1st ultrasound!

Our 1ww to ultrasound after the 2ww was just as nerve wrecking!  Around midnight, on Saturday evening, I was spotting!  I yelled out to James and he came rushing over.  Panic, fear, and worry engulfed me because my worst nightmare became a reality.  Different thoughts were running through my mind: "am I miscarrying", "i think i'm too far along for implementation bleeding", "please God, let it stop!"  I was terrified and cried some while J was trying to comfort me.  With IF, I'm always going to worry a little more.  Really, I'll worry through the entire pregnancy until I feel the baby lying on my chest on delivery day.  Thankfully, it wasn't a lot of bleeding and since it was late, I didn't have much time to dwell on it because I was physically exhausted.  We got ready for bed and J prayed.  I wanted peace of mind and Monday's ultrasound seemed so far away.  I had to trust God and surrender the baby to him.  I closed my eyes and fell into a deep sleep. 

Sunday  morning, I left a message at the clinic and quickly got a call back from an RE on duty.  The doctor asked me some questions and told me to call again if the bleeding and cramping continued.  The RE wasn't overly concerned and she told me to rest with minimal activity around the house.  I cancelled breakfast with an old friend who was visiting from out of town and we missed church.  I slept all afternoon and J took awesome care of me.  I was anxious about spotting again and a friend reminded me to "cast all my anxieties on him because he cares for you" - 1 Peter 5:7.  I meditated on that verse all day and PTL, I didn't spot! Thanks M!

This morning, J and I went in for our 8am ultrasound appointment.  With traffic, we were 10 mins late.  After checking in, we were greeted by Babs (phlebotomist), Deb (nurse), and Delphine (ultrasound tech) ... they were wondering when we'd arrive because they wanted to see the picture!  They were so cute!  Delphine showed us the gestational sac and yolk developing inside the uterus...praise God!  The yolk provides nourishment for the baby inside the gestational sac.  The yolk size is .34 cm and gestational sac size is 1.10 cm.  After the u/s, we waited for our turn to meet with Deb and Michelle (embryologist) came out to see our u/s picture and gave me a big hug.   She's so sweet!  She had to get back to work and continue babysitting other embies. 

The gestational sac and yolk is the almond shaped nut in the middle.  According to babycenter.com, our baby is the size of a sesame seed and looks more like a tiny tadpole than a human.  From 4 wks until 10 wks, all of our baby's organs will begin to develop and some will begin to function.  Amazing!

With pregnancy, many blood vessels are being formed with the growth of the placenta.  Deb believes the spotting was due to a ruptured blood vessel in the cervix.  I've been constipated (i know...tmi) and the straining could have caused it to occur.  The u/s would have shown if there was bleeding and Delphine didn't see any effects of it so the baby is OK!  Here's a link to an article about the different types of pregnancy bleeding:  http://www.welcomebabyhome.com/pregnancy/pregnancy_bleeding_pregnancy.htm  We're so thankful we saw the baby doing well this morning.  We'll see his or her heartbeat on the 15th!  We're 5 weeks and 4 days pregnant and our due date is October 30 or 31st! 

My OHSS is better!  The fluid is gone from my abdominal cavity but my ovaries are still swollen by the pregnancy.  My right ovary is bigger with 3 cysts and my left ovary is the same as before with 2.

I had more bw done on Friday at Quest to check the following:
fasting blood sugar = 83
hemoglobin = 5.4
TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) = 2.93, between 1-2 is ideal.
Dr. M increased my Synthroid dose to 75 mg.

After our 2nd ultrasound on March 15, we have our last consult scheduled with Dr. M until we return for our FET (frozen egg transfer).  I feel like it's too early to release me to an OB/GYN, but his job is complete.  It's so bittersweet!  I'll most likely cry on the way out.   I think Dr. M likes his personal space, but wonder if he'll let me give him a big hug. 

Thank you to the Tsangs for the beautiful flowers and KK for stopping by with A & J and blessing us with all the delicious meals! 

17dpt = 4 1/2 weeks

Yesterday, I had an u/s (ultrasound) to see if my ovaries shrunk and to check in on how much fluid was left in my abdominal cavity.  My ovaries are the same size from last weeks u/s, but I have less fluid on my right side.   Due to my pcos, my cysts on ovaries are waxing and waning between my two ovaries and are still enlarged due to the fertility meds.  My last u/s showed that I had 2 or 3 enlarged cysts on my right ovary before and yesterday, I had 1.  My left ovary showed 3 enlarged cysts.  My tech, Janice, said she likes to see a gradual decline is size and so far so good!  J looked at my uterus and it was too soon to see anything.  J mentioned a heartbeat could be seen with a 1,200 beta and that will be in a few weeks.

I didn't get any bw done to check my beta level and it was nice break for my veins!  They don't want to get caught up with the numbers and I guess that's a good thing because it can get obsessive.  They saw a good rise with the second beta so I guess they were pleased, but I am curious to know what my levels are.  I have no choice but to let it go.
 
Our next appointment is on Monday, 3/5,  for an u/s to see our pregnancy in the uterus, look for a developing gestational sac, and find out if we have 1 or 2 growing! I'm hoping the embies are where they're supposed to be and they haven't floated up to my right tube.  I hate worrying about ectopics and pray against it.  I sat in a special position for 2 hours after ET (egg transfer) to prevent an ectopic and hope that helped, but nothing is guaranteed.  Please pray the sac and babies are developing nicely in the uterus.

Interestingly, I'm 4 1/2 weeks pregnant!  I was confused because my 2ww (week wait) just ended and I didn't understand how I was 4 1/2 weeks already. RE's consider egg development the beginning of pregnancy - so when I was Follistim - my pregnancy began!  By egg retrieval (ER), which was Feb 9, I was already 2 weeks pregnant and it's also our date of conception since the sperm and egg met.   
By Monday, I'll be 5 1/2 weeks pregnant and then the following week to 10 days, we'll see a heart beat!  Our estimated due date is the end of October or the beginning of November!