Well, now I have been pregnant for just about 2 weeks. All I can say is that I am loving every second of it. I am realizing I worry about whatever is in my tummy 24/7. Apparently, this is what motherhood is all about, so I hear...and this is just the beginning! haha My mom laughs at me and my worries. Anyways, my symptoms have remained the same. However, I am more fatigued and more nauseous. I am on the verge of gagging every time I eat. LOVING it though! I can sleep all day every day...even sitting up. My temp is still always 99.5. I feel like a walking furnace. :) Also, at work one of the physical therapists I work with was with a patient walking down the hallway. As I walked by she looked at me and whispered, "Are you pregnant?" I said why do you say that? She said I can see it in your face...you are on the verge of throwing up and my posture was leaning forward. You just look a little different than your everyday self. I laughed and said wow, that was impressive! and yes, I do feel sick and sleepy. She said she has a sixth sense for this. Apparently, she does! Also - my lower abdomen is completely bloated! It is too early for a baby bump just yet...but for those that know what is going on knows I am extremely bloated and definitely is not subtle, which is OK with me. :)
I have been feeling some stretching in my uterine area, especially last night. From what I hear, that is a good thing! I have called the nurses at IRH twice now asking for an earlier ultrasound because I am now 5w3d and Jan 6th I will be about 6.5 weeks. They said I will not see much before that and that it will be worthwhile to wait since my numbers were so high...there is no doubt. So I wait...and I am finally ok with waiting on this end of the spectrum. I can't wait to see what is inside me. It already is such an amazing feeling. I already know I am going to need to bring the tissues with me to the ultrasound...January 6th can't come soon enough! :)
For now I just put my hands on my tummy, and rub my baby(s) and just wonder what I will see on Jan 6. I am going to enjoy every step of this pregnancy and not rush or wish time to pass. I am right where I have wanted to be for a long time now. Life is good and could not be any better right now.
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Sharing Our Happy Christmas News! :)
The joy of sharing our happy news with others was something we talked about earlier prior to our high beta numbers and positive hpt. We know we are still VERY early in this pregnancy, but we felt that sharing our happy news with others while the news was fresh was best. I have always told my story as it happens regardless of it's happy or sad tone. I am known for writing the good, the bad, and the ugly. I never pick and chose what I decide to share with others - I share it all. There are ups and downs in this process, and sharing them as they happen is real life and this is what I am all about. So our decision was easy. We decided to share our news with everybody as it happens and we are so happy we did. It is just who we are. :)
The day we announced our happy news, we were flooded with calls, texts, facebook posts and messages, etc. by our friends and family. We felt the love that day to say the least. Thank you for reaching out to us and writing us your sweet messages. We continue to feel overjoyed and extremely blessed this holiday season. Each and every message means so much to us! Thank you! We have the BEST support system!
Our first ultrasound is on Friday, January 6 in Ohio with Dr. Scheiber at IRH! I will be a little over 6 weeks so we should be able to see the heartbeat. We can't wait! Dr. Scheiber has been communicating his joy to us while he is on vacation as he is off this week. I love his emails! His emails are one of the things that make me feel such a personal connection with him. His door is always open and he responds within hours (even while on vacation)! :)
Have a very Merry Christmas and enjoy time with family. I know we will... :) We have been given our Chirstmas wish of a lifetime. We feel so blessed and have been given everything we wanted this year. We have so much to look forward to! :)
The day we announced our happy news, we were flooded with calls, texts, facebook posts and messages, etc. by our friends and family. We felt the love that day to say the least. Thank you for reaching out to us and writing us your sweet messages. We continue to feel overjoyed and extremely blessed this holiday season. Each and every message means so much to us! Thank you! We have the BEST support system!
