.lookin' good.

geez, i'm so spoiled because as i was making my ultrasound appt with my new dr.. the nurse said they didn't want to do an ultrasound unless they were sure my hcg was > 1500... duh, it probably was last week, but therefore, i got to have another blood test. today's wonderful number that they wanted to see > 6000 was :

13697 !!



still not sure if there are two in there? probably not, because they are just doubling every 2 days..but we'll take anything we can get!

.symptoms?.

well, not here. i think it's the weirdest thing that when you ARE in fact pregnant, that you can feel so NOT pregnant. i know it's still so early, but geez.. it would be slighlty reassuring to have SOMETHING feel different. anyway, cam and i still can't believe it..and we really don't believe it still. that first ultrasound cannot come fast enough. i keep having bad dreams that the ultrasound will show a sac, but no heartbeat...i'm hoping those are just dreams.. and not how this journey will go. it will be nice to just get through these next 2 weeks and then we'll be able to relax at the pool in st. george for memorial day. i guess i'll just keep feeling normal.

.beta #4. (yes, i'm obsessive)

i think dr. f is probably so annoyed with my ocd with betas. he's so nice, though, and let's me get them when i want. so i had another one today. just to put my mind at ease... results are in..

today's number:

771



and the spotting is mia today, thank goodness.!

.beta #3.

so, my dr. was so happy with the last beta that he didn't have me scheduled for one til May 12th. well, yesterday morning i started spotting and i called and had him order one, just for my peace of mind. here's how it went..

today's number:

333




not really sure what to think still, since i'm still spotting, but dr. f is not concerned...so i guess i'll try not to be either. not having another beta til wednesday. so we'll see. still can't get too excited, but those numbers really do look high? right?

.beta #2.

ok, so we've already surpassed our beta numbers from last cycle..! todays number:

150

it's still hard to celebrate, but that's a good strong number, even for twinners. so i'll be waiting for dr. f to call to see if he wants one more beta or we can just schedule an ultrasound in 2 weeks. my guess is he'll want another beta. so we're getting closer by the day :) here's where our numbers sit for a normal single pregnancy...pretty high!



and i really love this chart that shows hcg numbers and how they correlate to viable pregnancies.

Figure 3. Probability of various pregnancy outcomes according to deciles of serum hCG
concentration 12 days after embryo transfer. (my hcg at this time was 333)!

.beta #1.

beta #1 numbers are in..

:drumroll:

52.

holy crap, i'm pregnant.

at this time last cycle my beta was only 5..so maybe twins?

well, we're not holding our breath just yet..not til we see a heartbeat or two.

but we're happy for now.

and got GREAT news from dr. f today...we thought we'd have 2 to freeze and so when i talked to him today, i asked how those 2 froze and he said, "no, ash, we got to freeze 4.!" so i guess the last 2 that were lagging caught up and were frozen with our other 2. so we have four little frosties... can't wait to see what happens. and who knows, maybe some siblings with 1 cycle?

and, cause they're so pretty.

.ivf #4.

i can't even remember the last time i posted on this blog..i think i was pretty upset. well, surprise, we have just completed our 4th ivf cycle in las vegas with dr f. love that guy. so i know the details are usually boring for most people (and probably significantly over the head) but i have to document this for future reference. i always forget the fine detail after a few days. so here goes.

cycle meds.
yaz bcp 3 weeks
dexamethasone
folic acid
doxycyline
bromocriptine dropped from 2 a day to 1
lupron 10 units for 5 days, dropped to 5 for 2 days, then switch to ganirelix
ganirelix 0.25 ml til trigger day
follistim 600 for 2 days then drop to 375 for 6 days. total stim days = 8
luveris 1 vial every other day x3 days, then 2 vials the night before trigger

lmp april 8

april 18- drove to vegas with mom

april 19- first appt with dr. f-- about 12 follicles

april 20- scan and e2-- follicles grew a lot. largest follicle 19mm, total of 14

april 21- trigger shot 1030pm- 10000 units hcg

april 23- er, 13 eggs retrieved, 9 mature, 8 fertilized normally! i know unreal compared to our first 3 cycles.

april 26- got a call from dr f. with a embryo update... so we have always just had 2 good ones on day three so we expected a day 3 tranfer again. well to our surprise on day 3 all 8 were still growing, 4 looking better than the other 4 and dr f. said we should go out to a day 5 transfer...CRAZY!

april 28- all 8 embryos still alive but only 4 worth transferring. so we picked the 2 best expanded blastocysts (grade 4AAs) to transfer and they have frozed the other 2, one of them being an expanded blast and the other one a nonexpanded blast. on the GES scale that SIRM uses, 0-100, our two that we transferred were 95s. the frozens are a 95 and an 85.

so all in all, this cycle is 100% better than all of our other cycles combined. so we're not totally banking that this will work, since poor egg quality could still play a role here, but dr. f was hopeful that at least one of these little guys will be viable. he even went on to say that he wouldn't be suprised if both were...these are the "best" that they transfer...i guess it can't get better than that. we're super thrilled because this is our LAST ivf cycle. yeah, if this doesn't work, we'll for sure do our frozen transfer, but this is the last fresh we'll ever do. we have been pursuing adoption...and we still think we'll do that too, down the road.

but i just want to send a shout out to dr f...he has done exactly what he said he wanted to do. last time we talked to him about what he'd do different in this cycle he said he wouldn't change my protocol (which surprised me) but just give me higher doses of fsh to make more eggs to choose from. and what happened? we got more embies to choose from and made it to day 5! i think he's really good at what he does. this experience was just as great as the last time and it's always nice to know what you're in for.. i love their office.

so right now i'm just on some bedrest and we'll keep this updated as the news rolls in.

here's us down in vegas...


and after cam and my dad flew home, it was just my mom and i at the transfer.. thanks mom. love you.