Another trip to Vancouver has come to an end! We met at the hotel, the wrong hotel because I for some reason booked a hotel on the other side of the city instead of our normal hotel. Andrea has pregnancy brain and I obviously am trying to have that illness too. Anyway, we went out for some food and went to a movie together. As usual Andrea kept me laughing and super entertained! The girl has some crazy stories and it makes me so jealous that her life is so exciting. Living on a farm in the middle of nowhere is super cool! She has been teaching this city girl quite a few things, and insists on making me rough it with her sometime. We will see if she can succeed with that, many have failed.
This is what I think of when someone brings up camping
OR
So as you can see, I have very happy thoughts about camping.
We woke up the next morning and Andrea wanted to show me the horse race track before our ultrasound, I have never been and thought that sounded fun. I have a love affair with horses, so all I cared about was being up close to them. There ended up not being any races going on before our appointment, but being with Andrea is always an adventure.
Both of us were really nervous about the ultrasound since the last time we had one we ended up finding out that we had lost the baby. Andrea had been bleeding for a week and during first trimester of pregnancy this can be common, but bleeding is never something that makes me comfortable. The doctor came in and I saw the baby right away and we both saw the heartbeat immediately. What a relief to see a little bean in there alive and healthy.
I know it can be hard to see but the baby is the blob in the middle of the black hole. Here is our baby!!!
It is seriously a miracle to hear something that tiny--the size of a blueberry at the time--have a heartbeat!! I will keep on saying that science is super cool! That we even have the technology to see and hear this stuff is amazing.
Since Andrea has been bleeding and we have had a loss before, we are going to be doing ultrasounds every 2 weeks until we feel it is a healthy, viable pregnancy. I am flying to Williams Lake on the 2nd for ultrasound #2 which will put us at almost 10 weeks. Our last pregnancy based on the size of the baby ended at week 9, so I am crossing my fingers and toes that we will have a happy ultrasound in 2 weeks.
We are all so excited that things are going well so far, we all are convinced this baby is a girl and I even did something funny to find out. There is something called the Ramzi Theory which looks at ultrasounds and based off of where the placenta is forming in your uterus they can tell what your baby's gender is. I know, I know, its probably all hocus pocus, but I don't care because its just plain fun!! So based off of the Ramzi Theory, they said that baby is a girl too! So if the placenta is on the left its a girl, right and its a boy.
So we have some names picked out and I am not one of those that keeps that to myself. So help us out and tell us what you think of these three names we are thinking of:
Piper
Colbie
Eden
I am sure as time goes on, we will have many more to choose from, but these are our faves so far. If this baby is a boy, I apologize in advance. I have been wrong with both of our other kids, so I wouldn't be that shocked.
Thanks so much for all of the congratulations, we are so so excited!!
I have been so lazy and a little nervous about blogging! Its funny all the crazy emotions you go through with IVF and also surrogacy. You are super happy, super sad, hopeful, angry, full of love, and sometimes very depressed. Its something I definitely don't take for granted because this experience has taught me so much about myself and about perseverance!
As probably most of you know because a lot of my blog followers are either family or friends on facebook, we are pregnant!!! I took everyone on facebook for a little roller coaster ride by first telling them that this transfer didn't work again, to then telling them the next day that it worked. Whoops!! My bad! It says a lot about my emotions going through all of this and my natural tendency to jump to negative conclusions.
When we started this journey with Andrea, we all were so sure this would be smooth sailing especially because we got pregnant so easily the first time but then losing that baby at 11 weeks and then failing at our second attempt, panic can set in. This round, we were all so sure it was it. 3rd times the charm right?? So when Andrea took 2 pregnancy tests the day of our blood work and they both came back negative--I was devastated. No one gets negative pregnancy tests and then have a positive beta HCG (blood test for pregnancy) the same day. So the next day when the phone call came from Andrea that the tests the next day were positive and then the doctor said the blood work was alos positive, I was not prepared! But we are sooooooo happy!!!
So here is our timeline from transfer:
June 15--transfer day of a 5 day blastocyst.
She did it alone this time. I felt awful, we were in Italy visiting my parents and nature does not follow schedules. I somewhat wonder if this was better for Andrea. I can be a nervous, crazy person in there. My nerves show up in weird ways too! I go through all the drawers in the clinic and sneak in to places I shouldn't be. Almost like a 10 year old boy. I have lots of experience with them. She is always telling me to sit down and relax, but I need to explore every nook and cranny and push all the buttons. I even put the ultrasound machine on myself to see if I could find the area where my uterus should be. SO, I am sure it was a very calm experience this time.
I emailed the embryologist to give me some info on the embryo this time around. She said the embryo had 100% cell survival after thawing, so a very good chance for implantation. She said our clinic that did grading called it a grade B4.2.1 Grading is done different at different clinics, but with what I have learned, this is a great embryo. Here's our baby!!! Its so weird seeing it from so early on. Crazy that this turns in to a baby! I love science
June 22-Day 7 or as we IVF people call it 7dp5dt-beta tests came back at 81.
Here's the test Andrea took the following morning before we got the blood test results back. She had one test left and just decided to use it. She wasn't even going to look at it because she was also so sure it would be negative. Sure glad she didn't chuck it!! haha
I am going to add a picture that I added in an earlier post to help explain the numbers and what is normal ranges during this process. I find it fascinating and I am obviously crazy because I research and research and research till there is literally no more information I could learn about beta blood work. haha
So as you can see, on Day 7, 81 is above average, so that's very promising. We are looking for our numbers to double every 48 to 72 hours, and that tends to be the thing we are watching for the most. It will tell you if this is a viable pregnancy or not.
June 25- Day 10 or 10p5dt-beta test came back as 364. Also a fantastic number, above average, and we are doubling in under 48 hours, so that is also a great thing.
July 2- Day 17 or 17dp5dt- beta came back at 4577. Above average again and still doubling under 48 hours.
We are all beyond thrilled, well Andrea is pregnant and having the fun symptoms of that, but we are still thrilled. haha She says that she is so exhausted, wanting to eat really weird things, and a tad moody.... We love her so much for doing this for us, what a road she has been on to have a baby for someone else. I apologize constantly about my baby. My babies cause very strange cravings, I suffered from severe PICA with both. So I can't wait to hear what happens with this pregnancy. Luke it was vinegar, that's all I ever wanted. I drank it in secret and doused everything in it. It was really bad. Jordyn I sniffed sponges. I wanted to eat them, but Dave wouldn't let me. What a drag. I know!!! Super weird. I would have a sponge in my pocket every day that got switched out when the smell wasn't as strong and I had one during labor as well. So hopefully this one is entertaining too. Love you Andrea. bahahaha
Next Wednesday, July 13 we are heading to Vancouver for our first ultrasound. Andrea will be about 7 weeks, so we should be able to see a heartbeat and make sure this little bean is healthy. I won't ever let her do an ultrasound without me since our last one we found out we lost the baby. I was so relieved I was there for it because I couldn't imagine her having to make that phone call to us. That is asking too much. So I will be there holding her hand and us doing this together. I have so much hope that this is it, so I have no doubt our little apple seed is growing and strong.
Well, this has been an exciting couple of weeks and I cant wait for next Wednesday!! I will update you all as soon as I get that picture and let you know how we are progressing. Hope everyone had a fantastic Canada Day and 4th of July! Let me know if you have any questions, would love to answer them.
