Baby Sam is due in December!

having a baby

Saturday, March 29, 2008

Just One Embryo

Well, I am disappointed but not really surprised. At our egg retrieval yesterday, Dr. Dunn was able to aspirate only four eggs. He said that with so few eggs, we would most likely transfer ALL resulting embryos on the third day after retrieval, just to get them back quickly to their "natural environment." However, when the embryologist went to work on them, he noted that only three of the four were mature, and two of those had abnormal morphology. The only good one fertilized normally, but that means the result was a single embryo. One. After all this time.

We are going to transfer the embryo on Monday. It's scary, because honestly, if you look at the statistics, the odds for a single, three-day embryo are not very good. I have been pretty sad and frustrated, needless to say.

Billy has been great, though, and he has really worked hard to raise my spirits today. He refuses to see this as anything but a good omen (at least we won't have multiples!), and he kind of made me think--at this point, there should be no difference in my attitude whether I have one or ten. This one embryo is our potential child, and it deserves every ounce of positive energy and faith that we have. It doesn't make it any less important just because the odds for a successful pregnancy may not be as spectacular. I could have put back three, and THIS ONE might have been the only strong one that survived, right? I just keep telling myself that as of Monday afternoon, I am pregnant, and I will continue to treat myself as if I am until I hear otherwise.

Your continued prayers and kind words are keeping us sane. Thank you so much.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

FINALLY!!! We made it!

Well, we finally made it to the end (well, almost) of an IVF cycle. I went for an ultrasound and bloodwork this morning, and my nurse called me at 3 p.m. to confirm that we will have our egg retrieval at 7:30 a.m. Friday morning (the 28th)! We are looking at harvesting a minimum of seven eggs, but there is a possibility we could have as many as ten. Billy and I could not be happier or more relieved. While we would love to have some embryos left over to freeze, all we really want is two good ones to put back next week. Just two. TWO. PLEASE!

Keep us in your prayers.

Friday, March 21, 2008

Happy Easter!

Today, Max hosted an Easter egg hunt for his playgroup, and all the kids had a great time. They wore bunny ears while they searched for eggs and ate cupcakes. Here are a couple of pictures:



Sunday, March 16, 2008

Vocabulary Lesson

Here is snippet of a random conversation between Max and me this morning. I was in my underwear, waiting for him to finish on the toilet.

Max: Mommy, what is in your booby?

Me: What is in my booby? Do you mean my bra?

Max: No. What is in your booby?

Me: Well, nothing is really in it. Just skin and fat, I guess. What is in your booby?

Max (as if it is the most obvious answer in the world): My PECTORALS, silly!

Wow. He never ceases to amaze me.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

IVF #2 (Part Deux)

By the way, I looked at my stim schedule when I got home today, and I nearly fell over. Dr. Dunn has me on 225 iu of Follistim TWICE daily; the most I have ever done before is 375 per day. Then he has me adding in another stim--Menopur--on day 3. Even the most hardened IVFers I know were shocked and awed by these doses. I am going to make a MILLION EGGS!!!

Now excuse me while I go dig out my fat pants...

IVF #2 is Full Steam Ahead!

This morning I went to see Dr. Dunn for an ultrasound and bloodwork, and everything looks perfect. I have twelve antral follicles, and they are all exactly the same size, which is a good starting point. He gave me the go-ahead to start my two days of diluted Lupron on Saturday. I will add in the stims on Monday. If all goes according to plan, I will have my egg retrieval on Saturday, March 29. Keep us in your prayers, because this is IT. We're done, emotionally AND financially.

Monday, March 10, 2008

Max and Missy

Max is learning to pretend. Here he is pretending to be asleep behind the end table with Missy:

Here, he has figured out I am taking his picture, but he isn't quite ready to give up the game:

Finally, he knows he is busted...HI, MOMMY!