Hey guys!

So first of all, I just want to apologize for being off the grid for a while. The day of the transfer, I actually came home and wrote a post about it, but I got lazy and never posted it.  So, I guess we'll start from there!

We had our transfer on Monday, December 16th. My nurse called at 7:45 am and asked us to be there at 8:30. I quickly called Matt at work and we rushed down to the clinic. I wasn't allowed to wear make up, lotion, perfume, or deodorant. So basically, I looked and smelled bad. ;) We got there and I changed into my lovely hospital clothes again, and signed some paper work. 

The doctor came in and gave us a picture of our beautiful little embryos and explained what would be happening. We hung out for a little while, and then the nurse came in and walked me to the O.R. I then had our two beautiful Grade AA embryos come home to me. I had to lay in the recovery room for about 20 minutes, and then we came home! Matt had to go back to work, so I made a bed on the couch and watched movies all day.

Our beautiful babies!(that kind of look like aliens :))

So a few days went by, and I was already going crazy wishing I knew if it had worked or not. So day four rolled around and I just couldn't take it anymore. So, I took a pregnancy test. I waited for a few minutes to look at it, but when I did, there was a second line(which means it's positive). It was SO faint, but it was there. So my heart skipped a beat, but I decided to wait to show Matt until I could take another test the next morning. Well, I didn't exactly make it till the next morning. That night, I took another test, and that one was clearly positive. Matt and I jumped around and couldn't believe what we were seeing. Tears filled Matthew's eyes, and we just sat there and stared at that test. We called my parents and celebrated with them, but told her not to tell anybody tell our blood test confirmed it!

So day by day, the tests got darker. Finally, the day of my blood test was here! I left the clinic after getting my blood drawn and waited anxiously for the call. Around 8:30 she called and said "Merry Christmas, your pregnant!" Those were the best words I could have ever imagined hearing. That night we called everybody and told them, and put it on facebook of course! ;)

 "Guess what...we're PREGNANT! baby Marshall's

estimated due date is September 2014!

This morning, we had our second blood test to make sure all my levels were rising correctly. She called and said my level more than doubled, and everything looked really good! Our first ultra sound is scheduled for next Friday, which is when we will find out how many babies we have growing in there! My nurse says she's sure there's two in there based on how high my levels are, but we'll know for sure in a week!

I'll be back on next week with an update and hopefully some pictures! I hope everybody had an awesome Christmas!

Till next time!

Torie

8 little eggs

Hey guys!

So we had our egg retrieval yesterday! You know what that means? That means no more sticking my stomach with needles!!! Now, although this is exciting, I would be more excited if I didn't have to stick needles in my butt every night now! Anyways, back to the egg retrieval..

My nurse emailed me on Monday, and told me that retrieval was pushed up to Wednesday, and that it was time to do this! Of course, I was excited to have one less day of meds than we planned, and that this was finally happening. So we showed up at the clinic at 10, and they took us back to the changing/waiting room. I got dressed in my lovely hospital clothes(shown below), and then we sat and waited for the nurse to come put my iv in. She came in and had me sign all my consent forms, and then put my iv in, and told me not to be nervous. Then we waited a little more. After about 15 minutes, the anesthesiologist came in and asked questions about my previous experiences with anesthesia(which I don't have any) and then walked me back to use the bathroom, and then to the operating room.

 Yea, these are real cute pictures ;)

Signing the consent forms.

Now, I was SO incredibly nervous to be put under. Out of everything involved with IVF, this is what I was most anxious about. So as soon as I got into the operating room, I started to freak out. Right after I got on the table, The anesthesiologist said "I'm going to start putting the medication in your iv now."   Literally two minutes later, the room started to spin. I thought to myself.."maybe I should ask if that is normal." That is the last thing I remember.

The next thing I knew, Matt was holding my hand and I opened my eyes to see him looking at me. It took me a few minutes to wake up, and I remember them coming to get my heart rate and blood pressure(and of course I was no help being half asleep and all).

Matt thought it was fun to take pictures of 

me while I was still under...

The first question I asked when I woke up was how many eggs they got. Matt asked the nurse and she said we got 8 eggs. She said not to worry over the number, because the quality matters more than the quantity. Once I woke up enough to stand up, they moved me to a big chair and Matt fed me juice and crackers to make sure the medication wasn't making me sick. After sitting there for about 20 minutes, the let me put my clothes back on and go home.