Our first ultrasound is on Friday, January 6 in Ohio with Dr. Scheiber at IRH! I will be a little over 6 weeks so we should be able to see the heartbeat. We can't wait! Dr. Scheiber has been communicating his joy to us while he is on vacation as he is off this week. I love his emails! His emails are one of the things that make me feel such a personal connection with him. His door is always open and he responds within hours (even while on vacation)! :)
Have a very Merry Christmas and enjoy time with family. I know we will... :) We have been given our Chirstmas wish of a lifetime. We feel so blessed and have been given everything we wanted this year. We have so much to look forward to! :)
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
2nd Beta
and the report is in....477!!! Still super high and strong! It doubled very nicely! Doctor was pleased and is ready to schedule our 6-week ultrasound! No date has been scheduled at this point, but it will most likely be Friday, January 6th! We will go back and give Dr. Scheiber the BIGGEST hug and thank him for everything as he scans our little miracle! The nurse told us we can hear and see the heartbeat as well... Oh the joys to look forward to! :)
Also, Pat and I walked into a Carters baby store for the first time as "expectant parents" We were just in a state of awe for what is to come. We used to go into these stores with a dream and now we are living that dream. We are just beaming with excitement!!!! :)
Symptoms at this point -
*Constantly warm - my body temperature has been elevated to a low-grade fever temperature (my body is working overtime...I can feel it!)
*No taste for food
*I had 3 pimples in the middle of last week and I can't remember the last time I even had a pimple! Luckily, they are starting to go away!
*Fatigue all day
That is about it! Other than that I feel completely normal! Hopefully this is the extent of it for the 1st trimester! One can hope.... :)
Also, Pat and I walked into a Carters baby store for the first time as "expectant parents" We were just in a state of awe for what is to come. We used to go into these stores with a dream and now we are living that dream. We are just beaming with excitement!!!! :)
Symptoms at this point -
*Constantly warm - my body temperature has been elevated to a low-grade fever temperature (my body is working overtime...I can feel it!)
*No taste for food
*I had 3 pimples in the middle of last week and I can't remember the last time I even had a pimple! Luckily, they are starting to go away!
*Fatigue all day
That is about it! Other than that I feel completely normal! Hopefully this is the extent of it for the 1st trimester! One can hope.... :)
Sunday, December 18, 2011
WE ARE PREGNANT! :)
Well, we got our good news that we have been waiting 1 year to hear! Our beta was 248.7 on 8dp5dt! That is a nice and strong beta! Our morning started long before our beta though....
I woke up at 7am...early to bed early to rise...I fell asleep early the night before by the Christmas tree. When I woke up in bed, I thought should I test...no! I stopped myself...I cant possibly see ANOTHER negative on those stupid hpts! An experience I knew all too well. Some of my worst IVF memories include those stupid sticks! I looked at Pat while he was sleeping...I laid there for another hour praying/meditating and decided I am just going to do it but will need Pat's help because I am not that strong! I said Pat I am going to take a test...he responded no...why would you do that? I said ok fine I won't... (he was right, I turn into a crazy person). About 10 minutes later he said you can take a test...you pee and I will go and look at the results...I agreed with reluctance...
I walked to the bathroom and opened my last hpt from our cycle last february...I did the deed and tried to get myself out of there as fast as humanly possible. To much surprise, before I could make my getaway...there was that beautiful 2nd line! It appeared within seconds! Quick and dark! I started to shake as I lifted it up and yelled "Pat...I am pregnant!" I ran into our bedroom and showed Pat the stick and he both started to cry and hugged! We felt this can't be happening! This is not our lives...Pat said get your shoes on we are going to Rush Hospital downtown to the lab (where Pat works) to run the beta. One of the perks to hubby working in a hospital medical lab! :) A Beta is the test doctors run to see how high the pregnancy hormone is in your blood indicating if it is a viable pregnancy. We were both so excited and couldn't stop shaking of pure joy!
