Scheduled U/S

Just a quick note to let you know our 6 week u/s will be on Wed the 23rd at 1pm (pst). Hopefully we'll see a heartbeat or two!

I'll be sure to post an update after our appointment.

Thanks for checking in on us! We appreciate your support and discretion!

Love,
Julie

Beta #3

More good news! Our 3rd beta was 769, which more than doubled from the previous 326! Everything looks really good right now, and we'll be going in for a 6 week ultrasound to check for a heartbeat(s). I haven't scheduled it yet, but it will probably be on the 22nd or 23rd.

I'm feeling pretty good--very tired, but not much nausea. My mom never had morning sickness and I'm hoping to follow in her footsteps!

Thanks for checking in on us. We'll let you know when we're making our official pg announcement...until then, please continue to keep this quiet!

Thanks!

Love,
Julie & Todd

Beta #2

I had my 2nd beta today. The Beta HCG is where they measure the amount of HCG in your blood. As a pregnancy progreses, the hcg increases...and right now they want to see my hcg double every 2 days.

Today my hcg was 326! My RE's office was very pleased with that number, and I'll have it re-checked on Friday to make sure it continues to double.

Here's this cool little graphic showing my values so far:






I asked if the hcg values correlate at all with a twin pregnancy, but they said not necessarily. The numbers really vary from pregnancy to pregnancy...So we'll see! We should find out at our 6 week u/s.

So, again, thanks for your support. It's still very early, but I'm glad to be able to share this with you. Please continue to keep this news within our little inner circle of blog readers.

Thanks,
Love,
Julie

It's a positive!

I took a hpt today and it was positive! I went to the clinic to have it verified by blood work and my beta came back at 92! Anything over 25 is a positive. I'll be going to the clinic Wed and Fri to make sure it's doubling as it should.

This is really hard to believe, and I know how it can be difficult to see a pg announcement if you are having your own IF struggles. I just want to thank all of you for your love and support over the past year and a half.

Please keep this news quiet. We've decided to share it with you, our family and friends who read our blog, but would prefer to keep it within that inner circle until a later date.

Thanks,
Love,
Julie and Todd

Halfway through the 2ww

Well we've made it through the first half of the 2ww, or as my friends on Resolve like to call it, the 2wt (two week torture!). One more week to go! I'm trying to convince myself that poas early would be a very bad idea --I think it would just mess with my head and heart. I'm going to try to hold out until next Monday or Tuesday--we'll see, I may break down earlier.

I'm trying to figure out how to deal with the results...If it's negative, I'd want to post here because we'll be starting our next round of injectables after I get AF. If it's positive, I'm not sure what I should do. Most people wait that obligatory 3 month wait before telling "the world", but it's hard to do that when "the world" knows exactly where I am in my cycle!

If it's positive, then I would like to share that with all of you lovely family and friends who have supported us so well during this year. If something goes wrong during the pregnancy and I miscarry or it turns out not to be a true pregnancy, then it's ok for you to know that--you'll be able to support me and Todd just like you've been doing.

Here's what I'm afraid of: I wouldn't want this news of a positive pregnancy to be shared with people who don't read this blog. That means, please don't share it with any of your friends, other family, coworkers, etc. It's one thing for a few of my friends at work to know, it's another for my entire unit to know. Does that make sense?

Please let me know what you think. Leave a comment and tell me if you think we can keep it "quiet" if it's positive. I know that I'm posting to the world and that anyone can see this, but I would like to have some room for discreetness. If it's going to be too hard to keep it quiet among people that don't read this blog, then I will refrain from posting for a month or so (whether or not it's positive or negative) to allow myself some privacy.

Thanks. I appreciate your feedback!

Love,
Julie

Triggered!!!

Our u/s today looked great! I had one follie at 20.1 and one at 15.7!! No sixtuplets for us! :) The 15.7 one could still grow a bit before I ovulate and may or may not contain a mature egg--so we're looking at 1-2 eggs at ovulation! They gave me a HCG shot, to "trigger" ovulation and gave specific instructions on when to time our sexy time. :) (No IUI this cycle since the clinic is closed over Christmas).

I'm so happy right now! I know there's still a lot that could be in the way of us getting pg and carrying to term, but at least we're out of the starting gate! I started crying during my u/s today when I saw that 20mm follicle. We've been in treatment for 8 months now, and this is the first time we've seen a mature follicle on ultrasound. It's just such a relief to know that my body CAN grow follies, albeit with help. And I can only hope that anovulation will be our only problem--that getting pg and staying pg will go fairly easily.

So current stats:
Biggest Follicle: 20.1!
Lining: 6.0
Estradiol: 392

So now we get to do it the old fashioned way tomorrow, and then our 2ww begins! Thanks for your encouraging words and positive energy. We'll really need calming vibes over the next 2 weeks to keep our sanity. Good thing the holidays are here to distract us.

Love,
Julie

CD 12

I can hardly believe it...my follies are still growing! I've got two lead follies at this point: 14.5 and 14.2...and 4 others that are: 11.8, 11.2, 10.9 and 10.4. By Sunday, the 2 that are at 14 should be closer to 18--which means there's >95% chance that they contain a mature egg for ovulation. My RE is a bit nervous (I think her exact words were, "this is kind of scary.") that all 6 are going to contain a mature egg--she said even if they're not at 18mm, there's still a possibility they contain a mature egg--which means the possibilities for multiples is higher. And since this will the be first real time my eggs have been exposed to sperm, we don't know how they'll react with sperm (i.e. very fertile or not so fertile). So we're going to drop my dose of meds again to 50 units for the next 2 days, and then I'll return on Sunday for another u/s and more b/w. If everything continues to go the way it is now, we'll do our HCG trigger (to induce ovulation) on Sunday. Since our clinic is closed over Christmas Eve and Christmas, we won't be able to do an IUI, but will have timed sexy time instead(tmi I know).

It was a good appt today also because my RE was able to sit down and have more of a conversation about the big picture. I asked if this line we were walking between over-stimulating, and under-stimulating was too fine, and if she thought we'd be better off with IVF. She said, no. She was glad that we've found the right meds and that even if I don't get pg this cycle, that she feels confident that we can keep going down this path. So that's a huge sigh of relief. I know IVF could still be in our future if we have multiple failed injectable/IUI cycles, but at least my body is doing something right now!

Current stats:
Biggest follie: 14.5
Lining: 5.2
Estradiol: 309

I'm feeling so emotional right now. It is such a relief that my ovaries are FINALLY responding appropriately! I feel like there have been many positive signs this cycle, and that things have been falling into place so nicely--which is a huge change from the past year. I'm starting to allow myself to feel excited, just a bit, for this cycle.

Thanks for your positive thoughts. I appreciate all the positive energy directed at us!

Love,
Julie