Attempting to smile while I was still half asleep.

So that was our big adventure for the day. I spent the rest of my afternoon laying in bed with a heating pad and the t.v. on. I had my sweet puppy dog keeping me company, and a husband who was doing everything he could to help. I was pretty sore all day yesterday, but I am feeling much better today!

After tossing and turning all night last night, we got the call this morning that 7 of our 8 little eggs made it through fertilization! Now, I know that many of you don't understand how exciting that is, but just trust me! Matt and I felt this huge wait lift off of our shoulders, as we celebrated this achievement. We have 7 little babies growing strong in a petri dish right now. The nurse will call us again on Saturday to tell us how many are still growing, and again on Monday to hopefully set up transfer!

Ill be back on to tell you all what ends up happening!

Until next time.

Torie

Shots Shots Shots..

Hey everyone!

So first of all, I hope everybody had an awesome Thanksgiving! My parents came up and cooked a big fancy dinner for us, so of course ours was good! We took advantage of them being here, and decorated our tree and looked at Christmas lights. Daisy LOVED having Grandma and Grandpa here! She would jump all over them and shake her little butt every time she saw them.  Unfortunately, the have a life( I know..how dare they have a life beyond me!) and they had to go back to Redding.

My wonderful, supportive, strong, amazing Mamma.

 I love her So incredibly much. 

Our very fist Christmas tree as a married couple.

Our new little village :)

Second of all, I realized that I am already on my third day of injections, and I haven't even let you guys know how it's going! Man, I sure am slacking! So let's start from the beginning, shall we...

The day before Thanksgiving, I had my baseline ultrasound. This is when they are looking for cysts, polyps, or anything else that may have appeared that could cause the IVF to be compramised. Everything looked good, so my nurse called later that day to give me my injection dosages. She told me to take 450 IU's of Follistim on Sunday evening, and then take 225 IU's Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday twice a day, as well as my hcg shot in the evenings. Now, at first I was a little upset with that! I was originally only supposed to give myself two shots a day...but since the dosage was so high, they wanted to split it up between the morning and the evening. That means I'm giving myself twice the shots! But after my first shot, I really didn't care anymore.

Sorry for this gross picture..but it does the process justice.

Sunday evening was the start date. That was when I gave myself my fist two injections. I of course was nervous to start...not only to stick the needle in myself, but also of the effects the medication might have on my body. I got all of my medication out, and prepared my two shots just like they showed me in class. Matt offered to do it for me, but I wanted(and needed) to do it myself. It took me a minute to get the courage up to actually do it, but once I did, I was totally fine. The needles are pretty tiny, and I honestly can barely feel it. After that first poke, it was very easy to give myself my injections. Matt usually isn't home...in fact, he's only been home for one...but he always gets my morning injection ready for me, so I can just inject it and go back to sleep.

And just because this is my least favorite part of it all... 

This is was the life of an IVFer looks life ;)

Now, do you guys want to hear how I'm feeling? Well, If you don't, too bad. I'm telling you anyways! I felt totally fine on Sunday night after my first injection. Matt got me up on Monday and I gave myself my morning injection and went back to sleep for a couple of hours.  I woke up feeling a little bloated, and a little down in the dumps. So, I had the day off of work, and decided I did not want to just sit at home and feel sorry for myself all day. I called up my friend, and we went to lunch and then shopped(well, more like bought things we didn't need). That cheered me up, and made me forget about all this for a few hours. Seven rolled around and I geared up for my next shot. I got everything ready and gave them to myself and then proceeded to watch Vampire Diaries on Netflix. Matt came home, and we ate dinner and then something weird happened...I randomly started crying for no apparent reason. This happened twice last night! Poor Matt just let me cry irrationally, and hugged me. Stupid hormones. I then spent the rest of my night(and this morning) running back and forth to the bathroom. So, today I am laying in bed feeling very crampy and incredibly bloated. But the good news is, I have a very sweet puppy to keep me company...now if only I could get her to stop trying to walk on my stomach.

Even though I'm feeling like this, I know it will all be worth it. Starting tomorrow, I have ultrasounds and blood work every other day(at 7 am -_-). They will be monitoring my follicles to make sure they are growing at the right pace, and then retrieval should be the middle of next week sometime. I will be back on sometime in the near future to let everyone know how it's going! Sorry for the incredibly long blog post!

Till next time!

Torie