I woke up at 7am...early to bed early to rise...I fell asleep early the night before by the Christmas tree. When I woke up in bed, I thought should I test...no! I stopped myself...I cant possibly see ANOTHER negative on those stupid hpts! An experience I knew all too well. Some of my worst IVF memories include those stupid sticks! I looked at Pat while he was sleeping...I laid there for another hour praying/meditating and decided I am just going to do it but will need Pat's help because I am not that strong! I said Pat I am going to take a test...he responded no...why would you do that? I said ok fine I won't... (he was right, I turn into a crazy person). About 10 minutes later he said you can take a test...you pee and I will go and look at the results...I agreed with reluctance...I walked to the bathroom and opened my last hpt from our cycle last february...I did the deed and tried to get myself out of there as fast as humanly possible. To much surprise, before I could make my getaway...there was that beautiful 2nd line! It appeared within seconds! Quick and dark! I started to shake as I lifted it up and yelled "Pat...I am pregnant!" I ran into our bedroom and showed Pat the stick and he both started to cry and hugged! We felt this can't be happening! This is not our lives...Pat said get your shoes on we are going to Rush Hospital downtown to the lab (where Pat works) to run the beta. One of the perks to hubby working in a hospital medical lab! :) A Beta is the test doctors run to see how high the pregnancy hormone is in your blood indicating if it is a viable pregnancy. We were both so excited and couldn't stop shaking of pure joy! 
An hour later Pat had one of his co-workers draw my blood and run the test. In the meantime, Pat enjoyed a coffee as we walked through the hospital as my blood vial sat in the machine so we could get the results immediately! We made phone calls as well! We returned back to the lab and Pat said to wait in the break room as he grabbed the results from the machine. My beta was 248.7 at 8dp5dt! Pat was fist pumping in the lab when he first picked up the report and said Katie you have to read this...I looked at it and I said...holy cow!!! No way!!! This is a VERY high beta! yowzers!
We are over the moon....we are PREGNANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It feels amazing to be on the other side...Please keep praying for a healthy pregnancy! We are proof that miracles do happen everyday! What an amazing Christmas miracle. God is good! :)
Monday, December 5, 2011
Pat, You're Up to Bat...
It's crazy to think that this summer, our cycle seemed like an eternity away. It was strange because that patience I have lacked pretty much my entire life started to kick in. I was finally not feeling a sense of "rushed" and kind of went to my own drum, letting the situation take it's course because when I finally stopped trying to control the my bad news train situation, things were falling into place all around me without effort. New job = new benefits, new egg donor, (good friend), new doctor, new ideas, support system growing exponentially, even helping me stock my inventory of drugs I was lacking a few of. It's just been an amazing epiphany.
Egg retrieval is here! This is pretty much one of the most important steps of the process. The quality of eggs is the #1 reason of diagnosed infertility. So basically what we are able to get here, gives us a good outcome of what is to come. It all started at 3am this morning. (Yep! I was up!) I couldn't sleep...the same feelings a child gets on Christmas Eve. I prayed, meditated, took time to reflect...it was rather nice...time actually was flying. The stillness and peacefulness was just what I think I needed. I had alot to pray and thank God for. I also, poked Pat, (by the way - not looking to join me in my silences). He was refusing to wake up until the alarms went off...understandably so...can't blame the guy! At 545 we were up showering and getting ready for what is the first major step of this process. Pat stayed in bed a tad bit longer to meditate to ease some of the pressure...yes, guys feel the pressure too. Today was his day to shine.
We arrive 15 minutes early and sign some papers and off Pat went with a grin on his face. He always feels so self-conscious for this part. (teehee)
Samie was due to the office 45 minutes before us for her egg retrieval. Side note: I texted her when I was up by myself to share my excitement pretty early... I figured she would get a kick out of it when she woke up. She was well into her procedure by the time we got there. Her boyfriend was waiting in the lobby waiting for her to finish up and help her recover. We were all in a quiet mood...it was before sunrise...he was a trooper.
