval and at this time I will begin progesterone injections (boo) and then July 27th for implantation.   On Wednesday I go in for more blood test, Thursday I move up to 4mg of Estrace per day, Friday I go to Ohau for another sonogram and more blood work.  The best thing I can say about the Estrace is that I have not had any hot flashes! That is a more than welcome relief! Just can't wait until the 27th and then the 10 days following to know if it worked!

Donor!

Things on the baby front are progressing nicely.  At the beginning of March we narrowed down and chose our donor.  This was quite a tedious process. We had it down to 3 and then went a bit deeper into their bio's and medical history until we found our match.  Clint would continuously laugh- "this is like match.com for a baby"!  We chose our beautiful young woman for a few reasons. Let's start off with she has 3 siblings, green eyes, an athletic build, blond hair and is 5'2". Now as many know, eye color is sort of a big deal for both Clint and I as we have blue eyes.  So why green?  Well, her parents have blue eyes and her siblings had either blue or green eyes so that helps our chances.   Athletic build- lets just say if we picked a person who hated sports or did not play sports, enjoy exercise or dance this child may not like either of us- its that genetic potential thing.  She is a former volleyball player and now runs. Her brother even plays volleyball at the collegiate level.  She also, (love it) has some meat on her  bones and my favorite picture was her with a running bib on and a bloody knee!  While she does not necessarily look like me, she is defiantly has my build.  Other things we liked about her was that she is very smart, has held office positions in school (outgoing) and most of all decided to be a donor because her host family (when she was abroad) used a donor for there child.  We will be the 3rd family that she has helped to have children.  All of the nurses and consultants have sung her praises so I feel as if we have made a good decision.  Now comes the waiting part- we start our cycle with her sometime is July and will be ready for harvest Aug/Sept.  So fingers crossed- this time next year we will be parents!

End of the Thyroid ordeal!

Last week I spent about 42 hours in the hospital in Honolulu for the iodine radiation.  Interesting experience- first I had to keep to an iodine free diet for 2 weeks prior to the hospital stay. This diet sucked-that is the only word for it.  I had to cook everything from scratch from mayo to bread.  I even made tortillas from scratch!  The 2 days prior to my hospital stay I was collecting gear that I could bring into the hospital that I did not mind turning radioactive. I packed old t-shirts, shorts some cross sitch and of course my i-phone. I had to go into the clinic to have TSH shots on Sunday and Monday at 2:30pm.  Fun times, the first injection did not hurt but started to later and then left a huge bruise while the second injection neither hurt nor left a mark! So after 2 weeks on this diet I took the long 20 minute flight to Honolulu and got the Kaiser hospital.  Needless to say I was told that this hospital was so much better than the one here in Maui and not to my surprise it was terrible! We arrived at 2:00 and I was to take the radiation at 2:30.  Well here it was 4:20 and they were just coming in to give me the very unecassary pregnancy test. Mind you I had not eaten since 9:00am! Then after a severe headache and a crying bout at the nurses station I was finally given the pill at 5:15pm...now I had to wait an hour to eat.  6:15, dinner did arrive, it was gross but at that point I would have eaten road kill. So no pain just a few chills and bouts of sweating while sleeping elevated. Night 1 was the pits!  The next morning 5am the nurse came in and quickly dropped off some juice and crackers. I asked for a banana  because of a few calf cramps and was assured it would be brought to me at breakfast- cool!  That was until they forgot to bring me breakfast- at 9:30 I started an inquiry and everyone said "you did'nt get your breakfast?" Humm, no!  If there was one thing you would have thought they would have learned - feed this girl or she will eat you alive = big fail!  So after my banana and oatmeal came I did a quick workout to help sweat this stuff out. 30 seconds on 30 off jumprope for 10 minutes then a round of tabata squats- 20 seconds on 10 off, 8 rounds. Good sweat, shower and then to drink more water (had 8 pictures total by the time I left), watch some TV and do some cross stitch! Thursday morning was so much better, I was out by 9:30! We made a quick run to Target (since we were in Honolulu) and we were home later that afternoon.
The following week was interesting as my poor hubby had to sleep on the sofa since I was still Radioactive! Needless to say I am very thankful that the cancer did not spread and that the treatment I had to undergo was painless (with exception of the iodine diet). So the last ordeal is to get this my thyroid medication levels back to normal.  This I know takes time and time is something I thank God for!

New Adventure

Today was the doctors appointment we have been waiting for- the infertility specialist!  He has a great success rate and check out every possible thing he can on both me and the donor.  So far the only good news I have is that I have a good uterus!  Our next step will be to find the egg donor - so fingers crossed that this process will not take to long and that we find the best possible donor out there!