For a space in time, I was alone in the lobby, Samie in one room, Pat in another, well there was the lab receptionist I guess. I brought my St. Gerard medal and just held it and ran it through my fingers. I took a few moments to look around and give the outcome of all of this to God. I am letting everything go, and just letting it be, for I know this is all out of my control at this point and is all up to the big guy upstairs. I looked around the room and could not believe the situation I had in front of me. In one room, I had a husband who I love more than life itself, and in another room, I have a good friend who has been so kind enough to donate eggs to us. I was surrounded by people full of love. I thought about when I was a child that having this situation to deal with later in life would be a form of "shunning" or being "ashamed" (I was a child, I didn't know much about everything in the IVF world. I just knew I wouldn't be normal.) There I was surrounded by love and support from everybody I know. If only I could've told this to the 12-year-old girl in a hospital bed. :)
When Pat walked out, we were done and were told we would get a call later with the results from one of the IVF nurses...I knew Samie would text me as she was in the procedure room finishing up if she could, so we knew well before the "official" report. Her enthusiasm with this has been real high so she is eager to pass info to me relatively quickly. Love that about her! I love the whole known donor route...it has been much more fun knowing her and has been way less complicated! We couldn't be any happier with our situation!
As for the results, the goal was to get 12-15 eggs, but Dr. Scheiber was able to retrieve 18 EGGS from Samie! They looked nice and big which is a great sign! WOOT WOOT! I did a happy dance as I received Samie's text. I was glowing from the inside out. This news could not have been any better! Now we wait for the fertilization report and the daily reports after that to see how our little buggaboos are doing in the lab. I can't wait to get these phone calls... Also - we will get an idea of when our transfer will be. Exciting!
Right now Pat and I are both excited and feel optimistic for this cycle. Things have been moving smoothly for us. (for once!) We hope it stays this way...hopefully this could be the end of one journey and the start of another...right now we are wishing with everything we have for our miracle to happen; our dream to come true.
Thank you to all those who sent emails, texts, facebook messages, etc. to us at this time. Your support brings such a nice calmness to us...just knowing we have friends and family out there thinking and praying for us everyday helps us feel our prayer network is working in full force. I am a true believer in prayer networks...I know they work! We love you all and would not be as strong as we are without all of you. :)
Egg retrieval is here! This is pretty much one of the most important steps of the process. The quality of eggs is the #1 reason of diagnosed infertility. So basically what we are able to get here, gives us a good outcome of what is to come. It all started at 3am this morning. (Yep! I was up!) I couldn't sleep...the same feelings a child gets on Christmas Eve. I prayed, meditated, took time to reflect...it was rather nice...time actually was flying. The stillness and peacefulness was just what I think I needed. I had alot to pray and thank God for. I also, poked Pat, (by the way - not looking to join me in my silences). He was refusing to wake up until the alarms went off...understandably so...can't blame the guy! At 545 we were up showering and getting ready for what is the first major step of this process. Pat stayed in bed a tad bit longer to meditate to ease some of the pressure...yes, guys feel the pressure too. Today was his day to shine.
We arrive 15 minutes early and sign some papers and off Pat went with a grin on his face. He always feels so self-conscious for this part. (teehee)
Samie was due to the office 45 minutes before us for her egg retrieval. Side note: I texted her when I was up by myself to share my excitement pretty early... I figured she would get a kick out of it when she woke up. She was well into her procedure by the time we got there. Her boyfriend was waiting in the lobby waiting for her to finish up and help her recover. We were all in a quiet mood...it was before sunrise...he was a trooper.
For a space in time, I was alone in the lobby, Samie in one room, Pat in another, well there was the lab receptionist I guess. I brought my St. Gerard medal and just held it and ran it through my fingers. I took a few moments to look around and give the outcome of all of this to God. I am letting everything go, and just letting it be, for I know this is all out of my control at this point and is all up to the big guy upstairs. I looked around the room and could not believe the situation I had in front of me. In one room, I had a husband who I love more than life itself, and in another room, I have a good friend who has been so kind enough to donate eggs to us. I was surrounded by people full of love. I thought about when I was a child that having this situation to deal with later in life would be a form of "shunning" or being "ashamed" (I was a child, I didn't know much about everything in the IVF world. I just knew I wouldn't be normal.) There I was surrounded by love and support from everybody I know. If only I could've told this to the 12-year-old girl in a hospital bed. :)
When Pat walked out, we were done and were told we would get a call later with the results from one of the IVF nurses...I knew Samie would text me as she was in the procedure room finishing up if she could, so we knew well before the "official" report. Her enthusiasm with this has been real high so she is eager to pass info to me relatively quickly. Love that about her! I love the whole known donor route...it has been much more fun knowing her and has been way less complicated! We couldn't be any happier with our situation!
As for the results, the goal was to get 12-15 eggs, but Dr. Scheiber was able to retrieve 18 EGGS from Samie! They looked nice and big which is a great sign! WOOT WOOT! I did a happy dance as I received Samie's text. I was glowing from the inside out. This news could not have been any better! Now we wait for the fertilization report and the daily reports after that to see how our little buggaboos are doing in the lab. I can't wait to get these phone calls... Also - we will get an idea of when our transfer will be. Exciting!
Right now Pat and I are both excited and feel optimistic for this cycle. Things have been moving smoothly for us. (for once!) We hope it stays this way...hopefully this could be the end of one journey and the start of another...right now we are wishing with everything we have for our miracle to happen; our dream to come true.
Thank you to all those who sent emails, texts, facebook messages, etc. to us at this time. Your support brings such a nice calmness to us...just knowing we have friends and family out there thinking and praying for us everyday helps us feel our prayer network is working in full force. I am a true believer in prayer networks...I know they work! We love you all and would not be as strong as we are without all of you. :)
Thursday, December 1, 2011
A Hop, Skip, and a Jump Away
Things are looking great so far! Samie had 11 nice and big follicles on Tuesday and she was only on stims for 5 days! Right now she seems to be feeling very uncomfortable and bloated which means egg retrieval is coming up quick! She says it is pretty painful at this point. I never had the opportunity to experience that half of the process. It sounds intense. Of course my heart aches for every ache and pain she feels. I wish there was something I could do for her to take some of her pain away. I wish it were me rather than her, but that is just not our situation. :( In a way, her pains mean that the meds are working! The more uncomfortable she feels the more the effect of the meds on her body. I am happy her body has been responding so well to the meds! It sounds like egg retrieval is coming up! It feels like everyday I am getting a call on updates on both me and her from IRH. Yep...things are looking good! I am looking forward to how many follicles she has tomorrow! ...and when the egg retrieval is scheduled! Samie, hang in there girl! You got this... Thanks for showing women everywhere how strong and amazing people can be. You truly are an inspiration to others and we could not have asked for a more perfect person to help us. You will never know how much you have touched my heart through this process. I am forever changed by your selfless act of kindness. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to have a family. :)
My monitoring appointment was today and things are looking good! Ultrasound and bloodwork came back great. I am layering up beautifully. I got to see my friends over at FCI Naperville. It was so good to see all the familiar faces! I loved our little reunion. I could have spent my entire morning just catching up with them. It is nice that they wish us the best with this cycle and are rooting for us. I most definelty will keep you all updated!
Everybody please keep Pat, Samie, and I in your prayers. We need them now more than ever!
My monitoring appointment was today and things are looking good! Ultrasound and bloodwork came back great. I am layering up beautifully. I got to see my friends over at FCI Naperville. It was so good to see all the familiar faces! I loved our little reunion. I could have spent my entire morning just catching up with them. It is nice that they wish us the best with this cycle and are rooting for us. I most definelty will keep you all updated!
Everybody please keep Pat, Samie, and I in your prayers. We need them now more than ever!
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